Alexandria Monge is a Realtor with Sun Realty Investments working in Miami.
Every week, we ask a Miami real estate professional for their thoughts on the top three stories from the week before. This week, we spoke with Alexandria Monge, Realtor with Sun Realty Investments.
Miami Agent (MA): Residential construction spending in Miami is booming, a new report from Dodge Data & Analytics found. Have you noticed an increase in building, and if so, how do you expect new construction to affect Miami’s market, considering inventory has been somewhat low compared to demand in recent months?
Alexandria Monge (AM): That is correct. It’s notorious that Miami has had a drastic increase of new construction projects compared with 2014. Starting with numerous projects in the Miami art and design district located in downtown, high end projects in the Miami beach area, and not to mention the well known $3 billion dollar commercial and residential project – Miami World Center and Paramount – that is scheduled to break ground this year. The construction industry highly impacts not only our global economy but also our local. I can say that Miami for now continues to benefit from all this with the improvement of its infrastructure, employment opportunities and much more.
There is still room to grow and supply the high demand. But eventually, as I have been noticing for some months now, there has been a significant increase on prices, diminishing the possibilities for the local buyers – unlike foreign investors, who continue to invest. Eventually prices will be so high that Florida residents will have no other choice than to continue renting or settle for a condo or townhouse, when in other places in Florida for that same price they would be able to purchase a house. Hopefully we don’t fall back to where we were four years ago.
MA: How, if at all, does your approach to marketing change when trying to attract a buyer versus a seller?
AM: There is a big difference in the way I approach each. But in the end, the marketing strategies and approach come down to the same objective, which is satisfying a personal need or want. Although the process for each is different, as agents we must identify from the beginning what the buyer or seller is expecting from us so we can deliver. We must not forget that, as agents, our business is largely referral based, and if we manage to deliver results we will always be in business.
MA: As someone with more than a decade in the industry, what is something you wished someone would have told you when you were just starting out?
AM: It’s funny you ask this. I was just asking myself the same question the other day. Before I entered into this love-hate relationship called real estate, I truly would have appreciated some good advice, such as someone telling me not to believe the fairytale we see in real estate reality shows – which show that it is only about showing beautiful properties and driving a sports car. Boy, that’s the biggest lie. Only after we start the process do we realize the level of skill required to become a professional in the field.
When I say this is a love-hate relationship, it is because we hate it if a deal falls thru for X or Y reason and we think to ourselves that after so many months of hard work maybe we should consider changing profession. But every time we receive that nice check the day of closing we tend to be like pregnant women; all the labor pains are forgotten once that baby is born. I have a passion for what I do, there is nothing more satisfying than to help someone or a family accomplish their investment goal and then thank you with a smile. It’s priceless!