NEWPORT BEACH, CA—Regulations, NIMBY-ism and other challenges to development have a greater impact on housing growth than the economy does, Richard Douglass, president of the Southern California division of Trumark Homes, tells GlobeSt.com. The real estate veteran was recently tapped by Trumark as the first person in this role at the firm, overseeing all operations of the division. Prior to joining Trumark, Douglass led Southern California operations as division president for Ryland Homes and has also served as Southern California division president for Centex Homes. We spoke exclusively with Douglass about his new role and challenges and opportunities in the Southern California housing industry.

GlobeSt.com: Why did you make the move to Trumark Homes?

Douglass: A mutual business colleague suggested I get to know the principals at Trumark to share thoughts about the industry. We're all in a quest for knowledge and to see things we wouldn't otherwise see. If you hang around with the same people, you don't get to see things differently. We got together over four or five occasions—I was in the public-builder realm; they in the private-builder realm—and we started talking about why we do what we do and where we see the world, how an organization should world. We found we had common values and threads of philosophy. Eventually, they asked me if I would be interested in joining their organization. The company I was working for at the time was going through a big merger, so it just came together. Many times, you get in your comfort zone and don't want to make a move, but so many things just kept coming together that it felt right.

GlobeSt.com: How will your previous experience in the industry inform your new role with Trumark?

Douglass: This was part of those discussions between Mike, Gregg, Jason and me. At various points in my career, I have been in home building and master-planned development. I've been connected to the core business of Trumark, part of which is land and community development, and the sales side was at the center of what I was doing. I've had experiences in urban development along the way, as well as pure residential home building. One of the great things about the business is that at various points you can gravitate toward certain aspects: creative, systems, people. I think that diversity means Trumark is doing things that pique my interest and I'm not in a particular silo. From their perspective, there were reference points and skill sets I had that offered a little more utility in their eyes, so it was a good match.

GlobeSt.com: What are some of the greatest challenges the housing industry faces in Southern California?

Douglass: There are easy ones to cite like affordability. Southern California is one of the most expensive places on earth—not to mention, the US—to engage in real estate development and is also one of the most regulated places. Those things work together in a positive way, but they work against us in the real estate industry. It means higher barriers to entry as land becomes scarcer. But the biggest challenges manifest in government. The private sector is providing a platform for the business to go forward, dealing with all the understandable and regulatory challenges. We all want to be good stewards of the environment, but the process is very cumbersome. There's a myriad of regulations to get around that stand in the way of what would be a more robust industry without them. I get asked that question a lot. If we could have a greater influence over the government nationally with respect to loan programs and FHA limits, etc.—if those things were to be altered, it would have a dramatic effect on the industry. Political factors outweigh economic factors.

GlobeSt.com: Where are the untapped opportunities for the industry in this region?

Douglass: In the future, in this more-urbanized world we live in, the previous patterns of land uses will have to give way. We're not creating retail strip centers like we did 30 years ago, and industrial buildings don't house the same sorts of industries and will have to be recycled just like everything else. The government is very slow to act and understand that and help undergo that transformation. When that happens, new forms of living will come in, either housing or employment forms. We're on the cusp of that ow. Being a Pacific Rim state, California buyers come from all over the world. A great deal of the uptick in California has to do with foreign investment. That is a rising tide that hopefully will start to move some of the barriers in the form of traditional land uses and government regulation of land uses. This will give way to new opportunities. We're stuck in the same paradigm. NIMBYs say they don't want growth, and we say there should be, and we try to get by CEQA. We're in a very land-constrained market.