Ep. 11 - How Maritza Torroba Went From Immigrant to Real Estate Expert

What does it take to leave your home country, learn a new language, start over, and build a successful career from the ground up?

This week, we sit down with Maritza Torroba, a real estate professional, appraiser, investor, and world traveler whose journey began in Venezuela before leading her to South Florida. Maritza shares how her family's Spanish roots shaped her perspective, what it was like moving to the United States without speaking English, and how she transitioned from computer science into a successful 30-year career in real estate.

Along the way, the conversation branches into World Cup rivalries, immigration stories, AI-assisted travel planning, unforgettable adventures through Iceland and Europe, and the realities of buying and selling real estate in today's market. Maritza also explains why experience matters when choosing a real estate professional and how her background as a licensed appraiser gives her clients an advantage throughout the buying and selling process.

Whether you're passionate about travel, entrepreneurship, real estate, or hearing stories of resilience and reinvention, this episode delivers an engaging conversation filled with practical insights and memorable experiences.

Contact Maitza Tarroba:

Email: mntorroba13@gmail.com 

Phone:  (305) 218-2747

Contact the PB&J Crew:                                                                                                 

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TikTok: @PBnJcast

Email: pbnjcast561@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And just like that, you're here. Welcome to the PBNJ podcast, where things get a little messy, a little bold, and definitely not fucking boring.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

We're serving up some real talk, some hot takes, some conversations you probably shouldn't have, but we're having them anyway.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

So settle in. This is PBNJ. Help us save the whales. All right, we are here, and I'll tell you something. One of my favorite parts about being British is culturally like one of the, and you'll you'll know this being Spanish, we'll get into in a second. Um, is a part of our national heritage being in Europe is such a love for all the different cultures. Cause I mean, England went and colonized so many places, which was like not so good for those places, but was good for England because it brought so much culture. So part of our cultural heritage is to constantly meet and see new cultures and learn about them. And it's like it's like a joy, right? And it's cool because you sat down and I'm just looking at you, and I'm like, all right, I don't know anything. And you opened your mouth and started speaking, and accent that came out was zero percent what I was like speaking. So Maritza here, I said it right.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

All right, I was expecting like a Texan accent.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

No, I was like, oh, I'm like, where is your crowdboy?

SPEAKER_04 1:18

Maritza. So morning. How are you guys?

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Where are you from?

SPEAKER_04 1:22

Well, I was actually born in Caracas, Venezuela, but all my family are from Spain, immigrants from Spain. Nice, and I've been living here for most of my life.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Okay, very important question. Very important question. Spain and Venezuela, okay, Spain and Venezuela are playing each other in the finals of the World Cup. Whose jersey are you wearing?

SPEAKER_04 1:43

Not true. And so I always know playing.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

I'm saying if that happened, hypothetically speaking, which jersey of Spain. Okay. We know it was a big thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

We always have to be my team.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

It was like my favorite player who's ever played. Him and Iniesta were my two players, favorite players who've ever played the sport. Those Spanish players.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

There's so many good ones. Yeah. So one of the best highlights, not to make it about me, but it's my birthday, so I can make it about my body. You should make it about their birthday. Thank you. One of the best, one of the best I am.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Just turn 12.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Gemini. Yeah. 12 again. One of the best memories of my entire life was I went backpacking in Spain when I was 19 years old, and I had no clue where I was going. I just like landed in with a backpack in Barcelona and I just like figured it out. But one of the things I really wanted to do was go to like a soccer game, or if you call it football, in Espana. And there was a Real Madrid playing Manchester United in Barcelona, and we scalped tickets because we were like, all right, we'll just hopefully we're not going to get screwed. Hopefully, like those would be legit. And there was a group from my hotel, and we all went in on it. We were eye-level to the field. We were right behind the photographers. It was the coolest experience I've ever had. If anyone has not gone to a soccer game or been to a soccer stadium, you need to go. You're missing out. It was spectacular. Like a Baptist church. Yeah. And it's soccer or football is the biggest sport in the world, other than in the United States. So it's like for everywhere else, it is a it is in your blood. I mean, it is just a way of life, right? The cheapest sport to play.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

You just need a ball and two things to mark what you're gonna call the goal.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

Since you're a little kid, they you know, they teach you about it. It's amazing. Now for me, the what the FIFA World Cup is like a religion, like you said. You have to watch it. You know, you know your teams, you know, which is stronger than the other one. Like yesterday, Curacao played against Germany. So it was like first time Curacao is in the FIFA World Cup. Wow, so it was like a big deal for them.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

And they had to play against Germany, yes. Welcome to the World Cup, right?

SPEAKER_04 3:54

Exactly, poor thing, seven to one. But you know, when Curacao, you know, scored a goal, that was like history. You know, that was like, oh my god, the first time they are in the FIFA World Cup and they score a goal.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

We can make them bleed, but seven to one.

SPEAKER_04 4:14

But it was amazing. I I watched it.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Germany also beat Brazil seven to one, so it happens.

SPEAKER_04 4:18

It happened back.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

That was back. Brazil paid for the World Cup and it like cost like Brazil like all the money that was supposed to be for the food for the poor people, but like, no, we're gonna win. Then Germany beats them seven to one in like the place.

SPEAKER_04 4:31

Wow, yeah, but anyways, congratulations, Curaçao. You guys did great yesterday. Did it play amazing?

SPEAKER_00 4:38

So tell us about your background.

