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From traditional residential sales to large-scale, new development projects, a trio of seasoned professionals, Senada Adzem, Jorge L. Guerra and Miltiadis Kastanis, and moderator Eloy Carmenate took the Inman On Tour Miami stage to discuss how they’ve built careers that straddle both worlds.
During their Wednesday panel, “Dual Mastery: Navigating Success in Both Residential Resales and New Development,” the panelists opened up about their unique paths into real estate, how they navigated market shifts and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.
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Guerra, president and CEO of Real Estate Sales Force (RESF), started in construction when he was 19 years old. While working on a construction site, he made his way into the sales office by building relationships.
“I was able to win the hearts of the salespeople,” Guerra told the audience. “Sergio Vinograd walked in one day, saw me in there and told me I didn’t belong in the sales office. I snapped back with ‘How can I get a job there?'”
That bold move launched his career. Guerra became a top salesperson and went on to open RESF, a marketing solution for developers.
Kastanis, on the other hand, entered real estate through hospitality.
“Working at Faena [Hotel Miami Beach], I saw them marketing the sales of Faena residents,” Katstanis, director of new development sales at Compass, said. “I got to see how real estate agents work in the new development space.”
After some experience with real estate on the side, he got his big break after facilitating David Martin’s Eighty Seven Park, one of Miami Beach’s most notable new development sales.
Unlike her peers, Adzem started on the development marketing side. After working for a venture capital firm, she was offered the opportunity to work for Trump International.
“I was training the sales team, doing all the marketing strategies, Adzem, executive director of luxury sales at Douglas Elliman, said. “One day, I realized the money is really in sales. So, if I don’t want to be a hardworking, poor immigrant, I better get into sales.”
Adzem shared her excitement and passion for working with big residential developers and luxury spec homebuilders. Having come from war-torn Bosnia, building homes carries deep meaning for her, but she still emphasizes that both sides of the coin are interconnected.
“It’s like yin and yang,” she said. “Pre-development sales gave me the opportunity to connect to buyers and understand what they need. Relationships I created eventually ended up being buyers in pre-development.”
Guerra echoed the importance of understanding both sides. “Working construction for me was a game changer,” he said. “Developer contracts are completely different than our standard contracts. You have to sit down, understand and explain to some clients the difference between a condominium and the detail that goes behind that HOA.”
Guerra’s secret to getting in the door was his tenacity and persistence.
“I started from the bottom, and when I was ther,e I made sure that I learned the sales contract. I made sure that I was the first one to open up that office. I was the last one to leave. I didn’t take a day off.”
Kastanis feels that new development gave him both confidence and visibility by learning each product, which translated to prospective buyers as well as the aging community.
“I was representing some of the most important projects at the time — Eighty Seven Park, Arte Surfside — and everyone wanted to know about it,” he said. “It was a really big networking opportunity, and that’s what’s driven my general real estate career.”
Networking is exactly how Kastanis found success, but he emphasized that the path for new agents looking to enter the new development realm is difficult if they don’t reach out and ask for the opportunity.
“The developers want someone with experience in new development sales,” Kastanis explained. “There’s a demand for really eager, good pre-development, new development sales agents, and I think a lot of people are afraid to ask for that opportunity. And those are the ones that typically shine.”
When asked about how to weather slower markets, Adzem was candid, but spot on. “We just work freaking harder. Sellers get antsy. You have to be a psychologist, marriage counselor, stock market adviser — you have to be a jack of all trades,” she said.
But it’s also about working smarter. “This business is all about relationships,” she told the Inman On Tour audience. “You think you’re making a quick call, and it turns into a one-hour conversation.” Managing that is tough, but essential.
