EP #233: Aramys Espinosa with Espinosa Realty, LLC
Apr 09, 2024
Jeremy Wolf
Unlock the resilient secrets of South Florida's real estate market with our esteemed guest, Aramys Espinosa of Espinosa Realty LLC. As you join us on the Good Neighbor Podcast, Aramis, a seasoned broker with roots in the community, pulls back the curtain on his journey that began precariously before the 2006 market crash. Through his narrative, you'll gain an understanding of how to weather the unpredictable waves of the property sector, all while maintaining a thriving, family-operated firm.
Is it possible for values to hold steady in a fluctuating national market? Aramys answers this with a resounding yes, as he examines the unique South Florida landscape that seems to defy wider economic trends. Our dialogue traverses the inception of his brokerage, the strategic focus on serving Broward County, and the clever integration of an in-house title company that smooths the path to property acquisition. Whether you're a homeowner, an aspiring investor, or simply intrigued by the pulse of South Florida's sunny shores, this episode promises a treasure trove of insights into the professional drive that propels Espinosa Realty to new heights.
Unlock the resilient secrets of South Florida's real estate market with our esteemed guest, Aramys Espinosa of Espinosa Realty LLC. As you join us on the Good Neighbor Podcast, Aramis, a seasoned broker with roots in the community, pulls back the curtain on his journey that began precariously before the 2006 market crash. Through his narrative, you'll gain an understanding of how to weather the unpredictable waves of the property sector, all while maintaining a thriving, family-operated firm.
Is it possible for values to hold steady in a fluctuating national market? Aramys answers this with a resounding yes, as he examines the unique South Florida landscape that seems to defy wider economic trends. Our dialogue traverses the inception of his brokerage, the strategic focus on serving Broward County, and the clever integration of an in-house title company that smooths the path to property acquisition. Whether you're a homeowner, an aspiring investor, or simply intrigued by the pulse of South Florida's sunny shores, this episode promises a treasure trove of insights into the professional drive that propels Espinosa Realty to new heights.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2:
Hello, hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, Jeremy Wolf, and today I'd like to welcome to the show Aramis Espinosa, and Aramis joins us from Espinosa Realty LLC. Aramis now doing really well, man, how about yourself? Good, Good to be here. I appreciate you coming on the show and thanks, as always, to our listeners for tuning in to learn more about our great community and the businesses that serve us. So, Aramis, everybody out there listening, I'm sure they've heard of a realtor before. Everybody knows generally what a realtor does, but tell us a little bit about yourself and about Espinosa Realty and what you do.
Speaker 3:
Espinosa Realty. I'm the broker and owner, family owned and operated real estate company. We are located here in Pembroke Pines, just outside of Cooper City, probably the next neighboring town. We consist of seven real estate agents from different ethnicities and backgrounds. We speak Spanish, english, creole, portuguese, and been in the community. Born and raised here in South Florida. I actually lived in Cooper City for a few years and a great part of the community oh yeah, Where'd you live in Cooper City, Embassy Lakes?
Speaker 2:
Oh, beautiful, beautiful. So you're right next door. We won't hold it against you that you're over in Pembroke Pines now. We don't hold grudges against neighboring cities around these parts, so that's pretty cool, you guys. I'd imagine. Focus on South Florida area.
Speaker 3:
Broward, palm Beach yeah, we cover up to Palm Beach, even Port St Lucie in some cases all the way down to Miami-Dade County.
Speaker 2:
How long have you been in real estate for? Tell us a little bit about your journey. Yeah.
Speaker 3:
I've been in real estate since 2006. So we got into the business right before the market crash. So we've experienced the ups and downs of the market here in South Florida. So you know, now with the market crash back in 06, with COVID and all the changes in the recent years, yeah, so we've covered a big spectrum of market changes within the South Florida area and you know we're hanging in strong. You know we hear a lot of backlash of the market changing and skepticism of what's going to happen. But South Florida has been kind of an anomaly as far as keeping value and still being attractive to outside people moving into Florida.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, for sure, certainly, covid threw everything for a loop and been on a little bit of a roller coaster. So what's going on right now? I think there's a lot of people out there that have strong what's the word I'm looking for Strong perception I guess I'm drawing a blank here Strong perception of the real estate market right now, after COVID, what have you seen in the market? What's going on now? What do you see in the future, as interest rates start to ease a little bit, specifically here in South Florida?
Speaker 3:
What I see here in South Florida. It seems a little different than what you see on, let's say, a national platform as far as increase in interest rates causing decrease in property value. Here the prices have held tight. The interest rates have decreased a bit in what we've seen in recent months. So it does help the buyer in a sense where it gives them the power to be able to afford the home in today's market with a recent increase in property value. But sellers are still getting the price they want. There hasn't been a big decrease in property value, at least in the immediate area.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so you mentioned that you started. You got into realty in 06. When did you form the brokerage?
Speaker 3:
We I formed the brokerage in 2018. We worked with a family owned brokerage for a few years and then we branched off because of the brokerages in Miami and we wanted to start a brokerage here in Broward County, closer to where we live, and we started that in 19 Espinoza Realty and, yeah, we brought a few agents on board. We have seven with us as we speak and we also have an in-house title company, so we do offer those additional closing services for our clients as well.
