Women Leaders Of Real Estate: Galit Ventura-Rozen On The 5 Things You Need To Succeed In The Real Estate Industry

An Interview with Jason Hartman

Build Relationships — think of those you are connecting with as people not a sale. When you take the time to build relationships with your potential clients, they notice you care about their goals and needs and will work with you and send you referrals. Take care of your clients and the money will follow. I have built thousands of relationships on Linkedin and recently I reached out to one of those connections to ask that they connect me to a large fortune 500 company. There wasn’t even a hesitation and the connection was made on my behalf.

As a part of my series about strong women leaders of the Real Estate industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Galit Ventura-Rozen.

Galit Ventura-Rozen is a 25+ year commercial real estate broker/owner of Commercial Professionals. She has sold over $700 million in real estate and built a billion dollar company. She is also a sales success expert and works with women to build their businesses to 7 and 8 figures, loves showing women how to be successful in real estate. Her most recent award is Entrepreneur of the Year by TMG Entertainment. She is a well-known professional speaker and author of The Successful Woman’s Mindset.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the Real Estate industry?

When I was completing my bachelor’s degree in business at UNLV, my friends were all applying to jobs, I knew I wanted to be my own boss. I obtained my real estate license and started interning for a local real estate agent. I worked for a residential agent for 6 months and then went out on my own. After less than a year I did not love selling homes. I then chose to take another internship with a female commercial real estate group. This is when I learned how much I love commercial real estate and how much I wanted that to be my career.

Can you share with our readers the most interesting or amusing story that occurred to you in your career so far? Can you share the lesson or take away you took out of that story?

The most interesting story that occurred in my career so far is when I had the opportunity to be part of a commercial real estate deal selling an apartment building for the value of the land to the Las Vegas Convention Center. This was my largest deal yet and was sold for $50 million. The opportunity to have the experience of being involved in a deal that was monumental to the city and be my largest yet at the time was priceless hands-on experience that I appreciated.

My take away was, that even though I was considered young in the industry and I was the minority as a female, I could do anything.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

At this time I am continuing to represent buyers and sellers that are interested in purchasing off market properties in Las Vegas for investment, such as apartments, industrial, retail and office as well as land. But I am also working on my own investing and projects. Building my own investment empire through finding properties, rezoning them, purchasing them and building product that is profitable in Las Vegas.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

My company stands out because of multiple reasons. First, we are a family company. My father and I have been working together since I was 18, I am his real estate agent, my 3 brothers are all licensed agents and 2 of them are commercial agents under my company, and about 18 months ago my oldest son started working as an agent at my company as well. We are a family that work in the same office on different projects individually and many times collaborate together as well.

Second, we are a company with a vast number of years of experience. I have lived in Las Vegas since 1987 and grew up watching the city grow, we built a reputation of a company that offers amazing customer service to our clients, understands the market and cares about the goals of our customers not the sale.

A great story I can share is a client came to me and asked to purchase a retail shopping center. My company was managing the center for another owner at the time. I facilitated the sale to the new buyer; they then hired my company to continue managing and leasing the property. Since then, I have sold multiple properties to this company. This relationship started over 17 years ago and is still going strong.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I am grateful for my father; he came to America with my mother before I was born and worked tirelessly to give his kids the opportunities that come with living in the U.S.

He built his success from nothing but knowing he could. He made sure myself and my brothers had a strong work ethic from a young age. I started my first job when I was 15 ½. He then gave me a job in his office at 18 while he was a general contractor. I started at his office working as his receptionist, then bookkeeper and then office manager while I was attending college to get my first degree. He never treated me different as the girl in the family and always taught me I could do anything my brothers could do. I think this start gave me the courage to enter into a male dominated industry at the young age of 22 and start my company.

Ok. Thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. The Real Estate industry, like the Veterinarian, Nursing and Public Relations fields, is a women dominated industry. Yet despite this, less than 20 percent of senior positions in Real Estate companies are held by women. In your opinion or experience, what do you think is the cause of this imbalance?

Residential real estate is dominated by women, commercial real estate is not. Women are still very much the minority in this good old boy’s club industry.

Regarding the question, I believe only 20 percent of seniors positions in real estate companies are held by women because women do not believe in themselves or always have the support to give them the push to apply to higher positions in companies.

What 3 things can be done by a)individuals b)companies and/or c) society to support greater gender balance going forward?

• Individuals, women, can stop thinking of other women as their competition and recognize there is enough success to be had by everyone. In place, women can support each other, welcome each other and work together to change these numbers in companies.
• Companies can set up women’s leadership networks and mentors and peers that area women for women that give them a safe place to share concerns, ask for support and grow and learn what is needed to apply to these senior level positions. This would include networking opportunities, speakers and trainers that come in and teach women how to be leaders and have the confidence to grow and apply to higher level positions.
• Society can support gender balance by continuing to change the image in society, on TV, in marketing, ads etc. Women should be seen and portray an image of success in business, in professional fields. Society should also continue to teach the younger generation females that they can do and be anything they want.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women executives that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

In my opinion, it’s the juggle of all the hats women tend to wear. I will never forget speaking at an event in Montreal for a group of women in a leadership class. I mentioned I own and run 3 businesses, I am a mother of 3 and in a healthy relationship and that I love cooking dinner. The response by one of the women was, “Something has got to give”. Meaning how could I do it all. That is one of the biggest challenges’ women face. They are constantly under the impression that something has got to give.

