Everyone Deserves a Dream Home.

In this special episode of Unseen Atlanta, CEO Tensley Almand steps into the host’s chair for a conversation with Justin Landis, founder of The Justin Landis Group, Bolst Real Estate, and a member of Atlanta Mission’s Executive Committee.  

Justin shares how showing luxury homes in one Atlanta neighborhood while passing people sleeping under bridges in another shifted his perspective forever. From launching bold campaigns with Atlanta Mission to creating a benefit corporation, his conviction remains the same: where you live matters, community matters, and everyone deserves a dream home. 

Transcript

Justin Landis: Don't be scared. I mean, there's probably some fear in there. Mm-hmm. Of either like, I'm not going to be good at it, or maybe I'm not mine. This will actually hurt my business, or whatever. More people are pro you making an impact. Mm-hmm. And doing something good than people are opposed to it or have some sort of negative thought on it.

Justin Landis: So just one, just tell yourself like, Hey. Give it a shot. Do you need to be scared? Just pick something. Pick something you can actually do. A lot of people want to be invited in to making a difference in doing something, and a lot of people just don't know how.

Tensley Almand: Hey, I'm Tinsley Allman, CEO of Atlanta Mission. And in these special episodes of Unseen Atlanta, I get to sit down with key leaders, change makers, and visionaries who are shaping a better future for our city at Atlanta Mission. You know, we believe that transformation starts with people and the conversations you'll hear are all part of our call to invest in Atlanta.

Tensley Almand: Today I have with me Justin Landis, who is the founder and the CEO of the Justin Landis Group, and bolster real estate.

Tensley Almand: So Justin is a graduate of Georgia Tech. He got his start in real estate in 2003. Thanks to his sales growth, he started the Justin Landis group in 2013. The Justin Landis group has now grown to become one of the top 100 teams in the country, which is amazing. Justin is, uh, the founder and CEO of the Justin Landis group.

Tensley Almand: And Bolst real estate, and also he's on our board here at Atlanta Mission Executive Committee. I mean, you are on the up. Justin, how are you doing? I'm doing awesome. Thanks for having me. Gosh, I'm so glad you're here. I've been looking forward to this conversation and getting to sit down with you. I'm to you.

Tensley Almand: I'm, yeah, let's do it. One of my favorite people in the world. How's, how are you? How how's life? 

Justin Landis: Life is great. Got three daughters. They're 12, eight and six. Um, okay. Awesome. Wife, high school sweetheart. Um, and everybody's doing, everybody's doing really well. We found out that our youngest daughter has type one diabetes earlier this year, so I know there's a lot of other folks listening that can, you know, relate to that.

Justin Landis: But she has done so well with it in, um, you know, it's just been amazing to see how she's taken it in stride. 

Tensley Almand: Gosh. It's amazing how resilient our kids are and, uh, kids just. They adapt man. She's handled 

Justin Landis: it better than we have and it's been great to learn from her, quite frankly. Yeah. 

Tensley Almand: Isn't that also how you need to learn from her and you're like, wait, I'm supposed to be the dad here and now I'm learning from you.

Tensley Almand: And uh, so, but she's doing good. She's doing amazing. That's great. How's the company? How's team? I mean, top 100 team gotta be good. 

Justin Landis: Yeah, business is doing well. So have the Justin Landus group and Bolst Real Estate to real estate businesses here in Atlanta. Atlanta's been a great place to do real estate.

Justin Landis: You know, the last 20 years city has grown a lot. That's good for real estate and yeah, I love what I do and I'm thankful to be able to do it here in Atlanta. 

Tensley Almand: So, I don't know if you'll remember this, but this was, uh, this is my first impression of you. Um, so we had a donor dinner a while back, and I was assigned a table.

Tensley Almand: I was told you have, you and your wife have to sit here. And so we, we sit at this table and there's all these people and I'm having these conversations with all these just. Awesome people. And I'm like, what do you do? And they're telling me this awesome stuff that they do and next person and next person.

