Where First-Time Homeowners Are Treated Like Family

In a storefront office on one side of a leafy town square in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, good things are happening for first-time homeowners — or anyone interested in building a new home.

Rob Todd Construction is a family business that spans four generations. And if its current success is any indication, a fifth generation — owner Rob Todd has an 11-year-old son, Noah, whose baseball glove can often be found in the office — is also a distinct possibility.

“He’s a fine son. I want this business to be available to him, but I want him to follow his own path,” Todd told LifeZette.

Robb Todd Construction is enjoying the benefits of increased consumer confidence in the wake of President Donald Trump’s election. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) was at its highest point last month since June 2005, according to the website of Consumer Affairs. The HMI, a measure of builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes, shot up six points last month to a healthy level of 71.

“Builders are buoyed by President Trump’s actions on regulatory reform,” NAHB Chairman Granger MacDonald told Consumer Affairs.

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For Todd and his team, quality is what makes their homes stand out. Just last month alone, they had 16 single-family houses under construction — and under contract.

“We trying to create something at $150,000 to $175,000 so that families can own their own homes,” said Todd. “It’s the American dream. If they’re willing to travel 20 minutes from town, a $170,000 price point has them spending less [money] than [if they were] renting a one- or-two-bedroom apartment here in Murfreesboro. That’s our market.”

“That house was bought by 22-year-old kids just out of college. That was great.”

Todd said if customers are willing to commute, his firm can build them a quality home in neighboring Camden County for an affordable $70,000 or less.

At age 37, Todd understands the younger market. “It’s important to me to provide options,” he told LifeZette. “I remember getting started when I was younger and trying to save money, we’re talking years, for a down payment. By the time I would get to a threshold I had set for myself, it was not enough anymore.”

His goal is to solve that problem for others. “Instead of families and young couples putting off home ownership until their late 20s or early 30s, we’re trying to take the reverse look from many builders in the area,” Todd said. “We are creating high-quality, lower-priced products in underdeveloped areas, to try and help those kids get started. If I were building it for my own family, this is how I would build it.”

Of a recent house he worked on, he said, “It was bought by 22-year-old kids just out of college. That was great to us.”

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The small company looks at quality before any other consideration in the building process. “We want to offer a house that structurally is the top of the line, as sound as we can get it. The things we strip out to hit these lower price points are the minor things — things that can easily be changed over the course of time. The structure is key.”

“This is going to be a family’s first home,” realtor Sarah Chambliss, who works with Rob Todd in marketing their properties, told LifeZette. “That’s why such care is taken with the materials, the finishes, and how the house sits on the lot. They aren’t hard to sell when the quality is this good.”

Todd once worked as a horse trainer but soon joined the family business — his mother, Jan, is still an active principal in the business. His great-grandfather was a livestock trader who started selling land with his son, Todd’s father, when the Tennessee Valley Authority reached the area.

Todd’s company is building 10 of its 16 homes in rolling countryside 20 minutes from Murfreesboro in the small town of Woodbury, Todd’s hometown. “We need to overcome some hurdles, but we are investing in growing that community. We need some things to draw people there — it’s a bedroom community of Murfreesboro and always will be. We need great restaurants. I think that will come. And if the city council and the county commissioner would make a few [pro-growth] changes, Woodbury could grow up overnight.”

For Rob Todd Construction, working with the local community is a source of pride. “We offer homes to all realtors, all mortgage lenders. We want everyone here to win. It’s good for the community.”

Todd is seeing people become more anxious to buy homes as a result of a growing economy. “It appears there is more consumer confidence. Take Rutherford County. The east side should have 80 to 100 properties available to purchase, but recently there were only 27 available. It is supply and demand.”

Realtor Chambliss concurred. “A day or two or three on the market, and a home here in Murfreesboro is gone.”

Todd offers a generous warranty on each home. “We want [the buyers] to have a warranty,” he emphasized. “We offer our own two-year warranty. Then we offer another 10 years through an independent warranty service.”

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Todd said his employees are like family. “In our own family business, we always ate Sunday dinner together, even after dealing with each other all week. Maybe we’d have a fight and then make up,” he added with a laugh. “We’d be hard at work together on Monday. Here in my company, we try to all have a meal together once a week.”

The old-fashioned value of hard work trumps education every time, as far as Todd is concerned. “Two of the most successful people I have met were not well-educated,” he said. “One had a fourth-grade education; one had an eighth-grade education. But they worked hard and provided for those they loved, giving them a secure financial future. That’s what it’s all about.”

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For Chambliss, the moment when she hands over the key to a family or a young couple entering their first home together is a tremendous source of pride. “That’s a wonderful moment,” she said, smiling. “We were at a title company recently signing paperwork on a new home, then we all took a picture together — that makes all the hard parts of this business worthwhile. We just see the market getting better and better.”