Real Estate and Opportunities for Commercial Development: The interesting aspect of Andrew’s real estate career is that he was born and raised in Eastern Pennsylvania near Philadelphia (ask him if he grew up near Doylestown). While at Pitt Business, he started to see potential in Pittsburgh’s real estate market, which has led him to build a large portfolio of apartment buildings and commercial properties in the North Side, the South Hills, Moon Township (near the airport) and the West End (among others). Given what you know about local real estate in an area that you are familiar with, which specific neighborhoods would you target for your portfolio (i.e. what is the commercial potential?)
If I had a lot of money to purchase real estate with, I would purchase as many condos as I possibly could in my local neighborhood, Seven Fields. It is in Cranberry Township, and it has been growing at an amazing pace. They are constantly building new homes and condos due to the constantly increasing demand. For example, there is currently a condominium complex being built about two minutes away from my house. I would purchase every single one of those houses and list them above the market price since they would ultimately be purchased because of the intense development located in Cranberry Township.
The Social Impact of Real Estate: In addition to the commercial opportunities in the Pittsburgh real estate market, Andrew also emphasizes that real estate has tremendous potential to generate a positive social impact by supporting a stock of good quality apartments at affordable prices – with an emphasis on supporting financial literacy among his tenants. Based on the area you wrote about above, which neighborhoods that you know of could benefit from this combination of good quality apartments with reasonable rent (plus an attention to financial literacy)?
New Castle could absolutely use good quality apartments as well as financial education. For my graduation project, I job shadowed the Lawrence County Public Administration, Joe Venasco, and he told me about how the federal government has been sending Puerto Rican families to New Castle. There is now a problem since there is not enough quality housing in New Castle, also pairing this issue with the fact that they have no financial literacy. If this style of housing was implemented in New Castle, it could potentially revitalize the area to help with the shortage of housing, as well as jumpstart some economic activity to help restore New Castle to the former economic powerhouse it was.
Other Examples Like This?: Based on your review of real estate as an area for opportunities in commercial development and social impact, how do you see real estate being relevant in the work you want to do in the future?
In the future, hopefully I am a certified public account who makes a lot of money. However, whether or not real estate is directly involved with my job, I am extremely interested in the subject. Therefore, I will always be looking into investment opportunities in real estate, and if no one else has invested in the New Castle market, I will 100% be investing in that sector. If done correctly, I feel it has potential to become a better place to live in. The only problem is that currently there are no investors who want to put their time in New Castle. In my opinion, if you invested in real estate in New Castle by basing it off Andrew Reichert’s model, it has not only the potential to be extremely profitable, but it also has the potential to bring education, happiness, and closure to families struggling to make ends meet.