I was telling Krista, it's got to be in the Geneva
Convention somewhere to listen to this. It's
got to be a crime against humanity to make somebody
listen to me talk for 45 minutes about home building,
but clearly enough people like it. Real builds,
real decisions. You see the finished houses and
we uncover the steps it took to get there. I'm
Krista here with Michael, and this is Trust the
Process podcast. We talk construction, real estate
and development. In today's episode, we're going
to do a quick reintroduction on who we are, how
we got here, and why we do what we do. You'll
also hear how we have more than 100 homes out
in the next two years, what it really takes to
keep a project moving in a choppy market, and
why small teams can make a $200 ,000 decision
on the fly. If you're building or just curious,
this one's for you. So let's jump in. Welcome
back to season two of trust the process podcast
I'm Krista and I'm joined here by Michael and
we have grown a lot our first season Was really
well received and so thank you guys for finding
us and for enjoying what we're doing here But
we thought it was important to kind of recap
Who are we? What are we doing? Why is what we
bring a value? And for those people who did find
us later into the season, seems like an opportune
time to start over and do a little reintroduction
on who we are and what Trust Home Builders is
about, how we spend our time, and how we have
the knowledge and resource to be able to share
this information with you guys. So I'll start
with myself. I am Krista, and Michael and I met
going on 18 years ago now. A long time ago. Many
years that we have been friends and that we have
collaborated over our love for new home design
and construction interior design. We have a lot
of interest in that world and we have collaborated
numerous times over the years on different projects,
flip projects, custom home projects. So finally,
in last year, I officially joined the Trust Home
Builders team as the Director of Marketing, Client
Relations and Sales. So that's my role here.
I come from a background in new home sales. I've
done general home sales and then marketing with
other builders. So I bring, I don't know, 15
years of experience. Is that even possible? Oh
my gosh. When I say it out loud, I'm like, I
feel like I just got my license. I bring 15 years
of sales and marketing to the Trust Home Builders
suite of offerings and I'm really proud to be
able to do it. Trust Home Builders is a custom
builder and Michael is our owner. As many of
you will have heard me say before, he's our resident
experts. He started in real estate. He's been
a broker. He is now a builder and a developer.
Learned a lot in his time as a builder and so
has tons of experience, tons of knowledge, and
so much know how to be able to share with you
and with me as we go through these podcasts.
So Michael, I'll let you take it. Our resident
expert. So take it from here and give us a little
intro on yourself and an opportunity to get to
re -know you and what all we get with you here
on the podcast. I don't know how I follow that
introduction, but I appreciate it. It's all fact.
Yeah, you own it. Yeah, I should own it. Yeah,
there's no lies told, no lies detected. So yeah,
first of all, Again, thank you for that. And
welcome back to season two, everyone that's stuck
with us and our large following and large for
us and more than we ever thought it would be.
And very humbled and flattered by it that people
want to sit and listen to what we have to say
or what I have to say. And I was telling Krista,
it's got to be in the Geneva convention somewhere
to have to listen to this. It's got to be a crime
against humanity to make somebody listen to me
talk. 45 minutes of a home building, but clearly
enough people like it. So many people have houses
and know houses or sell houses or are in the
industry, but they don't know how you get from
raw land to to a home that somebody's actually
living in and enjoying. So I think we all have
a are an anomaly for many. And that's I agree.
And we all have a domicile. We all live somewhere,
even if it's in our mom's basement, right? We
all live somewhere. And that had to be developed
and built and codes in it. They're a relic of
the years they were built. And I've been drawn
to the real estate houses for that reason, is
that they're little time machines in their own
way. They provide memories. They have... There's
just so many, right? There's so many things that
they do. They make the city. The city's nothing
without their houses and their residents in them.
And to me, I just find that... It was a huge
draw for me and it was a fire I couldn't put
out. My degrees are in biochemistry and pharmacology.
They're not even in any way related to business
or real estate development or anything along
those lines. Construction, nothing. It's all
self -taught and just from a pure passion that
I was never able to turn off and I thought would
go away and wasn't sure how to, even what to
make of it and what to do with it. Sure enough,
I ended up becoming a general sales agent about
12 years ago. I did that for only about a year
and a half and took my advanced degrees in the
state, allowed me to become a broker with those
advanced degrees without the experience needed.
