Sacramento Real Producers Magazine
Christopher was featured in Sacramento Real Producers Magazine’s October 2021 issue. They recognized him as part of their Celebrating Leaders section for his contributions to the industry over the years.
TO THE FULLEST
Christopher Brown is not your typical REALTOR®. A serial entrepreneur and longtime home builder, Christopher has a keen ability to spot needs in the market and provide a solution, whether by partnering with others or by just doing it himself. The result: three separate niche businesses that meet a specific need in real estate—NEXT Real Estate Group, Inc., NEXT New Homes Group, and NEXT Crafted, Inc.
Christopher wanted to be a builder ever since he was a kid. His father was in residential development and later got into resort development. Christopher often traveled with his dad to places like Mexico and the Caribbean, sparking a lifelong love for travel, an industry that he would later fulfill a need in as well.
Development was first and foremost on his mind, however, even as a child. Christopher loved building with blocks and LEGOS and still has a photo of his first LEGO city, equipped with an airport, hospital, school, housing development, etc., that he planned and built himself at the age of 12.
Although Christopher primarily grew up in Lake Tahoe, where he spent most of his time skiing and playing youth soccer, he ended up in Sacramento for high school, attending Jesuit High School. Christopher didn’t play any sports in high school until his senior year, when he started on the rowing team. He did so well that he earned a scholarship to Seattle University, where he was placed in the seven seat on the Varsity team, one of the most important seats, requiring the skill and ability to lead the team, within his freshman year.
ATHELETICS
The summer following his freshman year, Christopher was asked to join the National Rowing Team. He accepted and rowed for the team that summer. He transferred to University California Santa Barbara (UCSB) his junior year to begin preparing for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. His plan for the next four to five years was to train and compete in Atlanta, then Sydney in 2000, and afterwards begin focusing on real estate.
While at a regatta with UCSB, however, Christopher and a few other rowers decided to play soccer. Christopher was struck by a player during the match and dislocated his patella. Unable to continue rowing, Christopher refocused on school and graduated early from UCSB with a degree in business economics and a minor in marketing in 1996. Christopher also met his wife, Julie, during his senior year of college.
TAKE THE LEAP
Starting a business during a major recession
Shortly after graduating, Christopher landed a position with a commercial real estate group in Santa Barbara. However, he and Julie knew Santa Barbara was not an ideal place for them to live long term, so they decided to move to Sacramento in 1999, where Christopher got a job with a builder—Warmington Homes.
Christopher’s mentor and legend in the industry, Ann Grendahl, recalls the story of Christopher’s first interview with her, when she asked him where he wanted to be in five years, and he responded with, “In your seat.” This left an impact on her, and sure enough, five years later, he was in that seat but with a different company.
But when the 2008 housing crisis hit, it left Christopher without a job. A lender friend of his wanted to meet and have coffee around this time, to have a meeting with him and Scott Bolli, whom Christopher always saw as a major competitor. However, after having coffee, Christopher realized he and Scott complemented each other in business.
“Scott really liked to focus on sales and team building while I always focused on marketing and growing the business in support of the home building community,” Christopher explains.
So, they decided to form a business—NEXT New Home Group—to meet the needs of the new home market at the time and help home builders close out sales. Focusing on subdivision sales and builder closeouts, they became the first and only all-in-one new home sales and marketing company, combining full-service new home sales operations with digital advertising, web design services, photography, and social media management, all of which Christopher taught himself on the fly out of necessity for the business.
GROWING
As the resale market began to recover, Christopher saw the growing need and formed NEXT Real Estate Group.
Like the New Home Group, all marketing is done in house for each agent. The team now consists of six salespeople, though Christopher is wanting to add eight new salespeople before year end. He recently added a new team leader to the business and is focusing on really growing this business.
Christopher’s third business, NEXT Crafted Inc., was formed four years ago with business partner, Scott Bolli and Dragos Cojocaro. Christopher and Dragos met through the Building Industry Association. Dragos was in construction for most of his career but wanted to make a change to get his license and sell for Christopher and Scott. Christopher inquired about his contractor’s license, and over the span of a couple of meetings flushed out the idea for NEXT Crafted Inc., which focuses on production subdivisions, custom homes and remodels. They are currently building an onsite full design center to help facilitate a better experience for their clients to make design selections for their new home or remodel.
LIFE’S ABOUT EXPERIENCES
Take a Break to See The World. The Work Will Still Be There
With three businesses hitting every cylinder of the housing market, Christopher has had to make a concerted effort, with the help of Julie and their son, Marcus, to pull away from his 60-plus-hour weeks as much as he can. About five years ago, they planned a 26-day adventure that started in Sydney, Australia and ended in Honolulu, Hawaii. Christopher wanted to remember each day, so he documented their trip through photography and story posting to Facebook.
“So many people responded with positivity and were inspired to follow along,” Christopher explains.
About a month after the trip, Christopher had a heart attack. He survived because of the quick actions of his wife and the fact that he had been a triathlete for years leading up to the event. Now more than ever, Christopher appreciates what life has to offer and is making time to go experience it, not just dream about it. As Christopher and his family have taken to traveling the past few years, Christopher continued documenting their adventures to places like Maldives, Iceland, and The South Pacific on social media and in the form of a travel blog called, Life’s About Experiences (lifesaboutexperiences.com). His Instagram and TikTok has since amassed over 50,000 followers. Never one to do anything halfway, especially when there is a clear demand, Christopher is planning a YouTube channel with travel tips and virtual assistant to take Life’s About Experiences to the next level.
No matter what Christopher is working on, whether new homes, resale, remodels, or travel adventures, one thing is certain: He will continue living life to the absolute fullest every day.