SPEAKER_04 4:40

Well, I'm all my family was born in Spain. So they went to Venezuela um leaving uh the Civil War in Spain. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

So that was back in like the the end of the 30s, 40s.

SPEAKER_04 4:55

Yeah, like in the 40s. Yeah. Correct. When actually Europe was some of the countries were doing really bad. So that's the reason uh Latin America got so many immigrants from Portugal, Germany, Spain, Italy.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yeah, yeah, Europe was not doing well in the 40s.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

No, no, in the 40s, and the 30s also.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

I mean, you had like in the 40s there were World War II. Like everything was.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

That's how a lot of my family came from uh from Russia, right? And they moved to Colombia, and that's on my mom's side, and then on my dad's side, they moved to Philadelphia, right? So it's like you see all these immigrants coming from all over the world, not only coming to Latin America, but also coming to the United States and like creating their whole life from there.

SPEAKER_04 5:47

Yeah, my grandfather wanted to go to Canada, but then they finished going to Venezuela, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:53

Cool.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Well, America and America wasn't taking Jewish refugees during World War II, but South America was like, we got you. So a lot of people went to South America. Really? They weren't taking any?

SPEAKER_05 6:07

South America refused to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_04 6:08

Well, some other people also in in Central America, Mexico, you know, uh I think even Costa Rica. Some people went to those places too.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Yeah, that's why there's such huge like Jewish populations in like uh uh Peru and all these different places, is like South America's like, yeah, we we got you when I went to the city.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

I hope they killed Adolf when he fled to Argentina.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Well, they fled there too. Well, well, they fled there too. But to be fair, America took okay, so America took a lot of the Nazis, though, because they were such good scientists. I mean, NASA was founded by um von Braun. He was the one who designed the Saturn VI rocket.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

So interesting. Very interesting. So you won our raffle at the networking beast. That's how you got on here, huh?

SPEAKER_04 6:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

And uh tell us about your professional background.

SPEAKER_04 6:58

Well, when I arrived here, back in 1990.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

1990? That's when I came here.

SPEAKER_04 7:05

Yeah. That's when you came here.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

I came here in 1990, also. He's Colombian, which I did not know until yeah, okay. So tell us about it. I'm adopted, so possibly, right? But yeah, Russian, my my biological, I'm not my biological, my my uh foster or my adopted parents, they have a I guess a Russian background, right? Their heritage is Russian. So back in 1990, you did you come to my I came here because of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s. I lived in Colombia, in Bogota, and um I went to the same school as the uh president's son. Um, I had the director of the DEA live in the same building as we as we did. I've had cousins that were kidnapped. So in 1990, my dad was like, Well, you know, this is a little fucked up, it's not the same way that it used to be back in the day. Like he moved there in the 70s with Peace Corps, and like it just wasn't the same, it was too dangerous. We moved up here, and the rest is history, and like I freaking love living in the United States.

SPEAKER_04 8:08

Me too.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

I wouldn't really do. I wouldn't change it for anything else.

SPEAKER_04 8:12

Well, I love Europe too. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

You can love it, but Europe is undefeated. Europe is so good, but I couldn't see myself like for me. I just couldn't see myself like living anywhere else for like a very long period of time. Like, this has always been like where where I've called home, where I've built like my success, you know. Like, what a great opportunity to live here in the United States.

SPEAKER_04 8:36

True, that's true. So when people say they don't like it, I'm like, you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

I don't know. We've had this conversation many times. I don't think it's that people say they don't like it. I think there's certain aspects of it that people don't like. Sure. Uh oh.

SPEAKER_04 8:48

I came in 1990 when I was Florida. It was completely different.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

It was. Where'd you move to? What part of South Florida?

SPEAKER_04 8:54

I came to Tampa to study English. To Tampa.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Yeah, beautiful. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 8:58

And then three months after, uh I studied University of Tampa English. And then three months after I came here to Miami.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Did you come here by yourself or the family? By yourself. Yeah, but there was like an adventure.

SPEAKER_04 9:13

It was such an adventure because there was no cell phones, there was no internet, there was nothing. So wait, that is a that is a big move. It was crazy move, probably. Did you speak English at all? Or no, not at all.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

So you went from so what was your first job? Or like who did you stay with?

SPEAKER_04 9:30

Like my parents have an uh a vacation apartment here in my that's how it was here with me too.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

We had a vacation home in Deerfield. Was it a timeshare?

SPEAKER_04 9:39

No, no, no. Back then they did not exist. Timeshare did not exist. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 9:44

So no, my grandfather that was from Spain, he decided to uh purchase a condo here in Fountain Blue, when Fountain Blue used to be like 12 courses. It used to be a high-end community.

SPEAKER_05 9:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:57

Yeah, Fountain Blue here in Miami. So then my parents purchased another apartment, a condominium. So um I went so bad to learn English back then. I was studying computer engineering in Venezuela, well, system engineering. And I was for a year and a half at the university. I said, I want to learn English, I want to learn in English, I want to go to the US. Because since 1980, I was coming to the US all but during all my vacations. I would come here to Disney, to Epco Center, you know, sick and tired. I went to Washington, DC. I I went to so many places. So I was so in touch with the US.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Right.

SPEAKER_04 10:36

Uh uh, yeah, the music, the the culture.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Of course.

