When folks around Huntsville, Madison, Decatur and Athens, Alabama, hear the name Matt Curtis, more often than not, the old adage about thinking globally and acting locally comes to mind. With 15 years of real estate experience under his belt, Curtis and his staff go above and beyond to serve their clients while giving back and supporting both local and international humanitarian service projects through the firm’s MCRE Cares initiative.
Curtis’ faith-based motivations are summed up succinctly on his company’s Facebook page, which states that “Curtis believes to whom much is given, much is expected.” He is the largest donor to Habitat for Humanity in Nicaragua, supporting his vision to build 1,000 homes for families in need.
“It’s my concept, but it’s really our company’s big vision—and why we exist,” says Curtis, broker/owner and chief visionary officer of Matt Curtis Real Estate, Inc., a fast-growing team of real estate specialists based in Madison, Alabama. “Nicaragua has the second-highest poverty rate, with most folks living on less than $200 a year. And a lot of kids are dying because of inadequate shelter,” says Curtis.
“Being in the housing industry, and an investor myself, you can’t get a much better return on investment than spending $6,000 on a home that will change the future of a family forever,” he adds.
What began as a goal to build 100 homes in Nicaragua multiplied tenfold after Curtis was challenged by his then eight-year-old son to up the goal to 1,000.
“We’ve built 141 homes so far, and we’re going back soon to build several more,” says Curtis (at press time), who goes on to explain that the experience has changed his life.
But it doesn’t end there, as MCRE Cares also makes a huge impact at the local level, right in the neighborhoods where Curtis and his team are helping clients buy or sell homes by supporting the local Kids to Love orphanage, sponsoring a backpack drive with Downtown Rescue Mission and supporting local youth leadership training and youth sports.
“We helped build cottages on the Kids to Love property as a transition space when they’re getting ready to leave,” explains Curtis, “and our most recent peanut butter drive for our House of the Harvest food bank brought in over 800 jars.”
Taking care of business on a philanthropic front, Curtis points to the firm’s partnership with Real Estate Webmasters as a key piece of the puzzle as far as the brokerage’s real estate success is concerned.
“In the past, we had a nationally ranked website, so I’m really excited about Real Estate Webmasters’ Renaissance platform, which we recently launched. It has a great framework, built-in SEO, and it’s easy to design and make changes,” says Curtis.
“Real Estate Webmasters was flexible in giving us a unique product that worked with our Salesforce CRM system, and they’re cutting-edge when it comes to providing the latest SEO tips and tricks to keep us ahead of the other guys out there,” he adds.
After briefly considering a custom design, Curtis says that he decided to go with the Renaissance platform because it saved the company money and provided better SEO results. “It gives us a custom look, but it’s built on a proven framework.”
Partnering with Real Estate Webmasters has given Curtis and his team the best of both worlds, allowing them to continue their faith-driven mission of helping improve things for others in their service area and around the world.
For more information, visit www.realestatewebmasters.com.