So right off the bat, I was jumping in head first
to say, oh, I'm not only just going to go into
real estate, I'm going to own my own brokerage.
I'm going to have agents that work for me. Because
naturally, why wouldn't you? You've been in the
business for 14 months. Yeah, you should own
your own office. And that's a little side note
about Michael. He doesn't really have any end
point. He's willing to try anything and ready
to go out on the skin branches to learn something
new and push his boundaries. That's right. Gets
me into hot water sometimes. Definitely get over
my skis. Yeah, exactly. The one time you said,
that was so perfect, you said, I'll jump. I don't
even need to know there's a parachute there.
I'm ready to jump. Yeah. I mean, midair, I'm
like, oh, there's still parachutes. How do you
guess I better nail the plane? You should have
caught that or should have checked. So yeah,
that does get me into hot water sometimes. I
definitely get over my skis, but you know, like
a... piece of carbon being crushed into a diamond,
you kind of either under that pressure, you crack
or you become a diamond. And, uh, it's, it's
a choice that I think it's an internal choice.
You say, Ooh, this is really challenging. It's
really trying. I'm either going to make this
make, you know, this be a learning experience
and develop new skills, develop just how to deal
with stress, develop business acumen off of your
instincts and hope that it's the right call.
It's thankfully worked out. I mean, I don't know
if I'm living on borrowed time. All I know is
that it has worked out to this point because
I'm very happy with where we've landed as a company
and where I've landed, you know, personally.
And so that having been said, we felt that there
was enough there to, on our day to day, start
a little podcast. And what we basically do is
have our work conversations and every now and
then turn on the camera and start recording.
And it's been - These are conversations that
we're having either way. Discussing how things
get done, we spend a lot of time discussing the
market and the industry and the marketing pieces
of it. How are we going to price this new community
that we're looking at? And land that Michael's
looking at. What type of product? Jets coming
onto the community or into the company. And so
we, you know, bounce ideas and workshop and brainstorm
together anyway. So it was a simple thought to
imagine. What if the camera was rolling and if
somebody's interested? Great. And if not, we're
still successfully business, you know, we're
doing our work. We're busy anyway, yeah. He's
sitting in his, we're still doing the day that
we would otherwise be doing so. Exactly. So that's
how it came to be. And here it is, season two.
And I mean, to kind of go back to how we even
became a home building company, I guess I skipped
over that important part. It ran that brokerage
for several years and still have it. And it's
definitely A vibrant brokerage, small, but vibrant.
And about seven years ago, started building my
first infill homes on just little parcels that
I would find that one I bought from the city,
couple others I bought out of bankruptcy, and
just did little stuff. And then we're talking
a home a year. It took forever. It was like a
garden that you had to till and keep working
at it and say, well, I see a greater vision here,
but it's going to take me some time. All self
-funded. No one, no one would give me any money.
to build houses. No one. I bought a second on
my house, had savings, and got a personal loan
to build my first project, right? Paid cash for
the land, which was $40 ,000, and the land was
cheap in 2015. That's crazy. Crazy. Can't get
you home anymore. That's not an indictment. That's
not an admission. To get the money to build that
first project and didn't know what I was doing,
met a great general contractor in the process,
who is my current business partner today. And
we've known each other for 10 years. I shouldn't
say it was seven. Oh, it's been 10, actually,
when I bought that land. It took a year and a
half to build the house because I didn't know
what the hell I was doing. And it was a $300
,000 house. It was nothing. I mean, not that
that's nothing, but it was nothing fancy. It
was nothing to write home about. And then that
kind of parlayed. And then with the connections
that Ryan, who's the guy I partnered with, with
the connections he had in town, the connections
I had in town, we found ourselves getting pretty
busy doing some build the suits, which kind of
I earned my grit that way, building the home
with someone else's money, but then also dealing
with their emotions, which is way worse than
just paying interest. I'll just pay interest.
I don't know. Don't tell people the motions.