Tensley Almand: And then I find out they're all on your team. So like I was the only one, my wife and I, only people not on your team. So it doesn't surprise me that your team's great. What, uh, I mean we're not here to talk about leadership, but what do you attribute that to? 

Justin Landis: Oh man. I mean, we, it's really is great people and that's been the one of the biggest keys to.

Justin Landis: If not the key to the success that we've had in business is just having great people. And you know, I think we'll talk a little bit about business and purpose mm-hmm. And that sort of stuff. But one of the things that has helped attract awesome people to the organization is the organization's drive to make a difference and do good.

Justin Landis: And like that helps attract like-minded people, um, that also wanna make a difference and want to help out and want to do good. 

Tensley Almand: Helps keep people, helps attract people. Yeah. It's huge for, 

Justin Landis: yeah. Attraction, retention, motivation. Sure. I mean, to have a higher. I mean, you know, people are working to make a living and you know, to take care of their family and for lots of reasons.

Justin Landis: But if you have a higher purpose for what you're doing, it definitely helps you. Do better work, do the hard stuff, push through. Um, and I think we've seen that in our business over the years as we've partnered with the Atlanta mission for quite a while now. 

Tensley Almand: Sure. So speaking of doing, you know, better work and attacking, attaching purpose to the work you do, um, I love this, um, you believe that.

Tensley Almand: Everyone deserves a dream home. I love that statement. You, I've heard you say it over and over. Mm-hmm. Everyone deserves a dream home and that the real estate in industry can be a catalyst towards housing for everyone. So there's a lot there to unpack. How does that translate into everyday work for Justin Landis group?

Tensley Almand: Everyone deserves a dream 

Justin Landis: home. Yeah. You know where that originally first hit me, I was showing, um, some clients. Awesome houses, um, in like Morningside and the Highlands and houses were pretty expensive. Yep. They were expensive. And I was driving home, I live in Grant Park and where I get off the exit, there's often, um, times, you know, somebody's standing there and asking, um, for help and rolled down my window, talked to the guy, you know, I pulled off and I was like, man, the houses that I was just showing, they were so above.

Justin Landis: Like, you know, the need or baseline level and could awesome for people to be able to do it. Yeah. I mean love that. But then there's also a couple miles away, someone that he's sleeping under the bridge tonight and I was like, that just does not seem right. I mean, it just doesn't seem, it seems like we should have the resources in our city to be able to do it.

Justin Landis: And I think the real estate industry. Like this is our thing. I mean, housing, what is our thing? What you do. Yeah. So, you know, yes, I want to help people buy those awesome houses that they're in the position to do, but want to help everybody take a step forward in housing. 'cause I just believe that man where you live, it matters.

Justin Landis: The community that you're in matters. The people you're around matters. And um, you know, we can get to kind of how I first got connected to the Atlanta mission, but that's, yeah. You do all of those things. Amazing. Yeah. For the clients. Thank you. Is all of those things. Who you're around and the place that you are and the environment and um, your community.

Justin Landis: And so, yeah, we wanna make a difference. With our clients, but also just with the Atlanta of real estate. 

Tensley Almand: I love that. So how did you get involved with the mission? Let's, let's go back and tell everybody that. Yeah. 

Justin Landis: So I mean, this may be helpful if someone is listening and they have a business or an entrepreneur and they're thinking about doing it.

Justin Landis: Um, honestly, at first I was really scared to try to. Use the bus business outward facing mm-hmm. To do outward facing. Good. Um, I had read this book, um, let My People Go Surfing Okay. By the founder of Patagonia. Okay. If you haven't read it, it's a fascinating book. It's basically like autobi, his autobiography and the story of the company Patagonia.

Justin Landis: Yeah. And he has done a, they've, you know, they since like. Given away the company to charity, um, since he wrote that book. But it really inspired me to be like, oh, I wonder if we could use our business to do good the way that, you know, they were trying to save the planet with Patagonia. And the first ideas that I had, I like, shared with some people that I knew and pitched the responses were pretty negative, honestly.

