The Real Estate Investor
Jay Rouse spent more than a decade in a lucrative career as an insurance agency owner but the Old East Baltimore resident never saw it as the perfect fit. Rouse had also been a real estate investor for 20 years so when he had the opportunity to leave the insurance industry in 2018 to focus on real estate, he dove in. Never one to let the grass grow under his feet, in 2021 Rouse decided to parlay his knowledge into a new career with Pillar To Post and serves homebuyers, sellers and agents throughout the Baltimore metropolitan area while focusing on Baltimore City. And business is booming.
A Baltimore native, Rouse attended Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and worked in the car industry out of school before transitioning to insurance in 2006. “But I never felt like insurance was my calling,” Rouse said. “I concurrently was investing in real estate and I really enjoyed that. When I had a chance to exit insurance and go into home inspection, I was thrilled because it came me in the real estate world.
Rouse’s decision to become a franchise owner came at an opportune time when the company had rolled out fantastic innovative technologies, fast tracked to completion due, in part, to the COVID outbreak.
Rouse says he chose Pillar to Post because he spotted them in the Entrepreneur500™, and while already researching another home inspection company he became curious as to why Pillar To Post was 100 spots higher on the famed list.
“I thought ‘what could make one company so much better’? Then I reached out to Pillar To Post, visited them, and found out that the recent technologies, support, and company culture was going to make all the difference in my success. And it has.
My insurance background helps me to understand the risks associated with certain deficiencies I might come across during an inspection,” said Rouse, “while my real estate background gives me the knowledge and understanding to suggest solutions to the homebuyers or sellers. A huge advantage for them!