I had the opportunity to sit down and have Chai with Arti Iyer. She is a successful Realtor in the valley and helped many to buy and sell real estate over the past ten years.

Q - Tell our readers a little about yourself and your family

I am a true Mumbai girl at heart, born and brought up in Mumbai. I hold a master’s degree and studied fashion designing. I worked in that industry for a few years, and then moved into real estate. My husband is the founder and CEO of appsFreedom, a mobile software company with quite a few accolades to their credit. I have 2 beautiful kids, a 12 year old and 8 year old! They are my strength, motivation and give me the drive to do what I do.

Q - Fashion !! That’s interesting, Tell us a little more about it

Well, I always had a creative eye and interest in design, so I decided to pursue fashion designing as a career. Soon after graduating, I was fortunate enough to start my own company. We used to design and manufacture women’s ethnic and western wear and supply to exclusive boutiques in Mumbai. My core expertise was designing and I had a lot of fun coming out with creative designs, as it was a startup, I got a chance to do other areas of business like manufacturing, Sales and Operations. Although running a startup as a young girl in the male-dominated fashion industry in Mumbai was not easy, it was a successful venture and a dream run. I not only learnt a lot but throughly enjoyed it.

Q - how did you land into Real Estate?

While in US, I moved around a few places like California, Florida & Arizona. I was always intrigued by how varied each state was in terms of its topology, the nature and of-course the houses as well. Moreover my father has been in the real-estate profession, with our family owned business for over 50 years. So I grew up listening & seeing my dad, day-in and day-out in this business. Also my sister is in real-estate as well in Connecticut. Somehow I got very interested in Real-Estate after I moved to Arizona. I guess moving across the country helped and real-estate profession runs in my family as well. So it seemed very natural to me.

Q - So you have a family history in this profession but that is not enough for someone to be in this profession for as long as you have been.

Yes, you are right, Although family history helps, its not the sole reason why I have been doing this everyday for more than 10 years. The primary reason is I love what I do. The biggest personal satisfaction, I get is when I see a family move into their new home. All the excitement of a new home, dreams of raising a family, a bright new future all sums up in a unique smile when a family, specially first time home buyers, gets the keys and step into their new home. That satisfaction I see in their face is all worth it. I absolutely enjoy what I do and I would not trade it for any other profession.

Q - Why is that? What is so special about First time home buyers?

First time home buyers have unique needs and being the first time for them, are not aware of the buying process in this country or the pit-falls and gotcha’s in buying homes. Home buying is a big step for anyone and it is specially so when you are doing it for the first time. They have lots of questions and concerns, and need guidance in every step of the way. Now the reason I like working with first time home buyers, is for them, this is a unique and a one-time experience. When they find a home of their dreams and allow me to share their moment of joy, it makes me immensely happy to be part of their joyous moment. There is nothing like that experience. It’s not just about showing a house or signing, I try to be with them on their side during their complete process starting from educating them about the home buying process to actually being with them in every step of the way till closing. From Inspection till the final walkthrough I am involved and personally be there. I tend to exceed clientsexpectations, through real life experience, industry knowledge, effective and efficient thorough communication. Also after stepping into their new home is where their home owning experience starts and I support them in their home owning experience as well, until they are completely self sufficient. My clients still call me if they have any questions or need references, I still give my time and be there for them, irrespective of them being in the market or not.

Q - What areas of realestate do you cover?

I specialize in residential and commercial properties, help in buying,selling and leasing. In residential my expertise are in new homes and resale homes, in new homes I help them in selecting their interiors, my clients always like my choices and get that advantage of my designing sense. They appreciate and value my inputs and advice, as its a big step for them. Commercial side, I have done gas stations, office space and Retail in grey shell and built outs. I have experience in Land deals, well it was more popular in mid 2000, so at that time many of my investors bought it around the valley, I handled investors portfolio who have multiple properties, help them flip and sell or convert into an income generating property.

Q - What are your plans for the future?

I like my profession too much, in fact am devoted to it:) I am full time into real estate and intend to be around for a long time to come. Would like to help our indian community as much as possible in getting the fruits of home ownership. Thank you Arti for giving us wonderful insights into real estate….