It's its own skill set for sure. And then during
COVID, I broke from a partner I had with my brokerage,
started my own true brokerage. And that's been
about six years. And at the same time, just created
a logo for a home building company and a developer
and just said, let's just see what kind of trouble
we can get into. Let's figure out what we can
do. I still remember the day you shared it with
me, you were like, So I think I'm doing this.
I think I'm doing this. It's probably still in
our text. Oh, let's go. Yeah. Go. Let's do it.
It's probably in our text right. If we look far
back enough, I'm sure that image is still in
there. You know what? I bet it is. It should
look up the date. It probably is. It would have
been, yeah, about five or six years ago. Oh my
gosh. It's funny how it should. It's probably
in there. So now fast forward, we've got, I mean,
I don't even know how to count them. But we've
got six custom homes in South Shore. We've got
a six -home subdivision at Serene. We've got
a six -home subdivision in a community called
Argos. We've got a five -home subdivision in
a community called Westridge. And drum roll,
we've got a 79 unit townhouse project and a,
I should have led with the 24. I should have
ended with that one, but we've got a 24 unit
townhouse project in North Las Vegas. We've got
a 79 unit townhouse project in downtown. So we're
going to turn over in the next two years. Well
over a hundred houses. And that is just crazy
to me to think that what was a logo five years,
five or six years ago is. A hundred keys being
handed over. A hundred plus. Probably a hundred
and twenty. Over two years. Between twenty...
Homeowners who get to enjoy the privilege of
that homeownership and the, you know, passion
and pride that you put into each home. Exactly.
Even the townhomes, you know, lower price point,
kind of more in the median sales price. Great
for entry level. That is still... a brainchild
of ours that we as a company will watch grow
to fruition. And it is really satisfying that
you hope in a hundred years, those homes have
turned over a hundred times, maybe, or not a
hundred times, but maybe turned over several
times. Well, maybe if it's just home builders
home, it may be turned over every year. Ready
for us to come in and do a renovation. And we'll
just be a screen on a Dyson vacuum, like a disembodied
face. So yeah, that's where we're at. Just to
try to recount what's happened over the last
five or six years and what's going on right now
and what's going to happen in the next two years.
It's pretty crazy. We're about a six person team.
And we have a project manager. We have my partner
who's kind of the senior project manager. We
have Krista who's over director, you know, over
marketing, client experience, sales, everything.
We have an in -house sales agent. We have an
in -house designer. Um, and we're growing and
by the time we air this, we might have another
person. So we are growing very quickly and Krista
likes to compare us to a startup because we are.
But it's funny to think of us in that way where
we're kind of moving fast and breaking things
to overuse that, that, that verbiage. But it's
true. We're, we're moving fast and we're, we're
learning as we go. I tell Chris all the time,
we're building the plane in the air. Um, and
I get a thrill out of it. I like having that
kind of flexibility that we're not stuck with
old policies and we're not stuck with old ideas
and old management. We're new. Everything's new.
Everything is uncharted territory. And I find
it very, very gratifying to be a part of it and
to have. Then kind of, um, they're, you know,
cause I created it, I guess, but they're for
its growth and it's, it's been breakneck speed.
So we've weathered all types of supply chain
disruptions. We've weathered bad markets. We've
weathered 4 % rates to 6 % rates in six weeks.
That happened. Um, if you go over a year, we
went from 3 % to 6 % one year. I mean, we've
built through all those environments. We've sold
through all those. environments. I've, I keep
a very watchful eye on the real estate market
just as a broker at large, but also because what
I build, we do mostly build to sell. So what
I'm building are our own investments, right?
I own them until the minute they're done. And
then they're turned over to a buyer ideally,
if they sell right away. So you have to know
the market. You have to keep your head on the
swivel. You have to know what's coming in terms
of legislation, building codes, energy codes,
city planning. What's the appetite for new growth
in that jurisdiction? Some of our communities
are within common interest communities. So they're
governed by design review boards and HOA boards.
And that's something you have to just be aware
of and be able to navigate and handle the emotion.
You have to keep a steady stream of investors.
You have to keep a steady stream of capital.
You have to keep great relationships of banks
and lenders in order to keep your projects funded.
