Today we’d like to introduce you to Alvin Hope Johnson.
Alvin, before we jump into specific questions about the organization, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started in the Real Estate industry in 1982 as a painter’s helper and progressed to be a Paint Contractor and later on a General Contractor. In 1996 I was introduced to the Mortgage business because I was getting so many home owners loans for their remodel jobs, that me and a friend opened my first Mortgage Banking firm, Wholesale Lending Exchange, Inc. After working in that field for 11 years, I formed our first Non-Profit Organization, Near Town and Associates, for the purposes of providing homeowner education, grants for first time home buyers and etc.
In 2008, I got an opportunity to volunteer for a Non-Profit organization that owned 16,000+ units of apartments and that totally changed my view point on Affordable Housing. After 13 months of volunteering, on a high level, with the executive teams, finance teams, property level managers and etc., the founder died and I was asked to step in as interim President. So, from volunteering to President of a $1.5B organization. After two years, a dissolution plan was put in place and I was set free.
I was given an opportunity to have a Board of Directors put in place of what is now Hope Housing Foundation and redirect the organization towards the original mission of providing Affordable Housing, So I accepted the challenge of being the President and we proceeded to become an apartment development organization, with an emphasis on providing Affordable Housing to Workforce families and Economically Challenged families and individuals across America. Today our portfolio exceeds over 400o units of Affordable Housing that we have been a part of developing and currently own over $150M in assets.
Today, Hope Housing Foundation is our umbrella organization that owns and operates the apartment communities. We have another entity that we utilize to syndicate Partnership opportunities with Accredited Investors. The Multifamily Monopoly Group is an education arm I use to teach and coach others in real-estate and how they can do what we have done with little to no experience in the industry.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
NO! But it is and has been worth it. Most of the struggles we have had has been with access to Capital. The barrier of entry in to the multifamily apartment industry is high. Most developments are in the multimillion-dollar price range. So, when we started, I didn’t have any money, bad credit from bad decisions in my personal life, no experience in purchasing these kinds of deals and minimal experience in operating them. BUT I understood the financing from my mortgage experience, I understood the renovation of the units and costs from my construction background and I understood people.
So, the next thing to do was convince some investors that my collective experience was enough to make a go of it, and we have. We continue to look for more investors that want to “Do Good while Doing Good”. I have coined that phrase because we have the ability to generate substantial returns for our investors while fulfilling the common goal of uplifting others, stabilizing communities and empowering families to live their best life.
Please tell us about the organization.
Our company is Hope Housing Foundation. We are a multifamily apartment development organization that specializes in purchasing distressed or mismanaged apartment communities and deploying millions in capital in to the development that enhances the communities, the lives of the residents and generates a substantial return on the investments of time and money. We are best known for doing this in underserved communities and providing housing where our residents “Get to Live instead of Have to Live”.
I’m most proud of the team of people that have come along side me in this endeavor, some of which are no longer with us and those that are still with us. It has taken a Village to do this and we are just getting started. I believe the thing that sets us apart is the fact that we focus on the people side of the industry. We KNOW, that if we do the Best, we can do for the residents of the communities we serve, then EVERYTHING we set out to do will be accomplished.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Fishing with my Dad is one of the best memories I have of him and childhood. He wasn’t around much after my 11th birthday but that was the thing that came to mind when I read the question. The most prominent memory from childhood was when I was about nine and got hit in the eye with a baseball while playing 1st base. I immediately quit the team, jumped on my bike and ran home crying. The reason that is so relevant to me every day is because I QUIT and my parents let me quit. That set the tone for so many other areas of my life that I quit on, because it was tough. Now a days, I DONT QUIT.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3900 S. Stonebridge Dr. Ste.304
McKinney, TX. 75070 - Website: www.hopehousingfoundation.org
- Phone: 214-842-8075 X 203
- Email: alvin@372hope.org
- Instagram: @alvinhopejohnson
- Facebook: @alvinhopejohnson
- Twitter: @alvin918
- Other: www.alvinhopejohnson.com
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