News
Cantrell's Fruitful Business
March 29, 2010
| Mark Cantrell knows what 100% profit feels like—albeit at a fruit stand outside his McKinney home in 1966. (The produce was gratis, thanks to his dad's farm and grandfather's garden.) Today, he and his brother Tim, partner in three CRE companies: The Cantrell Company, Cantrell McCulloch, Inc. (CMI), and Monticello Asset Management. | |
 | |
| While working at Marcus & Millichap, Tim (here with Mark and CMI COO Bobby McCulloch) says he heard many clients' woes about their high property taxes. "We were already fighting the taxes on our own investment properties when a few clients approached us about handling theirs; the next step we considered was launching a business," he says. Bobby joined in 2000—leaving his client list behind as a result of a non-compete—and built up to over 3,700 properties that CMI now reps. | |
 | |
| We snapped an impromptu staff pic last week. CMI handles both commercial real estate and business personal property accounts in 29 states, with a focus in Texas. In '09, it managed the appeal process on $7.9 billion in property value, resulting in more than $28M in actual tax savings for clients. Bobby tells us since the collapse of the capital markets in late 2008, owners anticipate values decreasing and they're looking for tax relief: "Appraisal districts tend to be aggressive in raising values in an up market and slower to react to a declining market." | |
 | |
| We snapped the lovely atrium in the building where CMI is HQ'd,Park Central 7. Monticello owns and manages more than 2k apartment units, while The Cantrell Company focuses primarily on multifamily brokerage. (n case you're wondering, Tim says there is some client crossover between all three businesses.) The firm's three leaders are Baylor grads, though verifying if they bleed green and gold would've raised journalistic ethics issues. Aside from cheering on the Lady Bears in the Final Four, Bobby mountain bikes the trails of Dallas, Tim golfs with a 4 handicap, and Mark is still gardening. |
