Creation from Necessity.

First and foremost I hope that you enjoy this blog as it is my first time ever blogging and I hope that you can forgive me in my learning curve.  I wanted to create this blog as not only an information sharing portal to what I am currently experiencing in my business but also as a diary of sorts of my path of new home construction.

A bit about me:

My name is Matt Harper. I am a 35 year old country guy from Northwest Georgia. In my hometown and market area of Rome, we are 35 minutes from the interstate so we may as well be on the moon in comparison to the rapidly expanding metro Atlanta market. We move slower here. This town is very much a good ole boy / old money town and unless you grew up with that silver spoon, (I most certainly did not) you have an uphill battle to be a player in the real estate market here. As a full time agents my amazing wife Jessica and I have been beating our heads against the wall to try to make ends meet to build a real estate team. Because our town is so secluded and our real estate market did not see a big boom in building before the 2008 crash, we are really in a recycled market. There are approximately 200 active agents that is servicing a market with (as of today) 336 homes for sale. Out of necessity about near desperation I knew that my business model had to change in order to survive. When there is low inventory and demand is high, someone, has to create supply. That is what prompted me to focus on new construction.

I can't say I can't:

As I brainstormed on how I could create listings out of thin air because my sources were as dried up as the desert sand,  new construction always came up as a solution but the problem was again.....no money. Being a salesperson above all other I knew I could sell it if I had the product but, I am not a contractor, I have limited building experience, and........no money. But, Steve Jobs was not an engineer, his legacy will live forever as a tech genius. So why can't I, a real estate agent build houses. I stopped believing because I didn't know how to swing a hammer, and I didn't have money to fund a project much less buy the lot a house would sit on, would prevent me from accomplishing something that I was certain would be a viable source for long term success. As an agent, I network constantly. Even though asking to "list" someones home in today's market is almost the equivalent to asking to date their wife, I still talk real estate. Any form or fashion. I'm not a buyer specialist, I'm not a listing specialist, I'm not trying to sell you. I want you to know that I am in that industry. Period. As I researched and fantasized on what type of home I'd build and where, I acted as if I was already funded, that I had the perfect general contractor who had all the right subs to get my project built right, for the right price, and in the right time. As I went through this fantasy acting as if, I just started to fill the gaps of what I was missing writing out what I thought was the critical steps it would take to put this wheel in motion.