Justin Landis: Oh yeah. I mean like, you know, I was talking about like, hey, these giving campaigns and using part of the commission to do X, Y, Z, and I got pretty consistently back either. Well, don't you think people will want to just keep that money and do something with it themselves, or I would rather just like, why don't you just let me do something with it?

Justin Landis: Yeah. You know, and charge me less. And I was like, this is not exactly where I was going with this, you know, to try to like, you know, charge a lower fee for, you know, the services. And so I was really hesitant to do it, but eventually started to dip my toe and the first couple of things I did honestly weren't that successful.

Justin Landis: You know, one example at the end of one year. Uh, I sent letters to like actual handwritten letter to all of the clients I had helped that year, and I think there were maybe 60 or 70 clients that I'd helped buy or sell a house, and I offered to match any donation they made up to a thousand dollars to the charity or their choice.

Justin Landis: That's incredible. Well, how many of those 70 people you think responded to me? None. Four. At least some, you know, but I was like, man. You know, I mean, I had put aside a good amount of money. I was like this. Yeah, you're like, Hey guys. And then it's like nobody's willing to do it, you know? And so next year I switched and it was, you know, but you learn stuff.

Justin Landis: And so the next year I switched and I sent out, Hey, we've put money aside. You pick where it goes. A lot more people, you know, were in on that. And that was also great 'cause I got to learn what people cared about. And I learned about some charities that I didn't know about. Um, connect with people. And so we started to take some steps forward with it.

Justin Landis: And then the first big step we took, and this is also where we came to connect with the Atlanta mission. We had been, um, serving at some different organizations and each quarter I was bringing in one nonprofit to speak to the Justin Lantis group and we'd serve there. Mm-hmm. And it was like kind of good awareness, but we realized after doing that for a couple years, that.

Justin Landis: We hadn't made any deep relationships. Mm-hmm. Like, we'd learned stuff and, uh, but we weren't like really making an impact, you know? Yeah. And we're like, maybe we could go deeper somehow. And so we had this idea. To do, try to do this 90 and 90 campaign where we're gonna help 90 buyers buy a house in 90 days and try to raise $90,000 to fight homelessness.

Justin Landis: Sure. We were looking for a partner to do it with. Talked with a handful of people and we had already, you know, been in contact with the Atlanta mission before, became in, talked with this program with Jack at the time. Yep. And you know, he was using words about being relational. Not transactional, I mean, so much so like, it was such a good meeting when we left.

Justin Landis: We walked out and we were like. Do you think that they had like an inside scoop on our, did they know us? Yeah. I was like, do you think like someone has given them like a lead on this to be like, to talk with the words that we use with our clients, you know? And so, you know, we partnered with the Atlanta mission in this first campaign, 90 and 90, and the way that God used this campaign, I mean, it's changed my whole life.

Justin Landis: So we set out to help 90 buyers in 90 days, which we'd never done anywhere near that. So that was like a big stretch sales goal. And then to raise the 90,000. We had the idea, why don't we go to all our transaction partners. There's a lot of people in each real estate transaction. It's good for the economy when people buy houses.

Justin Landis: 'cause a lot of people are doing stuff. There's the lender, there's the attorney, the home inspector, home warranty. People get natural gas. There's the mover insurance agents. Sure. So we went to all those folks and we were like, Hey, we're gonna make a donation to the Atlanta Mission, um, on each of these transactions.

Justin Landis: Will you do the same thing over the next 90 days? And this was eyeopening. Yeah. The response, it was so overwhelmingly positive and the generous nature that people had almost, for example, I almost didn't ask our homeowner's insurance agent, 'cause they don't make a lot per policy. Right? Yeah. You know what I mean?

Justin Landis: Like they're not making a huge commission. And he was like, yeah, I'll do a hundred dollars a policy. And I was like. Isn't that basically what you make per policy? And he was like, yeah, but I just love what you're doing. This is so inspiring. We wanna be a part of it. And that was like just the, you know, general vibe that people had.

Justin Landis: And so it was so cool to see that we, you know, we actually did sell the 90th house on the 90th day. It's kind of funny how goals worked. Like it worked. It's like, yeah, like exactly the right amount. Then we raised over $90,000 and Jack and the team had the idea, why don't we challenge the donors of the land of mission?

