- 1 year ago
Kevan Shelton, CEO of Park Street Homes, joins Forbes senior writer Jabari Young on The Enterprise Zone during Black Business Month. In the interview, Shelton discusses the expansion of his real estate development company which is valued at $20 million, according to PitchBook data. Additionally, Shelton shares why he’s advocating for more Black men to purchase real estate and provides his perspective on the current U.S. housing landscape.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Maximize your gift so you can live your life.
00:03Simple words from a Houston entrepreneur who maximized his love of construction.
00:08And now we'll dive into his up-and-coming real estate development company in Houston.
00:13You're here in the Enterprise Zone at the NASDAQ.
00:21Hello everyone, it's Jabari Young, Senior Writer at Forbes at the Enterprise Zone in the NASDAQ, of course.
00:27And I am joined by a Houston entrepreneur as we celebrate and close out Black Business Month in August.
00:33His name is Kevin Shelton. He is the CEO of Park Street Homes.
00:37This is a Houston-based home building company.
00:40And he is here now to talk and dive more into the real estate business.
00:44Kevin, what's going on, man? Thank you so much for making the trip. Appreciate it.
00:47Thank you for having me.
00:47Yeah, of course. Listen, man, listen, we've come a long way, right?
00:50Yeah.
00:51Talk about black men buy houses and all that good stuff, man.
00:53Definitely looking to dive into it. Is this your first time here at the NASDAQ?
00:56It is. It is. It's a beautiful space. Thank you for having us up here.
00:59It's crazy. What did you think so far?
01:00I mean, love it.
01:02It's amazing to see just all the technology and everything you guys have.
01:05Yeah, I'm telling you, it's a different feeling when you get to walk into a stock exchange.
01:08Oh, yeah, look. You know, I've got to get one of those pictures up there.
01:11There you go, man. There you go, right? Park your homes, go public, right?
01:14I love it, man.
01:15We'll do it.
01:15Listen, we're here, right? Give me a stock. What's something that's worked for you?
01:18Something that you're interested in?
01:19So, I've got to give you something in the home building space, or at least the construction space.
01:23So, QXO.
01:24QXO.
01:25Brad Jacobs' new company.
01:27You see what he did with United Rentals, and now he's moving in the home building space.
01:31QXO is building products, so roofing, siding, things like that.
01:35And they are revolutionizing a lot of the kind of unconsolidated parts of the building industry.
01:41So, all of the supply, they're automating, they're putting robots in the factories, they're automating the supply chain, and making it much easier for the unaggregated home building sector to come together.
01:54Yeah, I love that, man. I love it.
01:55So, let's say you walk into a class in Houston, right?
01:57And they don't know who Kevin Shelton is, and he says, what do you do, Mr. Shelton?
02:00What do you tell them? May I buy homes? I fix them? I sell them? What do you do?
02:04So, I would definitely say I'm a home builder.
02:06Home builder.
02:06Because I'm a home builder by trade.
02:07That's what I've spent my life doing, is being a builder.
02:11But more than anything, I think, for me, finding a way to bring community, right?
02:18So, not just community in the real estate space, but community across the real estate board.
02:23I love that. Well, listen, Black Business Month is here, man.
02:25If you had to give me one black business entrepreneur, right?
02:29Or someone that you've admired within the community, or not even in the community, right?
02:33Because it's Black Business Month.
02:34But who have you kind of admired or idolized over the years?
02:36Or what company? What sector?
02:37I'd say there's a couple of great entrepreneurs over time.
02:41Reginald Lewis, of course, is one that comes to mind.
02:44Don Peoples is one that comes to mind.
02:46If I had to pick my favorite, I would say I really have followed the journey of Don Peoples and what he's done.
02:55And I think he's really left a mark and a legacy throughout real estate and development that it makes it much easier to follow.
03:03He broke a lot of barriers and opened a lot of doors for us developers.
03:06Yeah, I thought you was going to say Clyde Drexler from Houston.
03:08He did some stuff in real estate, too.
03:10That's true.
03:11Yeah, Clyde got some buildings downtown, right?
03:13That's true.
03:14Clyde Drexler, Hakeem.
03:15Yeah, absolutely, man. Absolutely.
03:17So, listen, what's been keeping you motivated in 2025, man?
03:20What's been your soundtrack to life?
03:21Honestly, the market is dynamic.
03:23So, you know, we've seen affordability be kind of the number one topic, which we specialize in affordable housing.
03:28So, for me, the everyday journey of just building this business is motivation enough.
03:33Every day we get up, we have more mountains to climb and things to conquer.
03:37So, we've really been busy at Park Street.
03:39And what are you listening to while you're doing all of this?
03:41What's been your inspiration?
03:42You know, it's funny.
03:42I'm an old school person in my soul.
03:45And my father just passed a couple of weeks ago.
03:47So, Don Hathaway.
03:49Donny Hathaway.
03:50I was wrong.
03:51I said I'll agree.
03:52You got some Donny Hathaway.
03:53No, my father.
03:54My father was Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder.
