The Making Of A Real Estate Female Entrepreneur
“Don’t test the depth of the river with both feet”. A step at a time will eventually lead you to your destiny. Every woman has the right to gain financial independence as well as challenge the male counterparts in the business world. It is time to get out of the myth that women are secondary to men when it comes to new development and innovations. It is at this juncture that my company and I take the wheel to drive women out of their comfort zones to the magic world.
I am Sofia Castro, CEO of Queen Ventures, a subsidiary of Ortsac Capital Group, a family-owned investment group which focuses on developing a portfolio of premium rental property. Allow me to give you a bit of history of how it all started. Immediately after I got married to Robert, we dived into the world of business. A young couple with little experience of the market tides and uncertainties. Immediately we took the steps of converting our ideas into reality. As usual, we ended up applying for regular jobs to keep us afloat. However, the entrepreneurial spirit never died, and with time it became apparent that I was not comfortable with a routine. First forward, the unfortunate happened, I was expectant, and our resources reduced. With piling bills and limited resources, we reached our limit in terms of resources. I evaluated the available option for survival. Through the support of our parents, they offered a soft loan of $1800. The loan was the initial capital that we used to buy a leasing brokerage franchise, a tiny manual on how to build a leasing brokerage. From $1800 capital, we have been able to create a company worth $1 billion as of June 2019. From year to date, we have bought, sold, and managed multi-family assets and commercial buildings over $500 Million. We have as well managed to develop quality rentals that meet the current market demand.
How did we manage to achieve our goals? The five key steps of getting the real estate royalty triggered our growth;
- How to make a winning buying decision
Decision-making criteria involve different levels and based on the matter at hand, and it is essential to tick all the boxes before making a decisive decision. A small mistake can cost you a fortune.
- Properly manage your property
I am a hands-on kind of a person when it comes to my business. I believe in teamwork kind of arrangement. It’s more like a football team set up. With a leadership rather than a management role. I take all my teammates input seriously and walk through each plan with them before implementing it. Market survey is as well essential to understand the customer’s need.
- Maintaining Capex
Money keeps the business moving kand the best plan is keeping a keen focus on the expenditures and capital purchases to make your business prosperous. It is essential to be conscious of contingencies that may affect your business. Working capital management is as well an essential skill.
- Properly scale your business by leveraging refinancing
While scaling up the company, it is advisable to have a mix of capital to avoid too much pressure on current assets at the same time as well as free up some cash. My planning involves having a combination of equity, and debt which will catalyze the growth and expansion of business at the same time reducing risks of total collapse.
- Exit plan.
When the market is fully saturated, it reaches a point where losses start trickling in. At this point, it is always advisable to change the business plan if options are available or create an exit plan to avoid further losses.
I encourage women to join me and make real estate an exciting venture. It’s time for women to rise and bring on the challenge to the male-dominated fields and bring about saturation in the real estate business. I will walk with you in each step, mentoring you and advising you on what to do and avoid. You can easily reach out to me on my Instagram LinkedIn Official communication can be channelled through my email sofia@ortsac.com