Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 149
As we were finishing up construction of ROG, I began putting together Middle Brook
Gardens 2 (MBG2), the complementary second phase to MBG1. This project was to be
built on about 12.11 acres contiguous to the first phase and as a twin to it. After the
purchase of Aerofit by the management team, my son-in-law, Ricky Soto, a member of
that group, decided to leave the organization as part of an effort to cut back on payroll
expenses. He came to assist me in the construction of ROG and began to learn the
building trade. His accounting knowledge was of great use. I now asked him to go run
the MBG2 job, and he, together with Lis and my grandchildren Miana and Cassie,
moved to Austin the first week of January 2001.
Again, I put together another single asset partnership built around the Krogs and the
DeShazers. Since my family partnership had already acquired the land in 1998, and we
wanted to keep the same percentages among the owners, this time the fund raising was
a little easier. The first units opened for lease in January 2002 and the whole project,
216 units, was finished by the summer of the same year. When the 2001-2002
recession hit, due to Austin’s almost total reliance on the high-tech industry, leasing the
complex and rolling the debt into a mortgage loan became a very difficult problem. As I
write this, my ability to weather this storm is still to be tested.
As I have candidly related above, the rebuilding of my financial affairs starting in 1993,
had several cornerstones. First and foremost was, of course, the long lasting period of
prosperity that followed the fall of the Soviet Union, the Reagan tax-cuts and the reordination
of significant parts of the economy, such as real estate, banking,
transportation, energy and defense, to name a few. Although the measures adopted to
face difficulties in all those sectors were economically harsh, the system of free
enterprise under the rule of law emerged even stronger. America became the model for
almost every country in the world. The “concept America” became an export item. It was
functioning well for me here.
President Bush followed up by avoiding an oil supply world crisis. When Saddam
Hussein, the leader of Iraq, without provocation invaded Kuwait in 1990, Mr. Bush sent
our troops to repel the invaders and restore order to that area of the world, as well as to
ensure normal production in its oil fields. Finally, during the 1990s, Republicans in
Congress foiled efforts by Mrs. Clinton, the then president’s wife, to nationalize the
nation’s health care industry and other initiatives dangerous to individual liberties that
were proposed during his administration. The prosperity that ensued created
opportunities in many fields. Having long anchors in real estate, I gravitated toward
income-producing multifamily housing development as the keystone for my valuecreating
reconstruction.
At the micro-economic level in which my own actions had direct effect, there were four
foundation piers that supported my reconstruction efforts. The fact that I fulfilled all my
obligations with all my creditors was undoubtedly one of the underpinning supports. It
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