TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Joshua Davis knows one thing for sure, the path toward your goals isn’t always linear.
Often the path to success includes detours and re-routes. For Davis, his real estate journey began as a young boy in Bessemer, Alabama. Growing up, Davis would often overhear his father talking about real estate. While his dad would later become the owner and operator of his own trucking business, he had to put his passion for real estate aside as he was raising Davis and his two sisters.
However, that passion for the industry piqued Davis’ interest in real estate.
“Me and my dad we kind of have a relationship where I’m almost analyzing him from afar,” Davis said. “I’ll tell my dad certain things years later and he’d say, ‘Man, I didn’t think you were paying attention, I didn’t even think you cared about that.’ … He’s always been a people person and I assume that’s how he got the passion for real estate. He can talk to a brick wall for hours and you feel like the brick wall developed a brain. I found myself doing the same thing growing up and it inspired me.”
Similar to his father, Davis’ real estate aspirations also had to take a back seat. After graduating high school, Davis enrolled at Shelton State Community College, but after two semesters, he opted to join the workforce starting at Publix and eventually working his way up to a manager role.
During this time, Davis opted to finish up at Shelton State and then transfer to The University of Alabama. While managing multiple stores in Tuscaloosa and Jefferson County, he would take classes, commute to work and then complete assignments during his lunch break or when he was on the closing shift.
While he enjoyed his time at Publix it wasn’t what he wanted to do long-term.
“One thing I always tell people is, ‘Use your current situation to get you where you want to go,’” Davis said. “I just had to buy little pockets of time to complete my assignments and I was blessed to have co-workers that understood what I was doing and knew what I was trying to achieve.”
As he refocused his sights solely on academics, Davis signed up for the CORE program. CORE is a free eight-module credential course that combines live and self-guided real estate career content along with building skills necessary for graduates to succeed in the industry.
For Davis, CORE became the opportunity he needed to begin his career in real estate.
“Taking the CORE course kind of opened my eyes up just a little bit more,” Davis said. “All I wanted to do was just residential, putting people in houses, but going through the core program I saw that maybe commercial real estate is where I probably need to be. But at the same time, if you don’t want to do residential or commercial, there are other sectors where real estate can be beneficial too.”
Thanks to CORE, Davis has delved further into real estate, becoming an ambassador for the program while also interning for Retail Strategies in Birmingham. While it hasn’t been the easiest road for the Bessemer native, Davis has appreciated every stop along the way and hopes he can inspire the next wave of real estate graduates.
“My dad always says, ‘You never know who is watching,’” Davis said. “I hope that my story can be a benefit to someone who is looking to find their way into the industry.”
