Good Neighbor Podcast: Cooper City
Bringing Together Local Businesses & Neighbors of Cooper City
Good Neighbor Podcast: Cooper City
EP #286: Paulina Hurtado with Century 21 Global Connections Realty
Imagine achieving financial independence through real estate. Paulina Hurtado from Century 21 Global Connections Realty joins us to reveal how she's helping clients do just that. With over two decades in the industry and a rich background that started in banking, Paulina shares her journey and the strategies her team employs to empower individuals in South Florida and beyond. This episode covers everything from finding the right properties for passive income to understanding the dynamics of networking within a vast realty network like Century 21. With Paulina's leadership, her team spans multiple counties, making waves in the ever-evolving market landscape.
This episode doesn't just stop at real estate tips; it ventures into the heart of market fluctuations and personal growth. We discuss the tough lessons learned from historical market crashes, the impact of new regulations on condo markets, and how the recent NAR settlement is reshaping real estate transactions. Paulina also opens up about her love for travel, sharing future destination dreams and unique experiences she's eager to explore. Whether you're a seasoned investor or new to the world of real estate, Paulina's insights offer valuable guidance on choosing the right agent, adapting to industry changes, and ensuring your real estate journey is both informed and strategic. Tune in to learn how to navigate this complex landscape with confidence and foresight.
Call: (954) 284-3400
Visit: https://c21gcr.com/
Follow: https://www.instagram.com/century21gcr/
Like: https://www.facebook.com/Century21GCR/
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, friends, family, great community. We are back with another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I am your host, of course, jeremy Wolf, and today I'd like to welcome to the show. Podcast. I am your host, of course, jeremy Wolf, and today I'd like to welcome to the show. I am here with Paulina Hurtado, and Paulina joins us from Century 21 Global Connections Realty and she's right next door to us in lovely Pembroke Pines. Paulina, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Hi Jeremy, thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be here today on your show, so looking forward to it.
Speaker 2:Pleasure is all ours, as I like to say, and thanks, as always, to our listeners for tuning in to learn more about our great community and the businesses that serve us. So, paulina, without further ado I guess everybody out there I say this. Every time I've interviewed quite a few realtors, I find myself like a broken record. Everybody knows what a realtor does, but why don't you tell everyone a little bit about what you do with your business?
Speaker 3:So one of the things that makes us different from anybody else is the fact that we focus on making sure that we teach our customers how to not only purchase a home, but how to achieve financial independence through real estate. So we make sure that we are there every step of the way until you close on the property. But the most important thing is, how do we get you to the next step so you can have income producing properties and you start making passive income?
Speaker 2:I like that. I like that. My experience with real estate has been very positive throughout my life. The only regret I have is I wish I accumulated more and I actually didn't sell some of the properties I've sold along the way. But I am looking to enhance the portfolio, if you will. So you're in Pembroke Pines. What areas do you typically? Do you have specific areas that you hone in on? Is it all of South Florida? What is your, I guess your niche within the market?
Speaker 3:So I am the real estate broker, but we have agents that are working all of Broward, palm Beach, st Lucie, dade County and even Orlando area, as well as Tampa.
Speaker 2:Say that one more time, so we do.
Speaker 3:Broward, we do Dade County, broward, palm Beach, St Lucie, as well as Orlando and Tampa, and the good thing is that through Century 21, we have a vast majority of networking that we have with different brokers and different agents. So, whatever area that we don't work with, we know somebody that specializes in that area.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you're the broker. Is this the Global Connections Realty? I guess that's a team under Century 21? Is that how that works?
Speaker 3:So every Century 21 is independently owned, so I'm the owner of this branch, but then you have different owners throughout Florida and other different states and even international.
Speaker 2:Okay, how many agents do you have in your branch, in your organization? We have 40 agents right now. Oh, wow, okay, and you're the head of that whole team.
Speaker 3:I am the head of the team. Yes, Very cool.
Speaker 2:Good for you. How long have you been doing this for?
Speaker 3:I've been in real estate for 21 years and I have been a broker for 14 years now. October actually was our anniversary from the brokerage.