Justin Landis: Like tell the story and challenge them to, you know, double it. And then that campaign raised another, I think it was like $180,000. And so we were like, wow, this is just absolutely amazing. We have no fundraising experience. We never done anything like this before. And the way that God blessed that was just tremendous.

Justin Landis: And that kind of set my path forward to be a lot more. Just outward about, hey, we want to use the businesses. We have to try to make a difference and do good. Yep. And if some people that is not the right fit for them, that's okay because the people that it is the right fit for, it's a lot stronger attraction than, um, it is to repel people that it might not be.

Tensley Almand: I love that. How long ago was that when you did 90? For 90, 

Justin Landis: I think that was 20. 17, maybe 20 17, 20 17 or 18. So it's been a pretty decent amount of time. And 

Tensley Almand: how has that evolved or what, how have you kept that going? Or what does that, what does that look like now? 

Justin Landis: Yeah, so we, um, so we continued to do some campaigns, um, similar like short term campaigns, engaged folks, um, for a couple years.

Justin Landis: And those were also really successful. And then in COVID we had one scheduled for April, may, and June of 2020. Which COVID was like the end of March. So that was like, you know, we're like, well at this point, this is really hard time to do a kind of, you know, campaign like, like this. And so we pivoted out of that campaign.

Justin Landis: But what ended up becoming of it is I started a real estate brokerage. So Justin Landis group is a sales team. It's like the same thing, an individual agent. Okay. Would if you worked with one person. We've just divided up the tasks into specialized roles. And then we started a company, um, in 2021 called Bolst, and that's a real estate brokerage.

Justin Landis: That's the business of like. Keller Williams or Compass or Sotheby's, um, that supports the agents and it's a benefit corporation. Okay. So it's both like that's the actual corporate designation. It's for profit, for public good. And that's really what became of, you know, that original campaign is we were like, Hey, how could we take doing good to a bigger level?

Justin Landis: And we're like, maybe we could make a company that is even bigger that attracts people into it, that also, um, wanna make a difference. So the injuries, I mean. Kind of the rolling forward of that. So it actually created a new company in BOLs has, um, over 300 real estate agents here in Atlanta now. And same type thing, we're talking it, it attracts the type person that wants to make an impact in the city, man for profit, for public good.

Justin Landis: You 

Tensley Almand: don't hear that too often. It was fun 

Justin Landis: to, uh, it was a new corporate designation actually that year in Georgia. So the attorneys we were working with like, you know, to set it up like this was the first one they had done. So it was kind of fun to. Do it and pioneer it a little bit as well. So yeah, it's been good.

Tensley Almand: Okay. So it's obviously, you know, grown and evolved and, you know, um, it's gotten bigger over time, but. What would you say to that entrepreneur out there? Um, or maybe what would you say to yourself, all these, all those years ago who, they hear this and they think, I, I would love to do that, but we're too small or we're just too busy, or what would you say to them?

Justin Landis: Yeah, I think, I mean, first of all, and this goes from my story. Is, don't be scared. I mean, there's probably some fear in there. Mm-hmm. Of either like, I'm not going to be good at it, or maybe don't mind, this will actually hurt my business or whatever is don't, you know, don't be scared. My observation from, and I've obviously talked to a ton of people about this now Sure.

Justin Landis: More people are pro you, making an impact mm-hmm. And doing something good, then people are opposed to it or have some sort of negative Yeah. Um, thought on it. So just one, just tell yourself like, hey. 

Tensley Almand: Give it a shot. Don't need to be 

Justin Landis: scared like I should, you know, if I feel like I should want to do something, I should do something.

Justin Landis: And then the second, two other things on it. Second thing I would say is just pick something. 

Tensley Almand: Yeah. Pick 

Justin Landis: something you can actually do. Mm-hmm. You know, that like you can do. Um, and then it just, it's amazing how when you take that small step, God can make it grow from there. Yeah. But you know, if you're like, Hey, what I can do is serve.

