Aaron Katz and Jeremy Gavin
Straight From College to Real Estate
Aaron Katz and Jeremy Gavin were college roommates at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst when they first decided to get involved in real estate investing. After graduating in 2001, they began searching for their first investment property. With no money and no experience, they found a multi-family property, got a loan for the down payment and convinced the seller to fund the repairs. Their plan was to rent out three of the units and to live together in the fourth unit. However, things worked out so well, they decided to rent out the entire building. This was just the start.
Within a year, while Katz still had a day-job with Marriot International and Gavin as an operations manager with a landscaping company, they bought another multi-family property in the same area, and then decided to try their hand in the big city – Boston. They bought their third multi-family property in Boston, which is where the business really took a turn…they learned about condo conversions. They converted the third property into condominiums and sold them all relatively quickly, realizing a nice profit. During this project, they were approached by a neighbor wanting to sell, so they bought his property and converted those to condos, as well.
Fast Forward to 2006
In need of consistent leads and capital, Katz and Gavin attended a real estate trade show where they were introduced to HomeVestors® (HVA). They were immediately interested because of the HVA system and the resources they provided. However, during this time, HomeVestors was only accepting applications for “full-time” franchisees. So, they both quit their day jobs and went 100% into real estate as independently owned and operated HomeVestors business owners.
Starting in 2007, they opened an office in Boston for WinWin Properties and hired their first two staff members. However, doubts lingered because Boston was a very high-priced market, and they were concerned about buying homes at reduced prices. Under a lot of various pressures to make deals, the first year was tough. They did realize that because the market was so high priced that they did not have to do a lot of transactions because they could make more money per house than they could in other lower priced markets.
After weathering the “Great Recession” of 2007-2009, which required some imagination and creativity on their part, Katz and Gavin continued to grow the business. Today, they have nine full-time employees, own a real estate brokerage (Proactive Realty), and manage their rental properties thru a holding company (Townhouse Holdings). And they are active within the HomeVestors organization; Aaron is the Ad Council President for Boston, and both are Development Agents in New England responsible for training and mentoring sixty franchisees.
To anyone looking to get involved in real estate, or especially becoming an independently owned and operated HomeVestors business owner, Katz and Gavin have some very simple advice. “We are successful because we focus on relationships. And, you must have ethical discussions with potential sellers. Honesty and ethics go a long way in this industry.”
“Also, I think our biggest learning over our career is to ‘stay in your lane’ – and by that we mean that we see so many investors try doing too many different things and they don’t become experts at any of them. Just about all of them end up out of business at some point. We stick to providing a service to people that are in distressed situations involving a home and we help them deal with issues in that area. That’s all we do, and we try to be the very best at just that one thing.”
Aaron continued, “We have been through it all! We started in 2001 (terrorist attack) with no money; we have gone thru the Recession of 2007-2009 (money dried up); and we survived the COVID-pandemic. Keep your heads down, focus, follow the system, and be ethical.”
Homevestors
What exactly does it mean to be a HomeVestors® business owner? Owning a real estate business is life changing and naturally comes with risks! When you become a HomeVestors business owner, you get immediate access to motivated seller leads, financing resources for qualifying purchases and repairs, one-on-one coaching with your local Development Agent, proprietary software for analyzing properties and deals, and access to a nationwide network of coaches and peers. Your house-buying business is yours and you run it as your own venture with a focus toward your individual business goals.
If you are interested in a franchise, call 855-454-4578. Each franchise office is independently owned and operated.