03:57So, I've been on repeat with Donny Hathaway.
03:59Oh, just keeping that song going, right?
04:01Keys of Life.
04:02Well, Key of Life is Stevie Wonder.
04:04Yeah, I know.
04:04That's what I'm saying.
04:05Keeping that on there as well.
04:06Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder.
04:08Listen, man, as you're here, you also have a podcast, Marriage and Real Estate Podcast.
04:12Man, how's that going?
04:13So, Marriage and Real Estate is a podcast.
04:15We no longer have it.
04:16You don't have it anymore?
04:17We no longer have it.
04:18What happened to it?
04:18So, as we grew our business and got way more busy and Black Men Buy Houses kind of took
04:24hold, we really wanted to focus on the other aspects of real estate.
04:28So, building our company and then building the brand with Black Men Buy Houses.
04:31We got to bring that back, man.
04:32Marriage and Real Estate, that was a good podcast.
04:34It is, it is.
04:35It's a great podcast.
04:36And we enjoyed the space.
04:37I think for us, finding that angle to speak to couples and families and building generational
04:43wealth has really been our kind of claim to fame.
04:47And for us, that's where we want to make our mark.
04:50But Black Men Buy Houses is so much more of an important journey.
04:54And then Park Street is so much bigger of a business that we really want to focus on.
04:58Yeah, yeah, definitely want to get into the Black Men Buy Houses.
05:01But again, take me on the inside of Park Street, right?
05:03Again, this is a home building company, right?
05:06You and your wife are kind of running out.
05:07Aisha, she's sitting right over there.
05:09But take me inside of it, right?
05:11For those people who may not know what Park Street Homes is, what would you say it is?
05:14How would you describe it?
05:15So Park Street Homes is revolutionizing the urban core.
05:19So for us, we focus on urban areas, inner cities, blighted areas, historically underserved,
05:25underfunded, undercapitalized, that the average price and the average household has been divested
05:33over time, right?
05:34So the average real estate age is almost 50 to almost 100 years old, depending on the city.
05:39And you see a lot of these communities are communities that were once great, but have since been divested
05:45for more of a suburban feel.
05:47So we go into these areas, we partner with cities, we partner with large nonprofits,
05:51we partner with private landowners, and we build new housing.
05:55Everything from affordable housing in partnership all the way up to custom homes.
05:59So we're able to touch different price points of the market, and we do that in Houston, Birmingham.
06:04We've looked at some opportunities across the rest of the state of Texas, Alabama, Georgia,
06:10hopefully Florida, things like that.
06:11How many employees at Park Street?
06:13So we have a small team.
06:15It's a little bit under 20 of us right now.
06:17A little bit under 20.
06:18Are you hiring at all?
06:19We are.
06:19You are hiring.
06:20I actually just hired two people today.
06:21Okay.
06:21What areas are you looking for?
06:24Construction, project management, development.
06:27All of those are aspects of our builds.
06:29Yeah.
06:29And it is, again, based in Houston.
06:31Yes.
06:31Our corporate office in Houston.
06:32We have an office in Birmingham, Alabama.
06:34And then as we go into different markets, we'll add additional staff.
06:39How many investors in the company?
06:40So right now, we took our company through a Rec CF process in 2023.
06:45We were the first company to do that on Start Engine.
06:47So you know Start Engine from Fanbase and some of the things that Isaac Hayes III is doing.
06:52We did that to really open up the company for public investment,
06:56which we got about 30 to 40 public investors from that.
07:01And then we also have private investors.
07:03So for us, we partner with different groups, whether it's institutional or private investors,
07:08to see how we can come together and create that value.
07:12Yeah.
07:12I saw the Start Engine one.
07:13I see 238,000 that you guys raised.
07:16I don't know if that's updated at all.
07:17Does it sound about right?
07:18238,000?
07:19So we closed out at 238,000.
07:21We were the first traditional home builder to actually raise on Start Engine.
07:25And of that platform, it's not something that companies like us traditionally do.
07:29From that, we also did a private round.
07:32So we did a high net worth round and raised just under a million and a half dollars from private investors.
07:37And we're always looking to partner and add value to other groups.
07:40Yeah.
07:40So that's 238,000.
07:42And I'm seeing a 20 million valuation on this company.
07:44That sound right to you?
07:45It is.
07:46That's phenomenal.
07:46So you go and you build this $20 million, you know, real estate development company.
07:50Over $100 million in projects that you guys have already completed.
07:53Over $160 million as you've already completed, right?
07:56So that's in my career.
07:57That's in your career.
07:58In my career, I built over $160 million worth of projects.
08:01Nice.
08:02Under Park Street, we built just over $50 million worth of work.
08:05Okay.
08:06So what's next for Park Street?
08:07Expansion.
08:08Expansion.
08:08Even more.
08:09So we have built a $50 million pipeline from what we currently have.
08:13And that's between Houston and Birmingham.
08:15And then we're looking to secure even more opportunities.
08:18And you're going around.
08:19You're partnering with the cities.