Justin Landis: Let's serve. If what I can do is make a donation on each cell, and maybe the donation is large, maybe it's won't, doesn't matter, right? Like take the step and actually do it. And then the third one, um, that I would say is. Tell other people about it. Mm-hmm. Because I've just, I've been continually surprised that as I've asked people if they are interested in doing stuff or invite them in, a lot of people want to be invited in Right.

Justin Landis: To making a difference in doing something. And a lot of people just don't know how. Right. You know, I mean, they want to, but they're, I'm not sure if my money's gonna be well used here. I'm not sure if I serve, if I'm actually gonna make an impact. I don't know what to do to get set up and started. If you reduce that barrier mm-hmm.

Justin Landis: For somebody. A lot of people will say yes. Right. And are really happy and excited to be involved in it. 

Tensley Almand: That's good. And I, I love just for you, it started with this personal story. I mean, you, you know, you go back to, you just sold this house, you see these people. You're like, man, I, the gap between Yeah.

Tensley Almand: What I was just, and I think when it's personal. You know, I mean, it's so easy to see, right. For, for where you are, there's such a huge overlap between selling houses and then housing and security. Yeah. Like, you can, those are, you're just like, wow. I, I see it. But if, if people could understand, you know, what is it that lights you up on the inside?

Tensley Almand: What is it that, you know connects with your heart? Yeah. And then just go figure out a way to. To do that. 

Justin Landis: Yeah. 

Justin Landis: If you know the answer to that question, man, my advice, just take a step, you know, take a step forward. Um, I think if you don't know the answer to that, you're like, Hey, I want to make a difference.

Justin Landis: I want to do good, but I don't know exactly what to do. Um, I think my advice on that would be find somebody who does have that passion. Mm-hmm. And. Help them out for a little while, you know, just go adopt their passion. Yeah. Adopt their passion, because I think that you'll learn from doing it mm-hmm. Of either you, it may become your passion or you may be like, Hey, there's a part of this Yep.

Justin Landis: That I love. Um, and that can help, you know, give you a little bit of clarity while still making it. Difference why you're doing it. 

Tensley Almand: How has this gone or, or has it gone, uh, beyond just nine to five for you? In other words, does, does this start leaking into the family? Like, is this now a, a family passion? Do you see this show up, like how 

Justin Landis: Yeah, for sure.

Justin Landis: I mean, housing's kind of become the thing. It, uh, I mean, not kind of, it has become the thing at our family and I'm so encouraged to see the girls, um, and just their awareness 

Tensley Almand: mm-hmm. 

Justin Landis: Of. Housing and people we meet and they love to make sure we have stuff in the car so that if we talk to, um, and not if we talk to we near a hundred percent someone's, you know, asking for help, we roll down the window.

Justin Landis: The girls learned through the Atlanta mission that a lot of times people, um, that don't have a house, um, permanent housing, they haven't heard their name in a long time. Right. We always ask their name, ask, um, what we can pray for. If I don't ask somebody their name, the girls will be like, dad, you didn't ask him his name.

Justin Landis: What's your name? You know, like, how are we gonna pray for him? Didn't you didn't ask his name? Uh, and so, you know, that's honestly like, it's helped me be, um, you know, even more. Maybe just bold and, you know, aware, um, as well. And so yeah, the girls, they, it is definitely constant there. They've loved coming here for fun Fridays.

Justin Landis: Mm-hmm. Being, you know, meeting the other, meeting families, playing, doing that sort of stuff, um, has been great for 'em. And so yeah, it's become housing's like, yeah. Housing has become our shifting, like our family. 

Tensley Almand: Cause I love that. And I think, um, you know, it's so, it makes family so much richer. If your whole, if everybody is involved in that call, like it's just, to me, that's one of the most powerful things for Larry and I and our kids, is it's like we can all get behind this.

Tensley Almand: I mean, Larry's uh, serving at the mission today and it's just like, love it. We're gonna be able to go home tonight and have conversation around something common. And it creates a, it just creates such a healthy, uh, family dynamic. So. I also love for you that this started personal, you figured out a way to do something.

