by Charlotte Kovalchuk · charlotte@myjarrell.com photo courtesy of Barry Cryer
BUS INE S S S P OT L IG HT
Find Your Dream Home with BHS Realty Group
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Clients also have the opportunity to pay it forward, as Barry donates 20 percent of his commission to charity and clients get to choose where 10 percent will go. “It’s basically a tithe for me and a tithe for them,” Barry says. “Whether it’s their new home or they’re selling, it helps bless their transaction.”
hether educating clients, donating part of his commission to charity, serving on local boards, or breaking the poverty cycle, Barry Cryer’s philosophy has always been hard work and helping people. Raised by a hard-working, single mother with a family history of divorce and poverty, Barry’s journey has not been easy. “I get up every day trying to change the legacy of my family,” he says. It’s what drove him, after dropping out of school at 17, to earn his GED, a Certificate in Engineer Design Graphics, and another in Small Business Management and, ultimately, inspired his real estate business, BHS Realty Group. For 32 years, Barry worked in the manufacturing industry. In the 2008 economic plunge, he told his wife Barbara they needed to find a way to control their own destiny, so he signed up for a motorcycle technician class. The instructor said he had made a decent living while owning a motorcycle shop but made the most money when he sold it. "Like God hitting me in the head with a baseball bat," Barry says, a light went on for him. He began looking into real estate investing and signed up for a real estate investment seminar in February 2009.
A NEW CHAPTER In 2013, he opened BHS Realty Group as Cen-Tex Real Estate, now located at 100-A Don Currie Drive in Jarrell. Barry believes he picked the right spot, considering Jarrell’s continued growth over the past six years and the 25,000 new homes projected over the next decade.
FOR JARRELL By 2016, Barry and Barbara owned their home and managed 100 rental doors: duplexes, triplexes, multiple fourplexes, a mobile home park, and an upcoming industrial park. BHS (Bold, Honest, Smart) Realty Group serves residential, commercial, farm, and ranch buyers and sellers in Williamson and southern Bell counties. To Barry, serving these clients is about more than a transaction. “These are people’s lives— dreams—that I am participating in,” he says. That means educating clients and taking into account each unique situation. Barry has worked with customers with a full range of needs, from those about to lose their house but, with Barry's help, able to save their credit; to others in the middle of divorce or facing a death in the family. At the end of every transaction, Barry wants them to know the ins and outs of the whole process, from the roles of the real estate players to the importance of a home inspection and AC check. (You don’t have to look very far for that one...Barry also owns Star Air, Air Conditioning and Heating.)
His philanthropic efforts aren’t limited to real estate. When he’s not helping people buy or sell houses, Barry serves on the Jarrell Road and Street Committee and Economic Development Corporation, and ESD #5 Jarrell Fire Department. “We have a blank canvas, and people involved in shaping the town of the future need to be conscious of the footprint we’re leaving,” he says. “However big or small my role is, I want to be conscientious of the footprint we leave today that will be here for hundreds of years.” With the goal of expanding BHS Realty Group, Barry hopes his business will help shape Jarrell’s future as he works to bring more real estate agents and assistants on board. “I want to help support the community, because we know if people work here and live here, those dollars will circulate many times around the community,” he says. To learn more about BHS Realty Group, call 512-971-2833, email barrycryerrealtor@gmail.com, or visit BHSRealtyGroup.com.
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