Why This Luxury Home Builder Chases Freedom Instead of More Money

Carl Dean (00:00)
I think stress is the biggest killer. Think it ages you faster than anything else. And I think some people put themselves through, you know, a lot of unneeded stress. And I’ve seen it, right? Like with my father-in-law, how stressful his job can be and how rewarding it is financially, but at the same time, it’s like, I don’t really want to sign up for that trade-off. You know, I’ve got buddies in my fantasy football chat that are former ballplayers and they’re— they were literally just on a vacation with the Walton family who owns Walmart. And he said they don’t care anything at all about money. They care about— you know, people who have all the money, all they care about is free time. All they care about is freedom, their time. That is the biggest asset for them.

Meghan Escobar (02:05)
Hey everyone. Welcome to Real Estate Pros Podcast, hosted by Investor Fuel. I am your host, Meghan Escobar, and today I am joined by a special guest that I actually have been looking forward to chatting with. Yeah, he’s been making some serious, serious moves in the full-service, high-quality home building sector. And really, really excited to have you here. And I think our listeners are going to take something away from the way that you’re approaching things. So let’s dive in. First off, for those listening in and may not be familiar with your world, give us a 30,000-foot view of what your main focus is these days and what markets you’re operating in.

Carl Dean (02:46)
Yeah, my name is Carl Dean. I’ve been in real estate and construction about 25 years. Currently, my focus is custom home building. So we’re here based out of Southlake, Texas. It’s kind of like a little honeypot market of luxury custom homes. And so that’s kind of our focus. We build anywhere from 2 million to $6 million homes, both spec homes or client builds, you name it. But that’s pretty much our main focus these days.

Meghan Escobar (03:08)
Perfect. All right. And what caught my attention about what you doing and how you’re doing it in our short interview prior to this was the way that you’re approaching this is to really create quality relationships and build quality homes versus making multiple deals, right? So that’s not an easy thing to do in this climate, right? Like, a lot of people just wanna go where the money is, just constant like movement. And it sounds like that’s not really where you are.

Carl Dean (03:41)
No, I mean, I’ve never been somebody whose money-focused, you know. I don’t chase money. I chase freedom. And that’s always been my thing, right? I’ve got two young kids. They’re three— I got three-year-old twins. And you know, my priority is to have enough free time to be able to spend with them. So, you know, for me, it’s better to stay lean. I’ve had businesses where it’s gotten big and it’s gotten, you know, 30 staff members and it’s just a nightmare to manage and HR and all the things. And so I try not to spread myself too thin these days. You— I try to focus on building a good quality brand, something that will be around in 20, 30 years that I can hand off to my kids and something that I can be proud of and something that I enjoy. Honestly, I don’t want to work 24/7 pulling my hair out, doing so many deals that it just like— it becomes stressful. So I really try to limit my stress. 42— almost 42, I’m 41. Can’t believe I just told myself I was older. You know, I try to… there you go. We’re still young. We’re still young. Life is just starting. So…

Meghan Escobar (04:28)
Forty-two last week.

Carl Dean (04:32)
You know, just try to, at this point in my life, just try to manage my stress and just keep the deals. I mean, deal flow is good. The money’s good. It’s just, you know, I’ve got enough where I don’t need to get greedy and get over-complicated.

Meghan Escobar (04:43)
You said two powerful words there in— in— in that explanation, and thank you, it was great. But what I wanna hone in on is freedom. I think a lot of people in today’s world, no matter what industry or what career they’re in, freedom, and then managing stress. Talk to me about how those two things go hand in hand and what they mean to you.

Carl Dean (05:04)
I mean, everything, honestly. Think stress is the biggest killer. Think it ages you faster than anything else. And I think some people put themselves through, you know, a lot of unneeded stress. And I’ve seen it, right? Like with my father-in-law, how stressful his job can be and how rewarding it is financially, but at the same time, it’s like, I don’t really want to sign up for that trade-off. You know, I’ve got buddies in my fantasy football chat that are former ballplayers and they’re— they were literally just on a vacation with the Walton family who owns Walmart. And he said they don’t care anything at all about money. They care about— you know, people who have all the money, all they care about is free time. All they care about is freedom, their time. That is the biggest asset for them. It’s like, they got it figured out, you know? There’s a lot of things that you could do to put yourself through more stress and work all night and tirelessly. And I did it in my twenties and early thirties, you know, because I was trying to build. But now it’s like when you have kids and you have a family, it’s like, “Okay, let’s even out the scales, right?” I don’t want to be— you— if it’s a difference between making $5 million this year and $25 million this year, but I get to see my kids 50% less, it’s just not— it’s not gonna work for me. You know what I mean? Gotta focus on what’s really important in life.

