he said, 30% work from the office full-time, 30% work from home full-time, and 40% are hybrid. CIVIC Anywhere has allowed employees to move to less-expensive areas or to be near family. Going forward, Tessar said he hopes to further support employees working from home by providing anything they need to feel more connected or productive, from standing desks to extra monitors to a poster of CIVIC values. In addition to taking care of its employees, CIVIC places a strong focus on its community. It recently implemented a program called Lending with Love, which takes $10 from each loan funded in a given month and donates it to a charity. Employees can weigh in on what causes matter to them for monthly donation consideration. The company also makes other philanthropic gifts throughout the year and at holidays, including supporting Habitat for Humanity, veterans-related causes, people in need in the Los Angeles area, and local schools. The aim is “perpetual giving,” Tessar said. INDUSTRY INSIGHTS Apropos to the “Industry Insights” monthly Zoom event and podcast that Tessar hosts as a resource for the real estate community, Tessar offered an optimistic view for CIVIC and the industry—even as inflation and interest rates rise. With long-term interest rates going up, Tessar expects a reduction in the volume of refinances by conventional lenders by as much as 70%. With that drop looming, he predicted “massive consolidation” in the industry. Many companies will have to reconsider their business model given the rate changes, he said.
In the residential real estate market, Tessar said supply is the lowest it’s been nationwide in nearly 50 years. Though rising rates may hurt first-time homebuyers, he said, they may also find other ways to get into a home, such as co-signing with a parent or cutting down on other expenses. At the same time, with many other companies adopting a work-from- anywhere approach like CIVIC’s, Tessar said there’s housing demand by workers looking to move to areas where their dollar stretches further or where they prefer the weather. “I just think it’s kind of a reshuffling of the deck, but it’s a great time to own real estate and invest in real estate,” he said. “I’m very, very, very bullish about the real estate market today, probably as much or more than I’ve ever been in my career.” Vacation rentals are also seeing a boom, he said, as those who work remotely can hop around and work for a week or two in different areas of the country. For example, he said, the short- term rental market in the Carolinas “is exploding, absolutely exploding.” Some places in Wilmington, North Carolina, near the shore might fetch $4,000 a month in long-term rents, but as a short- term rental, it might bring in $25,000 to $30,000 per month. “We think that’s a very underserved market that we’re going to be a big part of,” he said. •
has pivoted since. Tessar said moving from an in-person team to 90% remote was scary as a leader, but he’s seen the silver lining of the changes the pandemic forced—changes that may never have been made otherwise. “I was one of those old-school believers that you had to be shoulder-to-shoulder, everyone under one roof, all wearing the same jersey, marching to the same drums,” he said. “And the fact of the matter is, it’s a flawed way of looking at the workforce in this day and age. I’m just a firm believer in that.” Seeing how employees “governed themselves” and managed equal or better output than when they had been in the office led to a new concept: CIVIC Anywhere. “Whatever it is that makes you happy and productive, we should get our arms around,” Tessar said. Since implementing the change to the employees’ choice of workplace,
Katie Bean is a former newspaper and magazine editor who loves telling the stories of businesses and great leaders. She is based in Kansas City.
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