What Started Was Simple—The Purchase of a House
Hi, this is Bill again. I started Stewardship Properties by purchasing and remodeling a home in Eugene, Oregon near the University of Oregon. This was no small feat for me at the time because in the early ‘80’s I tried my hand at real estate in Portland and failed. I even considered writing a book entitled, How NOT to Invest in Real Estate.
But Things Began to Turn Around After moving to Eugene in 1986 my hiatus from real estate investment lasted three years. During that time I read some real estate books that gave me a new approach which included a more professional, team-oriented mind set. So I got up the nerve to try again. Then, after the first purchase came another house, and another, then a small apartment complex and another, until I had accumulated a sizable real estate portfolio.
Why the name Stewardship Properties?
It was not quite as clear back in 1989, but even when the business consisted of one house and me, I wanted to see something larger happen than just myself making money. The name stewardship comes from the perspective that we are all “just passing through this life.” While passing through, it is appropriate to consider ourselves not so much owners, but as "asset managers". There is a passage in the Psalms that says, The Lord owns cattle on a thousand hills. This leaves no doubt as to who owns all the real estate as well! A good steward is someone who takes on the task of managing well what has been entrusted to him or her. For more background on us, see Our Mission & Us.
December of 2004—The Paradigm Shift My wife Teresa and I took a vacation and, as usual, I ended up reading business books and thinking about Stewardship’s future. I’ll spare you the details, but during my reading on this particular trip I was struck by the challenge Jim Collin gives in his book, Built To Last—to build an enduringly great company. Stewardship had just past the 15-year mark—we had created a strong property management, construction and maintenance division—but I was still the only real estate investor in the company. What would it be like to get serious about passing on what I know about the subject to others, and then to build a strong network of real estate investors? This paradigm shift led to the idea of providing a real estate internship experience for eager college students.
Our 2005 and 2006 Summer Internship Programs During the summers of 2005 and 2006 a total of 16 students participated in an internship. Theses students, from the University of Oregon and Oregon State University, divided their time between classroom-type learning, exposure to real estate professionals, finding properties, negotiating with sellers, helping out with property management, and getting their hands dirty with our construction crews. This internship experience gave students real-world experience and groomed them as real estate investors in their own right. For more background on those experiences click here.
2007 and 2008—Two Partnerships Get Formed The interns came first, than the “returns,” and on January 1, 2007 Stewardship created two partnerships with independently run offices in Salem and Eugene. The territories divided along Oregon’s 503/971 area codes— Northern Oregon, and the 541 area code—Central and Southern Oregon. These two initial locations focused on five Oregon counties—Marion, Polk, Linn, Benton and Lane—with a population of over 870,000. We have now moved up to the Portland area which has more than doubled our target population.
In all of our growth we have sought to focus not only on working IN the business of real estate investing but, even more importantly, we have continued to work ON the business of successful real estate investing—developing the critical systems that help insure profitability.
2009 and Beyond While our partnerships continue to expand within Oregon, we are now ready to move beyond this one state. The next step is a BIG ONE and that is licensing the name of Stewardship Properties to other real estate investors throughout the
country and beyond. Beginning with a handful of investors, we hope to multiply into hundreds of Stewardship Associate Partners who create an incredibly successful brand name that is widely recognized and used as a service to people who have various kinds of real estate needs.
Is This Opportunity For You?
We are looking for people with integrity and the determined passion to become skilled real estate investors. For the right people there are few risks and many rewards. To consider whether this opportunity is for you, please continue checking out this website and then fill out the application.