Speaker 2:Very cool. So how did let's go back 21 years, take the time machine back? How did you get into real estate? Is this something that you got into like right out of school? Talk a little bit about your journey that led you up to where you're at today. Got into like right out of school.
Speaker 3:Talk a little bit about your journey that led you up to where you're at today. So when I um I started in the banking industry and when I was 16 years old, I started working for bank of America as a like uh as a collector, uh making phone calls uh to the customers that were not paying that we were going to be repossessing their houses or their cars.
Speaker 2:Fun, fun, fun. Huh, yes, it was.
Speaker 3:It was actually very challenging, especially as a 16-year-old, to hear all that, but it also was very humbling to know that. You know, I had that position at that age. You know most people started either you know being, you know working at a restaurant or bartending or any of that. I actually was working at the bank.
Speaker 1:And then right here right, exactly.
Speaker 3:And then from there which I transitioned to becoming a teller. And when I was working as a teller, I started seeing how the mortgage brokers made so much money. Right, the bank, the bankers in the branches started making so much money. So I was like you know what? That is what I want to do. So I went. So let me tell you a little bit about the real estate. Industry used to be mortgage based, so, basically, you would go to the bank, you would meet with a banker and then the banker would refer you over to a realtor. Right, at some point we switched over right realtor.
Speaker 3:Right At some point we switched over Right when now the customers or the clients come over to us, first the realtors or the brokers, and then we refer them over to a mortgage broker or a loan officer, right.
Speaker 3:So now the real, more real estate based and mortgage based Interesting. So I started looking at this and I was like, let me, you know, one of the things that I want to definitely do is I want to go ahead and I want to, you know, be a banker. So I started looking into getting my mortgage license. Um, and I started I was like this is what I'm going to do, I'm going to open up my own business.
Speaker 3:And then my dad got his real estate license and when he got his real estate license, he said you know, you would really be really good at this. Um, and I was like, no, that, like most of the real estate agents that I know are not making any money and I don't want to be broke like, I want to have a financial independence. And you know, he there's powers about listening to your parents and does that thing that says that your parents know best. It is something that we should always listen to it. So he nagged me every day like it was just an everyday thing as I was studying for the, for the mortgage license. So I said to him. You know what to get you on my back?
Speaker 3:I'm going to get both licenses I'll get my mortgage license and I'll get my real estate license so I did right and um, after I got the real estate license and the mortgage license, I did one transaction being a mortgage broker. Um, and that was enough for me to tell me that that is not something that I wanted to do. Um, so I was like, I don't like this. This is not what I thought it was it was going to be. So I guess I'm going to have to give real estate a chance, and that's how I ended up becoming a realtor and then a real estate broker, and then I let the mortgage license expire.
Speaker 2:The rest, as they say, is history. Yes, so after 21 years in the industry, what are some of the most common things that you've heard? There has to be some common threads that come up from your clients and from people misunderstandings, myths that people have about real estate in South Florida.
Speaker 3:Well, the most common myth is I'm going to wait for interest rates to go down before I purchase again. Or when interest rates were down, people were waiting for the market to crash right. So when interest rates were down and I was like this is a great opportunity for you to purchase, people were like oh no, but the bubble, you know we're facing a bubble.
Speaker 3:it's going to burst right and, you know, go back to 2020, when the interest rates were at about you know, two, three, three percent god, it was so cheap to borrow money back then right. And then not only that, but the properties were inexpensive. And then 2020 happened and the pandemic happened and we thought we all thought.
Speaker 3:I can tell you that I've been in this industry for 21 years and I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly, and we all thought, well, yeah, you know, after the pandemic, this is going to be it, this is going to be what's going to start having the prices go down. And it is quite the total opposite.
Speaker 3:So that goes to just kind of tell you that every time that we're in a different market, we're always continuing thinking the market is going to go down or the interest rates are going to go down, and we continue to pass up opportunities, real estate opportunities that are coming and that are right in front of us that we are so blinded to see it, because we're so focused on whether the real estate is going to go down or the interest rates are going to go down or there's going to be a market crash.
