About

Howdy 👋 I'm Stephen.

My 20's were a whirlwind of activity in the real estate world, from developing self storage facilities to brokering deals for movie studios to building software to compete with Zillow; but in 2020, that all stopped.

While the world was shut down, I was holed up in a coffee shop in the mountains of New Mexico, scratching out what would later become level.re on a scrap piece of paper.

level the playing field...

Like "if you build it, they will come" from Field of Dreams, but way corny-er.

I was tired...

Tired of the industry. Tired of cheap building methods and pseudo-ethical behavior from my peers (and myself a little bit, too). The majority of our days on earth, and most of our life savings, are tied up in the built spaces we occupy on this planet, and I felt like the sand was shifting under my feet.

You see, individuals are more connected to, and empowered by, information today than at any other point in history. (I don't actually think that's a universally good thing, but it's true nonetheless)

So why can't individuals buy and sell real estate without 17 different middle-men? I can trust an amazon seller a world away, but not my neighbor? Something's broken here.

Level On Demand was my first venture into tackling some of these issues, which has blossomed into a business I'm proud to still be connected to. It was my small attempt at leveling the playing field of real estate services; empowering individuals to make better decisions.

I'm not tired anymore...

So much has changed in the world since I was in that coffee shop in 2020.

• AI is used un-ironically in daily conversations
• Houses can be built with robots
• More people are working remotely than ever before

The sand is still shifting, but I think I like where it's going. I'm trying to make a little splash in my own small part of the sandbox, and learn as much as I can along the way. Most of what you read from me will be things I'm personally interested in, that I think you might be too.

Stay a while and connect with me...

If you stumbled in because you read something you liked, or if you care about innovation and exploration of the real estate world, I hope you'll join me here! I (sometimes others, too) write about things I care about knowing, that typically overlap with real estate on the venn diagram.