Meghan Escobar (06:54)
And that’s different for everybody. And absolutely. Absolutely. And like you said, at the younger ages, that was where you were. And so as you’re more leveled and experienced in— in the— in this world, it’s what’s important to you. Thank you. Thank you for explaining that. And every entrepreneur and operator I know has a moment where things got real for them throughout their journey, if you will. And maybe that’s a deal that’s gone sideways or a time that you just had to pivot really fast. Do you mind, Carl, sharing one of those moments for you?

Carl Dean (07:22)
Yeah. So when I came down to Texas, I was a partner in a company called American Real Estate Investments and we were selling turnkey rental products. So we would buy, renovate, put a tenant in them, and then sell them to hedge funds or different groups. And I remember we were doing like 30 houses a month. I mean, 300 houses a year, we were killing it. And it was, you know, that was when we had 30 employees, it was like a huge operation. And then all of a sudden, we had bought and sold so many rental properties in South Dallas that, you know, slowly over like a six-month period, the numbers just didn’t make sense anymore. There was no more meat on the bone because we were selling, they were reporting those values. And then, you know, once the values are reported, now we go to buy new inventory and it’s pushing up those values on the buy side. So that just wasn’t feasible. Sizeably, my partners were like, “Hey, we’re going to pivot and we’re going to go into property management.” And I wanted nothing to do with that— again, more employees, more stress. So I pivoted hard and I actually moved to Belize for a year to work with a friend of mine on a development down there. And, you know, it really was a good breath of fresh air, but it was a hard pivot. I mean, I took a buyout and said, “You know what, I’m just gonna walk away from this.” Just immediately, the hedge funds without notification— we had 30, 40 homes on the books and they just said, “We’re not buying this anymore. You know, the product doesn’t make sense anymore.” So it was a hard pivot, you know.

Meghan Escobar (08:34)
Yeah. Yeah. And you know, that’s the kind of stuff that most folks don’t talk about enough, honestly. I mean, we talked a little bit about social media and— you know, we live in this society where it’s highlight everything, all the good things and the screenshots and the fancy toys, right? And nobody talks about what the work going on behind getting to that success looks like, and they think it’s all about sharing views and clicks and likes. Truly.

Carl Dean (09:00)
I see a change in that, though. I’m starting to see a shift where more of the vulnerability is becoming more, you know— the authenticity and the vulnerability and those stories are becoming more sought after, right? Like, people are getting a little bit burnt out on like the flashy like, “My god, look at me, I can make you rich” thing versus like, “Hey, look, let me tell you a story where I lost 400 grand last year because I made a mistake that I didn’t see coming.” Those hard lessons learned are honestly the best content in my mind that you can really absorb.

Meghan Escobar (09:27)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. I— I— I can’t agree more. And it also is what separates those who are here to just dabble and get a couple deals on their hand and— and put some extra money in their pocket versus the ones who are in the game long term. And exactly. 15 plus years experience. I think that says a lot about your character, Carl. Yeah. And we— we touched— didn’t touch on this, but— well, maybe we did a little bit, but—

Carl Dean (09:46)
John’s crying, I’m—

Meghan Escobar (09:55)
Wanna dive deeper into this? Where are you focused on scaling next? Like, what’s the next real big goal for you guys?

Carl Dean (10:36)
Really, it’s like North DFW. You know, anywhere between Dallas and Fort Worth, and obviously the further you go north, the better, but our primary focus is called the mid-cities. So it’s like Southlake, Colleyville, Argyle, you know, those kinds of areas there, Trophy Club a little bit, some Grapevine stuff. And then we’re kind of pushing out, right? We’re going a little bit north of Argyle, Northlake, Justin, those kinds of areas. We’re really just focused on good school districts and where everybody’s moving, right? There’s a lot of people moving to this area. There’s a lot of big corporations that have moved to this area recently. So, you know, we’re really just trying to kind of, you know, ride those coattails.

Meghan Escobar (11:10)
Love that for you guys. And you know, that sounds like it could be a huge opportunity and help compound things for you to the next level, or maybe create chaos depending on, you know, how it’s played. So a lot of our listeners are either very early on their journey when it comes to real estate, whether they’re becoming agents, investors, builders, whatever— whatever level, or they’ve been in the game for quite a while and they’re looking to level up different ways.

Carl Dean (11:22)
We’ll see, we’ll see.

Meghan Escobar (11:38)
But one thing I think they might benefit from is when it comes to building relationships, and this is something we talked about early on— being in the right rooms, making the right connections, growing your network. What’s made the biggest difference for you?