Speaker 2:the interest rates are going to go down or there's going to be a market crash. Yeah, I've spoken with many realtors about that very topic and the right time to buy is when the opportunity is right, when it presents itself. Trying to time the market or interest rates or anything for that matter, I mean I myself can say that I'm terrible at that across the board, with everything from stocks to crypto to real estate. So, yeah, the best thing to do from my experience is, if you're going to invest, is to have a strategy in place, take the emotions out of it and actually just have a plan and you know that you're going to do something when you're going to do it, regardless of the other factors that creep up in your mind. So every time I have a realtor on the show, I always ask them.
Speaker 2:I like to play a little crystal ball time. So this is a little tongue in cheek pull out your crystal ball and tell everyone what your predictions are. Where are we at six months down the road? We have an election. It's today's election day, actually, right, a lot of things are changing. Where's the real estate market in South Florida six months, 12 months?
Speaker 3:So it's going to depend right, there's no right answer here, just you're good. So the way that I see it is. Right now, for example, we're seeing a transition where we're in a more stable market. Right For a very long time, you would put a property on the market and properties would fly off, like you know, right away within.
Speaker 1:Fire sales.
Speaker 3:Right, you would have an open house and you would have 50 people waiting outside your open house. So it was a very crazy and uncertain time for buyers and even for the sellers, cause you know what ended up happening into? The sellers always thought that they would should have gotten more money out of the property that they were selling. Um, so one of the things that we always tell people is right now we're in a little bit more of a stable market. Okay, we are seeing a little bit of a shift in the condo market Because, as you know, by the end of 2025, by January 2026, the condos are going to have to be fully, fully reserved. So they're going to have to have reserves. So what's happening? Until that happens, a lot of the condos are having a special assessments going on and their properties Can you back up a second?
Speaker 2:Sorry to cut you off. You said they're gonna have to be. You said research research, research.
Speaker 3:Well, like they're gonna have reserves on their budget, like they're okay.
Speaker 2:Um so what that? What? Okay, got it.
Speaker 3:Okay. So what that has done with the condo market is a lot of people have started to sell their condos because they cannot afford the special assessments. So you have seen a little bit of a drop on the condo market from last year, like if you look year over year. However, the medium sales price has gone up over year, over years. So one of the things that you have to be mindful is if you are able to get into a condo right now and kind of ride the wave, um, once they're fully funded and once they have reserves, the good thing is that what's going to happen is that FHA buyers are going to be able to buy condos right right now. If the condo does not have enough reserves. They have to come up with 20 to 25 percent down right once these condos are fully reserved. Now you can come up with three and a half percent down and whatnot. So that's going to allow a lot of people that they cannot afford to buy a condo right now to be able to purchase the condo.
Speaker 3:So the opportunities are there now in condos right.
Speaker 2:It's interesting what, what's the impetus of this condo reserve, this thing that's happening across the board? Where is this coming from?
Speaker 3:So you know the power that fell in Miami.
Speaker 2:Okay. So after the building issues. They've got to go in and fix things.
Speaker 3:So now they have to have a research study, they have to have their four-year certificate, which they should have always had it. But now, you know, the regulations got a lot tighter after that, yeah, which is good. I mean, it's good for the condos we should have always voted for, you know, having reserves at every condo, so then you don't have special assessments, but you know when people you know 40 years ago when the buildings were being built or 50 years ago, when they were being built, you know, the homeowners got together and they said no, we don't need reserves, we'll worry about that when the time comes Right.
