Not everyone can say they started a real estate career after retirement, but that’s what Tim Williams is trying to do. About a month ago, the longtime entrepreneur joined Halo Group Realty. So far things are going as good as he had hoped.
“Halo is a great company,” Williams said. “They are just a great group of people, and it kind of fits my mentality.”
Of course, saying Williams is new to real estate is a little misleading. Over the past three decades he’s built a successful business career with many professional and personal property deals under his belt. It all started when he opened a sporting goods store while still a student at Baylor. After realizing that wasn’t the business for him, he opened a restaurant in the small East Texas town of Brownsboro. Before long he had multiple restaurants.
“Then one day, I love playing golf, and I thought, ‘I wonder if I can buy a golf course?’” he recalled.
The answer was a resounding yes. He bought a course in the Houston area, which he ran for two decades. He later added several courses in his portfolio, including one he built Tyler. When he turned 50, he decided to retire. Only a few years later he started getting restless. That’s when friend Christi Weinstein suggested he give real estate a try.
“I thought, well, why not? It’s pretty exciting,” he said.
Weinstein and Williams have teamed up to form the W2 Team. They plan to focus much of their efforts on the M Streets and Lower Greenville. Since they both hail from Athens, Texas, the W2 Team will also actively seek out opportunities there.
Williams believes his experience negotiating residential and commercial property deals has given him the tools to help people. One of the most important lessons he’s learned is that falling in love with a property doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good idea to buy the property. According to him, if people are smart and patient, they can the home they want for the price they want with the potential to make money down the road.
“I think I can bring a different perspective,” he said. “People can build a lot of wealth through real estate, but they have to buy it right. If they don’t buy it right, they will never sell it right.”
Williams plans to donate a quarter of every commission he makes to organizations benefitting orphans and other children in disadvantaged situations. He’s now focused on fine-tuning his marketing efforts. At this point, his biggest challenge is simply being patient because the money doesn’t come rolling in on day one. However, as he told Weinstein during their initial conversations, he didn’t go into real estate to just be kind of good at it. He wants to be the best.
“I don’t believe in not being successful,” he said.
