Dave “Supa Dave” Nelson has called Houston home his entire life, and now, with 16 years of real estate investment experience under his belt, he is back in the Hiram Clarke community with a mission to put black leadership and community redevelopment in motion.
Dave’s father had been in the construction industry for many years, and after a brief college football venture at the University of Houston, Dave decided to leave school to support his family and join the industry with his father. While working in construction, Dave became intrigued by the idea of real estate investment after meeting people who were making money from buying, fixing and selling properties in Houston.
He soon learned he had a knack for finding good deals on properties throughout the Greater Houston area and was able to make money by getting these properties under contract and then selling those contracts. This led to the development of Just Home Buyers, LLC, a wholesale company created to get the best deals on buying and selling property contracts.
“I got really good at finding the best deals and that’s how I was really able to break things open,” Dave said. “Finding deals is not an easy task to do; not many people are good at that, but I got good at it. I was able to build up a little money by getting properties under contract and then selling that contract. I didn’t have to actually buy the house, fix it and sell it, I just had to get a good deal on the contract.”
Most of Dave’s projects were residential in the beginning. After he built up a bit of money, he was able to start holding on to properties instead of just selling the contracts. This led to his second business venture, Prestige Development Group, LLC, which bought, repaired and sold properties.
At the time, Dave was not focused on specific locations for his properties. It was “all about where the money was at,” as he puts it. That is until he began accumulating residential rental proprieties in Hiram Clarke, now know as Five Corners District, where he grew up.
“I was in the community one day, looking for people to consult with about investing in real estate to enhance or grow their businesses,” Dave said. “But as I rode through the area I grew up in, I recognized there were a lot of businesses that were not black-owned.”
This insight changed Dave’s perspective on how he went about choosing the properties he purchased. He knew, in order for this community to become successful and self-sufficient, that leadership and ownership needed to come from within. He purchased his first commercial property in early 2019 and thus began his mission to return to his roots and rebuild the community.
“There is a lack of leadership on the business side of things in this community, as far as business ownership goes” Dave said. “So, I am trying to be a part of the change in that. That is why I bought the commercial property and will continue to look for other commercial building purchasing opportunities.”
Another component in the necessity for local, black ownership in the Hiram Clarke community is money circulation. Because many of the businesses in the area are owned by those who do not reside in the area, the money made at their businesses is not being put back into the community. It is being taken with them, back to their own neighborhoods.
“I think that is where the problem is,” Dave said. “We talk about how long the dollar circulates in certain communities, and right now for the black communities, it circulates for about six hours but in other predominantly white or Asian communities, it may circulate for as long as 25 days. It takes about six hours for the non-local business owners to get off work, take that money and go spend it in their own community. They are going to the grocery store where they live, the gas station where they live and all the other shops in their own communities. Money made in our community is not being spent over here, and that’s a problem.”
This has led Dave and his team to be very intentional about the businesses they bring to the community. They want to cater to people who are going to spend money locally, add to the family-oriented environment and continue making it a vibrant and safe community.
“We have had a really great response from many people about what we have planned for the community,” Dave said. “We want to mirror the experience of the Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where there are black enterprises and black businesses thriving in the area. This is an opportunity for people of color to actually see themselves owning a business, and not just putting a business in a building and renting. It is about knowing and believing that owning the property you do your business out of is possible.”
In line with the vision of black business ownership, Dave has another business venture, Supa Dave Investors, LLC, through which he teaches real estate investment to people in the community.
“With as many years of experience as I have, I feel like it is a way for me to give back some of my knowledge to others” Dave said. “My heart is for the people, and I feel good about being able to help someone change their circumstances or have a positive impact on their life because of something I taught them.”
Although he has many plans to continue moving redevelopment efforts forward, Dave knows he cannot do it on his own. He states his team is the moving force behind everything he does and gives them credit for pushing this God-given vision forward, but he also has great hope that more and more people will see the vision and become a part of it.
“My goal is for people to be able to see the story and understand what it is that I am doing and want to do the same thing,” Dave said. “I ultimately just want to influence people, and for this to be what I envision it to be, I can’t do it by myself. I want to bring on as many people as I can to be a part of this and encourage them to come back and stay in the community instead of running from it.”