SPEAKER_04 10:40

Yeah. So I since I was so young, so I decided my parents sent me to learn English. And six months after, when I was here in Miami, I spent three months in Tampa, three months in here in Miami Dade Community College. I told my dad, I want to continue my major here. Are you crazy? You only have been six months studying English. I said, look, I passed the TOFL. So, you know, even if I don't speak very very well because of my accent, I understand it, I read it, I understand it perfectly. So they only gave me credits of three classes. So I have to start over computer science.

SPEAKER_05 11:18

From scratch.

SPEAKER_04 11:19

Yes. So I was learning English while learning computer languages. It was such a mess in my head.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Which is crazy because like I feel like educational systems are a lot better like in other countries than they are here in the United States. And like for the audacity of an educational system to say like your credits aren't worthy of theirs, where like the education system is more than likely better in the other country, is like ridiculous, you know.

SPEAKER_04 11:49

But do you believe they still make an exam for me to get into calculus? Because I was gonna go to calculus too, but they were like, No, we don't believe you, even though you have the credit. So they made an exam, so I passed it and they and I got into calculus too.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Oh, good. Well, at least see, that's another thing. It's like, why don't they just test you?

SPEAKER_04 12:09

Exactly. That's what they do.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

And if you pass it with proper accreditation in another country, like just let it go through. But that's another thing. I think it's like more like they're trying to make money. They're like, there's what's your opinion?

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Because I feel bit of things. You're like, I'm gonna explode. I can't believe we agree on something. So it's I'm kidding, I'm kidding. He has such a love for America. It's the first thing I've the first criticism I've ever heard you make of America, because it is true. A lot like in the Bahamas, we have a lot of like Filipino people who are radiologists and stuff who they're like, if I go to America, they want I'm like 45 years old, I've been a radiologist for 20 years, but if I go to America, I have to do my entire schooling all over. Right? Which is kind of which is a madness because the education and system in Asia is insane. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

If I want someone to solve a math problem for me, I'm not gonna ask someone here from the United States to solve it. I'm gonna ask someone from overseas to solve it because I know their skills are gonna be a lot better, right? Yeah. So like I like the expectation is to start with the case. There's always there's always like that uh stereotype, which is more than likely true, that Asians are really, really good at math.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

Don't tell chat GPT phenomenal, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Don't get me wrong. But then at the same time, but at the same time, then you have people who are here in in the country who are Asian and they have to score higher to get into certain um into certain schools.

unknown 13:36

All right.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

Which I feel like it's like so there's like all these things that are like don't make sense but do make sense, but at least we're able to have that conversation.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

I was the only non-Chinese graduate student in my engineering program. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_04 13:52

I believe you. I study with a lot of them.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

The entire well, half of the faculty was Chinese. Wow, and then they would just, I'm sure a part of it was them bringing students over because they had connections to those faculty. But a part of it was just like the non-Asian kids just and the non-geniuses, I guess, just couldn't do it. They couldn't like hack it. But the Asian kids would just kill it. However, one of the interesting things, and I actually create a lot of friends because one of the problems is all technical papers in the world must, and I can't remember this is standardized, must be written in English. All technical papers and all journals have to be in English.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

What's that like uh way to solve math problems that they teach like really young kids and they're like just tapping and stuff like that, and they can like solve the problems? There's like a bunch of them. It's like they have all these screens.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

My niece showed me one the other day, and I was like, what? All right, but so they couldn't they couldn't write papers though. So they would write their papers and I'd have to like proofread and like have very heavily edit it because they were like what's the verb? But no, they were. I mean, I'm reading the stuff that because as I'm proofreading reading what they're writing, I'm like, this is such brilliance. Like, I don't know how your brain is even processing this. I understand you're having problems expressing in English, and that's fine, but like the fact that you're having these thoughts, like you you all are just wizards, you're incredible. Just like I think flow dynamics in these things that I'm like, how does the human brain like process what water does in a pipe at every point in the pipe? Like, that's insane to me.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

Right. So, what is your professional background now? Because you came to my network.

SPEAKER_04 15:25

When you're talking about studies, I'm sorry that I get a lot of people. No, and that's fine.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

No, we here we don't worry, we talk about we talk about whatever the fuck we want on here.

SPEAKER_04 15:33

You know, here in the US, I also thought that well, I when I have a son, a 19-year-old kid.

SPEAKER_05 15:38

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 15:39

Um, I was very involved at school when he was little. So I was a mother of the classroom since he was in kindergarten to fifth grade. Um, and I even got into um like substitute student um teacher and all that. And I noticed that that's true. Like here, some studies are really basic, but I since I was so involved in it, I got my son in Cambridge and he was amazing. Like the way he's like he's prepared. Now he's in UF, University of Florida engaged. He's studying computer engineering, and but he is really, really like um his preparation in math and all that. I was in yeah, it was good, but uh, he was I got him in Cambridge in the Cambridge program.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

What's that?

SPEAKER_02 16:27

In in England, like Cambridge in England. They have it here in some public schools, yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Yeah, at first I thought you meant like Cambridge University. I was like, That's what I thought. No, no, no, right, right.

