Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Hassenstab.
Jason, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born into construction. My father started his own concrete construction company in Omaha, NE when I was 4 years old. Hassenstab Concrete still exists and is thriving today. I went to work with my dad every chance I got and became a Civil Engineer for a Fortune 500 General Contractor, named Kiewit. I worked for Kiewit for over 13 years on various multi-million dollar projects building water treatment plants, freeways, transit systems, etc. before I took a huge leap of faith, following in my father’s footsteps, and started my own company, Guideway Investment Partners, with my girlfriend of 14 years, Misty Flanagan. In Nov. 2016, Guideway Investment Partners was born in Austin, TX.
My grandparents on both sides of my family did very well in real estate investing and I educated myself for many years on the topic and knew this was always going to be a future path for Misty and I. Real estate investing full-time came a bit sooner than we both expected but neither of us have looked back since. Using my skills in construction, Civil Engineering, and Project Management and Misty’s skills in marketing, business, and Human Resources, Guideway Investment Partners tackled residential flips and pursued new development in the commercial market in Austin for about 1 year. And then Hurricane Harvey hit Houston. We looked at this as an opportunity to grow our business and help people, so we decided over the phone, during Harvey, when I was in Hawaii presenting on self-storage investing and Misty was in Austin holding down the fort, to pick up and move to Houston. People thought we were crazy but a month later we called Houston our new home and could not wait to jump in full force. Misty’s focus is on the residential market, primarily helping flooded homeowners get out of their flooded homes and into non-flooded homes using a variety of strategies and my focus is on managing the construction of our residential flips and new builds and also on building our commercial presence in Houston. Guideway Investment Partners has a variety of active residential and commercial projects currently happening and we are excited and honored to help rebuild Houston after Harvey. We are ready to take on more projects and grow our network and presence here in Houston in 2018.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Building something from scratch is never easy. Misty and I picked Austin because the real estate market was very strong and booming, but we had only visited Austin once before we moved there. We didn’t have the network we had with Kiewit when we lived in California for over 10 years and Hawaii for almost 3 years. We had to start from scratch with everything. Fortunately, both of us are very sociable and love talking to people so networking and building a massive contact list came very easily and very quickly, and before we knew it we were in their first flip just a few months after Guideway Investment Partners was created. Because Austin was such a strong market, that was, in fact, booming like crazy, the competition in the world of real estate investing was a force to be reckoned with.
Finding projects and getting our marketing to stand out was no easy task, but we refused to give up. Because the residential market was so saturated, I began to focus more on commercial opportunities. This is where my true passion and expertise are anyway, so it was a path I was very eager and happy to venture down. Going from having very generous salaried positions and getting weekly paychecks to not really knowing exactly when we would get “paid” was and still is a huge transition for us. But the joy of building something for us, by us, makes it all worthwhile. We work pretty much all day everyday at this moment, but we both know it will lead to a future of financial freedom and success, and we are absolutely on board with that.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Guideway Investment Partners story. Tell us more about the business.
Guideway Investment Partners has projects in both residential and commercial markets. We prefer to tackle flips, multi-family, and new development, but are open to all opportunities. My extensive background, experience, and expertise in construction, Civil Engineering, and Project Management is what helps us stand out among other real estate investors. I have met so many investors that don’t know the first thing about dealing with construction or contractors so I have been trying to educate my fellow peers along the way and am also able to offer a valuable partnership to those lacking in those skills. Misty’s experience in marketing and Human Resources helps our marketing stand out and aides in our conversations with distressed sellers (flooded homeowners, those going through foreclosure, probate, divorce, etc). One of Guideway Investment Partners biggest accomplishments was our 6-day flip. Misty won the property via online auction, which is very difficult to do for investors because most properties go for retail value at auctions and investors don’t/won’t/can’t pay retail unless it’s a killer deal. Once rehab begun, it was completed in 6 days and we had a full ask offer only a few short hours after being on the market.
We left the property on the market for a few days to see if other offers would come in and we settled on an over ask all cash offer. Some of the pics provided are of that flip.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
We don’t believe in luck. We believe in hard work. We both started working at very young ages, we always strive for something better for ourselves than what our parents had, and know that hard work will always pay off in the end.
We can account for those qualities being instilled in the both of us from being raised in the Midwest and most importantly, from having amazing and extremely hardworking parents. We each worked anywhere from 60 hrs (on a good week) to 100 hrs per week for Kiewit. Believe it or not, we work even more hrs for our own company now because we know that’s what it will take to build the successful career, business, and life that we wish to achieve.
“Work” isn’t “work” anymore. It’s our future. And we couldn’t be happier and more excited to build that future and see where it takes us.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 512-788-9270
- Email: jason@guidewayinvestmentpartners.com; misty@guidewayinvestmentpartners.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/guidewayinvestmentpartners/
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