Al Hartman (born March 27, 1952) is an American entrepreneur, businessman and philanthropist. He is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hartman vREIT XXI, Inc. and the Founder of Hartman Short Term Income Properties XX, Inc. (now Silver Star Properties REIT, Inc.), a Texas-based real estate investment trust (REIT). Hartman also serves on the Board of Directors of The Great Awakening Project, The Elijah Challenge and is a member of The C-Club.
Al Hartman – Founder
Early Life and Education
Hartman was the sixth of eight children, and one of five sons. With such a large family, Hartman’s father began a working farm to supplement his income as a Dairy Scientist for a large national grocery chain. The boys would work before and after school, and on weekends on the farm. The hard work especially appealed to Hartman, and while his other siblings chose higher education and careers, Hartman would become an entrepreneur.
Building Hartman Income REIT took up much of Hartman’s early adult years and as a result he did not get married until the age of 42. Hartman’s mother named him after the family’s Methodist pastor, a distinction in his birth family that would later bear fruit.
Al Hartman on the cover of RED News commercial real estate magazine, July 2019 issue.
Business Career
Hartman is the Founder of one of the fastest growing, Texas-based REIT’s and full-service management companies in the state of Texas, Hartman Income REIT Management, Inc.
In 1978, Hartman started his career selling home improvement services door to door. At age 27, he was making so much money that he wanted to shelter his income, so he read several books about how to shelter his income and make money in real estate. He started by buying residential properties.
In a short period of time, he bought a duplex, 12 houses, and a 16-unit apartment complex near a university. He was able to make improvements to all the properties and in a short time, sold them for a profit. Hartman then began working in the real estate business full-time and began buying commercial income-producing properties. The first one, a retail shopping center, was purchased in 1983.
From 1983-2022, Hartman sponsored 20 privately offered and two publicly offered real estate programs. He personally raised $100 million in his first 18 programs. From its modest beginnings, the company now owns and manages more than 60 commercial real estate assets (office, retail, industrial), generates more than $100 million a year in revenue, and employs approximately 200 team members.
Awards, Recognition, and Thought Leadership
Al Hartman is an awarded thought-leader and influencer in the commercial real estate industry. He was named as Texas CRE influencer by REDnews and has appeared in numerous interviews with major CRE publications like BISNOW.
Proven Results by Al Hartman – This book authored by Al Hartman speaks of the tumultuous beginnings of the Hartman company, and explains some of the changes of thought that made the company a leader in real estate investment and management. Download a copy of Proven Results by Al Hartman.
2021 Texas Commercial Real Estate Icon – Al Hartman was named as a 2021 Texas Commercial Real Estate Icon. The award is given by REDnews to inspirational leaders and successful business professionals in the Texas commercial real estate industry who have significantly shaped the commercial real estate landscape of their respective city.
Patriot Award – Al Hartman was honored with the distinguished Patriot Award for employer support of an active Nation Guard member. The award reflects the patriotic efforts made by leaders of veteran friendly businesses.
REDnews interview – Al Hartman joins other Hartman executives to talk and discuss the company’s adaptability, excellence in property management, velocity in leasing activity, and strategic growth during the pandemic.
BISNOW Interview – Al Hartman sits down with Bisnow to discuss the company’s post-pandemic strategy and the future of the Texas office market. In this interview, Texas is put in the spotlight for corporate relocations and Al Hartman introduces Hartman’s sister company, BIZSUITES.
Authority Magazine Interview – Al Hartman talks about Preparing for the Future of Work in this interview with Authority Magazine. The article sheds light on the impact of technology and automation as a major disruptor for employers.
Culture is Everything
Hartman believes a company’s culture is its only truly unique identifier; it is like a fingerprint. Thus, he has focused on building a culture of shared beliefs and values. He believes that the company’s structure and strategic plan should be viewed as the bones of the company and the culture is its soul.
During his tenure as CEO, Hartman put procedures in place that prioritized hiring for culture fit above experience. Today, following in Al Hartman’s footsteps, current CEO Mark Torok has employed a director of training to create career paths and development plans for high-potential team members, which has increased employee satisfaction and retention.