Speaker 3:So now the time has come and now we have to worry about it. So that's where the condo market for the single family market you still see that. You know the price. The median sales price year over year has gone up from last year If you look at the different condo, if you look at the different market reports. But what we're seeing is we're not seeing it go down. What we're seeing is just a more stable market. So it's taking the properties that are sitting a little bit longer on the market like two months, three months, three and a half months in order for them to sell. But definitely, if you are, let's say that my comparables right now say this property is worth 500,000. Right, and you come to me and you say no, I want to list it for 600,000. We're not in that market anymore. Nobody's gonna come in pay $100,000 or even $150,000 above appraised value, like we were looking at 2021. $50,000 above a face value, like we were looking at 2021.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was. It was a crazy time. I sold my old house right as the market was was going up and literally like two, three weeks later I was looking at comps and they were unbelievably inflated from what I sold and I beat myself up for a while over that. I remember looking back, I was so much I was traumatized by it. I would drive by and all I was looking at real estate. I had to unplug from it for a while. It took me a little bit to get past that, but a great experience, great learning experience anyway, nonetheless. So when you're not working, paulina, what do you like to do for fun here in sunny South Florida?
Speaker 3:I love to travel.
Speaker 2:Favorite place to go.
Speaker 3:So far. I love Dubai, I love Japan and Rwanda Island, which is in Honduras. It's beautiful there, so those are my favorite top places to go.
Speaker 2:If I would have to go back to them, Well, I have never been to any of those places. I do have a cousin that lives in Japan and I've heard wonderful things about the culture and just the way, the lifestyle there. It's totally different, so he says, from our fast-paced, instant gratification society. It's a totally different. I definitely want to get out there for sure. So what's on the? What are some places that you haven't visited that you want to go to?
Speaker 3:So that I have not visited. Well, I would like to actually go to Argentina. I have not gone to Argentina, um, and I definitely want to go to Africa, and I also want to go to Alaska and I definitely want to go to Africa.
Speaker 2:And I also want to go to Alaska. Ah, alaska, I want to go do an ice bath in the oceans in Alaska. Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3:They just say the Alaska cruise is beautiful, so I'm hoping that maybe next year will be something that you know is in our bucket list that we'll be able to do, Looking back through your journey.
Speaker 2:So oftentimes in life we're defined by our most trying experiences and some of the most challenging times that we have turned out to like. When you're going through them, it seems like the walls are closing and the world is ending. But then, with hindsight, many, many years later, you could look back and say you're grateful for having gone through that experience. Is there something that comes to mind through your journey that kind of fits? That bill Is there?
Speaker 3:something that comes to mind through your journey. That kind of fits that bill. So we have two things right. Like I said, in 21 years I've seen the market. So in the midst of 2010, which nobody was buying because, you know, we had just had the bubble burst and we had the market crash I decided to open the real estate company and I just remember how much doubts I had inside of me of doing that at that time, and then I had so many people like come to me and said you're crazy, you're going to be closing the doors within six months. Nobody's going to purchase anything. And you know what? I actually missed those days, because that was the days when customers would come into the office office and you actually were able to interact. And then you fast forward to 2020, right, 2020 was, I think, a very uncertain time for everybody, and I remember me having to tell our team and our agents and say, hey, we're going to be, okay, we're going to be we're going to get through this and everything is going to be fine.
Speaker 1:And in reality.
Speaker 3:I did not know whether everything was going to be fine or everything was going to be okay because we had no idea how long I mean.
Speaker 3:Thankfully we live in the state of Florida and we were deemed essential within the first two months. But at the beginning you had no idea, right, like nobody could come into the office, we had to close down. We couldn't do business. We could show properties. Everything had to be done through video, if that, if they would even allow you to go to a virtual tour. So that was extremely challenging. And then this year was the NAR settlement, and I don't know if you know a little bit about it, but I can talk a little bit about it.
Speaker 2:Tell me about it. I think I've heard of it, but not enough to really know what it is, so please enlighten us.
Speaker 3:Customary for the seller to pay the compensation to the listing agent and to the buyer's agent. Yeah Right, and that was customary and has always been customary, and it was never anything about it. So on August 17, there was well. This lawsuit has been going on a few lawsuits have been going on for the last five years and on August 17, we had to change the way we did business as we know it. So the way that it works now is um customers and clients are no longer called customers and clients, they're called consumers, and um commissions are no longer called commissions, but they're called compensations.
