because he was a veteran or didn’t fit,” Williams says. “He couldn’t focus; he couldn’t stay ‘on station’ long enough.” Instead of simply letting the man go, Williams decided to teach him to be a landlord, a sector of the indus- try in which things are constantly changing, and the veteran was highly successful in that position. After that, “I said, ‘Let me see if I can help veterans become landlords,’” Wil- liams says, adding that whenever possible, his company also works to bring business and industry into neighborhoods that can benefit in meaningful ways from the added value that a solid, well-managed rehab- and rental presence can bring. “I find a little city. I sit down with the mayor. I follow highway movements,”
Williams says, noting that when the veteran took on a 10-house package, Williams coached him through it from planning improvements to the proper- ties to implementing the changes and managing the properties. “He made a few mistakes, but he got through it, (and) I ended up increasing my rent (and) getting a little more cash flow,” he recalls. That project led to another, larger project, and pretty soon Williams’ mis- sion was taking on a distinct shape. “I’m teaching veterans to become landlords,” he says, pointing out that every facet of his business is guided by a Marine Corp tenet: “Serve, and when you leave, continue to serve.” Williams is helping restore one of
the most underserved communities in America through Recon Realty and his other endeavors. “There is a huge problem in America: There are too many veterans who are un- deremployed and unemployed,” he says. “All I’m doing, with a very, very passion- ate approach, is impacting my commu- nity one veteran at a time. If I teach one, they teach one who will teach one.” By any standard, that mission is already a success. •
Carole J. Ellis is the host of Real Estate Investing Today, a daily nine-minute investing podcast, and the editor of the Bryan Ellis Investing Letter.
www.investing.bryanellis.com
26 | think realty magazine july :: august 2016
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