08:20Again, you're partnering with nonprofits to, you know, buy the land, obviously, and build the homes and things of that nature.
08:25Get these communities up and running.
08:26How do you guys make money from these transactions?
08:28So we're a home builder.
08:29So we develop the land.
08:30We build the houses.
08:31Of course, we make money and fees on that.
08:33Then we ultimately sell them to end buyers.
08:35So we believe in homeownership.
08:37So we are putting families in homes in these areas where we're building brand new housing that's coming from anything from,
08:45a $200,000 price point all the way up to multi-millions, depending on the project.
08:49And for us, that's where we really make our bones.
08:53I'm a sucker for real estate conversations.
08:55I love them, right?
08:56You know, you get to break down a whole new dimension of the real estate industry, right?
09:00And so the home builder side, I really never dug too much into it, right?
09:04You're only dealing with who's doing commercial and all that.
09:06But you never really dug into the home builder side.
09:08But I had a chance to on this particular time, right?
09:10And you guys in this particular sector is going through some interesting times, right?
09:14High interest rates, right?
09:15I see some home builders are offering mortgage, you know, buy downs in order to get building going again.
09:21I have a mortgage to offer myself.
09:23And I called my banker and he says, you know, maybe you should not get your house built from the ground.
09:27I says, well, why not?
09:28He says, because the materials.
09:29How can you trust the materials are going to be there because of what we're going through with geopolitical tensions, right?
09:33And so now that you're here, I would love to get your thoughts on what we're seeing overall because, you know, right now, American housing is broken, right?
09:41There's a housing shortage, 46 million renters right now, right?
09:45It's a record high, right?
09:471.1 million first-time homebuyers in 2024 that's down, 380 fewer from the previous year, according to the National Association of Realtors, right?
09:55So you have trapped renters, right?
09:57You're a home builder.
09:58What do you see going on and how can we turn this problem around?
10:00Well, affordability is definitely one of the number one challenges in the market right now.
10:04Whether it's mortgage rates or just the price of materials in a home, everybody's experiencing different levels of those challenges.
10:11For us, we focus on the affordability side from a build.
10:15So we're building smaller, close to what historically has been your starter home.
10:20And we're really focusing on value engineering our house to give the most value to the buyer and create that incentive for them to be able to buy.
10:28Because if you have a 7% mortgage rate, you can only spend so much money on a house.
10:32So back when mortgage rates were 2%, you know, somebody who could afford a $500,000 house now in a 7% environment is buying something that's $300,000.
10:42So there's a big drop-off in what somebody's able to actually get for their money.
10:47For us, we focus on how do we give you more for what you're actually spending.
10:51So you look at big builders like a D.R. Horton or a Lennar that's giving people incentives.
10:55They're buying people into their houses.
10:57Well, we can't compete in that same way.
10:59So how do we compete?
11:01We're working with cities to cut down land prices.
11:03So when we're buying land from cities, we're paying a nominal fee.
11:07But it gives that value to the buyer so that now we can pass forward that savings.
11:12So you're not paying land cost as well as the build cost.
11:16Well, I was going to ask you how you're competing against the bigger players, right?
11:18The competitors, because you can't obviously do what they're doing.
11:21You're a smaller firm.
11:21Hopefully, maybe one day you will.
11:23But how do you compete in this big landscape when you have those D.R.
11:27ones?
11:27They're here in the East Coast.
11:28We have Toll Brothers, right?
11:29You know, there's a whole bunch of bigger players out there, some of them publicly listed, right?
11:33How are you, a smaller guy, competing against them?
11:35The good thing about being small is we get to be creative.
11:38And a lot of times, big builders are stuck in this kind of buy box, right, where they can only build this at this price point this way.
11:45We are way more nimble than that.
11:47So we're able to do creative deals with our partners, whether it's a city or a private landowner, to make deals pencil that otherwise big builders can't make pencil.
11:56We're also able to build more creatively in what the product is we give to the end buyer.
12:00So we're giving you a nicer house for what you're getting for the same price that you'd be paying from a big builder because it's not necessarily a master plan community.
12:08We're doing smaller communities.
12:10We're doing smaller parcels of land.
12:13We're building up vertically.
12:14We're giving people density.
12:16And a lot of the big builders are still doing a suburban sprawl model where you get, you know, a single family house in a master plan community or in a suburban community where you're outside the city center.
12:28You're not close to restaurants.
12:29You're not close to the bars or the employment centers.
12:33For us, we're building right in the heart of the city in areas where other builders don't necessarily want to be or can't navigate that space because it's not as easy as a cookie cutter suburban box.
12:45Yeah.
12:45We specialize in the non-cookie cutter, right?
12:48We specialize in the areas that otherwise would be overlooked because we know that's where the value is.
12:53And historically, especially inside the city, those are the areas where people saw value back in the 50s and back in the 60s.
13:01But over time, just got slowly divested.
13:04And now you're seeing people move back in the cities.
13:06You're seeing cities like Detroit and Baltimore, cities where people want to come back, but there's nothing for them to come back to.