Speaker 3:That's not the biggest change. The biggest change that we have is now, if you're a buyer, like Jeremy, you're my buyer. You come to me and you say, hey, I'm pre-approved and I want to go and look at properties. Before I could take you out to look at any properties, you have to sign a, an agreement with your realtor, whether that's a showing agreement, whether that's a touring agreement or whether that's a buyer's broker agreement. The buyer's broker agreement, the buyer's broker agreement, which would be the one that impacts the buyers the most, is the one that states that if the seller is not offering any compensation for the buyer's agents, then the buyer will have to pay for the compensation for their agents. So that has been the biggest impact.
Speaker 3:And what happened to that? People panic With this change we had. Our company has been ready for this change since January because I kind of already knew that this was going to be happening. I'm very involved with the board of realtors, so it was something that we've known for years that this was going to be happening. I'm very involved with the board of realtors, so it was something that we've known for years that this was going to be happening.
Speaker 1:But for most agents.
Speaker 3:they had no idea. For most brokers they still don't have idea. I've spoken to brokers and agents recently that they're like, what are you talking about? And I was like you cannot show the property unless you have some sort of an agreement that is signed. Now that is not law. It is part of the NAR settlement, which means that if you decide to be part of your MLS and you are part of NAR, which gives you the realtor sign, then you have to abide by those rules so you cannot go out and show it. So for the buyers, the biggest change is that the buyer now has to sign some sort of an agreement before they could go into a property.
Speaker 2:Interesting. What would be? Before we wrap up here, one thing that you'd like our listeners to know, either about your business or if you just want to share a piece of wisdom that you've gleaned along the way life lesson what would you share?
Speaker 3:One of the biggest things that I would encourage every person that is purchasing or that is going to get into the real estate market is to interview your realtor and to interview your real estate agent and interview even the broker that they're dealing with, and interview even the broker that they're dealing with.
Speaker 3:Not all realtors are the same, not all brokers are the same, and it is crucial and very important right now, with all the changes, that you are involved with somebody that's going to fully explain to you what is happening in the industry.
Speaker 3:And also it is very important that if you sign some sort of an agreement with one realtor, you understand that you cannot be signing multiple agreements with different realtors. For example, we had a buyer that signed five buyer broker agreements with five different realtors and they don't really comprehend to what level they're doing that, which basically means that now, whoever you purchase whether it's with realtor A and then you know, realtor C decides to come after you and say, hey, you have a buyer broker agreement with me. You still owe my compensation, you're gonna have to pay the compensation for this broker and you're gonna have to pay the compensation for this broker. So it is very important that now you know exactly what you're signing before you sign it and you are with a realtor that's going to explain to you, and that it also doing this full time and not a part time realtor. That makes a world of a difference.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so important because there are so many realtors out there that just get the license kind of as a side hustle and then don't really stay up to date on the latest educational things just like you explained about these things that are going on. So, so important to find somebody that you not only jive with and have a good relationship with, but also somebody that is going to be a wealth of knowledge and help steer you in the right direction. So good stuff, paulina. For anyone listening that would like to reach out, maybe they're already a homeowner and they're looking for an investment property. Maybe they're living in a rental right now and they're looking to get that first home for themselves. Where can they reach you? How could they learn more?
Speaker 3:So you can call our office, Century 21 Global Connections Realty, and our phone number is 954-284-3400. You can also go to our website at c21gcrcom and you can also tour any of the properties that are there as well.
Speaker 2:Very cool. We will, of course, put a link down below in the description to all of your contact information. Paulina, thank you so much for joining us today. It was a pleasure.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me. It's truly an honor and we appreciate you. And it's great that you're doing this and meeting with different businesses around so we get to know all of our neighbors.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Businesses are the backbone of our local economy and I'm happy to showcase and highlight all the great things that they're doing in our community. So, everyone, thank you so much for joining us and we will catch everyone next time on the next episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Take care, have a great day.
Speaker 3:Take care.
Speaker 1:Bye. Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Cooper City. To nominate your favorite local business to be featured on the show, go to gnpcoopercitycom. That's gnpcoopercitycom, or call 954-231-3170.