Entrepreneur Kevin Seawright Is on a Mission to Help Improve Communities in Baltimore
RPS Solutions LLC founder Kevin Seawright grew up in Philadelphia, where he first noticed many relatives and friends were not acting in their own best interests in terms of financial stability. Over time Kevin was dismayed that, even well into adulthood, they were still paying rent to landlords instead of investing in their community and their own futures.
Seawright came to see that “Putting your money to work in real estate is one of the smartest investment moves you can make,”. However, “I quickly learned that there was a lack of available resources for individuals to start on their path to homeownership. RPS Solutions was born to bridge that gap.” His personal experience in Philadelphia and his drive to help people improve their own financial positions would create a new opportunity.
In 2015, he launched RPS Solutions LLC to provide affordable housing in the Baltimore community and help people make investments to ensure their financial independence.
Seawright emphasized hiring well-qualified, courteous staff who would treat first-time homebuyers with the utmost respect. It would be the first time many of them would be exposed to the complicated process of real estate investment and becoming a homeowner.
Building up to RPS Solutions LLC
Seawright went to the Mendoza College of Business for Non-profit Leadership, which is in line with his current work in community development. The school is a subsidiary of Notre Dame. In 2006, he graduated from Almeda University with a Master of Business Administration Degree.
In addition to his focus on real estate and homeownership, Seawright also has an interest in improving education. He served as VP Deputy Chief Operating Officer of a public school district and was in charge of $50 million in funding from local, state, and federal funding sources.
Work on community issues continued in Washington, D.C., and in Newark, NJ, where he collaborated with the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation to create more senior living communities. Then, came the 2015 founding of RPS Solutions LLC.
Mission of RPS
RPS Solutions LLC is dedicated to helping first-time homebuyers by enabling them to purchase affordable homes, while also improving the community around them.
“We look for areas in Baltimore and surrounding counties where we try to find homes that we can invest in, construct and stabilize them and then be able to sell them back to first-time homebuyers at an affordable price point,” Seawright told TechBullion.
He explained that “The main goal is creating homes that people are able to afford, that they’re able to get mortgages for, and that allows them to create wealth and stabilize their community.”
RPS Solutions LLC received notoriety when it stepped up to help new homeowners in Baltimore. Seawright sold a property in a location called Belvedere Square, and the deal was set up so it would be filled with first-time homebuyers. RPS Solutions enabled these individuals to afford newly renovated homes that are move-in ready. He was proud that the new owners could hold a housewarming party the very same day they took possession of the domicile.
Indeed, sales of such homes are designed to create stable, healthy communities through affordable housing that’s renovated and customized for families and seniors as well as those with special needs.
Home sales in neighborhoods that are distressed economically is a major thrust of their mission, along with managing projects, acquiring new properties, and doing contract work for government programs.
Seawright’s Advice for Entrepreneurs
When asked what habit he has cultivated that made him the most productive in business, Seawright declared that reading more consistently is key to his success. He acknowledged that his ability to succeed would be impacted if he wasn’t so diligent in keeping on top of all aspects of his business and the industry. That requires a lot of ongoing reading and research.
Seawright recommends people read Jeff Brown’s “The Winner’s Brain” because of the ideas it presents about how the brain can be improved and transformed for success.
In addition to hiring the right people for your team, Seawright suggests that a major ingredient for success is to get some exercise in the morning to strengthen your body and get the blood moving before you start using your mind all day at work.
Also, if you don’t record your ideas and tell someone about them, you’re doing yourself a disservice. That’s why Seawright writes in a journal a few times per week to get started with ideation. The act of writing down ideas helps keep them from floating away before action is taken. Then his habit is to bring the newest ideas to RPS Solutions LLC’s managing partner, Niccole Beasley, who offers him feedback as a trusted confidant and partner.
It’s also essential that entrepreneurs pay attention when studying business software, which Seawright laments he wasn’t so careful about initially when he was learning Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
With that experience, he also recognized the value of calculating your business decisions and crunching the numbers, seeing if there are any holes in the plans or processes you’re considering. Seawright is motivated to do this extra work now, after having to revise strategies midway through a project because of faults that were not so evident starting.
Setting Homebuyers on a Course for Success
Would-be homeowners can begin the process by visiting the RPS Solutions LLC website to view properties for sale and read informative blog posts or get contact information for the company.
Realtor Desiree Eades serves as liaison to the community for RPS Solutions LLC, helping new homebuyers navigate the lending process so they have a thorough understanding of what’s involved.
The vision of RPS Solutions LLC is “striving to create a more diverse society where homeownership is achieved, communities are healthy and all people can develop their full potential. We believe that affordable housing and supportive programs improve the economic status of residents, transform neighborhoods and stabilize lives.”
One recent example of new homeownership comes from Bianca Thornton, whom RPS Solutions identified as a qualified buyer for what it called one of the company’s finest to date. Thornton was a lifelong resident of Baltimore and became a first-time home buyer thanks to terms worked out with Seawright, along with help from Maryland’s grant programs and the Community Development Administration.
Stabilizing Communities by Educating and Motivating People to Invest in Real Estate
Promoting a message of the benefits of homeownership over the prospect of continuously feeding money to landlords for the rest of your life, Seawright is doing his part to benefit Baltimore’s residents.
With his experiences seeing loved ones enter into adulthood without developing plans to own their own homes and move toward greater financial independence, Seawright felt it was important to do something for the people in his community of Baltimore.
His efforts through RPS Solutions LLC put him on track to lift the community further, to achieve homeownership levels he had first envisioned when growing up in Philly. The result is more people becoming real estate-savvy in support of his goal to strengthen neighborhoods and promote stability, which naturally comes as financial security improves.