What if real estate development could do more than just build structures—it could transform entire communities?
In this episode of the Exit Strategies Radio Show, Corwyn J. Melette sits down with Marcus Thomas, a faith-driven affordable housing developer and founding member of Christopher Alexander Holdings. Marcus shares insights into creating sustainable housing for middle and lower-class Americans, emphasizing public-private partnerships and community impact. Marcus shares how his journey from social work to real estate development has been driven by a mission to serve others, and how purpose-driven development can foster community pride and create wealth-building opportunities for underserved populations.
In this inspiring conversation, Marcus dives deep into the intricacies of real estate development, revealing how it’s not just about the buildings, but the lasting impact on the lives of the people within those communities.
Tune in to hear how faith, empathy, and strategic planning shape Marcus’s approach to development and how he’s making a difference one project at a time.
Key Takeaways:
- 3:15 Real Estate Development 101– Understand the essential steps in real estate development, from idea to implementation, and the importance of time management.
- 11:42 Empathy in Development– Learn how focusing on the community’s needs can drive more meaningful projects and create lasting change.
- 19:30 The Power of Purpose– Explore how real estate development rooted in faith and service can lead to wealth creation and transform neighborhoods.
Connect with Marcus@:
- Email Address: mthomas@CAHBM.com
- Website: www.CAHBM.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcust10/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamking_10/
Connect with Corwyn @:
- Contact Number: 843-619-3005
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmelette/
Shoutout to our Sponsor: EXIT Realty Lowcountry Group
Do you want something more? More Meaningful Moments opportunities, deeper relationships and memorable experiences? Do you want to make a difference? If you say YES, a career and real estate could be the opportunity you’re looking for guiding people to one of the most important decisions they ever made, the purchase or sale of their home can be both rewarding and lucrative.
EXIT Realty has a revolutionary compensation model training and technology that provides you with the tools you need to start and build your successful real estate career. Call EXIT Realty Lowcountry group today at 843-619-3005 that is 843-619-3005 or visit https://exitlowcountry.com/joinexit and make your Exit today.
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/corwyn-j-melette/support
CORWYN:
Do you want something more? More meaningful moments, opportunities, deeper relationships, and memorable experiences? Do you want to make a difference? If you said yes to any of that, a career in real estate could be the opportunity you’re looking for. Guiding people through one of the most important decisions they ever made. The purchase or sale of their home can be both rewarding and lucrative. Exit Realty’s revolutionary compensation model, training, and technology provides you with the tools you need to start and build your successful real estate career. Call Exit Realty Lowcountry Group today at 843-619-3005, that’s 843-619-3005 or visit join.exitlowcountry.com and make your exit today.
Good morning, good morning, and great morning, guys. Welcome to another fabulous episode of Exit Strategy’s Radio Show. Hey, I am your host, Corwyn J. Melette, broker and owner, Exit Realty Low Country Group in beautiful North Charleston, South Carolina. Hey, if this is your first time listening to this show, hey, y’all know for those who’ve been tuning in, our mission is very simple. That is to empower our community through financial literacy and real estate education. Guys, we are legacy building over here. That is what we do. As I always say, put the hashtag on that thing when you make it happen, not just for you, but for generations yet to come. I want to give a quick shout out to our loyal listeners that listen to us faithfully in North Charleston area, Hollywood, what you know no good, and all the way out there in Monkey’s Corner. Y’all know my mama live out there around the bend. So, look here. I love y’all as always. And, guys, we have a fabulous show set for today. I am super excited to have this gentleman with us today. We always talk about, we always encourage, we always are focused on how to create, how to build, how to make all these things happen. But on occasion, we are so fortunate that we get someone who’s put it all together and is making a difference and changing lives. That’s what this thing here fundamentally is all about. We want to increase wealth within our community, but most importantly, we want to be a catalyst and a motivation to others to do the same. So, today, I’m so fortunate to have with us none other than Marcus Thomas. So, let me give you a snippet on him. Before we get into this, one, hold on. Turn the grits off. Okay? Turn the grits off. Don’t, because they’re going to burn, because you’re going to be listening to what he’s saying. So, turn them grits off, get you a pen and paper, and get back to this radio. Get back to this show, and let’s tune in and make sure that we’re getting this good information. So, Marcus is a developer. I love that word. He creates things. He makes things happen. He is founder, founding member of Christopher Alexander Holdings, guys. He is an affordable housing developer, guy after my own heart, which I love saying that. Workforce housing, attainable housing, all those terms all rolled into one, and I’m super excited for this conversation. So, Marcus, with no further ado, how are you doing today, my guy?
