Building Appalachia is changing West Virginia for the better

Other than reading a few books and talking to others in the business, Jordan Crist and Jacob Skinner had zero experience in the real estate industry when they started. 

But what they lacked in experience was offset by a drive to connect their love of community with a new professional venture. 

Now, the Charleston natives are quickly building one of the state's top real estate investment companies. 

Building Appalachia buys, sells and renovates homes in Kanawha, Putnam, and Cabell counties. They take pride in turning bad situations into good ones, often changing distressed homes into beautiful properties while alleviating stress for families in a tough spot. For example Building Appalachia most recently was able to help a seller by negotiating down the liens attached to their house, pay off their delinquent taxes and sell their house for cash in just days!

Other than reading a few books and talking to others in the business, Jordan Crist (left) and Jacob Skinner (right) had zero experience in the real estate industry when they started. 

Now in their fourth year of operation, the young businessmen are finding their stride. 

"You have to be persistent," Skinner said. "You have to have a drive. You got to have a passion for what you do. We do."

But the journey hasn't been an easy one. Crist and Skinner took plenty of licks to get to the spot they're in now, losing money on properties because homes sat on the market for months or years while they tried to figure out how to run the business. 

"I was regretting my life decisions there for the first couple of years," Crist said, who was a supervisor at UPS before co-founding Building Appalachia. "Over the four years, our strategy has changed, and we're just an iron sharpens iron kind of thing ... We're finding our lanes now."

And helping families is a big part of their mission. 

"One of the first properties we did, the mother passed away and the son and the grandkids were looking for somebody that could take over the house and turn it into something nice," Crist said. "That's one of the first ones we did. So at that point, (our mentality) switched ... You've got to be able to help people."

Noble is a great way to describe what they're doing, helping West Virginians who need affordable living spaces or want to sell a property they can't afford to hang on to it.

The crew at Buiding Appalachia is doing everything they can to make West Virginia a perfect home for as many people as possible. 

"I'm from the West Side," Skinner said, "which is one of the most poverty impacted places around Charleston, and it probably needs the most work. So I'm passionate about buying homes and renovating them, especially in that area and providing affordable housing for people."

If you haven't seen them on social media, especially Building Appalachia’s Facebook, make sure to check them out. 

Crist and Skinner constantly post 'before' and 'after' pictures and videos of their properties around town. It's like watching HGTV in your backyard.

"I've been joking around," Crist said, "I need somebody to follow me around with the camera because I go into a lot more houses than I'm able to record. Jacob too, he's been in some crazy ones recently."

Not bad for two Charleston kids who went from reading a few real estate tip books to running a business helping the community. 

Building Appalachia was recently highlighted on the Mountaineer Media Podcast, where they announced a new partnership. You can learn more about the company's mission in their interview here.

Building Appalachia is changing West Virginia for the better