Have you seen The Big Short? The movie, based on a book by Michael Lewis, gives a fast-paced, entertaining look at the real estate crash of the mid-2000’s. It discusses the role big banks played in the crash and how the financial house of cards they were building came tumbling down in the end. The movie is deservedly getting award nominations and is certainly worth the admission price to see it.
Leaving the movie, it is hard not to think about all of the everyday people that were caught up in the crisis. So many homes were lost and neighborhoods destroyed. Some states were impacted far more severely than Missouri, and were left with ghost towns of new and vacant homes where people just walked away from their upside down mortgages. So many families were made homeless and had to find a way to start again. And so much of it was caused by greed and corruption. Those same big banks that caused the crisis were gone from those communities as they were dealing with the aftermath.
FasterHouse was in business during this time. Fortunately, Bryan Schroeder, the owner of FasterHouse, was paying attention to the market trends and saw the issues arising soon enough to minimalize the impact. The company was able to weather the lean years and keep the doors open. Now, 14 years after the company was formed, it is thriving and provides a livelihood for a good number of employees and their families. One of the principles of our success is keeping it local.
“We still operate in many ways on old fashioned business practices,” said Schroeder. “We do all of our banking with three small, local banks and I know each of their leaders on a first name basis. I chose them because I trust their business philosophy and they trust the work I am doing with FasterHouse. Many of our suppliers and vendors are St Louis, family-owned companies, and I know they provide good products that we can use in our properties at a fair price.”
Schroeder continues, “Some of our competitors operate nationally and have franchises in many large metropolitan cities. That kind of big business isn’t my style. I like doing business within my community, employing people who live in this community, and investing in the successful future of this same community. That is how I was raised and it is how I will continue to operate.”
When a St. Louis metro area family has a home to sell and they want to do it quickly, they call FasterHouse. FasterHouse makes them a cash offer to buy the house and will close without any inspections, repairs or commissions. The deals are always as-is. We will even buy it with contents still in the house. Whatever makes the process easier for the seller is what we try to do. And we will close as quickly as the seller likes.
Then we put our crews to work rehabbing the house. What once might have been an outdated house in the neighborhood now becomes a bright and beautiful home ready for a new family. Our end goal is to make an impact in each neighborhood and each community so it is just a little bit better when our work is done than it was before we arrived.
If you have a home to sell and would like to sell it to a company with hometown roots, give FasterHouse a call at 314-926-0660 or fill out this form