MARCUS:
Hey, I was doing good until I got on here, and I’m doing so much better now.
CORWYN:
But look here. Look here. We’re going to make it work from turn off the grits, because, you know, you can’t get that stuff right. I know you’re up a little bit further north. You might do cream of wheat.
MARCUS:
No, no, listen. My grandmother is from good old Alabama. Grits is something that we had on a daily or weekly basis. And so, for you to say, hey, turn those grits off, man, you didn’t set the bar very, very high.
CORWYN:
I love it. I love it. So, Marcus, thousand foot or whatever foot view you want to give our listeners today, tell them about you, who you are, what you do, and why you do it.
MARCUS:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, first and foremost, thank you for extending an invite to allow me to be on your show today. I’d like to start there. All right. Very simple. I’m a man that is a faith driven man, family driven. And when we talk about this thing called development, there’s so many different layers to it. And I think we’ll probably touch on that as we continue throughout the show today. But the reality is this. I’m someone that always wanted to do something impactful, just didn’t necessarily know how to. There’s a combination of when you have a dream, right, and you have opportunity, but you also have a little bit of faith. Those things will come by. Talk about the grits, right? All these different ingredients really make grandma’s grits amazing. I always wanted to do something impactful, just didn’t necessarily know how to. And throughout my journey, a little bit of some luck came my way. Someone saw something in me that I didn’t necessarily see at the time and really set the path for me as it relates to being in development. And so fast forward, as a developer, specifically focusing on workforce housing, our main niche is public-private partnerships. And we will talk about that a little bit as we go on, what that’s all about. Reality is my end goal is to work in transitional neighborhoods, Black and Brown, minority-based communities, and really transform them in a way to not only create more economic gain, but also create more meaningful projects, impactful projects for the community.
CORWYN:
So if you don’t mind, Marcus, give our listeners an idea. As a matter of fact, let me ask you this. Let me back up and maybe lay this foundation a little bit different. So we’re going to build us a house today. So let me lay this foundation a little bit differently. Your definition of workforce, attainable, affordable housing, whatever connotation, whatever word you put to it, define that, if you don’t mind, for our listeners. What does that mean?
MARCUS:
Workforce housing is another way of pretty much looking within a certain district, a certain community, and following guidelines that allow for Americans in middle-class or lower-class neighborhoods to be able to pay for rent or pay for homes within a very reasonable price point. Some people call it area median income. We like to call that AMI. And so workforce housing is this umbrella that has a few different components to it. But ultimately, the goal is to create sustainable housing that is reasonably priced for the average person or lower class.
CORWYN:
So sustainability, and give me your play on it, but I’m going to give you mine first. So sustainability, you want a neighborhood. When you create housing in a neighborhood, you want to be able to visit that neighborhood in 10, 15, whatever number of years and see that the neighborhood is still thriving, that it’s not declined. When I think sustainability, as we talk about these types of endeavors, that’s what I’m thinking. Is that along the lines that you are? What does it mean for you?
MARCUS:
I think you nailed it. Sustainability is to create a product that is world class, but also moves a community forward in a positive direction.
CORWYN:
So let’s try to see if we got the founders. Let’s see if we can get to a floor and a baseline here. Now, you guys with your group, you guys are doing projects throughout Delaware. Are you further than that?
MARCUS:
Yeah. Our main focus is Delaware. And the reason why is I’m from Delaware, as you made mention. The neighborhoods that I’ve had a chance to be a part of, I believe that I had the opportunity to be a part of a community. For example, in the summertime, I could be down the street doing something I’m not supposed to be doing. And I get perspective from the neighbor about, hey, listen, I’m going to tell your grandma more. I’m going to tell your mom. And then make that phone call back home to my mother and tell them like, hey, I just saw Marcus. He’s supposed to be home when the lights come on. So I had a chance to be part of a community. And as years went on, you started to see and understand blight. You understood economics. And you also understood just the infrastructure of how housing and the supply is. The goal was to plant the flag in the hometown of where I grew up. And it was just my way of paying it forward.