Al Hartman at the 2018 Company-Wide Meeting
Another strong component of the company’s culture is customer service; something Hartman established as white glove service. Hartman is dedicated to creating an environment of service for both the external and internal customer. White glove customer service training (think of the service points from Ritz Carlton) are a part of the company’s very structed on-boarding process and taught during orientation at Hartman University. This includes daily and weekly touch points with tenants, VIP services for large tenants, and upgraded amenities.
The company has one organized start date per month so that each team member can spend their first three days attending Hartman University and becoming familiar with the culture, vision, mission, and core values. This experience immerses and orients new team members, setting them up for immediate success at the company.
Hartman University empowers all team members to address service issues on the spot when dealing with customers. Each team member has the authority to spend $1500 to resolve a customer service issue without seeking approval or direction from any other person with the company. Daily customer visits are a part of the building engineers’ daily schedule, allowing the company to proactively identify the customer’s needs.
The company has a culture of appreciation and encouragement. Hartman established an employee-to-employee system of praise to exemplify the core value of we recognize and celebrate our achievements. Team members can recognize and celebrate one another by awarding platinum ($100), gold ($50.00), and silver coins ($25.00) for engaging in work that demonstrates the company’s core values. Anytime a team member observes ‘above and beyond service’ by another employee, an email is distributed companywide, and the coins are delivered via a gift card. It is typical for over $100,000 to be awarded to team members every year. This inspires the Hartman team to share spontaneous encouragement and accolades with other team members.
Hartman’s holistic culture of caring programs include:
- Women’s Bible Study
- Men’s Bible Study
- Employee Benevolence Fund
- Life Coaching
- Corporate Chaplains
- Community Outreach Committee
- Corporate Prayer Chain/Warriors
- Weekly Prayer Calls
As of the end of 2020, there are over 30 prayer warriors engaged in daily prayer for the needs of all team members, their families, the buildings, and occupants of the buildings. The company’s benevolence fund assists employees during financial difficulties that arise from emergencies and supports national and local non-profit organizations. The non-profit organizations supported by the company’s benevolence fund are nominated by the employees for consideration and must be in alignment with the company’s core values. A full list of recipients is listed in our Community page.
Personal Life
Hartman met and married his wife Lisa in 1994 at Second Baptist Church in Houston, Texas and they have three daughters: Margaret, Victoria, and Charlotte. By 1995 Hartman had made a true public profession of faith in Christ and began to realign his life, heart, and business to God and His Kingdom. The Family are members of Second Baptist Church where he serves as a Deacon. He liked the church so much that he moved across the street so he and his family could easily attend the church and his children could go to the church school.
An Activist and Evangelist
Hartman serves on the Board of Directors of The Great Awakening Project, The Elijah Challenge and is a member of The C-Club. He is dedicated to sharing his passionate love for Christ and bringing others to eternal life. During his time as CEO, Al Hartman introduced a discipleship program at the company, hosting weekly bible studies for his employees and spreading the word of salvation at local malls several times a month. He and his family travel to India annually to train pastors on evangelism in some of the country’s most impoverished areas.
Charitable Endeavors & Legacy
The Hartmans believe that God placed them in a position to be a blessing to others through charitable works in a manner that is pleasing to the Holy Spirit and in accordance with Luke 6:38. “Give and it will be given to you; a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8
To support the Hartman’s philanthropic and charitable endeavors, the family office established a non-profit platform that engages in grantmaking in specific focus areas: politics, poverty, evangelism, anti-trafficking/anti-pornography.
The philanthropic arm of the Hartman’s non-profit focuses on the political arena with an emphasis on supporting Christian conservative causes and programs.
“Seek the peace and prosperity of the city” Jeremiah 29:7
The charitable arm of the Hartman’s non-profit works focuses on providing basic needs to those in crisis, sparking revival through various ministries and evangelical initiatives and dismantling the systems of evil in the oppressive arenas of sex trafficking and pornography. This work is done through a newly formed 501(c)3 organization called PropserCity, Inc. The organization is focused on promoting cultural transformation through Christian revival by making strategic investments in the cities where Hartman has a commercial real estate presence.
Follow Al Hartman on LinkedIn, Twitter, and on his blog AlHartman.com