You have to keep yourself solvent. So you have
to I routinely have to donate to the company,
you know, to keep the project going when you're
new and you don't have bond money, like corporate
bonds, like Pulte or the large publicly traded
companies have that bond money. It can raise
a corporate bond in weeks, right? And they have
all that money for half of what I pay for interest.
I don't have that luxury. We have to get creative
a lot of times and we're frequently moving stuff
around to say, okay, I've got to put a little
bit extra in this project because I didn't quite
have. enough allocated from the development loan
and you just have to be willing to do those things
and willing to sit on homes for longer, weather
the market, weather our market conditions and
wait for our market to turn around. So that being
said, we're happy to have you guys and those
that do watch us and thrilled to have enough
content for season two. static with the growth
that the channel has had and that the podcast
has had that we can add value to people who are
enthusiasts of real estate design and development
and business. We kind of sprinkle everything
in there and a couple of one -liners and some
history references. That never hurt anybody.
That was fiery witty and very funny. So he keeps
it actually. Well, I will disclaim she is on
payroll. So there might be some perverse incentives
to laugh at my jokes. And you mentioned just
the housing industry as a whole and how we really
work hard to keep ourselves surprised. obviously
affects us in the local market. We build in Las
Vegas in the greater Southern Nevada area. And
so while, yes, we really keep ourselves informed
about what's happening here on the ground, kind
of a boots on the ground opportunity, but we
also both study the national market. And so knowing
what's out there, people at a distance. I know
we have some followers in, you know, other states,
other areas of the country. East, yes. I mean,
in the other countries too. So. So we really,
we work really hard to understand the industry
as a whole because it affects us on the day to
day. And so informing ourselves about, like you
said, new policy changes, things that are happening,
what's coming down the pipeline on the East Coast
that we know may trickle down over here or, you
know, some of our neighboring communities in
Arizona or Utah, or we get a lot of migration
into the Las Vegas area. And so keeping our thumb
on the pulse of what's happening in some of those
areas that our greatest migration comes from,
California, Washington. in Colorado. So understanding
those industries, how's the resale there? Should
we be taking a contingency on a new home based
on what we know about those markets? So we really
have a more broad spectrum of know -how versus
just the Las Vegas in this market specifically.
It's important to us to keep a more broad reach.
And that trickles into our podcast even. It trickles
into our episodes. Really? I mean, I think it's
all very relevant. You can even go down the rabbit
hole when it comes to construction in terms of
global commodities, concrete prices, lumber prices.
If you know that there's an AI data center boom,
and that's why concrete has continued to skyrocket.
There is a recession in China, for sure, a housing
recession, a property recession in China, and
that's affecting... some of our other goods are
going down in price and we'll have a whole episode
on where I think the future pricing is for kind
of raw materials and labor and things that go
into the house and where that might land as 2026
plays out. So there's a lot of things that I
like to think of myself as a student and I know
you're the same, a student of the market, a student
of global financial conditions and political
tensions and all these things are relevant. Like
you're saying, some of those things that are
happening, is that going to cause delays in some
of the things that we want? Are there delays?
Are there things happening in other countries
that are going to slow down how quickly we can
get appliances? Or do we need to look at this
brand versus that brand because it's going to
be more readily available? Certainly, those were
issues that you dealt with during COVID. But
even still, there are ongoing changes. manufacturing
that's going to affect logistics and how we choose
to build out our homes. Yeah, and when you're
developing, you've got, and we've said this in
the past season, that you're trying to thread
a needle with a shotgun and the eye of the needle
is a mile away. You have so many variables that
can change where that needle goes. And you just
have to have as much information as you possibly
can. And at the end of the day, still almost
never goes the way you thought it was going to
go. But I don't like to fly in the dark. I'll
jump out of a plane without a parachute, but
I want to fly in the dark. I want some navigation.
So I'm not risk averse, but I like having my
information. Right. And the knowledge for us
is that navigation. I mean, just making sure
that we understand both what we do and what the
market requires at any given time, I think is
the... That's the light that keeps it from getting
too dark, right? There are so many unknowns that
you could predict, but even just understanding
the market and both of us, obviously him as a
broker, we sell real estate. So I'm still very
involved in the market, not just in our new homes,
but in the industry as a whole. So I think those
things give us that little glimmer of light.
