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Throughout March, Inman contributor Annette DeCicco highlights women in real estate from vastly different parts of the U.S. — New Jersey’s NY-Metropolitan Hub, Maryland’s Upper and Lower Cities of Baltimore, South Florida’s Miami suburb of Homestead, Oklahoma’s Ozarks running through Tulsa — and from vastly diverse markets — urban, suburban, exurban and rural.
Although these women’s stories and challenges may vary, their dedication to educating, mentoring and shaping the minds and futures of all generations — this year’s theme — is remarkably similar.
Nancy Garcia started helping people when a career in real estate was a distant spark. As a young professional, Garcia honed her communication skills into a talent for speaking while working college job fairs and inspiring and guiding students. Concern over their future motivated her to write a book on educating youth on the job market.
A spark is born
Garcia met her husband and, together with mutual interests, they started as real estate investors, buying, fixing, flipping and leasing. Realizing their experience could be better leveraged as Realtors, they began their careers. He grew into the role of managing broker of a large office while Garcia multimanaged the transaction side of the business, expanding it to a family business, working with buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants while continuing to invest.
The spark smolders
Even the 2008-2009 financial crisis that hit Florida harder than the rest of the country couldn’t dim Garcia’s spark. While scores of agents stagnated in a glut of resale and luxury properties, Garcia and team returned to what they knew best. They survived and thrived through investing, flipping or keeping properties as vacation and long-term rentals, while also helping with short sales, which spoke to their desire to be of help.
The spark is HOT: Homestead Outreach Team
Garcia has historically tapped into her do-giver instincts to serve the people closest to her. It wasn’t part of the plan to leverage community goodwill into business. It occurred organically.
Through early efforts, the Homestead Outreach Team, acronym HOT, was co-founded by Garcia and her fifth-grade daughter, enlisting children ages 12-18 with a heart to serve. These children reached out to help the working-class poor within four passions: military families, children in need, parents in need and pets in need of foster care.
The spark intensifies
Enter the pandemic, when the children of HOT, along with restaurants struggling to remain open and grassroots fundraising, mobilized to feed hot meals to hundreds of local kids, suddenly deprived of school lunches. It was a community win-win.
Over the past eight years, Garcia’s non-profit has fed thousands of children and their families, totaling over a million meals, earning them The Homestead City Philanthropy Award.
A story of resilience
Rarely do we meet someone with a big heart to serve and a drive to conquer whatever stands in the way. Nancy Garcia is that person. Her story is truly one of resilience, unstopped by unfathomable hurdles — a national financial crisis and a global pandemic — threatening business and community.
What challenges Homestead, Florida, challenges Garcia.
Nancy Garcia is a real estate agent and investor in Southern Miami Dade, Florida, focusing on the City of Homestead, the Redlands and the Florida Keys. Email Nancy Garcia.
Annette DeCicco is a real estate broker and director of growth and development at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Jordan Baris Realty in Northern New Jersey.
