Ivan Blanco

First time buyers: This isn't your forever home, and the statistics show you'll be selling within five years. Don't go overboard; this is meant to get your foot into the real estate game, so that next time around you can get more credit from a lender, and go for what you want with the equity you're building. For seasoned home buyers: Don't trust Zillow/Trulia/Realtor.com/etc. Ever. They are the WebMD of the real estate world, and do more harm than good by setting up false expectations. You've been through this before: You know where the pitfalls are going to be. Trust in an agent that can build as sturdy a bridge as possible for you to get over those pitfalls.

Listen to the market, and try to take your emotional involvement out of the house if possible. While everyone has a connection to their home, it's imperative to look at the sale as a business transaction as much as possible. I can say with experience that price is the #1 determining factor for why a home doesn't sell...and no amount of promises any old Realtor will make can fix that.

Zombies, mummies, the walking dead, those forced to roam the cursed earth for all time...pretty much anyone who starred as a background dancer Michael Jackson's "Thriller." :) In all seriousness, I've worked with all types, & I have no preference, so long as they are as dedicated to buying/selling as I am to helping them.

We tiptoed through the tulips, Realtor and client hand-in-hand, as we laughed away the summer morn and watched the stars come out at night to illuminate our flawless inspection report. Also, they were punctual, and got everything done right away. I look at being a Realtor like being a coach: You're in the game, but I can see what's going on down field. The choice is yours whether to zig or zag, but you hired me for a reason, so let me go out there and coach you the best I can. Those clients that are open to this are the ones I get along best with. We even bring picnic baskets to our spot in the tulip gardens (hint: I like pimento and cheese).

I've always had a love of sales and a bigger love for helping people. Teaching is great, but I wanted to work on my own schedule, and real estate provided that opportunity. It wasn't easy, as the market was still topsy-turvy when I went for my license back in 2013, but those (very) tough few months helped teach me about how much I can take...and how hard I'm willing to work to make my clients happy.

I earned my college degree as an English teacher, and taught in the Miami-Dade County Public School system for over five years before becoming a Realtor. I dealt with all types of students to all ability levels, from EBD all the way to Advanced Placement. There is very little that throws me off my game because of it, and I thank those years in front of a classroom as the thing that taught me empathy and hardened my resolve. I mean, if you can sell Shakespeare to a group of text-happy teens, you can do pretty much anything.