SPEAKER_04 16:36

No, in some public schools, they have Cambridge, okay, like they they have a Cambridge program, and the kids get out of there so well prepared. So, like going back to what Gabe was saying, so what do you do professionally? Oh well, so I studied computer science. So back then, I was I studied with two women. It was amazing. I was like, there were no women in the field. So after I graduate from Florida International University, FIU, um, I started working on my field. Um the only woman in the department. It was really hard because they were like, what is she doing here? It's such a man's field. And after a year and a half that I was working on my profession, um I got married. I went, well, I got married, but after a year and a half of being married, uh my ex-husband decided, like, you know, he used to be a residential appraiser, real estate appraiser. I want to set up a company, I want to work with you, I want you to be in the field. I was like, come on, I just know about it. That what is a house? That's it. I didn't know anything about it. So I have to start from scratch and leave my career behind. So I've been 30 years in the industry. I've been a residential real estate appraiser, I've been an investor, I've been a commercial and real estate agent, I'm a consultant, I'm into AI. I do virtual staging, you name it. Because I also have the computer background. So for me right now, even to do like my my um uh what is called my post, my social media post using AI and all that is so fun and easy.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Let me make sure I understand. You were working in the field and your husband was like, fuck this, let's start a business, you can do this. And you went and did that. I love him already. We met the man I love.

SPEAKER_04 18:30

We did, we did really good. That's so good. Let me tell you, back them, and that's gonna be for a lot of people, you know, like incentive. Because some people go like, oh, I don't have any money, what am I gonna do? How can I buy a house? Back then, you know, if something funny funny happened, they they they were making like going into mortgages so easy. Oh, you can go into a mortgage and purchase a house, they were so inexpensive, too.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Yeah, like if you had like a pulse, they would give you a mortgage.

SPEAKER_04 19:02

Yeah, no, back then they were fake. So when I was talking about so you know, but it was so easy, they would get you like houses. I I purchased a house, my first house. It was like on the lake, three bedroom, two baths, two story, it was beautiful, and 165,000. Oh my god, completely like upgrades inside, brand new. What year was this? That was in 2000, no, 1995. Wow, 1995.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

So from being in the country in 1990 to 95, you bought a house.

SPEAKER_04 19:33

Uh actually 1997, I think it was.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Seven years. Yes, yes, still.

SPEAKER_04 19:39

But people go even nowadays, no, I'm not gonna be able to make it. How am I gonna pay for it? So people get so scared. Look, once you get in the problem, trust me, you're gonna have the drive to make more money. So that's what happened. I was like, what am I getting in another feel? I didn't know anything. I remember my ex-husband got me in front of a phone. Just pick up the phone. Hello? Yeah, oh, you don't know anything about it. Pass me with somebody that knows. I was like, What? I don't know anything about it. Oh, yes, they're gonna see that I'm gonna know. So I started getting all these licenses and getting back then, it was not as easy to get licenses here in Florida. Plus, there was hardly anybody in the field. To be a realtor, oh, there was hardly anybody, especially women.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 20:25

Yes, and that was a real estate appraiser to get that license.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

You had a separate license altogether, right? Yes, and that was not that easy. That was that's it's probably the hardest license to get in real estate, right? Correct.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Uh so the appraisal license is the appraisal license. Yeah, most of these licenses are offered in one language.

SPEAKER_04 20:41

Back then it was in English. Now nowadays you can have the real estate license also in Spanish. But a lot of agents they don't know English, which is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

They yeah, I've been to real estate I've taught in um in real estate offices, like 75 realtors, and they all predominantly speak Spanish. They don't like they don't even want to speak English, which is fine because I can speak Spanish, right? But it's so interesting to see how like there's these microcosms of like communities of people who are just okay with like not even speaking English. It's fine because like they've already built their community and they're all speaking the same language within their community.

SPEAKER_04 21:22

Yeah, but there's so many legal documents and you have to learn. Look, you look look, people think that real estate is very easy, it's not you have to know so much, you have to know about mortgages, you have to know about closings, about so many documents, laws. If you want to be represented, if you get somebody that doesn't know what they're doing, you're gonna get a screw. If it's not at the beginning, it's at the end when you sell that property. You're gonna find out how screwed you were. So it's so important that but uh since they make real estate licenses to get the licenses so easy, I guess we lost respect by the public. You know, because people get like with these agents, which I feel sorry, but that oh I'm gonna make more money, so I'm gonna be a real estate agent. So they don't know what they're doing.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

I'm they're just getting the license, you're saying just to get the license.

SPEAKER_04 22:11

And there's so much involved when you wanna make good out of this.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Like, oh, I'm gonna talk to all my five friends, and they're all gonna buy a house from me and I'm gonna make a million dollars this year, and it's gonna be the best. And they realize like, holy shit, this thing's work. I don't want to do this anymore.

SPEAKER_04 22:23

And they think it's just to show properties, and that's not it. There's so much involved. If you want something good, they have I represent my my buyers, my sellers from the very beginning to the end. I don't need an assistance from anybody because I have so much experience. I have 30 years in the field and I like it. I like they're not showing properties. That's cool, okay. But it's like, you know, the whole documentation law to represent you, you know, to know the loopholes, to know what I'm gonna do for you. That's so so interesting, fascinating. Not only that, but since I was an investor back in the day, um, I also know about construction, about what to do, how much it would cost. Well, I see I go to a house, and you pretty much you get in and you go, okay, this needs a roof in this and that.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

And it's great. I mean, that that's for any profession. It's like what separates you from all the other humans in the world is what's inside of your head.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

And because you were an appraiser, you've got to do it.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

You can see it from all different angles. Right.

