Real estate broker. Rental agent. Property manager. Residential developer. Residential homebuilder. Commercial real estate developer and builder. Airport developer, builder and owner. Commercial pilot. Transportation councilmember.And that’s “since things have begun quieting down a bit,” says Vermont-based entrepreneur Bob North.
Lately he has begun excusing himself from various other civic and business activities. He’s a busy guy, you figure. And you’re right. He’s the consummate successful entrepreneur. But on a recent March afternoon, toward the end of a long conversation covering every imaginable business topic, when you ask Bob North about his greatest accomplishment, he grows quiet. “Family,” he finally says, almost whispering. “Margie and I have three children. They are all adults now and they are fine, fine people. We could not be prouder.” Looking back Talking with Bob North, you get a sense that he’s not a guy who leaves the house at nine, shuts off his family, clocks in at the office, checks out of there at six, and then returns home. With Bob, each of the threads — business, family, hobbies — weaves together into a single cloth.
The corporate life? Tried that. “Oh, man,” he says. “Right out of college, 1967, New Haven, Connecticut. I went to work for Atlantic Richfield Company — you remember them, ARCO. I got promoted to district manager and transferred to Virginia, then drove the Washington beltway for a couple of years.”And then Vermont called him home. “I always liked Vermont,” North says. “I got a job here selling real estate in 1973. We packed it all up — Margie, the three kids, two dogs, a cat, two station wagons. A couple of years later, a little house came on the market on Route 100. It cost $44,000. That’s a down payment today! I was going to list it, but instead we bought it, movedin and it became the headquarters for North Real Estate.”
He has come a long way. North Real Estate, the fourth real estate agency to open in West Dover, Vt., a small town in the shadow of Mount Snow, is now one agency among about 15 in the town. “And I guess we trained most of them,” North says. He employs seven or eight agents, and the office produces about $30 million in revenue a year. His building and development companies add about $3 million, and his rentalsadd another $1.5 million.
Business philosophy North, learned a long time ago the power of controlling your own inventory. “When a market’s hot, a couple of things can go wrong,” he says. “Your inventory of available homes can get so light that it limits how much business you can do. Or, prices can get so expensive that you can’t find enough of the right kind of buyers. It’s a problem with supply on one side and demand on the other.
“Both issues go away when you create your own inventory. You can better serve your buyer, instead of fighting just to sell whatever comes on the market.”
What is the market demanding these days? “Right now we are finishing the final phase of a new development near the West Dover airport, which has 50 homes and townhomes,” North reports. “Next we start developing Snow Vidda, with average prices of $650,000 to $700,000. We will build eight to 10 units a year there for about six or seven years.” North Real Estate subcontracts the design and framing to a company owned by Bob’s
daughter and son-in-law, North explains. “Margie and I started that little construction company in the 1970s. About 15 years ago, our daughter, Sharon, and her husband, Ken, took it over. They do everything from design to construction. Now their company (New England Timber Works) has customers all over the country.” In terms of style, the vast majority of the homes North builds are timber-frame design. “They’re beautiful and well-built,” he says. The construction and real estate businesses also fit well together. “We’re horizontally integrated,” North says. “We sell our own stuff.” North says he ran the West Dover airport in the mid 1970s and then bought it in 1980. “The airport itself has 26 acres. We took another 25 acres and used it for the new development. Also,my son is a commercial pilot and an instructor, so it fits real well.”
Life lessons When asked to name something that hasn’t worked, North grows quiet again. Finally it hits him. “Partridge Run,” he says. “We got in too deep in 1989. Then in 1990, the real estate market here went kerplunk. We had to sell it back to the bank. They, in turn, sold it to ourlawyer, which was really interesting because he came back to us and asked us to build it out, which we did. So, in a way, I guess that worked out, too.”
So what did North learn from Partridge Run? “Cash is king,” he says. “I had five homes I hadn’t sold and we were carrying the notes. When prices declined in 1990, suddenly a $180,000 house was selling for $120,000. The important thing is to have cash set aside so youcan weather those drops.” Bank relationship is key. North values his relationship with First Horizon, where he utilizes a First Resource Line of Credit, First Deposit Plus, a construction line of credit, and business and personal accounts. “It’s not easy to deal with most banks on these issues,” North says, referring to construction financing.
“When we met Paul Lamonica, we talked about a project and he really seemed to have an understanding of the builder’s needs. Then I found out he used to be a builder himself! “And Pat McGuiness, I cannot say enough about her. She seems to be thinking about us all the time. Sometimes she calls me and tells me about a deal she made that was to my benefit.” For Bob North, his business successes are great, but they are not the point. “Margie and I have raised three kids, and now they are raising their kids. That’s what’s rewarding,” he says. “It’s easy to build buildings and make money. But we’ve got three great kids.” So how would the consummate family man and entrepreneur sum up his business philosophy? “I’ve never felt that looking over my shoulder would pay dividends,” North says. “I try not to compare myself to others. We do our own thing. If someone else wants to copy us, fine. I’d rather have them chasing me.”