WHAT DOES FOOTBALL HAVE TO DO WITH REAL ESTATE?
Plenty when two Coaches’ Wives sit down to talk about it
By Flower De Raadt, The Real Estate Newbie (flower@therealestatenewbie.com)
I had the rare opportunity to interview Sally Brown, wife of Coach Mack Brown, Head Football Coach for the University of Texas Austin. Outside the limelight of Longhorn football, Sally is down to earth, a mother to the team, and savvy business woman. With a long-term career in real estate development and a millionaire many times over before meeting Mack Brown, I had to sit down and pick her brain about how to “Make It” in real estate, being a Coaches’ Wife, and her life as “Ms. Sally Brown”.
Q. Where and how did you learn to properly handle a land development project from start to finish?
A. I really learned to do it by doing it. There is no other way to learn it other than just doing it. I bought a horse farm in Chapel Hill, NC thinking that I was going to raise horses. As it turned out horses are not very profitable. I got the buzz to start building houses that I had designed on the property and began dividing the lots, building roads, installing sewer and utilities and began creating a neighborhood.
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Q. Tell us briefly about a project that you enjoyed the most.
A. There are two. I did a project called The Street of Dreams, 12 houses on a cul-de sac where local architects and builders competed for prizes and mainly publicity. We built multi-million dollar homes on this beautiful cul-de sac and opened it up to the public to view for a couple of weeks before the houses were sold. I really enjoyed that project. Afterwards, there was a letter to the editor that pretty much slammed me saying it was an elitist project. I was angered when I read the article but then after thinking about it for a few weeks I realized that the writer was correct. It was an Elitist project and I really should do something else. So then I did a project called The Street of Hope which was the same concept but building houses for Habitat for Humanity. It was really interesting to do those two projects back to back and really fun.
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Q. I understand you were a single mom at the time you build your land development and architecture business. As a fellow Coach's wife myself, I sometimes have to operate as a single mom (especially during football season). How did you juggle your time between building a business and your family?
A. Let me tell you that sometimes not having a husband was a lot easier than having a husband as you might know. I didn’t have to worry about getting the meal on the table and all of his interests also. My boys were always a part of my business even as very young children. When they were babies, I would literally take them with me and put them on the front loader with whom ever was clearing the roads and they would just ride along. At school age they would go from school to my office and they would stay with me there until we went home for the night. In fact my youngest son is now in land development. Real estate development is in his blood. They were always a part of it.
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Q. What markets did you focus on for development, and what was the process in determining the needs of these markets?
A. I really looked at where the good schools were when I decided what piece of land to buy. That was always the critical component. I focused on different markets from the Habitat market to the very high end market. But I would say I was 60% involved in the very high end market and did some of the other work as well. When trying to identify property, I always looked at the schools.
With great football, comes great schools, and with great schools comes great real estate! – Flower De Raadt
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Q. Are there Rules To Live By that you suggest as a developer?
A. There is one rule. Always do the right thing. That sound really simple. You have a reputation as a developer and you will be a short term developer if you don’t do things the right way. I always said that when someone bought a lot and they didn’t like it, I always bought it back from them. I always wanted to be that developer that people trusted and knew the roads would get finished in the right way. If there was a problem, I would take care of it. You just have to remember that every development is a stepping stone to the next one and if you cut corners there will never be a next one. People are going to ask what developers in town are honest and are going to go the extra mile and make sure their customers are happy.
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Q. I understand you are not a land developer now, your career in fact has been as an architect, what do you think of all the recent developments here in Austin and is there an area of town that you recommend aspiring developers like me to invest in?
A. I think downtown Austin has come along so well. Some people are concerned about the high rises but I think they’re lovely and the skyline is really attractive and I think there is an energy to downtown that is wonderful. It really has come along a long way in the 11 years that we’ve lived here. I also think East Austin is exciting. So much is going on over there. It’s such a fun, urban area and close to everything. That’s the area that I’m most attracted to right now.
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Q. Did becoming a land developer during the time you did change your life and help you achieve your goals?
A. It changed my life in the sense that it gave me a great feeling of accomplishment. I’m the kind of person that likes to see things finished. I like projects that I could start and visually see it afterwards like going back to a neighborhood and seeing little kids riding around in their tri-cycles in that community. It was fun to build those kind of neighborhoods because those neighborhoods were so important to families. I was also woman in a man’s business and that does give you a lot of confidence when you can pull that off.
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Q. Now, being on Mack Brown's side through his career while still having your own successful career and now taking time to just be a part of the Longhorn team. What advise do you (and Mack) give to a couple who are both seeking excellence in their own arenas on how to support each other, achieve our personal goals, and stay strong as a couple?
A. There is so much give and take. We do support each other. During the early part of our marriage my business was stronger than his business and he turned down lots of moves so that I could stay and continue to do what I was doing and then after doing that for many years when Texas came and offered the job I thought it was his chance to take that so I was willing to make that move for him. I always knew that he would never ask me to move if I wasn’t ready to do it and I would have never forced him to stay if he was really wanting to go. We had to be flexible on that. Both of us have businesses that require you to be in a certain place. They are not one that you can do from anywhere. We both like each other’s careers. We both ask each other’s advise. We both trust each other.
You can listen to Sally Brown’s complete interview on Tuesday, September 2nd by subscribing to TheRealEstateNewbie.com Expert Interview Podcast on iTunes or by visiting TheRealEstateNewbie.com.
Flower De Raadt is The Real Estate Newbie. Flower is learning real estate investing and blogging about it at www.TheRealEstateNewbie.com. She also interviews Real Estate Industry Experts on her monthly podcast available through iTunes about the real estate industry, investing strategies, and the millionaire mindset. Flower is married to Coach Moses Raadt, Varsity Coach at Odessa High School in Odessa, TX. He was most recently part of the Lake Travis staff in Austin, TX who won the Class 4A Division II State Championship last year.
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