“Make sure you are true to your word. People judge you more heavily on your actions and your ethics than promises you make,” Matthew Cravey told America’s Premier Experts, a database of leading experts in a wide range of industries that provides information and education to consumers as a public service. Courtesy Photo
When Matt Cravey walks up in his black cowboy hat and boots to greet a new client, the reaction can go one of two ways, he says. He hopes for a friendly greeting before moving on to the business of commercial and industrial real estate. What he sometimes gets are startled looks and a gruff, "Sorry, I'm looking for a commercial real estate agent, not a cowboy." That's just fine with Cravey, who has successfully specialized in industrial and commercial real estate in the Coastal Bend for almost 40 years.
"I'm going to be me, and you're going to have to take me for me," Cravey told Corpus Christi Business News. "I hope you like me. I can be myself; you can be yourself."
It's hard not to like Cravey, who is known for his intricate knowledge of politics and the Corpus Christi real estate market, his gift for gab and a willingness to listen and learn from others.
"I started in real estate when I was 19," Cravey said. "I was young and didn't know anything."
He moved to Corpus Christi in 1976 from the Texas Hill Country. Along with being really young, Cravey was considered an outsider. Potential clients turned to people they knew, and that wasn't him.
He soon learned to seek out other newcomers with no connections to the area. From there, he forged a reputation and built his real estate empire, quickly becoming one of the realtors locals turned to.
Cravey now holds two of the highest designations in the commercial real estate industry: Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) and Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM). He has appeared in major online publications such as CNBC.com, Yahoo! Finance, The Boston Globe, Bloomberg Businessweek and MarketWatch.
Recently, he joined a select group of business leaders from around the world, along with TV pioneer Kevin Harrington (original shark from “Shark Tank”) and renowned money expert Loral Langemeier, to co-write the forthcoming book “Get in the Game: The World's Leading Entrepreneurs and Professionals Reveal How YOU Can Get Off the Sideline and Start Improving Your Health, Wealth and Lifestyle!”
Royalties from “Get in the Game,” which is scheduled for release in early 2015, will go to Entrepreneur's International Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising money and awareness for charitable causes.
Learning from experience Cravey has come a long way from the real estate market crash in the 1980s, when his office went from 40 employees to two. The lessons learned then have led to success now, he said.
"I got caught in the ‘80s," he said. "In the ‘80s, I thought everything was up. Everything was great. I hadn't felt the effect of the recession in the ‘70s. In the '80s, I felt it, and it made me mad."
Cravey vowed never again to let world economics sneak up on him. Since then, he's kept abreast of everything from local politics to world affairs, and he strives to find ways to teach that lesson to others, especially young people.
Cravey was instrumental in bringing Leadercast to the community the past two years. The next Leadercast will go on without Corpus Christi, however, because the university venue with the necessary satellite hookups is undergoing a renovation.
Leadercast broadcasts world-renowned speakers from a meeting on leadership held each May in Atlanta. Hundreds of communities around the world hook into the broadcast. Cravey decided it needed to come to Corpus Christi after seeing it advertised on a tray liner at a Chick-fil-A, which was the main sponsor for the event at the time.
"I called them and asked what I needed to do to bring it here," he said.
He also decided high school and college students needed to be involved, so he put up the money, along with a few other sponsors, to bring in kids from across the area for the broadcast.
Cravey is a regular speaker on the economy at the local Rotary Club. He works with charitable organizations and nonprofits, including Metro Ministries and KEDT-TV. He supports South Texas Children's Home and River Hills Baptist Church, where he and his family worship.
"My wife and I like to get involved in anything to do with kids," Cravey said, adding that they gave up their love of horseback riding to spend more time together with their family at church and home.
He also spends time keeping up with the economy to prepare for the next downturn. He took another economic hit in 2009 and 2010 but was strong enough to hold on. He is now the leasing agent for the only two class A buildings in the city, One Shoreline Plaza and Frost South Financial Center, as well as the American Electric Power (AEP) building. No one south of San Antonio takes care of more retail shopping centers than Cravey Realty, he said. Things are good now, but he's still wary.
"Any of the world powers could take how we are right now and drag us right back down," he said. "Oil and gas prices could drive us back down. I don't think we can be smug about anything."
No matter what happens, Cravey will be here to see both his family and community through the ordeal. "When I first moved here, I didn't know what I had gotten myself into," he said. "I've spent a long time getting to where I am and learning what works and what doesn't in this market. I don't have any intention of throwing it all away. I'm here to stay."
Cravey Real Estate Services Inc.
Matthew Cravey
5541 Bear Lane
Corpus Christi (361) 289-5168
craveyrealestate.com