Tensley Almand: Then you went and, and you kind of sought out, you know, nonprofits to, to help. And so I, I can, I can track your journey and it's kind of linear, although I'm sure at the time it didn't feel linear. But, um, that's also now led to then you. You got involved with our president's council and ultimately helping us, helping us raise money.

Tensley Almand: 'cause you're on our development committee. Mm-hmm. And then from that to being on our board and then now even further from not just being on our board, but also this year, starting on our executive committee. So talk to that leader for a second. Who's thinking about this from a, a perspective of, I feel like I need to do more.

Tensley Almand: I understand what my passions are. You know, there's this, I think there's this desire and everybody, oh, I gotta be on a board. Or oh, you know, you get the question in there somewhere. Talk, talk to that leader for a second. What does that look like for somebody maybe to, to use their passion to then also help an organization get stronger and get better as you do with us.

Tensley Almand: 'cause you sit on our board, 

Justin Landis: I mean, as I hear you kind of talk through that, I never set out to say like, I want to be on a board, honestly. Didn't even know exactly what that meant or what that entailed, quite frankly, until, you know, I was on it. Uh, but I think in each of those, I just tried to take the next step and kind of be like, Hey, could I actually be helpful here?

Justin Landis: Would I like it? And so, you know, it was one step kind of led to another. And as I think about it from like a leader stand. I have, I mean, I hope I have been helpful. Yeah. You know, in the roles that I've been. But I have learned an absolute ton. Yeah. I mean, I'll never forget the first development committee meeting I came to, you know, and Heather had this slide deck.

Justin Landis: I've always had like, you know, small business, didn't go to business school. Yep. You know, always worked for myself and she's got this slide deck. I have never seen anything like this. No. I mean, no one has the, none of us have group or both have ever put anything. Yeah. One, 100th of a PowerPoint deck like this together.

Justin Landis: And I was like. Wow, this organization is legit. You know? And so the amount that I have learned being around you guys and being on the, um, development committee and now the, the board, it's really helped me a lot. Yeah. And so, I mean, I. I hope that I am giving more than I'm receiving. But man, that's been awesome to learn from y'all.

Justin Landis: The people, I mean, and you know, I'm sure this could be different in other organizations, but the people here at the Atlanta Mission on the committees and board is amazing. I mean, once again, you know, just it's like a blessing in my life to have met those, you know, to met so many, meet so many people, and, um, learn from them.

Justin Landis: So I think for all of that. It's just like, find somewhere that you can plug in, take a step. This has kind of been kind of like a theme today. It's just like, Hey, take that next step. You don't have to jump from, I've never talked to anyone at this organization. Mm-hmm. To, I'm on the board. Right. You know, I mean, just like take it and you probably shouldn't.

Justin Landis: Yeah. Yeah. That's probably a bad idea actually. Uh, yeah. Just like take a step to get involved and see where you can help out. Um, because your talents probably will be able to be used and you'll probably grow from it. Yourself. Sure. 

Tensley Almand: You know, from being a part of it. I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but I, I think I, I think honestly your journey and it is the jour, the journey that you've taken, let's say it that way, is really, um.

Tensley Almand: We find on the back end of it, it really does create the best, most engaged board members. It's uh, it's the board members who start from the like, Hey, I work at X company and I'm required to be on a board. Mm-hmm. Do you guys have any openings that we're probably most Yeah. Leery of like, oh, I don't know.

Tensley Almand: Some of those work out. I would say almost a hundred percent of the ones that have your story though. And, and I think that's so important, especially for young leaders to know. It's just like, Hey, get involved. Understand what you're excited about. Start doing the work that will take care of itself for sure.

Tensley Almand: Um, especially if you don't go pursuing it. So, um, let's, let's kinda switch gears back to where we started. 'cause you know, I think this is important, and we don't have to get too controversial or anything, but everybody deserves a dream home. It feels like the reality is the, the gap from that to where we're seeing.