SPEAKER_04 23:19

Being an appraiser, it has been so positive in my field because uh, you know how much it's worth, you know the neighborhood, you know the street, you know so much, you know. It's funny because I I have a boyfriend that we, for example, we go to a hotel and he goes, I go, like, you booked a hotel. I just see it in the map. But that's not a good hotel. What do you mean? That look at that area. Come on, what are you talking about? And I work all Florida. So how are you gonna know the area? Well, you'll see, my god, I shouldn't listen to you because you know, you know, you know the uh since being an appraiser, you know, like you put the put up the map. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:01

You're looking at the map and you're like, that's it.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

I'm not gonna do it. It's amazing, and that has helped me so much even traveling. I love traveling. Yeah, I love going to Europe. I have been in 31 countries around the world.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

31 countries already. Which one's your favorite? Yep.

SPEAKER_04 24:14

Everybody asked me that. What is your favorite one? I love Europe. I think one of my favorites ones is probably Norway and Switzerland. Norway and Switzerland.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Europe is undefeated.

SPEAKER_04 24:25

Have you been in Norway?

SPEAKER_01 24:26

No, but Europe's undefeated.

SPEAKER_04 24:28

Oh, and you know what? I'm one of those that likes to get in the airport, rent a car, and drive.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

So it's uh yeah, exactly. Explore.

SPEAKER_04 24:37

Explore. So I'm one of those that knows this little towns where people go, like, oh, people here are so rude. No, no, no, no, no. Come on, people were so nice. I just went to Iceland recently. That has been my last country to visit.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Did you stay in the glass igloos? They have the glass igloos. No, I did not go out to it.

SPEAKER_04 24:53

So like have you been there?

SPEAKER_01 24:55

Nope.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

You want to stay there? I saw them. Oh, yeah, I want to stay there. I went all over around I think. Did you go in the summer? I just went now in the spring. Oh, it's a good time though, right? Well, well, well, well. How was it?

SPEAKER_00 25:09

So someone's actually careful. They might judge you. Ah my god.

SPEAKER_04 25:13

No, no, no. You know what happened? That's what actually for people to be careful. I told Judge Chap GPT, look, I have eight days because my son was out of school. He just had we have 10, he had 10 days, but since you had so much traveling and all that to go to Iceland, we only had eight days in the island. So, Chad GPT, you have to give me an adventure strip.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

You know, why do this? I was it's really good to ask you.

SPEAKER_04 25:38

But I'm gonna tell you, it was really good, but it happened something like you have to be careful.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

You but with AI, you have to be careful.

SPEAKER_04 25:45

Oh god, you took me to this town. I went through blisters. I went to this this tiny town with just you're like there was a dragon and an ogre underneath the bridge. I was like, Chad GPT, what you did to me. What do you do?

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Yeah, I got killed.

SPEAKER_04 26:01

I um I literally almost got killed because we went to these months these these heels, those crossing heels with the blister, and I was like, Down the the hill with the But you should have asked Chad GPT like what the weather is gonna be like all the time.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

That's why you gotta ask you. You have to so AI is so interesting because like it's a very helpful tool, but it's not a human. It's on my shoulder. Yeah, you don't like it. It's like a bad genie. It's like a bad genie. It's like, well, you did this, it's like, well, you didn't answer that.

SPEAKER_04 26:31

You asked me that exactly. I asked that I want an adventure strip, take me everywhere. You took me to this fisherman town.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

A fisherman town?

SPEAKER_04 26:38

Okay, it was was in Norway in Norway in Iceland. Iceland. Yeah, so oh you know, they it was such a blizzard, and I was so afraid when I arrived there because we almost killed ourselves in those frozen hills for yourself. Who'd you go with my son? Oh, okay. So you know I'm very adventurous, so I'm one of those uh women that travels with our song. Yeah, he's like me. So let's go by horse. They were uh they look at my fire. Oh, we were waiting for you. Are you coming from Florida? I was probably the only woman whoever arrived from Florida in that fisherman town. When I say, Yeah, but I was so afraid I was probably pale. Oh wow, the owner of the restaurant offered my uh me and my son for dinner. They were so nice, and next day they were like, you know, have breakfast because you have to leave.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

What did they serve for for dinner? Why did they have to leave? What happened?

SPEAKER_04 27:30

Oh, because first of all, we didn't have anything to do there. It was the smallest fisherman town that I didn't have anything to do there.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Oh, fisherman town, you probably ate the burger, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:39

I'm just kidding. The internet told you to go to this town. Yeah, that'sn't that funny. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

So I was gonna ask you how, if you've traveled 31 countries, then like when you prepare to go to a country or you start researching this adventure, like what are the qualities? Like, what do you ask? What do you like want to see? Do you just let AI like decide for you? Like, oh no, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 28:05

I want to know what your strategy is. Have helped me so much because yes, I go in the areas and I go, I ask the internet, like, what are the good areas? What are the bad neighborhoods? And that helps so much. It's so important to do that when you're traveling. People don't think so, but it's so important. So, you know, pretty much nowadays with all the tools that you have, you can see pictures, you can see videos, you can put exactly Google Maps, you can put the little even like TikToks or reels.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

Like, so here's what one of my strategies. I haven't implemented it yet, but we're gonna go to uh Tennessee. We're gonna go to uh Pigeon Ford and like I love like the outdoors, I love mountains, I love trees, I love nature as much as I can. So, what I did is I asked, I started researching um pigeon ford, right? And Tennessee and adventures in Tennessee on my phone, right? On my TikTok. And I start saving all the reels that I like, and it explains to you all these different things. So my strategy is gonna be to use AI, right? I'm gonna I've saved all the reels. They're all saved, right? I'm gonna turn on my AI, turn on the recorder, play all the reels, and let AI learn from them because it won't understand from links that you send it. Record it on the AI and then hit hit um, you know, send. And I want AI to compile all the different data from all the different reels that we have and then create a whole adventure for me, logistics-wise. Because I'm driving from Florida all the way to Tennessee, and I like to hit up every single one. That's what I did with Iceland.

