Smart Expansion Fuels Growth at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Anderson Properties
Mike Huff has a simple philosophy when it comes to growth: go to where the opportunities are. It is this mindset that put him on the path to taking Anderson Properties from five agents in Houston to 1,000 agents in 40 locations throughout Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. With a focus on consolidation within the firm’s footprint and acquisitions from outside, Huff believes in getting out of the way and letting agents do what they do best: “Do your job and work hard and good things are going to happen.” Find out more about Huff’s winning attitude and the strategies that have led to the firm’s success in this exclusive feature.
Maria Patterson: Tell us a little about how you got started in the business world.
Mike Huff: I spent most of my childhood in a town that no one’s heard of but everybody knows. Mount Airy, N.C. is the real Mayberry—it’s where Andy Griffith was born and where “The Andy Griffith Show” was conceived. My father had a wholesale distribution business that covered all of Western North Carolina. After graduating college, I got into that business with my father; we had multiple locations and we were very successful. We worked with contractors and dealt in building, plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical supplies.
But like most businesses, everything goes through a phase of consolidation, and so did we. When we sold the business, I worked with the new owners for three years. When my contract was not renewed, I had a job offer from a competitor in Houston within an hour, and I joined that firm. But that was a publicly traded company, and I was used to being my own boss. I quit three times and they talked me into staying twice.
MP: How did your career path lead you toward real estate?
MH: I had gotten my real estate license and started acquiring properties in Houston. I had acquired 100 properties and decided I would start managing them; that grew to 400 properties. I had my license with a small company with just five agents, Anderson Properties. When I got there in the early 2000s, Suzanne Anderson was about to shut the business down, and I got to thinking, this is a chance for me to show what I can do. I was frustrated with the publicly traded company I worked for and felt like this was a chance to put my money where my mouth is and see if what I thought about running a business would really work.
MP: Seems like you made the right decision—the company has certainly grown since then!
MH: I took those five agents and in 12 years, have grown it to 1,000 agents in 40 locations within three states.
MP: What did your path to growth look like?
MH: The company did pretty well in Houston the first 3-4 years, and then we had an agent who wanted to move to Austin, so we bought a company there.
When we got to …read more
From:: Real Estate News