Speaker 2:
That's nice. What would you say? The big difference is having started in real estate on the, I guess, on the agent side and then starting your own brokerage. For anybody out there listening, what's the big distinguishing factor? What's the big difference between operating as an agent under a larger brokerage? And having a brokerage with agents underneath.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, of course. So it really goes with personality. So I mean some people work better in a group environment where in a big corporate franchise kind of brokerage there's a lot of structure there, but then you have other agents that work independently, that work better in smaller groups and they don't like the restrictions of the franchise model. That was kind of where I was leaning towards and after a few years working under different brokerages it seemed like there wasn't a perfect fit for me and I kind of made the decision to take matters into my own hands and start our own brokerage. And I did have a mortgage and real estate experience back in 06 and picked up learning title company title insurance got licensed in 09 and kind of merged all those businesses together because kind of they go hand in hand. So we like to offer those additional services to our clients because inevitably they're going to need those.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, absolutely Makes sense to have close relationships, if not internal workings that deal with a lot of those issues. So what would you say is the biggest reward that you've had from starting your own brokerage back in 2019?
Speaker 3:
Well, real estate, it's a unique experience. It's, you know, once in a lifetime experience for most people when they purchase a home. You know young professionals saving, getting out of college saving to purchase a new home, seeing the whole experience come to fruition at the closing table. It's really gratifying to see you know young individuals working hard or even older individuals that are either selling, hitting a new chapter, retiring empty nesters. So I mean it's a life changing experience in most cases where we see one chapter closed and a new chapter open. So it's really gratifying, whichever end of the spectrum the customer is on, seeing them kind of going to a new phase in life.
Speaker 2:
Let's go back before 2006,. Before you got into real estate. Yes, what was your background prior to that? Did you always want to go into real estate, or did you go to school for something else? How did you ultimately end up?
Speaker 3:
I was actually in physical fitness. I was a personal trainer, started young weightlifting and things like that. My mother was actually in the real estate industry and kind of introduced me to that. That I went to a few networking uh events with her and kind of uh took a taking to to that, um, that side of the business, uh sales and in the market south florida, you know they have beautiful homes and you hear about, uh, you know, real estate agents. It's kind of uh uh very desirable um, you know, with the million dollar listing shows and all that you know people do. It's hard to put words to it but not envy but people like that industry because it's something unique, I guess, to tour homes and you know, see how people live, and you know it. Just it's something that you know caught my interest.
Speaker 2:
I think that the whole million dollar listing plays into a lot of myths, misconceptions that people have around realtors just like any, any, any TV show. It's going to glorify anything, but it gives people this idea of it being all all peaches and cream and all positive, but I know, like any other business there's ups and downs.
Speaker 3:
It requires a lot of hard work and dedication.
Speaker 2:
Billion dollar listing right. So are you still big into fitness? Having a personal trainer background, yes. What do you like to do for fun when you're?
Speaker 3:
not Not as much, I mean for fun. I have three children now, seven, eight and a two-year-old Woo-hoo. Hands full buddy. We got a busy house. The older ones are getting into soccer, so kind of becoming a soccer family, something new, but you know it's enjoyable here. You know we got great weather and all that. So yeah, I'm basically a soccer dad now.
Speaker 2:
Seven, eight and two Yep. See I have going to be 12 and 10 soon. I didn't, I didn't go for the third, I was completely good with two. But yeah, you have a interesting interesting ride ahead of you.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, the wife, one of the girl. But you know, here we are three boys.
Speaker 2:
You have three boys too, oh lots of fun on the horizon for you.
Speaker 3:
My future, future real estate agents.
Speaker 2:
And so they just now getting into soccer. I think now, with messy having come over here, soccer is, I've been saying, now, next five years, 10 years, it's going to blow up astronomically in the country. Both my kids are playing on the Cooper city optimist five and all that. Where do you guys play soccer?
Speaker 3:
They play in silver lakes and Pines, west Pines, very cool.
Speaker 2:
Very cool. So, aris, before we wrap up here, what would be the one thing that you'd like to leave our listeners with? Maybe a piece of advice, some wisdom you can share, something that they can use to whether they're looking for their first home, or whether maybe they have the home they live in and they're looking to find an investment property. What's something you could offer our listeners?
Speaker 3:
Be careful with the advice you take. There's a lot of noise and a lot of skepticism and you want to make sure that you're getting advice from people with experience. They understand the market and that hang in there. I mean, the rates might be bad news with what it was today than what it was two years ago. Rates go up, rates go down and stick with a plan. Stick with your goal and if you're striving to buy a house and it seems unaffordable, the rates will come down eventually and this is only temporary. Things are cyclical in this market and things are high, things are low, so just stick with it. And yeah, I mean, that's pretty much what I could offer.
Speaker 2:
I actually heard. I spoke with I think I spoke with a realtor and, I guess, a mortgage broker the other day and they both said that even the rates right now it's, whatever they are 6% or so that's actually still lower than the average over the last 30, 40 years or something like that.
Speaker 3:
It's been historically higher we have a short-term memory loss People lose context.
Speaker 2:
They're so enamored by the 2% rates that we have leading up to this. I like that advice right. Be careful with the advice you take, because you do sometimes need to take things with a grain of salt because there is so much information out there. But very cool, man. So what would be a way our listeners can reach out to you, if anybody is listening that that wants to reach out to learn a little bit more?
Speaker 3:
how could they do so? Yeah, I have a website, espinosarealtycom. We are on Instagram, facebook, google. You can find any of those platforms. My cell phone directly 954-825-1129. And yeah, you can find me pretty much everywhere.
Speaker 2:
All right, man Sounds good. We will, of course, put a link in the description to all of your contact information. Amaris, thanks so much for joining us today. It was a pleasure getting the opportunity to meet you and learn a little bit about what you do. Thank you.
Speaker 3:
Jeremy, appreciate it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's what we do, and thanks to our listeners for tuning in and we will catch everyone next time.