SPEAKER_03 29:47

Yeah, I did that for Iceland, but it took me to this fisherman town.

SPEAKER_02 29:50

I want something adventurous. I'm very adventurous, I want something adventurous. You at least get like a magnet for your refrigerator that said, I am in this fisherman.

SPEAKER_04 29:59

No, I can't remember the name because the names are I see it in the map and I know where I was. I was all the way east in the island. Like, probably look, it's an Iceland. It was amazing that one fourth of the island, tourists go there. The rest, the three other fourths, nobody's there. I was the only one with the local on my song. Hardly any tourists on the other side of the island, especially in the time that I went. I went in.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

I saw that. I saw that somewhere where like someone visited the part that nobody visits, and there's so many cool things in the world.

SPEAKER_04 30:29

If you are an adventurer, so much nature, so much. I love animals too. Me too. I like five houses. I went to see the puffins. I went to see the puffins in the puffins.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

Oh my god, that was so exciting.

SPEAKER_04 30:42

We went a fastboat in Reykjavik. We went like, whoa, the only thing we have left, we have seen the puffins. It was the last day. We were taking our plane, it was the last day in Iceland, and we got into the this fastboat. That was so much so it's so exciting. They put us so much clothes on because it was freezing.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

It was cold. How cold was that?

SPEAKER_04 31:00

Uh, we went from minus four uh Celsius to three Celsius. That was our our studio.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

Can you convert that for me? Because I don't do you know what Celsius?

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Well, 32 is zero. So 30, the high was a 38. And then neg four times two neg eight plus thirty-two is neg 24 Fahrenheit.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

Negative 24 degrees? It was that cold.

SPEAKER_04 31:27

Yeah, it was freezing, and it was maybe.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

Thank you for carrying the one and dividing my two. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 31:31

That's insane.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

Uh-huh. That is fucking cold.

SPEAKER_04 31:34

And it was flizars. Every day we were going through through snow, blue, that's the thing, like when you can throw water. It was like that. Trip literally. But my trip, I was like, oh, let's go to Iceland. I planned it two weeks before because that's that looks very inexpensive. I wonder why. Now I know why.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

Or is that saying that you go and you like lay and it's like a hot pool?

SPEAKER_04 31:57

Yeah, the the hot springs.

SPEAKER_02 32:00

I want to do that in Iceland. That looks fun.

SPEAKER_04 32:02

Well, it's you know, if you you have to go to the people might say the people ask me, did you go to the nature ones? And I said, Well, the nature ones are so hot, they even have signs, dangers. You cannot go inside. Yes, yes. So you have to go to the actual, and don't go to any hot spring and get there. You have to go to the ones that you have to bathe. You can laugh.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

Yeah, your body temperature gets too hot and you're rose. You can go, you'll start boiling. And when you come out of something hot, you can't feel the cold even as the cold is killing you.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

Yeah, it's because you'll get so you'll get hypothermia because you can't. Right.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

So if you're too hot, right, you can literally like your body gets too hot and the proteins in your brain change and you're like dead because you fucked your brain. Or you get out and it's so cold, but your body can't feel it because of all the heat you've absorbed, and like you're literally going into rapid hypothermia and frostbite without realizing. Not to mention you're wet. You're like double 24.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

And you're double screwed because you can't feel any pain, anyways, in general. So you're like done. But I think like uh Yellowstone had a situation where like their spring like exploded or something like that, and they had like hot water like flying everywhere. It was like a bad situation. I think it was Yellowstone. Well, one of the superclasses.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Yeah, one of the supercamps is under Yellowstone, one of the supervolcanoes that's passed due to erupt is right under Yellowstone.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

That makes sense. That's why the guy's like California's gonna slowly like fall off what the tectonic plate is going to be like apparently.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

Last week there was like a big earthquake, and like people in Cuba felt it. Yeah, um, I had somebody in um in um um in Asia tell me that they felt it, someone in Miami told me that they felt it.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

We're having a shift, right?

SPEAKER_01 33:47

And in the world, so the one-off in California is actually not that bad. So California is relatively safe last week.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

Um was it last week also there? But it's so weird. What was very interesting is that so many different parts of the world felt it at the same time. I've never been in a I've been in hurricanes, but never in a new city.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

If you're familiar with tectonic plates, it's literally like almost like a rubber band effect, right? The plates push and then they like whiplash and you feel the vibrations, right? Yeah. But the California one can't be at the bad, the real bad one, the real bad one, is the one between Japan and like um Washington State and the west southwestern side of Canada. That's the one that like, well, that's where all the tsunamis come from, is like that tectonic play crafting itself. Like there's it's funny, interesting, not funny, haha, but there's like these records of like civilizations that lived in that area, and then one day, like all recording just stops for like 40 years, and then it starts again, and then 500 years later, just all records just stop because a wave comes. Because tsunamis are like the one unsurvivable, really unsurvival if not planned. Unless you're on an airplane now.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

Remember the one in Indonesia that killed like a hundred thousand people?

SPEAKER_00 34:56

I saw videos of that.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Yeah, you cannot get away from it.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Nothing you can do.

