About Thomas Teresi

As I Look Back On My Life, It Seems I Was Destined To Become A REALTOR®. My life and career somehow have always been touched by real estate and real estate investment. Born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, I was the youngest of three children in a typical working-class family. I remember my mother telling the story of how she and Dad borrowed the down payment from an aunt to purchase their first home for $16,000. Upon settling into their new home, they received the news that their third child (me) was on the way. They sat paralyzed at the thought of a mortgage and three children. Striving to own real estate was a lesson taught in my parents’ house—a key element in the struggle to trade up and piece together the elements of a better life. My family moved to Long Island when I was 10, to a newly built home in Suffolk County for the pricey sum of $24,000. Fast-forward 10 years. Newly graduated with a Master’s in Growth Management, I found myself working for the City of Hollywood, Florida, as an Assistant Planner. A stroke of luck (and the real estate boom for planned communities) landed me a job with a residential development company in South Florida—Gulfstream Land and Development. Gulfstream was the company that literally placed the city of Plantation, Florida on the map by converting 10,000 acres of raw land into the gated communities of Jacaranda.

 

From there, I joined the Arvida Corporation, which was doing equally exciting things at the edge of the Everglades. There, Arvida laid the groundwork for converting 20,000 acres of swamp into gated, golf-course communities filled with luxury homes. Weston was this community’s name, and it became one of the best places to live in South Florida. At this same time, I donned the trademark gold vest of Century 21 and became a REALTOR® in 1985. But the nation was heading into the first economic crisis of my lifetime—the recession of the late ’80s and early ’90s—and I found that real estate as I knew it was shifting. I needed to find safer ground. In 1992, I moved to Washington, DC as a virtual stranger. It was here Phase 2 of my life began, but not with the trappings of grand golf-course homes, but rather more humbly working for HUD helping to change the paradigm of public housing and creating pathways for breaking the cycle of poverty through mentoring and homeownership.

 

I had an exhilarating 20 years at HUD as part of a national team that grew a housing demonstration program into a model for urban revitalization and community redevelopment. Through the HOPE VI Program, we assisted public housing authorities across the nation in turning blighted slums into mixed-use, mixed-income communities. These initiatives dramatically improved the lives of families who endured unspeakable conditions in distressed public housing. The reality of improved neighborhoods helped residents become optimistic about their futures and become more self-sufficient, thereby breaking the cycle of poverty. Following are just a few of the communities transformed by the HOPE VI Program that I have had the pleasure of being involved with in Washington, DC: Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg Dwellings (23 acres stretching from the Navy Yard to the Anacostia River), Henson Ridge, Ellen Wilson Homes, and Glenncrest/Triangle View. As a Washington, DC resident for over 20 years now, I have tasted the grit of the city and walked through neighborhoods no one dared to at the time. I saw opportunity everywhere I went, even when 16th Street was considered the boundary of wise investment. I have purchased and sold many homes in the city, each time gaining deeper appreciation for the process, learning to recognize undervalued properties, and coaching others to turn their real estate dreams into reality. Today, as part of the Keller Williams Capital Properties Team, I can assist you in doing the same.