Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica Morales.
Hi Monica, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My dad was a realtor and contractor in Los Angeles, so I grew up in the business. I went to work with him often as a child and naturally fell in love with all things real estate. After college, we relocated to Middle Tennessee. Once there I applied for real estate school and upon completion, I decided to sign on with PARKS.
I became licensed in 2016, and shortly after I met Bud George. He quickly became my mentor. I knew when I started the business I was not going to limit myself to residential real estate so I began learning all I could about commercial real estate while continuing to work on the residential side. My dad began flipping and building homes so I was blessed to have his business to help support mine. Naturally, I specialized in working with investors.
As a Latina, I first observed the lack of representation in this business. Born to immigrant parents, I knew I had to do anything I could to help the underserved community. I began to research programs available to help educate Hispanics in homeownership and serving first-time homebuyers instantly became my passion.
I continued to pursue my interest outside the residential sector and in 2021 I closed my first commercial deal. My second quickly followed. I am now being mentored by John Blankenship, a commercial agent in the Parks family of realtors.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not, but I didn’t expect it to be either. Although I had my dad’s business, I couldn’t rely solely on him as he too was in the process of establishing his business, and at the time was focusing mostly on renovations. I went to the office every single day, in hopes of finding where my transactions would come from.
I didn’t know anyone other than my family, and my friends at the office. My entire sphere of influence lives across the country, I thought, so now what? Luckily for me, I signed with the best brokerage, Parks. Parks offered so many training opportunities and provided a great community of agents. I was 1 of 150+ agents in the Murfreesboro office who spoke Spanish. As I got to know more and more agents, they began referring me to Spanish-speaking clients.
Although I didn’t have any transactions under my belt, I showed up every day and attended every training. I spent this time learning everything I could about Middle Tennessee from what the cities have to offer, to the subdivisions, school zones, distances, etc. My thought was, once the business comes, I’ll be prepared. Bud George then took me under his wing and implemented the NINJA program.
This is when my business started to grow. I joined networking groups and just got to know more and more people. Trusting a stranger who just moved here with the biggest purchase of your life is scary. So how would I convert the people I was meeting into buyers/sellers? By being honest and always working in favor of the client and following the Ninja way.
I quickly learned that although I’d read through contracts hundreds of times, or taken all the training I could, there was still so much I didn’t know. Luckily for me once again, my dad was an agent, and I was in an office of seasoned agents. There were plenty of times I didn’t know the answers to the questions my clients were asking, but I was honest and simply let them know I would get back to them once I had an answer.
The family dynamic at the office allowed for everyone to be a quick call away. I enjoyed the challenge of learning along the way. No two clients are the same and everyone’s situation is different. Being able to pivot to help clients in whatever walk of life they’re in is the greatest reward.
When I became licensed, I knew I would do more than just residential real estate. However, I was told it wouldn’t be easy and that’s why not many agents specialize in both areas. It took me years, but I knew what I wanted and went for it. I would peek into John Blankenship’s office now and then asking quick questions. He was always patient with me and extremely helpful when I hit roadblocks. Finally, six years after meeting him and asking questions here and there, we worked our first deal together. It was my biggest transaction and the most difficult to date because it was completely foreign.
While I felt clueless at times John was impressed with my work ethic and asked me if I was interested in working with him. I never in a million years thought he would ask to mentor me closely and watch my every deal to help better serve our clients in the best way. It took 5 years of research, learning, presenting “deals” to clients, and being rejected to close my first commercial deal. Rejection = Motivation. It would have been easy to focus solely on residential transactions but I was up for the challenge.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in working with investors. With my sphere of influence based out of California, I’ve spent more and more time relocating their real estate portfolios to Middle Tennessee. Income-producing properties have higher margins (most of the time) in TN vs. CA and there is no state income tax in TN. I’m constantly providing stats and potential deals to my sphere with the hope of eventually everyone moving here. Wouldn’t that be amazing?!
Hispanic Homeownership is the passion project I’m most proud of. There has been so much trial and error in creating a solid team including lender, title, and insurance agents. I’ve been blessed to have an amazing network who have grown their teams in efforts of helping the community grow alongside. It’s an ongoing struggle that we’re trying to solidify. It takes people who have the client’s best interest at heart and who ethically always do the right thing. Seeing communities diversify their teams through my expressed frustrations is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. They too have a passion to serve, and although they do not speak the language, they’ve grown their teams accordingly to serve from their hearts.
I will always strive to provide the most seamless transaction, leaving the client with as few anxieties as possible. Having grown up on construction sites, I can walk clients through houses providing rough estimates on repair costs, thus helping them to think through it all and decide if a home would be a good investment before spending money on inspections and/or going under contract ultimately saving them money and time.
What are your plans for the future?
I want to spread awareness throughout the state of the need for Spanish contracts, so buyers and sellers can read and understand what they’re signing without heavily trusting and relying on someone else. My goal is for anyone of any language to have the same experience in purchasing real estate as those who read and speak English. I’m also continuing to expand my business further into commercial and development.
The limit does not exist in this business, and I’m excited to venture into any opportunity that makes sense for me. I can’t wait to flip homes of my own, develop subdivisions, and continue to build my real estate portfolio. I also plan on applying for my license in at least 2 more states to better serve my clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://monicamorales.parksathome.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soldbymonicamorales/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MonicaMorales.PARKS/
Image Credits
Errantry Studios