SPEAKER_04 35:01

No, it's true.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

You can try climbing a tree, you can get up to the second level or if you watch the movie fast, right?

SPEAKER_04 35:08

From that uh tsunami, people are climbing the tree, some of them did not did not survive. Horrific.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Yeah, but you can't climb like 800 feet high. And even if you get above it, the torrent of water destroys everything that you're on anyway.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

The trauma from that, I can't even survive in that, and then the trauma like you lose everyone you know, your friends, your family, like nightmare.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

So, like Japan has adjusted a lot of its infrastructure to the fact that we get tsunamis. So, like a lot of the nuclear power plant are adjusted to turn themselves off when a tsunami's coming, they have tsunami warning. Uh Washington State, the federal government refuses to update the infrastructure of Washington State to like adapt to the fact that they're on the other side of these things, um, which will prove a problem because Seattle's very prone. But like California, fortunately, probably won't fall off because that one can't get that that bad.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

I remember in Columbia I would wake up in the morning and the the paintings on our wall would be like all like crooked.

SPEAKER_04 36:06

That being right as well as a few. Earthquakes.

SPEAKER_00 36:11

They're like minor, right? But they were like small, you know.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

So you all have a pretty strong plate in that area.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

Like I'm not, I'm not uh, I'm not like privy to plate strength.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

But that one's like that that can go.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

No, but I know in Bogota, you're like really, really, really high up in the mountains. Like very high up in the mountains. So um, yeah, that was my experience with my only experience with earthquakes was waking up like that.

SPEAKER_03 36:39

And it happened pretty frequent. I remember in Caracas, it's happening pretty frequently.

SPEAKER_00 36:43

The other time my building shook was when there was a when a bomb went off from like somebody threw a bomb somewhere in in Colombia, you know, back in the 90s.

SPEAKER_03 36:53

And you feel the vibration.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

And not only that, I we're sitting in our dining room and we have this giant crystal chandelier over our dining room table. We had like a beautiful apartment in Colombia. Um, and I remember it just shaking, like moving left to right. And and and I think that's like when my dad was like, you know what, we're done. Was this during or like post Escobar? During. It was totally alive. No, I don't know. Yeah, it was alive. Yes, this was in the 80s to the to eight. I mean, I don't remember which year it was. It could it was 90 or before 1990, right? So it could have been like 89, 88, or something.

SPEAKER_01 37:31

Because I know Escobar was cruel, but he implemented like he had banned most of the kidnappings because like he's trying to run a stable business for whatever think of it. Like, who needs that shit, right? Um, but post Escobar, when it was, you know, it's like you cut the head off of any snake and there's a power vacuum, like all these factions go insane.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

A lot of people were getting killed, like government officials were getting killed, like people were getting like if you had money, like you were getting like kidnapped, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:56

So, like officials and stuff, it sucked for, but a lot of the from my readings before Escobar, like kidnappings were rampant, and then he came into power and kind of centralized everything, and he was like, without approval, you're not allowed to do this shit anymore.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

Well, I mean, with permission or no permission, it was it was it was still happening, right?

SPEAKER_02 38:14

I'd like to be kidnapped and they kidnap me, and I'm in Santorini, Greece, and like I have people feeding me grapes. That is beautiful. It worked that way.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

You have a bag over your head in the left.

SPEAKER_02 38:28

Oh, I can't do anything.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

No grapes.

SPEAKER_02 38:31

I'm helpless, and I'm I'm a bag over your head. Yeah, back over your head going in the trunk of a car. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 38:37

What's that syndrome when you like fall in love with your pitapper? Is that what it is? We totally have that right now.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

This is but what one of what you were saying is why I'm such a the way you feel about America is the way I feel about Europe, is the fact that you were like, Oh, we went and backpacked, or you went into the thing, and Asia's coming around to a bit, but like Europe is one of the places where you really don't need a lot of money. You can go with a backpack for a month or two and like have a really good time. Whereas, like, if you got lost in the backwoods of like Mississippi within your backpack, you're like fuck with a capital F.

SPEAKER_02 39:10

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:13

So I govern yourself accordingly, you know.

SPEAKER_04 39:15

It's you can go to Europe with but she went through the negative 24 degree blizzard. And am I still here?

SPEAKER_01 39:22

The fishermen fed her.

SPEAKER_04 39:24

Yeah, they were so nice.

SPEAKER_00 39:25

I don't know if I mean I think there's a lot of southern hospitality here. Like I've noticed that people in Mississippi and in Georgia are very, very friendly in comparison to people. That's what you look like in comparison in forums.

SPEAKER_04 39:40

Well, some people yes, I haven't I've been around some US estates and cities and towns, and some people are very nice. Like everything, everybody really consequently. It depends where you go. It depends where you go. Usually big cities.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

I haven't been in France. I have not been um the French area. So like Europe, you know what I mean? And like back in the day, like when if you were a Jew and you went to Germany, it wasn't like the best thing over there either, right? So like Europe doesn't have isn't Europe is a very nice place, yeah. But it just depends on where you go, what year you're you're going, and things of that nature.

SPEAKER_04 40:25

Just like one thing I can tell you, like United States is so safe. It depends also on the city that you're at, but it's so so safe. Totally. Yeah, in general.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

I yeah, crime in the crime in America has steadily decreased year over year for the last hundred years.

SPEAKER_00 40:39

Totally clockwork.

SPEAKER_04 40:40

Like I mean in Europe, it depends too. Like places like Iceland, nothing happens.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

No, like Switzerland, it's very safe to live.