CORWYN:
So essentially, you say that from where I’m originally from, small town, rural area, I get back. I live elsewhere, but I still serve that home area to give people what I’m able to give others elsewhere that they may or may not be getting. So I can appreciate that. So you guys create housing. So you’re creating units individually for sale, but you’re also creating rentals. Is that correct? Am I incorrect on that?
MARCUS:
No, you’re absolutely correct. is also working through rentals, but also in our pipeline for sales, first-time homebuyers, or just homebuyers in general.
CORWYN:
So currently, you guys are managing and running, I say running, but managing what, a little over 2,000 or over 2,000 units currently, correct?
MARCUS:
Yeah, so cumulatively, we’ve had the opportunity within our team structure to have the ability to have about 2,000 units under our management.
CORWYN:
That is impressive. Obviously, 2,000 units, that’s quite a book of business, quite a large portfolio. My notes tell me that you guys have been, have under management over, or nearly $900 million in volume, if you will, currently. So let’s get back, because I think we got a good base here, right? So let’s get back and let’s work on some walls. So public-private partnerships, that’s hard. First, let’s define what that means. For some of our listeners, because on occasion, we do have people that are in nonprofit organizations. We have people that are in the public sector, et cetera. We have people, obviously, privately that all either invest or seek investment opportunities. But oftentimes, there’s not collaboration across those bands or those silos, if you will. Everyone operates in a silo. But what has been what you see? First, define it. Let’s define what that looks like. But number two, where do you find and see the most challenging challenges as far as being successful in those types of partnerships?
MARCUS:
Such a great question. Just to keep it real simple, public-private partnerships is when a government entity will, and use a really good word, collaborate, will collaborate with a private entity to do some type of collaboration, whether it be on various different assets. In this case, for us, it’s real estate. And how does a company grow? There’s something called arbitrage, where first and foremost, you figure out what’s important to the government entity. And that could be your local government and working with them to assist with whatever challenges they might face, especially when it relates to housing. And then you work through it together to come up with some type of partnership.
CORWYN:
Okay. Now, what do you find, that second part of that question, the greatest challenges in that?
MARCUS:
Yeah, there’s quite a few. The first one is understanding time. Okay. You laugh because I’m pretty sure you understand, you know, time. You know, when you look at development, and I was just having this conversation not too long ago, most people see the end result and really don’t understand the in-between that takes place, or even the beginning stages. And so sometimes the biggest challenge is working through your idea and seeing the various different stages of it before you even put a shovel to dirt. And that could be many different faces that you’re working with, and also understanding your state and also understanding your city. These aren’t deals that are brought to you from a brokerage or brought to you from a realtor. These are deals that you’re creating from scratch. And it takes a lot of thought and consideration and just understanding some of the complexities that you might face through some of the questions that might be posed in front of you. Because you’re ultimately trying to find an end result and a goal to help community thrive. That’s just one.
CORWYN:
So, you know, one of the things that you started with there from a real estate perspective, and I’m going to take an opportunity here to probably put some insulation in the wall here in a moment. But one of the things from real estate with us, in our mind, in our teaching, time is of the essence. Like, as soon as you, let’s get it done as fast as you can get it done, right? But government don’t work that way. So, I’m going to take something though, but this is where I’m going to put that insulation in the wall. Because I want to give our listeners a little bit of context about you that I didn’t hear you share a little earlier. Because you went from being in social work to real estate, correct?
MARCUS:
You are correct.
CORWYN:
So, that means, look here, so my wife is a social worker. She’s a licensed, soon to be clinical. And she says social work has to call you. People talk about everyone or whatever, but people are heavy. You know, but what I see and what I hear from you, Marcus, is that you have taken that care and that empathy for people and maneuver that over to serve them in a more holistic way. Does that make sense?
MARCUS:
Yeah, it does. And I’m flattered the way that you just poetically said that. Because, you know, sometimes when you’re doing the work, there’s no one that’s going to applaud you. All right. And so, for you to say that, thank you.
