Editorial
Front Page - Friday, February 5, 2010
30 years in building, developing, selling benefit clients
Stephanie Coward
Re/Max Realtor Monty Reeves appreciates the toughness of the business, but the variety that goes with also being a builder and developer makes for an interesting career as well.
“Some days, I’m out there doing what an inspector wants in a house, (and the next day) I’ll have on a coat and tie (and will be) meeting somebody,” he said. “There’s no telling what I may be doing on a given day.”
Reeves entered real estate part time around 30 years ago, while he still owned two retail shops, on Dodds Avenue, in which he sold fabric, rugs and decorating and design items. He began flipping homes about 10 years before selling his stores and the building they were housed in. Flipping houses allowed him to keep his businesses afloat and survive the economic impact caused by the creation of Hamilton Place.
He would purchase a home, move in and then take his time flipping: remodeling it, decorating it and then selling it. “It was a real slow flip,” he said. But it always worked out, as he seemed to have an innate ability to pick a winner every time. He would find a promising neighborhood, purchase a distressed home and eventually, when it reached his liking, he would sell it. “My goal was to be able to own two houses at once so I wouldn’t have to be living in the house” that was being flipped, Reeves said. He has since met that goal many times over.
Seeing a future for himself in real estate, Reeves thought, “Why don’t I just sell the stores and go into real estate full time?” And he did. Entering real estate full time 24 or so years ago, Reeves obtained his general contractors license at the same time. Today, he is an independent agent with Re/Max and a 50 percent partner in D&M Pro-perties.
D&M builds and sells complete subdivisions to builders, Reeves said. He entered the development side of things 15 years ago. The vast experience he has accrued over so many years allows Reeves to see things from all angles. For instance, when showing a home to a perspective buyer, he can aid in the visualization of what could be in the home. If a space turns a client off, Reeves can instruct the potential homebuyer on what can be knocked out or erected and its estimated costs. He can even come back and do the work himself. Reeves said he often incorporates selling and remodeling into homes, though he always tried to maintain balance between the various aspects of his career.
When it comes to the development side of things, Reeves knows a good piece of land when he sees it. Pulling on real estate trends and market turns, he chooses land based on many factors. From there, he creates an entire neighborhood – lacking only houses – to sell to builders. “Since I have built as a general contractor, well over 20 years in Chattanooga, I know almost every builder and I have also developed in Chattanooga complete subdivisions for over 15 years,” Reeves said When a subdivision is ready for sale, all that’s left for the builder to do is build the houses. According to Reeves, it takes about a year to build a subdivision, from clearing the land to laying the grass and everything in between, but he doesn’t work on only one at a time.
Reeves works with buyers, sellers and commercial properties – such as owner of hotels, warehouses and more – along with building and developing. How much selling or developing he does varies with and depends on the current market. “Right now, I’m making a living selling individual homes to people,” he said. There have been times when he was primarily a developer, other times when he focused on building and still other times, like now, his focus was mostly on real estate. “You just have to do what the times call for. So far I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to do whichever of those.” He estimates his current status is 80 percent residential and commercial Realtor and the other 20 percent is builder.
Reeves said he greatly enjoys meeting people and trying to entice them to buy in Chattanooga. “I love Chatta-nooga. I was born here (and) never wanted to go anywhere else. I’m proud of this city; it’s a wonderful city.”
He’s just as pleased with his line of work, although he can’t decide which aspect of it he likes the most. Reeves says he enjoys both building and selling, and when it comes to the former, he says he likes building individual houses more than putting together an entire development. Whatever his preference, there’s no question he values the relationships he’s formed through his businesses.
“I like the camaraderie with all of the subs and the workers. I’ve known them all so long, they’ve became friends besides just workers,” Reeves said. “I enjoy it out there on the job, ya know. It’s like you get to go play and get paid for it.”
For the future, Reeves said he will continue providing products that are great, and that there is a market for, to the people in Chattanooga. “I think there’s a difference between good and greatness. Good is just a good product at a good price,” he said. “But a great product is a good product at a good price that people really need.”
Reeves is a member of the Chattanooga Association of Realtors, the Georgia Associa-tions of Realtors and the National Homebuilders Assoc-iation. He lives in Chattanooga with Teresa, his wife of five years. He has two children: a daughter, Mara, 19, and a son, Michael, 20. He can be
contacted via e-mail at
mergoski@comcast.net.
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