The value of hard work
Texas Inc. continues its series of interviews with the candidates who would be mayor. Last week, the incumbent, Mayor Sylvester Turner, told us of his rise to the city’s top elected positon as he recounted growing up as one of nine children in the Acres Homes neighborhood, the death of his father when he was 13, and the determination of his mother — “the CEO of the Turner household” — to raise her children and instill in them the importance of education.
One of his challengers, Bill King, comes to Houston via northern Galveston County, his success also built on hard work and ambition. King, who grew up as the son of a union pipefitter, became the first in his family to attend college, working his way through the University of Houston as a pipefitter’s helper and taking jobs on fishing boats. He suffered disastrous financial losses during the 1980s oil bust, but worked his way back, becoming a partner in several successful law firms and businesses, and mayor of Kemah from 2001 to 2005.
He narrowly lost to Turner in the runoff election in 2015.
In his interview with Texas Inc.’s Ilene Bassler, King addresses a variety of issues affecting business, from development to flood control to technology, and the role government should play. He lays out challenges facing the city, but, he notes, Houston starts with a great advantage. “Houston is a city of opportunity,” he says. “If you have something to contribute, you will find a place here. That’s why we attract so many smart, able and ambitious people.”
Dan Braun found his opportunity in Houston’s inner city, where his company, Braun Enterprises, has brought new life to old buildings. The company has bought and redveloped more than 90 properties since 2010, with more than half of them in the Inner Loop. Today, Braun Enterprises owns nearly 50 properties with about 1.5 million square feet under management.
Braun is the subject of a profile by contributor Michele Leigh Smith. He has resisted the temptation to build upward, finding success in renovating and revitalizing urban retail properties by bringing new brands such as Torchy’s, Revelry and The Conservatory to anchor the projects. He attributes much of his success to following the timeless principles of his father, Gabriel, a contrarian who began investing in commerical real estate in 1989. His advice: Never chase a deal, don’t get emotionally involved in a deal and focus on the underlying real estate, not the projected cash flow.
And you might add one more: Don’t depend on Zillow’s Zestimate to value properties. In our Prime Property Feature, R.A. Schuetz reveals that Zillow, which has moved into the home-buying business, doesn’t use the Zestimate algorithm, which estimates home values for the Zillow website, to make offers on properties. Instead, Zillow does it the old fashioned way, hiring real estate agents and others to collect and analyze comparable sales to come up with a price.
The Zestimate is particularly unreliable in Texas, where, unlike many other states, real estate sale prices are not public record. That makes it exceedingly difficult to price and buy a home without hiring a real estate agent with access to the private Multiple Listing Service. Whether that’s good for home buyers and sellers is a story for another day.
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