CORWYN:
They think you do it for the money. That’s what they think. They always think you do it for the money, not understanding that there’s an undercurrent, there’s an underlying reason as to why. I imagine, and I only know why I got this, but I’m going to give it to you real quick here. My imagination says that, because I know in social work, there’s some hard stuff in there. And seeing people in that particular, in those spaces, is difficult. However, when you see them come out, when we run up and down aisles at the church, when you see them come through, when you get over yonder, when you see that happen, it’s life changing for you and it’s impactful for you as a person. This is how you help people win. You’re creating housing for them and helping them win. So I just stuffed the insulation in the wall. We got the walls up because now we warm now because we know that this comes from a place of love. That’s why you do this. So kudos to you and thank you for that.
MARCUS:
And I want to be clear too, we’re community first driven. We also believe in economics, right? I’m a big time fan of Dr. Claude Anderson, and he talks about very high level when it relates to the community, black communities in particular, how to create economic gain and how to do it in a way that gives people a chance. To me, real estate is probably the top layer of the fastest way. And when I say fast, let me quotations because it’s not fast to build wealth. Everyone deserves a chance to build wealth for us as a company. Yes, we are building wealth, right? We also have operating expenses that folks don’t understand that relates to building. Just because you see me and as a developer and you think that, hey, he’s a wealthy guy. Listen, I’m wealthy internally, but there are several layers to running a development firm.
CORWYN:
So you said something early in the show, I think at the very beginning about being faith-based. The word scripture tells us to do everything as if we’re doing it unto the Lord. You’re building houses for his people. That’s a ministry. If people miss that, it’s a ministry, right? So I don’t want to get too far in the weeds and I don’t want nobody to forget they had to grit something sitting on the stove. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
MARCUS:
And I appreciate you talking about social work. I didn’t know how we were going to tie that in.
CORWYN:
Look here, bro, I don’t miss too much now. I might not say a lot, but I don’t miss too much. Because I understand I’m a fan of, and I say fan, but Simon Sinek, start with why, right? That TED Talk, man, when I’ve seen it, it was life changing, so to speak, because it gave a perspective and a different approach to success. It lined it up differently than what we all operate from. Why you do a particular thing is going, to be frank, it’s the foundation, the basis, if you will, of success. Why you do a particular thing, and the reason why you do this is why you’re successful. It ain’t because you want to make money, because it ain’t what, it ain’t how you do it. It’s the why. It’s the why. That’s what gets you out of bed every day to say, you know what, man, I pass whoever sitting out here on the side of the road, on the street, what have you. Look, I love to create some housing so that I can have an impact on them and their family and give them some encouragement and motivation for generations yet to come. That’s what I hear from you. That’s what I feel from you. So, anyway, not to get too far into the weeds. So, Marcus, tell our listeners, this is why I got up today to do it. That story. Who was it? What situation that you guys were able to play a role in helping to change someone’s life? Give us one of those.
MARCUS:
I mean, I’ll take it a step further. I don’t, there’s so many different individual conversations, but I think one of the most profound examples is when you go to civic association meetings. And most times when you go to those meetings, people already have their guards up. Where we are today is in a chair where if I do go into a meeting, most people say thank you. Most people will say to myself, and it really is not just a kudos to me. It’s really the folks that have locked in with the vision of what we’re doing here. When you go down a certain corridor and you see the homeowner across the street who typically wouldn’t do anything with their curb appeal is now changing the front facade of their buildings. We like to call them capital expenditures, which are big ticket items, and they’re repairing them because they are taking pride in their community.
CORWYN:
So you’ve watched, you’ve been a catalyst as well in the transformation of community. You have redefined, I imagine along with that, you’ve also redefined community for some people. Is that fair?
MARCUS:
I’m even lost for words because yes, we’ll say that’s fair.
CORWYN:
Yeah. So I love that because community is different now. Marcus, the generation I come from and possibly the one that you come from as well, the way community interacted and how people did and took care of each other is different than the period that we went through with no one was engaged and involved with anyone. And now we’re getting back to a sense of community, smaller spaces or more common area spaces where people can mingle, gather, otherwise commune, which is the core word, if you will, of community where people can engage and be together. And for you to be an instrument in that, I think that’s huge. I think that’s awesome. And I appreciate the things that you do. So I’m going to come out. First of all, before I get to this, what I sometimes refer to as the mic drop question, I’m going to ask you to share your contact information because we may have someone who wants to know how to or wants to engage with you, wants to follow you guys as you guys continue to transform your area. How can people get in contact with you? Where can they reach you?