13:13We're building the product for them to come back to.
13:16Yeah.
13:16Giving them a nicer product in that landscape, and we call it the Oasis Effect, where you come into one of our homes, you forget about your surroundings.
13:25You forget about what you're missing in that suburban community.
13:28That is our competitive advantage when it comes to the big builders.
13:31Yeah.
13:31If I get to a place where I do want to buy, right, why am I not going to another small developer, right?
13:37Why am I going to Park Street Homes?
13:38What's your sell?
13:38Because you get the same systems, precision, execution that you would get with a large builder from a small company, right?
13:48So for us, we're not a mom-and-pop builder.
13:51We still have an institutional approach to building because of our background corporatized.
13:56But we're giving you that same feel, that same service, that same quality that you would get with a small builder.
14:03Yeah, I love that.
14:03And in this era where, you know, personal communication results, personal touch when you walk into a store, right?
14:10You don't get it as much anymore.
14:11There's no greeters like that.
14:13You don't have it.
14:14So I love that when you say you're giving that personal touch that maybe the big guys ignore and you guys can kind of be a little bit more hands-on.
14:20That's the differentiator.
14:21Yeah.
14:22Because you can walk in a big box and get, you know, here off the shelf.
14:26But how do you get that personal service if you don't have somebody dedicated to give you that?
14:30Yeah.
14:30Well, take me deeper inside the housing sector and the real estate sector, man.
14:33I mean, what is the headwinds, some of the headwinds that you see and some of the tailwinds already that's, you know, over for the industry?
14:39I mean, of course, tariffs are on the top of everybody's mind.
14:41We're looking to see now that the dates are looming for or the dates have since kind of passed and gone back and forth about what tariffs are going to impact from a materials perspective.
14:51So we're always focusing on that.
14:54We're looking at land costs.
14:55Land costs is rapidly rising throughout the country.
14:58We're looking at the availability of actual materials, supply chain, right?
15:03We experienced that during COVID where costs skyrocketed.
15:06Continuously, we face these challenges.
15:08And for us, it's finding ways to navigate them within the markets that we serve.
15:13Yeah.
15:13But it's a regular challenge, and it's something that we're constantly focused on.
15:18How are you navigating as far as, especially with the materials, like, I mean, that's a big thing, right?
15:22The cost of steel, cost of wood.
15:24How are you navigating that?
15:25Because this impacts your bottom line, if I'm not mistaken, these materials you need to build.
15:29So we're automating where we can, right?
15:30We're buying in bulk where we can.
15:32We're working with our suppliers and our vendor partners and trade partners to stabilize costs so that we don't see those direct impact.
15:40And then we're planning ahead.
15:41So we know, okay, we're going to build 100 homes in 2026.
15:45We know in advance what we're doing, where we're building.
15:48So we want to make sure that we already have all of the materials, the supply chain, everything ordered in,
15:53so that we can take care of anything that would be a variance in that cost to still make our deals work.
15:58What's it like being a CEO of Park Street Homes, of a real estate development company?
16:02Like, how is that for you?
16:03Dynamic.
16:04It keeps me busy.
16:05A lot of late nights and early mornings.
16:07Yeah, a lot of late nights and early mornings, but like, does it take away from your life?
16:10You know, like, how do you navigate it?
16:12I love it.
16:12I'd say this is all I've wanted to do since I was 12 years old.
16:15So every day is an amazing day.
16:17And I get to work with my lovely wife, who's our chief growth officer, and we lead the company together.
16:23We have a dynamic board.
16:25We have some great strategic advisors.
16:27So for us, every new challenge gives us the opportunity to not only sharpen our skills, but also be creative in how we tackle them.
16:35I think, you know, this is the biggest house I'll ever build, right?
16:39So I get to enjoy that every day.
16:40It doesn't lead to more, like, home arguments when you're working with your wife at the office,
16:44and then things get carried over, like you get in the house and it leads to a bigger argument?
16:47Like, you know, it used to.
16:49We, before, when we first started the company, we were trying to establish what the roles were.
16:53And she was trying to sell, or I was trying to sell the houses, she was trying to build them.
16:57And it didn't really work.
16:58And once we found our roles in the business, and she's honestly the visionary behind everything.
17:03That's right.
17:03She had her house before you.
17:05She did.
17:05At age 25.
17:06At 22.
17:0722 and 25.
17:0822.
17:0922.
17:09That's even worse.
17:10She had it before you.
17:10She had her house at 22.
17:12And she knew what we could do and what we were capable of building.
17:16And really, it's my job to execute.
17:18So I focus on my job, and she focuses on casting the bigger vision.
17:22So she's the real Boston.
17:23She is the Boston.
17:23I was going to say, she should be up here on the show.
17:25She's actually...
17:25Get out of here, man.
17:26She's the chairwoman of our board, too.
17:27So she's everybody's boss.
17:29Yeah.
17:29Love it, man.
17:29Love it.
17:30Take me back, man, because you grew up in the Third Ward of Houston.
17:33Mm-hmm.
