FIRST CITY HOMES
BUILDER PROFILE
 Mike Ghouse is a 2nd generation home builder, and some say home building is in his veins since early childhood when his father built homes.

 He grew up trenching foundations the old fashioned way, and learned the art of interlocking bricks to building firm walls and, of course, getting covered in saw dust while finishing wood cabinetry.

Mike began his home building career with Gemcraft Homes and its legendary, comprehensive training. Next, he was lured to Ryland Homes where he jump-started a community that had been dormant for over six months.  Later, he successfully closed out communities from Rowlett to Bedford and Denton to Desoto and in the process became their number one community manager in the years 1985-86.

In 1996, Mike joined Grand Homes’ flagship community at Bent Tree Hills, building their first custom product. It was another success story and Mike remained among the top three community managers in the company. Mike then moved to Drees Custom Homes and became the number one Market Manager in 1999, and just last year he finished patio and town homes in Carrollton for Bluffview Builders before leaving to start his own home building company.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

When the Dallas market collapsed in 1985, Mike outperformed the market and became the #1 Producer for Ryland Homes in Texas.

Kirby Creek in Grand Prairie had failed to build even a single home in 1984; Mike jump started it and got the community moving forward.

The Bent Tree Hills subdivision in North Dallas (a mile from the proposed project) was a lost cause to three builders, then Grand Homes took over and hired Mike to get it rolling resulting in sales of 148 homes in just two years, a record in 1996. He succeeded even with drawbacks such as power lines, daily protests and TV/News paper reports about low income housing next door.   

Mike became the #1 Market Manager for Drees custom homes in 1999 at Coyote Ridge. Ten homes were sold before David Weekly Homes or Huntington Homes could catch up with Drees, the first phase was sold out ahead of schedule by 1.5 years while the competitors struggled for another year.  Coyote had a stigma of landfill next door, but with full disclosures, right information and inspections of safeguards, Drees continued to outdo the other builders.

The Bluffview subdivision gave Mike the opportunity to navigate uncharted waters. Mike sold and managed town and patio homes in the $180-220,000 price range, in a market which contained single family homes with a median price of roughly $150,000. He was successful in establishing a new benchmark and paving the way for other builders to follow.

Mike has been a leader in the industry and has been on the Board of Directors for the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas and served on many committees, and continues to increase his knowledge through industry seminars and education.  In our portfolio we have plans ranging the gamut from full custom homes to semi-custom garden homes to town homes.