Sometimes I wonder if it's a train. Right at
the end of the tunnel. Is it? Sounds like a BNSF
-GA diesel engine coming. There's a lot of fact
-finding, a lot of pivoting as things come at
us. There's constant pivots. I love it though.
That's one of my favorite aspects of the business
is how dynamic it is. You know, it's just, I
love to collaborate with you guys and make these
decisions on the fly and not go through layers
of management. And it's just fun that we can
have hiccups. We can have victories. We can have
all these things. Something turns out we, on
one of our lots at Serene, we flipped to the
floor plan upstairs. I walked up and got goosebumps
because, you know, it wasn't until the form was
poured and the foundation was poured and the
form boards were up. And I realized we need to.
make a decision on the fly. They're non -structural
walls. Let's flip it so that the rec room has
the panoramic view of the strip. And it was probably
a $200 ,000 decision. I think that house is worth
$200 ,000 more in its current configuration.
I don't know where I'm getting that from, but
I just going off of my gut. Right? But it's nice
that we didn't have to go through, oh, the Department
of Architecture. It was just nice to say, hey,
I went home that day on my software. And I already
had that plan pulled up in my architectural software.
So all I did is had to reverse it, the upstairs,
flip it basically and print out, disseminate
it to the team and it got framed accordingly.
And here we are. And it's just an amazing, I
walked it yesterday and it just, it wasn't that
I captured the view is that I was able to take
advantage or we were able to take advantage,
brainstorm, find a better alternative, brainstorm
on it, do it, uh, you know, in terms of draw
it and conceive it and then execute it. and see
the fruits of it. And that house will be that
way forever until the house is not there anymore.
And that's just kind of the, the, the joy that
you find those little victories day to day that
maybe that outweighed something else that was
a setback that day. And it's just, when you're
so tied into your business, you definitely have
those little victories and those little losses
and those, and you just ride the roller coaster
and learn to enjoy it. And because we're small,
we're able to be agile like that, right? You
come up with an idea. Versus if we were with,
you know, so many companies, there's policy,
there's, you know, one person sees it, another
person doesn't. And so, you know, you get a vision
and you're able to make that change on the fly.
Boom, just executive decision. That's it. That's
what we're doing. That's the new thing. And that's
it. That's my favorite part of the business.
Definitely those highs and lows. Because without
the lows, you don't have the highs. I, we've
had major setbacks in the last six to 12 months
with certain things. The market saw it got really
soft and some builds went over budget and some
builds we didn't make any money on. And some
builds took way longer to sell. Some builds are
still not sold. And she said, you know what though?
It's fine. It doesn't stop us. We just keep rolling.
And those are the things that, you know, when
you pull back the curtain, not everybody knows
about the home building industry or some of the
challenges. And we're not afraid to expose all
of that to you guys. And so we're happy to take
you along in the journey. And like Michael said,
we have loved the podcast. It has just been one
more opportunity for us to just... kind of enjoy
what we're doing. So yeah, thank you for coming
along with us. Those of you who've been with
us for a long time, we've enjoyed the experience.
We love the interaction when you guys send us
comments, questions, notes, that kind of stuff.
We love it. So thank you for all of that. And
for those of you who are newer to the podcast,
we are excited to have you on board and can't
wait to share this next season with you. We'll
do some things a little bit differently. probably
have some more special guests in. I know we did
that a little last year with our engineer, not
as much as we thought we might, but so often
it's an on the fly conversation. We're just in
the middle of a discussion and let's flip on
the camera. So planning some of those in will
be a little bit different for us. Hope to tap
some of that into if we feel like it will be,
you know, a benefit to you guys or if you would
enjoy watching it. We'll try and bring some of
that. And obviously your feedback tells us what
is it most interesting for you to watch along
with that. So glad you're here and we look forward
to seeing you in this. Let's do it again. Let's
do another season. So let's do it. Season two,
here we come. Awesome. All right. Thanks for
your time, Dean Michael. Thank you guys again
for being here. And we will see you on the next
episode of Trust the Process podcast. Bye -bye.