We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hunter Croan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hunter below.
Hi Hunter, thanks for joining us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of being a service provider is the kind of crazy stuff that happens from time to time. It could be anything from a disgruntled client attacking an employee or waking up to find out a celebrity gave you a shoutout on TikTok – the sudden, unexpected hits (both positive and negative) make the profession both exhilarating and exhausting. Can you share one of your craziest stories?
I own a real estate team called The Lakefront Group. I started as an individual agent in 2006. I started a team in 2017. My business was growing like crazy then in May of 2019 the Lake Dunlap dam failed which immediately lowered that lakes level 12 feet. I live on Lake Dunlap. My boats and everyone else’s boats were now stuck in boat lifts over dry ground. The lake turned back into the Guadalupe River. My team lost millions of dollars worth of contracts with that dam failure. Most of our business at that time was on the Guadalupe Lakes chain. Most of the lakes on that chain of lakes had similar age/condition dams (Lake McQueeney, Lake Placid, and Meadow Lake). Sales slowed significantly especially after they (GBRA) attempted to dewater the remaining lakes due to “safety concerns”. We were not in a good place. Buyers were concerned that these chain of lakes would be no more.
I was loosing money fast so I quickly expanded my business to include the Highland Lakes (Lake Austin, Lake Travis, Lake LBJ, Lake Marble Falls, Lake Buchanan, and Inks Lake). I figured that the buyers that passed on the Guadalupe Lakes because of the dam issues would switch to the Highland Lakes and business would keep going. Unfortunately that did not happen as I had planned. It took a lot longer to get that business off the ground than I originally expected. About 8 months in we were starting to see activity pick up then Covid hit which again significantly slowed our business down. I was running out of reserves quickly. I then got down on my knees and prayed. Every effort I gave was unsuccessful to that point. When I turned to God, things started to look up quickly. The 10th month after the dam failure business started booming. GBRA and the lakes communities on Lake Dunlap, McQueeney, and Placid all came together and agreed to a plan to replace these three dams.
Around that same time, people realized they could work from home so they could live pretty much wherever they wanted to. A lake house was at the top of a lot of peoples’ lists. Truly answered prayers!
Hunter, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My friends and family would best describe me as having an addiction to water (lakes and rivers). I was raised on Lake McQueeney, living in almost every neighborhood on the lake. I have also resided on Meadow Lake and currently live on Lake Dunlap with my wonderful wife Ashley and 2 boys. Having grown up on the lake, I naturally became a competitive water-skier and wakeboarder. I was the 2003 Collegiate Wakeboard National Champion. I also worked at various theme parks around the nation, including Sea World and Six Flags, performing in waterski/stunt shows. To this day you will still see me on all the area lakes training behind a Malibu (my favorite boat). A few of my real estate accomplishments include: – I was featured on HGTV’s Lakefront Bargain Hunt: Renovation and Lakefront Bargain Hunt.
– Featured in the December 2015 edition of Top Agent Magazine
– I was one of the top individual producer for Keller Williams New Braunfels from 2008 – 2016 (now the largest Real Estate office in Central Texas).
– For the past few years (2012-2022) I have been included in the San Antonio Business Journal’s Top 50 Residential Agents. In fact we were the #1 team/group for our size in 2022
I graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelors in Business Administration in Marketing. I have combined my extensive knowledge of the area lakes (Lake McQueeney, Lake Dunlap, Lake Placid, Meadow Lake, and more) with my marketing background to bring you the most comprehensive real estate websites in the area, www.LakeHouses4Sale.net and www.myNBhome,com.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
By far, it is our websites, www.LakeHouses4Sale.net and www.myNBhome.com. We are on the first page of Google for all 14 of the lakes and rivers we service. We have around 3.3 million pageviews annually for these 2 websites combined (most coming from the Lake House website).
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
My agents and I are strong Christians. The verse from Luke 6:31 comes to mind “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” We truly put our clients needs above our own which a lot of times leads to no sale. This is shown by our numerous 5 star reviews all over the internet.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.LakeHouses4Sale.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelakefrontgroup/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LakeHouses4Sale
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-lakefront-group/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LakefrontGroup
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheLakefrontGroup
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/hunter-croan-the-lakefront-group-mcqueeney
- Other: secondary website: www.myNBhome.com