Tensley Almand: I mean, it couldn't be bigger. Right now it feels like housing insecurities on the rise feels like the, the opportunity to own a house is getting smaller and smaller. I mean, what are, what are, you're out there in the trenches. What are, what are you seeing? What, what are you, what are, what are your thoughts on that?

Tensley Almand: I mean, you're 

Justin Landis: right. Housing affordability is at the most challenging point that it's been in my career. I mean, while some of the things that have been good for. Um, I mean the economy in my business, like, you know, a lot of people have moved to Atlanta. Yep. Housing prices have gone up a lot. If you own a house, that's good.

Justin Landis: Right. If you're in my business, that's good. If you don't own a house, that's tough. Yeah. Because it just makes things more expensive and so yeah. I mean, we've had a lot of growth in the city. But we've also had a lot of price increase mm-hmm. With that. And, you know, it's like the end result overall is wages have not cut up, kept up Right.

Justin Landis: With the cost of housing. Um, and that's made it put a, puts a lot of pressure on people For sure. 

Tensley Almand: Is that, um, and, and you get to be the expert for a second 'cause you're in the hot seat, but is that, is that the wand that you would wave if you could wave whatever wand that is, is we need to address, you know, wages?

Tensley Almand: Is that, is that the biggest thing? Is that the quickest solution you feel like, 

Justin Landis: man, I mean, there's a handful of things that are needed because there's also across the, across the spectrum, right? Mm-hmm. I mean. There's housing insecurity on one end, and then you also have kind of like a, a little bit of a missing middle in the city.

Justin Landis: Mm-hmm. As well. Right, right. Which is, um, I can't afford housing. I'm not insecure, but I can't afford housing here. Right. And so then like, I've gotta move way out outside. I'm gonna live an hour outside of the city. Yeah. I've gotta live way outside the city. That causes problem, like that's. Obviously not great for life if you're in the city.

Justin Landis: Right. It costs problems for business in the city. So, I mean, I think from a housing density standpoint for that, the middle, I think housing density is probably, you know, the biggest thing. Um, but then, yeah, I think like overall, um, you know, wage growth with mm-hmm. Stable housing. Like obviously if you own a house, it's awesome when it goes up.

Justin Landis: Sure. A lot. But, you know, some stable housing prices for a while. Um, and some wage growth to catch up for it honestly would probably be pretty good for, for everyone. 

Tensley Almand: So most of those problems are bigger than what you or I or any of our listeners could go solve. So how do you get up every day with this aspirational, you know, desire that everybody deserves a dream home and not lose hope?

Tensley Almand: What do you find hoping? I mean, 

Justin Landis: I've really tried to take, um, to heart, um, Andy Stanley, who's the pastor of the church I go to says, do for one what you wish you could do for everyone. Yeah. And you know, I mean, we're. Individually not going to solve the housing situation in Atlanta. Right. If we can make the difference in one person today, one person tomorrow, yeah.

Justin Landis: However many people we can, then that's huge. And that's the difference. I love that you're making, and I think that if you do that, there are a lot, like I said, there are a lot of people in the city that want to make a difference, and I think the more that we do it, one here, 10 here, a hundred here. Mm-hmm.

Justin Landis: You know, that kind of thing. Um, can really help. It's one of the things that I love about Atlanta. I mean, I just believe that the people in Atlanta, we just have great, I mean, there's a lot of great people in the city who want to do a lot of good, that wanna make Atlanta great, that want to help people.

Justin Landis: And so I think if we can just be a, you know, do our role in that, it helps inspire others and, um, we're gonna make great progress on. 

Tensley Almand: I love that. That's good. I, I think, you know, you start doing for one person, and I, this is, I try to live by the same principle as well, that you, you start doing for one, and then the next day you do it again.

Tensley Almand: You do it again, you do it again, and you're able to look back over the long haul and say, Hey, we, we did something for lot, a group of people. 

Justin Landis: Yeah. 

Tensley Almand: You know, that if we had just gotten caught on what we couldn't do mm-hmm. Um. We, we never would've accomplished anything. And that, I think, I think that's what the average person can do, is like, Hey, what can I do today?

