Realtor-Turned-Builder Carves Growing Niche in Off-Site Construction

E.J. HOLTZ LAND INC., ALTOONA, PA.

Not everyone who comes to Genesis Homes is a home builder by profession. Some see the company as an excellent way to break into the business.

One successful example is Rick Holtz, who has spent the past 30 years in real estate, operating his own brokerage company since 1981 in Altoona, Pa. Holtz’s professional life took a dramatic turn three years ago when he agreed to take over a defunct resort development from a local bank that had owned the 65-acre property for 20 years.

Recognizing that the parcel had greater potential as a residential development than as a resort, Holtz quickly tripled the size of its sewer system while reconfiguring the smaller lots into 150x100-foot tracts to better accommodate single-family homes.

Talk like a builder: Amid these efforts, Holtz realized: “I have as many as 70 lots to sell. If I’m ever going to sell all of them and actually make money, I have to be able to talk home building with my prospects.”

A casual conversation soon led him to Genesis Homes, which was just beginning to roll out its first designs and whose Claysburg, Pa., production facility is only a 20-minute drive from Holtz’s office. Holtz paid a visit and immediately liked what he saw.

“I was intrigued by getting into the home building business, but my first love is still real estate,” Holtz says. “I don’t have time to be out on the job site hour after hour every day supervising, let alone working with the tools. I needed a way to build homes while working from my office, and I needed product that would compare favorably with the local stick builders’ production. Genesis was the perfect solution.”

Range of styles: Holtz’s new building company, E. J. Holtz Land Inc., has worked with Genesis on six new homes: three within the Cresson Lakes development and three in other locations around Altoona. Holtz Land offers ranch-style, split-level, Cape Cod, bi-level and two-story structures ranging in size from 1,300 to 2,400 square feet and in value from $120,000 to $175,000. The lots run from $19,000 to $26,000.

Holtz recruits local excavators and foundation contractors for the front end of each project, getting the site ready for delivery of the Genesis product. Exterior work has not been a problem, he says. “Most buyers want to do some things for themselves, such as porches, patios, decks and landscaping.

“Genesis has been excellent for me as a small startup builder and for this market,” he continues. “The company continues to develop new and exciting floor plans while also widening and refining the selection of cabinets, counters and other products that go into those homes. Consumers like what they see, which is why the factory-built concept has begun to carve a niche in our locale — and that niche is growing.”