Bouncing Blue Balls E1
For the launch, Carla sits down with teammates Aaron Dutcher and Audra Travis of MHG Commercial. The trio discuss what MHG Commercial is, who they help, and how they support each other.
You’re never as strong as you think you are until you have to go through it –Aaron Dutcher
Find out if there is there a real estate bubble burst looming. How is the current market different than 2008?
Listen to find out what “Resimmercial” means and how MHG Commercial found the perfect niche at the crossroads of residential & commercial real estate. How are industrial buyers affecting the Phoenix market and the average home/commercial buyer? Find out what makes the balls of blue bounce.
MHG Commercial’s vetted and experienced advisors have a wide range of complementary professional expertise that encompasses every aspect of commercial real estate from office to industrial development, raw land to luxury commercial, and multifamily to subdivision development.
My Home Group is one of the fastest growing real estate brokerages in the United States. With the addition of the commercial division in 2019, the team has grown at an astonishing rate, adding more team members to total 15 agents as of March 2023.
Aaron Dutcher’s career in real estate started in Y2K. He was reunited with a hometown buddy who convinced him that people actually did rent houses and a career in investment real estate was born. Since then he has encountered every aspect of real estate from residential to luxury, single family to development and raw land to commercial. Always approaching each enterprise with his grassroots mentality and always focused in real estate investing. In supervising everything from VA assumptions to subdivision development, Aaron excels at out of the box thinking and transactions that require a more hands-on approach and ingenuity.
As an Associate Broker and Executive Director along with other skilled and ambitious people, he managed a real estate portfolio in excess of 500M and purchased/sold over 4000 properties during his administration. As a natural progression of real estate investing his first commercial deal was in 2004, and it hasn’t stopped. Never being one to let the market determine his outcome, Aaron is certainly not scared to reinvent his model to shift with the ebb and flow of the market. As foreclosures entered the marketplace, Aaron was able to lead the charge with his company at the courthouse steps to purchase thousands of properties, not only for individual investors but also for large institutional and REIT buyers. He then shifted into fix-and-flips alongside wholesale properties.
Aaron became a broker in 2006 and has been a branch manager, managing broker, and designated broker. From 2010 to 2015, along with his partner, he ran and operated his boutique brokerage. He was slowing down the pace, reducing the clients, and building multiple businesses. Aaron has owned and sold a number of his own businesses, subsequently giving him a knack for working with local and regional business owners to purchase and sell their own businesses as well as purchase and lease their commercial real estate.
Connect with Aaron on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
Audra Travis moved from Ann Arbor Michigan to Tempe Arizona in 1992 with the intention of enrolling in Arizona State University teaching program with hopes and dreams of teaching Junior High School Science. She was placed in a teaching program in Tempe immediately. As it turns out teaching was not in her future.
During this transition Audra served as the maître de at various fine dining establishments further refining her customer centric views. Following the restaurant years, Audra worked for a family-owned Acura shop, writing service and co-founding the Phoenix NSX club hosting events and race days.
Audra developed an interest in real estate and felt that real estate, coupled with her previous experience, was a logical fit the foreseeable future. Audra had the pleasure to land her first real estate position with John Hall & Associates where she met John Johnson, co-founder and co-owner of Utah based builder, J. Ballard Homes. This position launched Audra into managing and operating the property management arm of J. Ballard Homes in Salt Lake City.
However, Audra was not done. She saw a need for yet another arm and after bringing the right people together, Park Place Homes was born, which developed a 42 lot luxury subdivision in the area known as “The Point of the Mountain” and created luxury homes named after Hollywood starlets such as “The Monroe”. She also created “The Design House” , which allowed clients to design and upgrade their home new homes for both J. Ballard and Park Place Luxury Homes.
The recession hit and Audra was forced pivot into flipping homes where she did the bulk of the work herself – leaving only a few items to the pros. Her favorite tools are the sawzall and 45 lb jackhammer! She also began seminar for first time home buyers and decided to approach one of her neighbors about investing in multifamily homes, which led to her first commercial deal. She worked in both commercial and residential real estate and coined the term “Rezimercial Agent”, but in November 2019 she joined Aaron Dutcher’s team, MHG Commercial Real Estate, to focus primarily on commercial real estate.
About Show
Smashing Through Walls is geared toward a guide through complex commercial real estate and finance topics while adding humor and anecdotes along the way. Discover what is going on in the valley and beyond with host Carla Magee, broker at MHG Commercial.
About Our Host
Carla Magee’s background is designed with the investor in mind. After obtaining her finance degree from the University of Washington in Seattle, she worked for large corporations like Boeing and Microsoft. With a critical eye and flair for analytics, she was able to shave millions in lost profits, managing cross-functional teams by utilizing her Green Belt in Six Sigma and Masters Certification in Project Management.
Ultimately she realized that she couldn’t be contained in an office environment working for the corporate world. Being an investor herself, she came into real estate as an investment & multifamily property specialist, effectively applying her education & skillset. Carla excels in helping investors make sound decisions for their financial goals, in real estate negotiations, and takes deep pride in educating homebuyers and sellers.
On a personal note, Carla is a busy wife & mother to two daughters. In addition to an ever growing career and podcast, she also enjoys volunteering and being active in the community. She has a deep love for Arizona and although she travels whenever possible, she always finds her way back to the beautiful Sonoran Desert.
Connect with Carla on LinkedIn.
About Our Sponsor
MHG Commercial emerged from the highly successful and innovative residential brokerage: My Home Group. MHG Commercial’s vetted and experienced advisors have a wide range of complementary professional expertise that span over 100 years of cumulative experience. 
Encompassing every aspect of commercial real estate from office to industrial development, raw land to luxury commercial, and multifamily to subdivision development. We excel at out of the box thinking and transactions that require a more hands-on approach and ingenuity.
No matter the property type or service need, our commercial advisors are committed to your objectives. Combined with business finesse and unsurpassed market intelligence, MHG Commercial brokers help you determine and surpass your business goals.
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