MARCUS:
Well, because it’s you, I’m going to give them my direct email. I love it. So it’s mthomas.cahbm.com. And what I will tell your listeners is this. If you have a question, do not hesitate. I will get back to you and I will give you an answer. And even if I don’t know the answer, I will find a way to get your answer. You know why? Because somebody bleeped in me many years ago. And when I had a question, they answered it because they answered it. It has my trajectory has changed. That’s the first thing, right? That’s my email. Our website is www.cahbm.com. You can also find me on LinkedIn at Marcus Thomas. And also via Instagram, iamking_10.
CORWYN:
Uh-huh. I love it. I love it. So I’m on the website. So for our listeners, guys, this portfolio and the opportunities and stuff, y’all doing some stuff, man. And so I tell folks all the time, keep going. Sometimes we get in the muck and the mire. I actually made a post about this recently. So the stress, the pressure, and how heavy people are. And oftentimes you don’t have anyone to talk to. Don’t have anyone to talk to, except him, who you always should be talking to. But somebody’s got to pour back in. Who gives to the giver? So I want to say to you, I want to encourage you, and I want to tell you to keep going. If he woke you up, that means he got purpose for you today. That means your work ain’t done. So keep going. Thank you. All right. So look here. I call this one here, that might drop question. And this is very interesting because it is that question that we all could answer if we knew better. You know, Drake said that thing, if you knew better, you’d do better. So it is that question. Hindsight. If you could go back to the beginning, meaning whatever point in time in the past, knowing what you know now, what would you have done either differently or what would you have done sooner that you think would have had your company much further along today?
MARCUS:
Man, a couple of things. Number one, do not be afraid to think big. Your limited beliefs will only get you so far. Think big. It is obtainable. I promise you it’s obtainable. You just got to get around people that are doing it. My second thing is transparency. If you want to be in this space, you should be transparent with anybody that deals with you on a day to day. And that means family. Development is not easy. The Internet might say something different, but it is not easy. It has ebbs and flows and it takes years sometimes for a development project to be completed. Sometimes it can take three to five years. So you should have a very transparent conversation with your family, letting them know what the expectation is and what this could possibly look like for you. And so another thing that I would say is do not be afraid to fail. Everyone has a different chapter. Someone might be young. Someone might be old. But what I believe failure is like a keloid on the body. You will always remember it and it will get you to be better. Right. That’s how you evolve. And the last thing that I would say to myself is two things. Number one, understand risk. Try to look at risk from various different layers. You’re looking at a project. You might look at a proforma one way, but it’s OK to look at it four or five, six different ways, because real estate is just like a season. It can have different things. You can have construction delays. Right. You can have vendor issues. You can have if you’re working in historical, you might be paused for a moment. There is different ways to look at it, but ultimately that will help you. And my last thing is every problem is an opportunity to find a solution.
CORWYN:
I love that. I love all that. Marcus, one thing that I’d say to people when it’s time to encourage them is sometimes things do look larger. I’ve never said this before in my life. So this is all new material. But do with it what you will for our listeners as well. When I was a kid, a Big Mac seemed like one of the biggest sandwiches there was. But when I got older and as I’m bigger, Big Mac ain’t a big sandwich anymore. You know what I’m saying? Things change based upon your view, your perception. And later in life or later, it may look differently, as you said. But I also know and again, I love the fact. Thank you so much for giving this opening. Our God is bigger than everything. So I always like to tell people like when they’re facing going into whatever, you know whose you are, what you believe, who you belong to. So that automatically makes everything small things to a giant because you’re a giant in everything that you do because of whose you are. So for you, you are a giant in this space. Look it in. No Jack in the Beanstalk around here. You are the giant. So go be what you are. Go do that. So Marcus, I want to thank you so much for being on with us today. I want to thank you for sharing your insight, your wisdom, most importantly, your knowledge and to be frank, your heart here today. So again, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule and being on the show with us.
MARCUS:
Thank you for having me.
CORWYN:
So for our listeners, guys, look, y’all got it. Y’all can go back to them grits now. Put some eggs and bacon with it. A little cheese. And y’all making it to a good meal. So for our listeners, y’all know how I feel. Y’all know what I say. I know it’s put the two of those things together and I give it to you this way, which is to tell you that I love you. I love you. I love you. We gon see you guys out there in those streets.