Carl Dean (11:50)
Wow. This is going to sound weird, you know. So throughout my building career, I’ve been able to build a lot of really nice houses for a lot of— a lot of very successful people. And I’ve become friends with a lot of those guys, and as crazy as it sounds— I mean, I’ve done all the networking stuff and obviously there’s value in that, but we— you know, I have a fantasy football group. That’s a— a high-dollar fantasy football group. And we have invited all these, you know, previous clients and entrepreneurs and ballplayers and whatnot. And it’s all business owners. And we stay in touch year-round, and it’s been going for several years now. And I mean, these guys will take us on private jets to golf courses and introduce us to new investors. And it’s all organic. The more organic I feel like you can make the networking these days, the better. You kind of stand out more. You know, joining a local private wine club or, you know, cigar club or something like that. I think there’s a lot of value in the organicness of some of those interactions.

Meghan Escobar (12:44)
That’s a great perspective because I think a lot of people just— and again, you mentioned you’ve done the networking stuff early on in— in your journey and it is— is it’s obviously powerful. But I think a lot of people think, “I need to get into the— the specifics of the industry.” And so what you’re saying is: think outside of the box a little bit and just get into bigger rooms. Is— is— am I right?

Carl Dean (13:07)
Yeah, I mean, again, and maybe it’s because I’m seasoned, right? Like when I was younger, I was trying to get into more of those rooms where you’re wearing the name badge and you’re learning from other people kind of doing what you want to do. And that’s great. And that’s obviously everybody needs to do that. But once you kind of figure out what you’re trying to chase down and how to— and you know how to do that, you know, what— what kind of deals you’re looking at and that sort of thing, then you really just want to elevate the type of people you’re around. You know what I mean? That’s— it’s— even if it costs you, you know, $10,000 a year to join Cattlemen’s Club in Fort Worth or whatever, like being in those rooms and having those organic connections and becoming a familiar face is really, really super powerful. And it’s a slow play, right? Because it is organic and it is genuine. If they don’t like you, they don’t talk to you. So it’s, you— you become slowly kind of friends with some of these guys. And I think that those are the heaviest hitters to have kind of in your circle.

Meghan Escobar (13:55)
Yeah. And that— there’s a— there’s a term that I have heard over and over again, or saying, if you will: “your network is your net worth.” How do you feel about that?

Carl Dean (14:07)
I do agree. I mean, there’s— there’s, you know, obviously I know people that go against that stereotype, but you know, I do heavily agree with that. It’s like, you know, you’re— you’re going to things that are normal to you now, and then you go hang out with people who are making millions and millions and billions of dollars. The things that become normal to you then are going to elevate you as a person. My business partner came from Michigan. We’re both from Michigan. He came down almost three years ago. And when he first got down here, he couldn’t believe just how much money there was in the market and how people would buy a three, $4 million house cash. And you’ve never seen any of that stuff before. And it’s become so normal to him now that he’s elevated his own status and what’s acceptable in his life. And, you know, everything between finances and fitness. I mean, it’s, you know, it definitely is a powerful thing.

Meghan Escobar (15:33)
Yeah,Core absolutely. And it— it’s something that can’t be faked.

Carl Dean (15:36)
No, absolutely not. And again, honestly, most of these circles, they sniff that out right away. So if you’re fake nice, that’s— you know what I mean? That it’s not the same as the badges and going to the networking events. It’s definitely more— they’re looking at you a little different.

Meghan Escobar (15:48)
Yeah, yeah. And relationships are truly everything in this space. There’s a lot of businesses out there that you know you— you can get by with selling a product. But when it comes to real estate, I mean, it’s a relationship business. It doesn’t run without the connections and the people behind it. So, perfect. Thank you so much. And before we wrap, you know, if somebody wanted to reach out to you, Carl, and connect with you… maybe collab with you in your high frequency, or just learn more about what you guys are doing, what would be the best way for someone to connect or reach you?

Carl Dean (16:21)
I mean, I’m big on Instagram. So I’ve got an Instagram, carl.dean. We’ve got DFW Custom Home Builder (dfwcustomhomebuilder) on there as well. And then obviously our website— so Dean & Co Homes(deancohomes.com) is our website. You can shoot me an email, [email protected].

Meghan Escobar (16:40)
Okay. Perfect. Well, listen, I appreciate your time, your story, and your perspective. So at the end of the day, we need more people in this space who are doing things the right way. And I— I think— I think people resonate with that the most— just the authenticity and the passion that— that shines through. And you did that very well. So thank you again for being here. And for those of you who are tuning in, if you did get any value from this, please be sure to subscribe. We’ve got more conversations coming in with entrepreneurs, just like Carl Dean here, who are out here building real businesses in real time with real people. See you on the next episode.