There’s a new name in the South Bend real estate market, and it’s getting more prominent with every project: Property Bros LLC. The company’s proprietor, Jordan Richardson, bases his activities on data-crunching, not dream-chasing.
This mentality was already taking shape when the South Bend native graduated from Washington High School and matriculated at IU South Bend in 2009. While making his progress towards his bachelor’s degree in finance and financial management services, he also found the time to spend a year serving as the online broadcaster of the Titans’ women’s basketball team. Whether he was learning details about banks and mortgages or spotting trends in rebounding statistics, he was always analyzing numbers.
Upon graduating in 2014, Richardson explored some business ventures and worked as a credit analyst at 1st Source Bank. By June of 2021, his own Property Bros company was converting its first run-down house into an attractive and valuable property. He does not fall in love with a project. He starts with an Excel sheet.
It all comes down to data and numbers, Richardson said. It’s not some emotional connection that you make to a house-flipping. This is where a lot of first-time investors go wrong. People will think a certain project is just so cool, but the numbers and the data are not there to support it.
In only a year, Property Bros has already completed the transformation of 13 units. The pattern has been to investigate a neighborhood, benchmark the highest and lowest values in the area, and then turn the worst house on the block into one of the best.
No one wants to go after the most dilapidated stuff, the most grungy stuff. They don’t want to do that work, Richardson said.
Richardson looks past the initial state of a run-down location, because he will be building it back up from scratch. He guts the place, and then brings in plumbers, carpenters and electricians to re-invent the space.
We know, in general, what it takes to remodel a 1300 square-foot house with two bathrooms and three bedrooms. It’s a series of data points, Richardson said. I have X amount of money to put in, and if it doesn’t hit certain metrics, I don’t buy it.
With ambitious plans to continue the present work and also expand into the world of new construction, Richardson does not presently have a ton of time to devote to another passion: dance. A Latin dance enthusiast and even occasional teacher, these days he picks his spots when it fits his schedule.
Dance is my way of working out, he said. I can express myself, clear my head, and be creative.
