Origins
The Origins of Douglas Newby and Associates: While still in graduate school, Douglas Newby was very involved in Old East Dallas revitalization efforts. One of his first initiatives was to create a proposal for a Historic Dallas Fund. The concept of the fund was to leverage a very small amount of capital by buying options on properties that were owned by rent house investors.
Virginia and Lee McAlester liked this proposal and with Douglas Newby started the Dallas Historic Fund. The mission of this fund was to secure properties from absentee landlords, put deed restrictions on them and resell them to individuals that would turn them back into single-family homes. Once the organization was in place, committees filled and bank financing in place, there was still a missing piece. The executive committee of the revolving fund did not know of a real estate broker who had experience in obtaining real estate options or had the necessary understanding of the neighborhood.
This is when they turned to Douglas Newby who put together an investment plan built on his strategy of optioning properties. They also asked if he would obtain his real estate license and negotiate the staggered long-term options he proposed. With a total budget of $25,000, he obtained one and two year options on 25 houses. The houses, with preservation deed restrictions placed on them, were resold for a total profit of $200,000 - an 800% return, and enough money for Preservation Dallas to set up their first office and hire their first full-time executive director.
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RE Real Estate Magazine
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Editor, RE Magazine
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"Thank you for your patience, guidance and above all, your friendship"
- Tracy and Scott Bundy
Douglas Newby's first real estate transaction required that he quickly and simultaneously negotiate 22 staggered purchase options from multiple property owners on behalf of the Historic Preservation League...
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Selling historic homes architecturally mangled by landlords and tenants with the original floor plan almost undecipherable, and the interiors in a very unpleasant condition because of the transient nature of tenants, became an extraordinary training ground...
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Douglas Newby's academic background has been an asset to his work as a real estate broker. He received a BS in Social Science and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from SMU...
His Master's thesis was on the economic incentives to revitalize an inner city neighborhood. It became the blueprint for the single-family rezoning and revitalization of the Old East Dallas 100 block area...
As one of many SMU distinguished alumni, Douglas Newby continues to have a great appetite for knowledge. He attends numerous lecture series and speaker forums presented by Dallas Friday Group, National Center for Policy Analysis, the Federal Reserve...
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In the late 1970s Douglas Newby saw buyers and sellers struggling with how they should renovate the old houses they purchased. Contractors and designers were often giving them advice not best suited for a historic home...
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Once restoration had gained momentum, Douglas Newby again combined his civic interest with his professional life. He put together a limited partnership to build the first two new houses in the Munger Place Historic District...
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In the early 1980s there were still very few neighborhood associations and very little neighborhood identification. For instance, houses would be referred to as gingerbreads on the M Streets...
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The next great void in public understanding to be addressed was the importance of the original Highland Park and Preston Hollow homes. These homes were being sold and often torn down because no one knew they were important or architecturally significant...
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Douglas Newby is currently on the advisory board of Preservation Park Cities and helped sponsor the first, to be annual, home tour in 2002...
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