Southwest Properties Makes ‘Opportunistic’ Its Watchword

NATIONAL REAL ESTATE INVESTOR

In a real estate climate that’s becoming more institutional, Southwest Properties Group, Inc. is rolling with the punches and coming up a winner.
By: Jim Mitchell, Contributing Editor

(Excerpted)
Being able to react quickly to changing market conditions and take advantage of investment opportunities that present themselves is the goal of most real estate pros but, for Clifford Booth, CEO and President, and the other principals at Southwest Properties Group, Inc. in Dallas, it is a business philosophy.

And it is one that is paying off in terms of growth and success for the firm, which boasts the acquisition of some 21 properties during the last three years representing more than 1 million sq. ft. in downtown Big D, as well as development and renovation of a substantial array of properties in several other cities and states.

….. Looking ahead, Booth is positive of the direction he wants the company to take, and “opportunistic” is the watchword.

“We were investing in multi-tenant, light industrial, and we saw that as opportunistic. We are buying downtown buildings because we see that as opportunistic. And we are development now, as compared to investing before, because that is where we see the market going,” Booth says. “We are positioning ourselves as a company through outsourcing, through the kind of staff that we have here, through the capital structure that we use, to be able to take advantage of where we see the market.”

“I guess I see that as what I want to encourage us to continue to do and to, hopefully, identify niches,” Booth says. “Because we’re an entrepreneurial company and not an institution responsible to a board of directors, we can move quickly and act upon ideas in a quick way as we see fit. I think those are definite advantages in a business that’s becoming institutionalized.”