17:34What was that like for you?
17:35I've made plenty of trips to Houston before.
17:37Not necessarily in the Third Ward.
17:39Heard stories about the Third Ward.
17:40Listen to Fifth Ward juveniles, right?
17:43But I'm not in the Third Ward.
17:44But what was that like for you?
17:45Third Ward was a beautiful environment to grow up in.
17:48I would say I got the blessing of growing up in two environments.
17:53I got to grow up in Third Ward, and I got to grow up in River Oaks.
17:56River Oaks is the most affluent community in Houston, in Houston proper.
18:00And Third Ward is one of the historically black communities.
18:03So I got to see two sides of the coin.
18:05I got to see the economy and business and entrepreneurship on a very high level.
18:11And I got to see poverty, and I got to see struggle, and I got to see people working hard for every dollar.
18:16And that gave me a really nuanced view.
18:19And I got to walk out of one door and walk into another door every day.
18:23And it's a situation that it gives you a great perspective of life, but it also humbles you in a lot of ways.
18:29Take me back to that, Kevin, when your dad and you were in the car,
18:32and he was showing you all those mansions, and he said, you should be building that.
18:36My father's view was that was real life.
18:39So he used to walk me in the big houses and say, this is the only thing that matters.
18:44This is real life.
18:45And I caught the bug.
18:46And from 12 years old, I knew that building was the only thing that matters.
18:51And it's funny, I built hospitals at a portion of my career, and I used to take them to hospitals, and I'm building them.
18:56I'm like, hey, this is a $140 million hospital.
18:58And he'd be like, okay, but show me big houses.
19:01And until we started building houses, it didn't click for him that I was doing exactly what he showed me to do.
19:09What did you learn from your dad?
19:10So much, so much.
19:12You know, my father was truly a maverick.
19:15He was somebody who the world came to him.
19:19He wrote his own ticket.
19:20He was dyslexic, so he didn't have the ability to read or write well.
19:25And I saw him walk through the world in a lens that most people would never see.
19:31You know what I mean?
19:31Because he had to talk.
19:32He had to create conversation.
19:34He never met a stranger.
19:35He would walk up to anybody and strike up, and they would love him upon meeting him.
19:39And he gave me that same bravery.
19:41He gave me that ability to create my own opportunity.
19:45And I'll forever be grateful for that.
19:46And you graduated from Warren at the University of Houston.
19:49I did.
19:49University of Houston graduated from their construction management degree.
19:52I did.
19:52Spent 10 years in college, man.
19:54What were you doing all that time, man?
19:5510 years in college.
19:56But then you meet your wife, man, and you guys, you know, kind of start the business.
20:00But in college, as you're going through trying to figure it all out, what is your self-talk?
20:05What are you telling yourself about, all right, I got to get out of this.
20:08I got to, you know, graduate and make a decision and move on my career.
20:11What are you telling yourself?
20:12You know, I was never a great academic.
20:14I always had an amazing work ethic, so I built an amazing career.
20:17By the time I graduated, I was a project manager, which most of my peers were graduating and interning.
20:23So for me, work was always the focus.
20:27That wasn't necessarily a good thing, hence why I was in school 10 years.
20:30But I learned a lot of tenacity.
20:33Nobody kept me in school but myself.
20:34Nobody paid for that except for me.
20:36And it taught me to stay true to myself, to stick to it, to never quit.
20:43And that diehard feeling, that diehard go-getter attitude, I continue to hold to this day.
20:50That's why building this company has been such an amazing journey, and we're coming up on 10 years for Park Street.
20:55And I also would say, you know, I was a father very early.
20:59I was a father at 21, and that gave me a resilience and a responsibility.
21:05I call it traumatically responsible, right?
21:07It gave me such a core belief that not only can you do anything that you set your mind to,
21:14but the resources will provide themselves as you go forward.
21:16So if you build it, they will come, kind of mindset.
21:19Yeah, most definitely, man.
21:20And speaking of how you built it, you take me back into how you built your business, right?
21:24Because if I'm not mistaken, again, after your wife and you guys meet, you're moving with her,
21:28moved out of your apartment, give her all your money.
21:30Because you just said, look, she's better with the money than I am, right?
21:32So you give her all the money.
21:34And then you guys do the FHA, you know, situation.
21:37And, you know, how did you start Park Street Homes?
21:40Like, take me back to that first step, right?
21:42What did you do?
21:43How much did you need to invest?
21:44You know, she had a much better plan than I had.
21:47Now, I'll say not only owning our own house, but just being smart with her money.
21:52And growing up in my household, being smart with money was not something that I learned.
21:56Yeah.
21:57So when we got together, I was paying $1,350 a month in rent in an apartment in the east side of Houston.
22:03That was not the best.
22:05And she had a mortgage that was $700.
22:07And I said, hold on, you're doing something much different than I'm doing.
22:10So I might need to give you all my money.
22:12And that was the first thing I did.
22:14And we started working together and building something.
22:16We didn't know what it was when we first got started.