Tensley Almand: Then what can I do again tomorrow? How can I do it again tomorrow? And just again, over time you look back. So, uh, as we wrap up, let's, let's talk about generosity for a second. I mean, your, your company is just insanely generous. You obviously are as well. Um, that's not natural by the way, so thanks. Like, no thanks.

Tensley Almand: Most for-profits. Don't look around and figure out how can we be a little less profitable, like, so that's. That's remarkable. We've talked about how it's good for business. Like certainly it helps build culture. Mm-hmm. It helps retain talent. Yeah. It helps attract talent. But what have you seen that that does for individuals within your business?

Tensley Almand: So like, get granular for me for a second. Why is it good for people? Why is generosity good for people? 

Justin Landis: Yeah. I think, um. One of the thing that's been really helpful for this with us is real estate. Um, real estate agents are a hundred percent commission. Yeah. And so, you know, I mean, we obviously have a staff that have, um, salaries, but you know, we interact with a lot of agents that a hundred percent commission.

Justin Landis: So financially it can be hard to be generous because you don't know. Yeah, you don't know what you're gonna make you, what's gonna happen tomorrow? You know when the next check is coming, right? I mean, most people, you like the sales cycle. You don't know past 90. Past 90 days. And so, you know, have tried to do a good amount of education with the real estate agents to help them still apply even in that.

Justin Landis: A give, save, live. Mm-hmm. You know, mentality. And I think that, you know, first of all, if you know, you're a believer to be able to live that way and give first to God, I mean, there's so many blessings and benefits come from that because, you know, we are, we're stewards of what Yeah. He's given us. Um, and you know, when we take that mentality and live it out mm-hmm.

Justin Landis: I mean, I think there's just a lot of peace that, you know, that comes from that. I agree. And then from the, um, the agents and the folks being able to contribute and be a part of it. It's just so good to be a part of something. Yeah, and I mean, that's one of the things that I've seen the most is like no matter what you give, when you have a collective group giving, if you're a part of it.

Justin Landis: It wouldn't be the same without you. Right. You're making a difference. Yeah. And so that's one of the things that, uh, you know, I've seen individually down at the granular level that's just been so great for, um, for people is yeah, you get to be a part of something big and that fills people up. It helps 'em see the impact of their generosity.

Justin Landis: Right. Um, and then I think it makes it easier to become a habit and to say yes the next time and all that sort of 

Tensley Almand: stuff. Plus I think, you know, it's, you know. How do you account for the benefit of like, getting to do something and be a part of something that's so much bigger than yourself? Yes. Right. Like it's, you're a part of this.

Tensley Almand: My little, my little piece may not feel like a lot, but it's a big piece of this puzzle. But like, even as, as much as you love real estate and as much as I love what I, you know, get to do, um, there's, we all have those days, right? Yeah. Where it's just, I just don't want to do this today. It's a job. I just don't, it's a job.

Tensley Almand: It's a job. Like it's an, it's a means to an end. Mm-hmm. Like I, I, my family needs. Food on the table, so I get to go do this. And when you're a part of something like that, it cha it takes a job and it says, okay, I can, I can get up and go do that again today. So for sure Justin, thanks so much for being with us and thanks for having me.

Tensley Almand: Absolutely. And thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of our podcast. We hope to see you again next time.

Tensley Almand: Unseen. Atlanta is proud to be sponsored this season by the Scott Pryor Law Group at Scott Pryor Law. They treat every client like family. If you've been injured, their mission is simple. You focus on healing and they'll handle the rest. Scott Pryor, a US Marine and trial attorney and his team believe in compassion, justice, and serving their community.

Tensley Almand: So if you or a loved one has been injured, reach out to the Scott Pryor Law Group today. They'll walk with you every step of the way. You can learn more@scottpryorlaw.com.

Tensley Almand: What an incredible conversation. Thank you so much for listening to Unseen Atlanta. If you believe in building a stronger, more compassionate city, we need you. Visit Atlanta mission.org to learn how you can donate, volunteer, or share these stories, and most importantly, keep showing up. Together we can invest in Atlanta and transform lives.