Revolutionizing the home renovation industry may be AnotherStory
Posted On February 15, 2023
“Build a better mouse trap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” It’s a phrase commonly attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson and, while his exact words were a little different, the point holds: Everybody’s looking for the next big thing – if it works. The world may be soon beating a path to Ben Strout’s door in Birmingham. Strout, an architect and contractor, doesn’t build mouse traps. He and his company, AnotherStory, renovate houses, and they’ve found a better way to do it. “AnotherStory is really an answer to an age-old question that people didn’t even know… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, Podcast, Real Estate, What's Working with Cam Marston
Harnessing the power of an inter-generational workplace
Posted On September 21, 2022
I have long been an advocate of Baby Boomer and Generation X CEOs and managers not only listening to their millennial employees, but learning from them and giving them an active role in the decision-making process. The unique perspectives and skills of millennials are valuable in today’s workplace and can help a business ensure it is reaching the younger segments of the marketplace in the most effective ways. In the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” I spoke with someone who has taken that mindset a step further. Tanya Hart Little met Allison Johnston Frizzo while serving as… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Blog, Entrepreneurship, Generation Y / Millennials, Generations, Podcast, Real Estate, What's Working with Cam Marston, Workplace
How Dr. David Bronner rebuilt Alabama’s retirement system, and its image
Posted On July 14, 2022
Dr. David Bronner wasn’t the first choice to lead the Retirement Systems of Alabama when the job was last open back in 1973. He wasn’t the second or third choice. He wasn’t even the 100th choice. But he was the right choice. Bronner, who grew up in Minnesota before coming to Alabama for law school, ended up running the state’s retirement system because neither of the two most powerful men in the state at that time – Gov. George Wallace and Paul Hubbert, then head of the Alabama Education Association – knew who he was. And therefore, after about 160… Read More
Categories: Advertising, Blog, Financial Services, Podcast, Real Estate, Succession Planning, What's Working with Cam Marston
One way to survive lean times: Keeping your operation lean
Posted On February 26, 2019
When the housing market crashed in 2008, Mobile builder Rogers & Willard found themselves in the same situation as pretty much every other construction company in America. After the crash, the company limped through 2009 on only a third of the revenue it had enjoyed in 2008. Times were lean. But fortunately for Rogers & Willard, “lean” is something with which it was already familiar. Our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Rogers & Willard president Mike Rogers says the company survived those tough years by keeping its operation lean as a matter of principle,… Read More
Categories: Entrepreneurship, Real Estate, Recession Economy, What's Working with Cam Marston, Work
The fall of the golf course community and rise of the … agrihood?
Posted On January 30, 2019
The good news for the real estate market is that millennial home-buying has slowly been trending upward since 2017. If you live in a golf course community and was hoping that’d help your property values, however, the news maybe isn’t so good. According to the Wall Street Journal, millennials are shunning such communities because they “are not interested in golf,” leaving property values along the fairways sliding. That’s got older generations who bought up such properties as their own little slice of paradise trying to blast their way out of the bunker in some areas of the country. So if… Read More
Categories: Blog, Generation Y / Millennials, Home Ownership, Real Estate
How Long Does Your Generation Shop for Homes?
Posted On October 11, 2016
(Special Blog today comes courtesy of Zillow who researches generational trends on their users and homebuyers across the market place.) By Jennifer Riner Every generation offers specific trends, habits and lifestyles that sets them apart from their predecessors. Much like Generation X differs from their Baby Boomer elders, Generation Y thinks outside of the box when it comes to finding their perfect homes. A recent Zillow survey conducted by Ipsos of 2,010 American adults revealed how home and mortgage shopping trends differ across age groups. Regardless of generation, the average American spends 26 hours finding their perfect place and just… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Generations, Real Estate
Top Cities for Millennials to Live Alone
Posted On September 7, 2016
(Today’s blog courtesy of Zillow.com. Thanks to Zillow for reaching out and offering this info. Good stuff.) By Jennifer Riner Less than 9 percent of Millennials live solo these days – a portion of the population that’s been in decline for the past few years. Because of unaffordable rents and rising home prices, a vast number of young people opt to live with family or friends to cut housing costs that might otherwise send them into the red zone. Between 2000 and 2013, the percentage of 23- to 34-year-olds living with family increased 46 percent. The no. 1 place… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Home Ownership, Real EstateGen X: The Foreclosure Generation
Posted On January 15, 2013
A new study by the St. Louis Fed takes a look at the housing crisis, particularly foreclosures, and finds a mixture of predatory lending and household overreach to blame. The hardest-hit demographic has been Generation X and, according to the Fed, Xers share some of the blame. Generation X has been the most likely to be foreclosed but also the most likely to have overreached. The median age of a foreclosed homeowner is 44. The least likely to be foreclosed: Boomers with a median age of 52. The most surprising finding of the study, though, is that many Xers overreached… Read More
Categories: Home Ownership, Real Estate, Recession EconomyRE/MAX Western Canada – Real Estate Sales Recap
Posted On February 24, 2012
Click on title above to see my recap from a recent conference in Victoria, Canada on how to appeal to different generations of home buyers. Enjoy!
Categories: Home Ownership, Real Estate, Training IndustryMillennials Slow to Form Households
Posted On May 9, 2012
Millennials have always been slow to reach the milestones of adulthood. As more of them become adults, the age of first marriage and the age of first-time home buying has steadily crept up. Now, the recession has slowed them down even more as they struggle to find jobs and become financially independent. And that is hampering the housing recovery, according to an analysis by the Washington Post. Census data shows that the recession has slowed the rate of formation of new households by 50%, leaving at least 2 million homes unoccupied that might have normally been inhabited (about two thirds… Read More
Categories: Home Ownership, Real Estate, Recession Economy, Training Industry