22:19In that first year of learning real estate and soaking up all the information, not only
22:25did we buy our next house for our family, but we were able to buy our first investment property.
22:30And from there, we started building the bones of what is Park Street today.
22:34So investing, renovating homes, buying rental property, and really growing the business that we see today.
22:41Yeah, well, that's step one, though.
22:42You also, what was noticed about your story is you took out two FHA loans, right?
22:47We did.
22:47Not married, but single, and you did that for a reason.
22:49Explain that, you know, the reason why you did that.
22:52When you're not married, you have the ability to each individually get your own FHA loan.
22:56So she had an FHA loan on her existing home, and then I leveraged my credit and capital to get an FHA loan, and then we got married.
23:05And what that gave us the ability to do is now you have two homes at the best rates at the time, as well as the best down payment.
23:12And then we leased out her home, and we moved into my home, and then eventually refinanced that home into a conventional mortgage and took money out, used that money to start investing.
23:21Used that money to buy our first flip property, used that to buy our next rental property, and then it kind of snowballed from there.
23:28So by the time we had built our business in a couple of years, we had almost 32 rental properties.
23:33Wow.
23:34Wow.
23:34That's incredible, man.
23:35I mean, when you talk about construction and real estate, you know, development, do you see a lot of black people in that particular field?
23:42If not, like, why do people need to maybe start looking that way?
23:45So, you know, real estate and construction is very capital intensive,
23:48so that's one of the reasons why you don't see as many of us involved in the space.
23:52But I also think it's a space that hasn't really been exposed to us.
23:57I got asked a question early in my career from a vice president of construction, and he asked me, he said,
24:02how do you recruit and retain African Americans in construction?
24:05And this is commercial construction.
24:07And I said, it's like a championship basketball game, and we're in the middle of the court while the game is going on,
24:12and we don't know we're in the court, we don't know we're in the stadium, we don't know the game is going on.
24:16So it's really exposure. It's talking to the next generation, letting them know there's opportunities in construction,
24:23there's opportunities in the trades, there's opportunities in real estate, and it's all around you.
24:28You know, real estate is everything from where we are now in Times Square and all the, you know,
24:32families that have owned a lot of these parcels of land since the beginning of New York,
24:36all the way to, you know, that house next door to you or the lot on the corner or, you know, that little fruit stand.
24:43All of those are real estate. And for us to grow as an economy and a people,
24:50we have to continue to participate in this ecosystem called real estate because America was founded on it.
24:55And if you go back post-slavery, what's the first thing we did post-slavery?
24:59We bought real estate. We started businesses and we bought real estate.
25:03And that is the vehicle that can help us get to bridging that gap economically.
25:08And you also, man, you have this great initiative. You know, I've spoken there again in Houston twice already
25:13with your Black Men Buy Houses, you know, event. People may look at that title and say,
25:18why does it have to be Black Men Buy Houses, right? I wanted you to explain why this means so much to you
25:23and your wife, Aisha, because again, when I went down there, I've seen you guys transform lives.
25:27I mean, I've seen you motivate a lot of young brothers, a lot of people just in general to come
25:32and maybe want to think about buying a house, think about getting into real estate.
25:35So I know the impact of your initiative, but why are you doing it? And why did you choose that name?
25:39You know, Black Men Buy Houses, it's not just a title. It's an action statement.
25:45It means Black men can buy houses. We should buy houses. We should participate in this economy.
25:50If you look historically, Black men are one of the lowest buying groups in the country, if not the lowest.
25:55And it really becomes a situation where we have to ask ourselves, are we doing what we said we need to do, right?
26:03If we want to bridge the wealth gap, if we want to participate, if we want our own piece of the American pie,
26:08are we stepping up to the plate to do that?
26:10And for us, we saw a lot of missed opportunities for Black men specifically because Black women are out buying Black men two to one.
26:17And we're seeing that disparity in the dating market. We're seeing that disparity in our families, in our pocketbooks every day.
26:23And even my personal story, I had the opportunity to buy my first home at 19.
26:29That house, it was $1,000 down. The house was $9,000.
26:33I needed a 580 credit score, and I needed the $1,000 down.
26:37And my aunt, who is a realtor at the time, brought that deal to me, and I was a contractor and everything.
26:43And she said, hey, you can live in this house, you can work on it, and you can, you know, live in it until you rent it out.
26:48And I couldn't figure it out. I couldn't figure out the $1,000. I didn't have the credit together to buy it, and I missed that opportunity.
26:55That house today is worth over $200,000, just the dirt.
26:59That's an economic disparity that's happening across our country, for Black men specifically, us not taking the opportunity to buy real estate.
27:08So when it was 11 years later and I bought my first house, that house today that I bought, it has $111,000 in equity in it today, in 11 years.
27:19So this is our chance to build something that we can then pass on to the next generation.
27:25We can use to pay for the kids to go to college or for us to start that business and take chances.
27:31But if we never start playing the game, we can never get the benefits of playing the game over time.
27:36Well, what would you tell that 19-year-old today that might be in the same position or situation as you?