Many times men are juggling less and not having to “give anything up” , Women are constantly feeling that pressure.

I also think women executives receive more pressure from their male counterparts to stay at the level that they are in the company. I do not believe this is always conscious, but there is this assumption that if a woman is a mother, a wife and an executive there is no possible way she could juggle it all and “something has got to give”. As someone that has juggled it all and continues to, I do not believe this statement is true at all.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Real Estate industry?

1. The market is hot in many states including Nevada right now. I am excited about how busy real estate agents are and how the market is in an up cycle.
2. I am excited about how more and more women are getting into commercial real estate and seeking out the mentors and experts to support them and teach them how to enter into this more exclusive industry ( I myself have mentored multiple women to do just that)
3. The opportunities for growth and success — commercial real estate deals are each unique within themselves and there is always room for more growth and success.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

1. In the commercial real estate industry, we are not as structured like the residential industry, I would have more structure on the development of the contracts, and what is allowed and not allowed with the deal.
2. Agents working with each other more, in commercial real estate many times the agents prefer doing the entire deal on their own and aren’t open to sharing their listings with other agents or even the commission ( this is typically more regulated in residential real estate by local and national associations)
3. A less competitive industry, meaning that agents realize that many times it is to their benefit to work with other agents and team up to complete the deal vs trying to do it on your own.

What advice would you give to other leaders to help their team to thrive?

My advice to other leaders to thrive within their team would be to recognize your team members strengths and focus on those by filling their weaknesses with other team members strengths. This builds a happy team that will work to benefit your goals and possibly your company. Any great leader must recognize that they are only as strong as the team they build, support, grow and teach.

Ok, here is the main question of our interview. You are a “Real Estate Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non intuitive things one should know to succeed in the Real Estate industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each?

1. Knowledge is your friend. Make sure to educate yourself every day on the new happenings, the market, and tools to benefit your buyers and sellers. The more knowledge you have the better you can support your clients. When I first started in the industry, I made sure I did my research before I met with any buyer or seller, so I could have as much information as possible. I remember once I got started in the industry the assumption was, I was young, what did I know about selling an apartment building. But when I showed up to the meeting prepared and knowledgeable, I made the sale.
2. Effective Communication — Listen to what your client wants, what their goals are, what they are looking for before jumping to assumptions and telling them what they should buy or sell. Once you listen then you can guide them to the best possible outcome with the knowledge that you have as the expert in the field. I remember once time I kept asking the client more and more questions so I could get as many details as possible about their investment interest. At one point the client thanked me for caring so much about what they were looking for instead of just trying to sell them whatever it was I knew that was for sale. Clients appreciate the interest in their buying and selling goals.
3. Be Visible — Remember that if people don’t know who you are they can’t work with you. Make sure to be consistent in your online marketing and your brand so others that are watching can reach out when they are ready for a real estate agent. In my career I have recognized more and more how important it is to have an online and in person presence. There was this one instance where I spoke at a local business luncheon on real estate and had 3 leads before, I left that day. Visibility works.
4. Prioritize — Make sure anything you do during your work day is directly related to the outcome you are hoping to achieve in sales. If it is not, say no or delegate the task to one of your team members. This took a bit of time on my end. I loved saying yes to everything and then realized I was taking away from goals when I did. I was asked at a coffee appointment to be part of a non profit board ( I was already on 2) it was the first time I had ever said no to an opportunity like this. It was well received and respected when I shared, I just wouldn’t have the time to give the board the attention it deserved.
5. Build Relationships — think of those you are connecting with as people not a sale. When you take the time to build relationships with your potential clients, they notice you care about their goals and needs and will work with you and send you referrals. Take care of your clients and the money will follow. I have built thousands of relationships on Linkedin and recently I reached out to one of those connections to ask that they connect me to a large fortune 500 company. There wasn’t even a hesitation and the connection was made on my behalf.

Because of your position, you are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

My movement would be a community where women support, uplift each other and mentor each other to reach the success they desire and deserve.

I started this movement with a business partner during March 2020 when the country was shut down

It is called Everyday Woman; our FB Group is called Women Supporting Women Professionals and Entrepreneurs and is 13000+ strong.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/563301407819531

How can our readers follow you online?

I am on linkedin, https://www.linkedin.com/in/galitventurarozen/

facebook, https://www.facebook.com/galitventurarozen

instagram https://www.instagram.com/galitventurarozen/

My business websites are www.galitventurarozen.com and www.lasvegascommercialre.com

Thank you for your time, and your excellent insights!