SPEAKER_04 40:48

Norway.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

Um, there's a lot of pla of course, 100%, but it just depends where you're a lot of good social services.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

There's really no reason to commit crime.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

Sure. There we go.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

Again.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

On that note, how can people find you?

SPEAKER_04 41:04

Oh, well, I have a website, I have social media. Marik Satarola Real Estate.

SPEAKER_00 41:10

Yeah. What's a good number for people to call you in case they want to buy a house, right?

SPEAKER_04 41:15

If people want, like if people want to be consulting, I do consulting, virtual staying. Do consulting for their travel needs, like where is you know, so many people have asked me. Yeah, yeah. I was gonna say like at Tennessee, I can tell you about that. Gallingbury is beautiful.

SPEAKER_05 41:27

Yeah, yeah, I'm I've been there before.

SPEAKER_04 41:31

I don't know if you already have the place where you're gonna stay. There is a bread and breakfast that is uh is is beautiful. I stay there.

SPEAKER_00 41:39

We're we have a people are so nice.

SPEAKER_04 41:41

The owner is totally nice.

SPEAKER_00 41:43

We're actually staying at a timeshare.

SPEAKER_04 41:45

Wow, my cousin timeshares.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

My cousin, my cousin like loves timeshares, so he's like he got like a hotel that has like six bedrooms in it. It's like on the top, you know. I forgot what it what the name of the timeshare is, but like every year he takes us out there and he's got like so many freaking points.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

Like Wyndham points or Mary Apple.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

I forgot which one though, they're one of them.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

I thought timeshares went out with like payphones.

SPEAKER_00 42:10

No, people really love them.

SPEAKER_02 42:12

Like I don't like if they use personality on like I've seen yeah, if they use it, they love them, correct? But I've I've seen situations where people have had like nightmares with like timeshares because it goes on your credit because it's a mortgage, it's a deeded property, which is why I still have my real estate license. It's the only thing I sold in real estate was I worked for a developer for like it was the sleaziest sale I've ever done. I don't like people touching my stuff, and it was like the maintenance fees always went up, and then you always like these. I like people touching me.

SPEAKER_01 42:40

I like people touching my stuff because not everybody takes good care of things the way that I do. That's true.

SPEAKER_04 42:45

Not only that, but also you have certain time of a year. What about if you cannot travel during that time?

SPEAKER_02 42:50

It's a bunch of then they claim that you can rent it, but it's not easy to rent in a week, it is not easy to do all of those.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

All the days aren't available and there's all these variables and all that.

SPEAKER_02 42:59

Blackout time. It is a it is an absolute nightmare.

SPEAKER_00 43:02

So I don't mind timeshares as long as my name is not on the D.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

I agree. And because your cousin knows how to use it. That's the best way to do it.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

He literally goes on a vacation like every quarter or or less. Like he's always set away. And like his credit card accumulates more points. So he he uses it. He knows how to do it. The best way to do it. If you know how to if it's your thing, it's your thing, you know?

SPEAKER_04 43:28

So yeah, so many people have asked me, like, you should be into like a travel agency, like travel consulting. Yeah, cool. But who knows? It probably can be. It could be I'm fascinating.

SPEAKER_00 43:38

That could like that could like uh merge into like travel consultantslash like hey, I can find you a property in the place that you vacationed, and I can show you how to rent it out to people via Airbnb and all these other cool things.

SPEAKER_04 43:51

Yeah, and I'm so good looking for like when I do go on vacation, people go like um have my social media and they go, where are you going? Sometimes I don't tell anybody, I just go and I start showing up, no? But it's my personal social media, and they are getting like fascinated. Man, I was following you during all your trip because I'm one of those that look, look, this happened to me. Here I am, this is so difficult. You know, I start like like kind of like doing a whole story about my vacation and my son's vacation, so they love it. But it's good content, good content, yeah, good content, but it's my private social media, so I really don't expose it. I should, I should probably be there possible.

SPEAKER_02 44:29

It's a traveling real estate agent. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 44:32

Yeah, but it did being in real estate also helps you to 100 properties, to pick towns, to pick like areas. It's amazing your background. I think everything that you learn is important in your life. You can apply it. Yeah, that's so important.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

If you're good at something, you can always apply it to everything else.

SPEAKER_04 44:50

I agree.

SPEAKER_00 44:51

So, yeah, so I think we've had a really great conversation so far. I mean, we were kind of all over the world, right? Um, so I think we're gonna wrap it up. Um, this has been an awesome show. Um very happy you came. So thankful that you came.

SPEAKER_04 45:08

Tell us one more time your name and what and how can everybody get a hold of you? Uh, my phone number 205-218-2747. I'm in social media, Mariksetaroba Real Estate. I have on my website, my virtual staging. I'm also like, I in my I'm I'm not also uh, you know, like uh post properties for sale and rent, but I also give advice to people, which I some people don't read on, don't look at the stuff. But you know, I give advice on any parts of real estate and appraising and awesome, very good.

SPEAKER_00 45:42

Well, thank you so much for coming on our show. It's doing great. I'm uh Gabe the networking beast, Janine Stellamix. And uh see you soon.

SPEAKER_02 45:54

And just like that, we're done. But don't worry, we'll be back. If you laughed, learned something, or just enjoyed the chaos. Go ahead and follow, subscribe, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're tuning in. And don't forget, share this episode with someone who needs a little PMJ in their life. Until next time, stay crunchy.