27:39Well, what if you can't afford it? Like, what do you do when you come into these people who maybe they're scared because, again, they see these high interest rates,
27:46they see how much money it's going to cost, and, you know, they're scared to jump. Like, what would be your advice to them?
27:51So I'll say this. You miss every shot you don't take, right?
27:56I'll also say there are people surrounding you that you can ask for help. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
28:02When I was 19, I was afraid to ask for help. That same uncle and aunt, at the time, my uncle was waiting to help me, but I never asked.
28:10I just took it on myself and said, it's not something for me. I can't do it.
28:15So the reason we started Black Men Buy Houses is to have the conversation that we're not having as a community,
28:20to ask the questions that we're not asking our peer group.
28:24Me and my friends weren't talking about buying houses when I was 19.
28:27We might have been talking about cars. We might have been talking about ladies. We might have been talking about, you know, going out.
28:33We weren't having the conversation about real estate.
28:35Compared to Aisha and her friend group, we're talking about, hey, hey, girl, how do you buy that house?
28:41Okay, now let me show you. So when she bought her house, five of her friends went out and bought their own houses.
28:47Now, here we are 13 years later.
28:50They're all homeowners with tremendous amounts of wealth built in owning those houses.
28:54Compared to my friend group that didn't do the same thing.
28:58And now we're sitting 10 years, 15 years later with debt, you know, high car notes, things like that.
29:04And we didn't build that same wealth in the same time.
29:07Yeah, I love it, man. It's important that you're doing this initiative again.
29:10I love coming to talk to them and I saw the impact of the room.
29:13That's how you usually know if it's working.
29:14When you see the impact in the room, you see people asking questions and you guys didn't see it.
29:19But going up to asking, you know, even some of your guests that were there about if they found the event to be educational.
29:25And the answer was yes. And so, you know, you get it from your own, you know, consumers, your own people that are asking to come in.
29:30So it's an important initiative. I'm glad you continue to do it with Black Men Buy Houses.
29:34But look ahead and close time, man. Get you out of here on some fun stuff.
29:38Have you ever made a million dollars?
29:39I have made a million dollars.
29:40You have made a million dollars. Phenomenal. How'd you make it?
29:42So real estate.
29:44Real estate.
29:44Now, do I get to keep the million dollars is the question.
29:47Well, at least you made it, though, right? Some people have made it.
29:50I have made it.
29:50Made it through real estate.
29:51I would say this. Making the million dollars is great.
29:55Keeping the million dollars is more important.
29:57Well, the next one was going to say, how did you spend the million dollars?
30:00How did you spend it?
30:01We invested it back in real estate.
30:03Oh, that's no fun. Come on. You ain't spending on a nice car or something, man?
30:06No.
30:06No?
30:07No.
30:07At all? Your wife going to vacation? Nothing at all?
30:09I would say our best investment to date is Park Street Homes.
30:12Nice. Park Street Homes.
30:14Well, you made the million dollars. You didn't spend it like that.
30:17Well, I guess you're still having fun with it.
30:19When you look at the Houston real estate market in general, right, talk to that investor about why they should pick Houston, right?
30:26The latest Federal Reserve Beige book, which released in June, you know, just looking at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, which oversees Houston.
30:34Slow pace, right, and traffic and sales still, still.
30:38You mentioned affordability, tariff concerns.
30:40But then you have rising inventory and the incentives around it, right?
30:44Inventory levels, according to the Federal Reserve, are rising for both new and existing homes.
30:48Builders are, again, offering more incentive to close, putting more pressure on their margins.
30:53Why should someone choose Houston to maybe build or maybe go down and develop looking at what's going on in that particular part of the country?
31:00You know, I'd say Houston has amazing fundamentals as a city, right?
31:04Not only our population growth, but also just the hard industries that power the city.
31:09Back in the 80s, Houston was primarily oil and gas.
31:12Now we have really diversified industries.
31:15We have health care.
31:16We have other forms of energy.
31:18We have technology that are really powering the way for our population growth.
31:22I would also say we're looking at real estate in a microcosm, right?
31:27So we're saying, okay, in 2025, interest rates are high, costs are high.
31:30But if you project that out, if you look at 2035, if you look at 2045, where will real estate be and what will be the availability of housing?
31:38And if you look back historically, these are amazing prices, right?
31:43Because real estate is not something that they make more of every day.
31:47They don't make more land.
31:48So the reality of the situation is you're looking at something that you have the opportunity to buy today, and the opportunity tomorrow is not guaranteed, right?
31:57Opportunities are infinite, but they're not infinite opportunities.
32:00For you or any person looking to invest in a market, you look at what are the core drivers of the market?
32:08What are the core things keeping this market stable over time, which Texas is an amazing state to be in?
32:14It's an amazing state for business.
32:15It's an amazing state for landlords.
32:17It's an amazing state for homeowners.
32:19Also, you look at where's the future of this market going?
32:23And when I look at Houston's future, it's very bright.
32:25When I look at markets like Birmingham, the future is very bright.
