Think-Realty-Magazine-September-2020

Sherman with his sons, David and Gregory. David, a 19-year-old freshman at Towson University has closed two deals and was the Project Manager for this project. His older brother Gregory owns three properties and was assisting him in this rehab

No one could blame RealInves- tors® Chief Visionary Sherman Rag- land if he had shied away from real estate after his first introduction to the industry. When Ragland was in junior high school, he begged his mother to take him to a real estate seminar that someone he saw in an infomercial was hosting. He bought a pair of expensive cassettes only to find out the host would eventually go to jail for fraud. The event only strengthened Ragland’s resolve for real estate, however. “It didn’t deter me from wanting to pursue real estate success,” he said. “I got my real estate license while in college when I was 22, competed for a national fellowship to attend the MBA program of my choice, and ultimately chose the Wharton School of Business where I got my MBA in

real estate development.”

took on busted loans from the sav- ings and loan industry. The company also did a lot of work for the federal government for 12 years, achieving significant accolades for its work, including recognition from the White House. It was in the late 1990s when Rag- land decided to go back to what he really had a passion for—real estate investment and development. “When my youngest son was born in 2001, I remember saying to my wife that I really wanted to focus on real estate,” he said. “She said it was a great idea, and I went to a four-day event in Atlanta. It was funny because they keynote speaker was this up- and-coming investor, (Rich Dad Poor Dad author and businessman) Robert Kiyosaki that no one had heard of who had this board game and book that was going to be coming out in six

AREAL ESTATE CAREER IS LAUNCHED Ragland’s first job out of school was Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for a major land development project the Xerox Corporation was building in the Washington, D.C. area. He saw the opportunity as a chance to not only work on a large-scale project, but also return to his hometown of Wash- ington, D.C. and pursue a commer- cial real estate development career. It was also a chance to work for some of the biggest real estate developers in the D.C. area—Xerox Realty as well as the Oliver T. Carr Co. After working on major projects in the D.C. area, Ragland started his own company in the early 1990s. His firm mostly handled walkouts and

22 | think realty magazine :: september 2020

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