President
Established in 1987 as a single family homebuilder in the Philadelphia suburbs John Westrum, CEO of Westrum Development Company, continues to apply a proven platform for success: determining under-served market niches, while simultaneously creating growth opportunities.
Westrum Development Company creates communities that are the cornerstone of today’s lifestyles. Situated in the most desirable locations, and appointed with world class amenities and dramatic designs, a Westrum home is where special family memories begin.
A dynamic and visionary market leader, Westrum is on the forefront of the real estate industry. Best known for initiating innovative approaches to the changing requirements of today’s sophisticated buyer, John Westrum and his team of professionals believe in the Philadelphia market place– one neighborhood at a time.
Westrum has sold almost 3,000 homes and several large tracts of land both approved and improved to local and national builders. The Westrum team includes Approval, Site Improvement, Construction Management, Sales Management and Senior Managers with an average of 20 years of real estate development and homebuilding experience.
Q: How has your strategy changed as a result of the credit crisis?
A: The credit crisis is no different than any change in economic circumstance. We change our business and financial strategy as the economy changes and is based on what the market demands. Today we build homes for the existing market. Buyers today want value versus ego. Buyers want more for their money and only buy because they want a home that will appreciate over the long term. More equity is needed to obtain any financing and most banks will only lend on homes sold, will not finance ground and most will not finance development. So, our business strategy is to build what people can afford and want, borrow what banks can afford to lend with very little risk and we attract investors with reasonable and lower risk returns. Tomorrow that is likely to change.
Q: Have you expanded/narrowed your acquisition criteria?
A: We are always looking to buy, but this is limited by the current economic conditions. Large single phased communities are out of reach since investors require a faster recovery of their investment and banks won’t go very long on debt. We have expanded what we will look at as we continue to find ways to improve results. In strong markets we keep the focus narrow and purchase more, in the current market we look everywhere to find value and make money for our investors.
Q: What is your favorite part of your job?
A: Fellow employees, our customers, negotiations, relationships with lenders and investors and problem solving. All the above deal with interacting. There is nothing better than to work through an issue or issues with anyone at anytime. I personally also like to create communities and see how our customers take it over and create long lasting relationships and maintain the value of their homes. Creating something I can drive by, visit with customers and be proud that our organization built a neighborhood is very rewarding.
Q: What is your least favorite part of your job?
A: What’s not to like about everything we do. There’s nothing better to prove your worth than to create solutions in the various markets. Our company slogan is “Love.Life.Here.” This means at work, for our vendors and lenders and ultimately that leads to our customers.
Q: What three adjectives would you use to best describe yourself as a business person?
A: Persistent, annoying, relentless.
Q: Do you feel the federal government has taken sufficient action in restoring confidence and liquidity in the commercial real estate markets? If so, why? If not, what steps would you like to see the federal government take?
A: The government should allow the markets to correct their own problems. Their political issues always cause too many issues. Their fixes are short term and when you manage in the short term it’s like driving over an icy bridge, one change in direction causes many, many more and let’s hope those corrections don’t send the car over the edge of the bridge. My job is to navigate an organization and adapt to the current market conditions. My personal opinion is that we have too much government.
Q: If you weren’t in real estate, what would you be doing with your life?
A: Not sure, real estate is made up of entrepreneurs and really dedicated and energetic people. Creating communities is so rewarding its hard for me to envision another industry. I am a CPA and when I worked for a big eight firm in center city there was nothing better than that. Helping companies solve problems, issues and challenges has always been what makes me go to work every day. Therefore, I would most likely pursue using my CPA and business skills to help others create great organizations.
Q: If you won the $300M mega million jackpot tomorrow, what would you do with your life? The money?
A: First, I would buy the company from our investors, repay the debt and use the money to make more money. That single investment would allow me to re-capitalize and ensure the people that I work with will have long careers with me and that my investor and lender relationships (which I value more than you can imagine) would be improved and life would be really good. The rest I would ask my wife how to invest. There are a lot of people and organizations we would like to support. Finally I would probably take a two week vacation.
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