32:28And I think in a lot of our urban cities that historically, again, have been divested over time, we're going to see a resurgence like we haven't seen in 60 years.
32:38Is it going to happen next year, man?
32:39Please.
32:40I need these prices to drop.
32:41We don't know.
32:42We don't know.
32:43I want to not be a trapped renter.
32:44So don't wait to buy real estate.
32:47Buy real estate and wait.
32:48Yeah, I love it.
32:49Wait for interest rates to come down and you can refinance and do all that good stuff.
32:52Maybe.
32:53And these interest rates are historically low compared to if you look at what real estate interest rates were.
32:56That's very true.
32:577% is nothing compared to the 18% they were paying back.
33:00When my parents bought a home, you know, interest rates were 13%, 14%.
33:03Keeping in context.
33:04Absolutely, man.
33:05Look around the world.
33:06We're just Kevin Shelton and Aisha Shelton.
33:08Got to keep your wife in there.
33:09What do they invest outside of the U.S.?
33:11What country is interesting?
33:13So we've looked at several countries in Africa, and I would say my wife was the first one to expose me to the continent and take me back there and really give me the opportunity to look at what the rest of the world is doing and where the emerging markets are.
33:30So if I'm going to put my money up, I'm going to put it on the continent.
33:34I'm going to put on their population growth.
33:35I'm going to put on the future of young people and where technology is really driving.
33:41So I'm going to invest in Africa.
33:42Yeah, I'll ask you this question because this is one of the first questions you asked your wife, right?
33:46What book are you reading right now to perform your best and inspire you?
33:50What book right now are you picking up and reading?
33:52There's an amazing book called Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill.
33:58It's one of my favorites, and I read it probably.
34:00Outwitting the Devil?
34:01Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill.
34:04I read this book maybe three times a year.
34:06And the reason I like this book is it's all about mindset.
34:10And in this book, Napoleon wrote this book in 50s, 60s, I want to say.
34:16The book wasn't released until 30 years after his death because they were so afraid of the topics in this book.
34:23And the topics spoken are as real today as they were when he originally wrote it.
34:28And it's amazing to see the correlations to everything we're going through now, and it gives a tremendous perspective.
34:34So you read the news, you look at the news, and you say, oh, my God, the world is crashing.
34:38Everything's going crazy.
34:40I shouldn't do anything.
34:41I should just hide in a hole.
34:42This book gives you perspective on the 20s and the 30s and the 40s so that you know this is just a part of the cycle of life, right, the cycle of the economy and all the things that our country regularly will go through.
34:57And it gives you great perspective so that you don't feel like you're in this once-in-a-lifetime tragedy or this once-in-a-lifetime struggle.
35:06It's just a part of the journey.
35:07And with difficulty comes opportunity.
35:10And I'd say that in real estate.
35:11I'd say that in business.
35:13There's tremendous difficulty, but it's also a lot of opportunity.
35:17Love that, man.
35:18Get you out of here on this, right?
35:19Jim Collins, his book, Good to Great, gets you out of here on the Good to Great question.
35:22What's the difference between a good real estate developer and a great one?
35:27In a market with so much technology, I'd say the difference between a good real estate developer and a great real estate developer
35:34is somebody who has a pulse on what the consumer is doing, what the customer is doing.
35:38Whoever super serves the customer going into the future will be the one that stands out because that's where the dollars go.
35:45And in a market where somebody could get virtually anything and everything's at your doorstep,
35:51the only way that you can separate yourself is by super serving your customer.
35:55I wish I fell in love with construction when I was 12.
35:58Could have been building houses right now, man, instead of sitting up here talking about it.
36:01And I would have made a million dollars and all that good stuff, too.
36:03So, you know, you got to keep it, though.
36:05I didn't get to keep it.
36:06Listen, you made it, though.
36:07You know, you made it.
36:09That's it.
36:09But I appreciate the time.
36:11Mr. Sheldon, Kevin Sheldon, man, thank you so much.
36:13Thank you so much for what you're doing as far as black men buy houses as well.
36:17Again, a very important initiative.
36:19Continuing that conversation going because, again, real estate, that is a quick path and probably the best path to generating wealth.
36:26So definitely appreciate the time.
36:27And Park Street Homes, got to come down and move to Houston, get y'all to build me a house.
36:30We might come up here.
36:31We might come up here.
36:32There you go.
36:33Build me a house for free.
36:34Right?
36:35For free.
36:35Right?
36:36We just talked about material costs.
36:38That's what I know.
36:39That's what I'm saying.
36:40We might have to wait until material costs goes down.
36:42Maybe these tariffs get out of there.
36:43Once they come down.
36:44Yeah, once they come down, we can talk.
36:45And I'm not talking about one of the model Barbie houses.
36:47I'm talking about a real house that I can move into.
36:50Right?
36:50We'll see what we can do.
36:50Yeah, I appreciate it.
36:51Kevin Sheldon, Park Street Homes.
36:53You're in the Enterprise Zone.
36:55Thanks so much for watching.
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