Badger Properties is pretty much a 'one man band', but there are a lot of people working behind the scenes as contractors or suppliers that really make it all work.  As it is currently constituted, this business is as much "the story of my life" as anything I have ever done.   That said, it's hard to come up with a clear path from A-Z.  Here are some points along the journey:

As far back as I can remember, my dad, Bill Kearns, taught us about stocks and dividends and investing.  He wasn't big on Real Estate, but he made sure we knew how to read the stock listings in the paper, and he notified us when our small dividend checks came in each quarter.  I distinctly 'Sea Container', as far back as the mid/late 1980's.  They were one of the companies that used the large steel containers to ship goods overseas. 

Another early memory - on a Boy Scout canoe trip when I was about 10 or 11, I realized that the canoe rental place was going to pay for the canoes that we were renting after just a few weekends.  After that it was all profit! (10 year olds don't understand overhead.)  We could all afford to buy a canoe, but since we didn't use them often, it was probably better to just rent one when we needed it.

I grew up in a blue-collar, union based neighborhood just inside the city limits of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  I don't think I knew many adults that had gone to college, and I surely didn't know anyone who worked for themselves.  All the adults I knew had job security and were looking forward to a good pension, but I realized most of them hated their jobs.  Unfortunately, they were kind of stuck by the 'golden handcuffs' of seniority.  That meant that their economic value was increased by doing the same thing longer and longer, and not by doing it better. 

It also meant that they couldn't change jobs or move to a different city, because they would have to leave their pension and seniority behind and start again at the bottom.  For most of them, change was really scary.  On the flip side, people rarely lost their jobs or homes, and we all had pretty good health insurance.  Obviously, things have changed in that part of the country - especially the union world - since I left 16 years ago, but most people couldn't see it coming until it was too late.

My High School (Milwaukee Trade & Technical High School) was basically a trade school, located in a Mexican ghetto neighborhood just a few blocks from the heart of downtown Milwaukee.  It was a great multi-cultural melting pot of kids from all over the city and a sports powerhouse.  It was somewhat like the high school from "Remember the Titans", as people from all different neighborhood and backgrounds came together.  It was designed as a feeder school for the union system, or at least the blue collar work force.  Most of our parents did not a have college education, and most of my classmates were on the same path.

My part-time jobs in high-school and college were related to construction or similar outdoor work.  I worked a few months at a snack bar at a country club pool, and I worked for 3 years with the AU Athletic Department working football parking lots and painting the athletic facilities.  Outside of that, there were 3 years working at KMart in Milwaukee in the hardware department or the garden shop.  I also spent the hardest summer of my life working for the best deck builder in the Milwaukee area, Decks by Milt Charno & Associates.  60 hours a week of really hard labor that I will never forget - or repeat.  It was brutal.  In Auburn, besides working at the Athletic Department, I also worked on a framing crew helping to build a large house for a retired IBM executive.

My first 2 years of college (93-95) were at a small 4 year engineering school in rural Wisconsin, UW-Platteville.  I met some good people, but I absolutely hated the experience.  Coming from a big city and an athletic powerhouse high school, I was not excited by Division III sports or a 5,000 person town that emptied out on the weekends.  I also realized that I was not as smart or disciplined enough to make it through engineering, and I really didn't look forward to the jobs I would have afterward anyway.  It was time for a major change.  My dad died during my freshmen year, and his life insurance made it possible for me to afford out of state tuition. 

As I got ready to transfer, I had 2 possible career paths in mind: construction or financial advisor.  I realized I wasn't big on dressing up nice or shaving every day, so construction was the choice.  Now I was able to transfer after having had the college experience for a few years, and I was looking for the whole picture.  I wanted a school with a good construction program, good football, cheap tuition, and pretty girls.  That makes for a short list.  After visiting Auburn, Florida, and Clemson, I applied only to Auburn, and started classes in the fall of '95. 

I graduated from the Building Science program in '98, and went to work for a local apartment builder/developer.  Most of their projects were out of town, but since they were developers, I got to see some of the thought process regarding site selection, the analysis of market rents and absorption rates, and the analysis of the each project as an ongoing investment, instead of just a construction project.  That was a critical piece of the puzzle that most construction companies don't have to consider, but it was the most important part of the whole project!  I also realized that the construction budget was just one line item in the entire development budget, and that our whole division of the company could simply be eliminated if they decided to hire an outside contractor. 

Also unspoken but obvious to me was that if a project was cancelled, or we didn't have any work to do, there would be no need to retain the construction staff, like me, or even the development staff in the worst drought.  I also noticed was that if there was a slowdown and construction and/or development shelf was eliminated, the owners would still collect the rent from their apartments.  This was an eye-opening realization, and soon after it saw that I was just as vulnerable as everyone back home, I made a life changing decision.  After a short spring break trip to the beach and some time to think on the drive there and back, I knew I had t move on.  I walked into the office on Monday morning and give my 2 weeks notice.  So really, I've had about 8 months of "career-type" work experience, and I've been on my own ever since.

The stock market had been very good to me up to that time, and so I just kind of retired.  I was about 25, and had about $300K in the bank, and was making money faster than I could spend it, so I just went to the pool every day and worked on my tan.  I started reading a lot of classic books and watching a bunch of old movies, trying to broaden my horizons a little.  Eventually, I got bored and needed a new challenge, so I turned back to Real Estate, and decided to start a "buy here - pay here" Mobile Home business.  Let's just day I learned a lot.  I also realized I didn't like dealing with that type of clientele, so I moved into brokering mobile homes for students that were graduating and leaving town. 

I never planned to get into the mobile home business for the long term, but it was a good chance to learn the Real Estate business on a smaller scale.  What I mean is I was able to meet a lot of bankers, AC repair men, carpet installers, plumbers, appliance repair guys, etc.  I was also able to give tours to students looking for housing every day, and from those tours I heard a lot of direct feedback about what students looked for and didn't really care about, as far as bedrooms, closets, kitchens, etc.  Without my years in the mobile home business, I would never have been able to move into the apartment business on my own.

I bought my first apartment complex in December 2004, split it into condos, and sold them in 2005.  I repeated the same thing in December 2005, this time renovating them before selling them in 2006.  After buying some 2 more properties in 2006, every project was put on hold during 2007, and I used that year to travel all around the US.  Road trips were made to over half of the 50 states, and lots of new cities were explored.  It was my last great year of freedom.

Realizing I was really interested in each city for a variety of reasons, I decided to dig in deeper.  In August of '07. I went back to school part time for my Masters in City Planning.  I intended to use this info to help me better understand zoning and the potential of each property for redevelopment.  I did learn some valuable lessons about that stuff, but the readings, the discussions, and the projects led me to be a better citizen and to get more involved in my community.  Somehow, between classes and homework, I also bought another apartment complex. 

In 2008, progress on all fronts got back on track, and we renovated or upgraded 48 units in 3 different locations (30+12+6) throughout the course of the summer.  It was stressful and expensive, but I'm really glad it was all finished just a few months before the economic collapse in the fall of 2008. 

In the spring of 2009, I decided to open up a storefront office in Downtown Auburn, and start to establish Badger Properties as a niche Real Estate management company catering to the best and brightest Auburn students.  Things were a little rocky as I took over and some of the holdover tenants were subjected to new rules and regulations.  When changing the culture of a place, it is important to stay the course, and not waver from the new standards.  As the last few years have passed, I have been able to cycle out those who didn't want to go along with the plan, and replace them with new people who are excited about the quiet, study-oriented environment.