Today we’d like to introduce you to Miguel Cepeda.
Hi Miguel, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My interest for real estate goes all the way back to when I graduated from high school in 2016. Real estate had always been in the back of my mind, and it was initially what I went to college for. I remember having a meeting with an advisor at my community college who told me that the real estate field in Dallas was too saturated and advised me to find a career where I could actually excel in and not just be another number. As a college freshman, I was lost on what I wanted to do, so I took her advice.
Through my time in college, I would say I changed my major like ten times until finally settling for Communications at the University of North Texas at Dallas. I found a love for marketing and had the opportunity to participate in some amazing projects and even intern at big named companies like Live Nation and Univision. I was a couple of weeks from graduating. Then the unexpected happened — Covid-19. With the lockdown, I lost everything I had going for myself after graduation. I remember graduating from my couch, closing my laptop, and thinking to myself, “now what?”. That’s when it hit me. I had always been interested in real estate and being locked in at home was the perfect opportunity to study and learn all I could about it. I started researching a little more about the industry until finally deciding to take a leap of faith and signing up for online classes. I studied day in and day out for six weeks until I knew the material inside out. I took both National and State exams, passed them on my first try, and the rest is history.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I would say my road has been far from smooth. If you ask anybody, they will tell you that real estate is one of the hardest entrepreneurial careers to start and organically grow. From the very first day, I was already dealing with scary percentages. The failure rate is over 90%. Over 50% of agents don’t make it past six months. Half of those don’t make it past two years, let alone five years. Pretty intimidating for someone who is still finding his way around life, if you ask me. Now throw a global pandemic into the mix that literally flipped the world completely upside down and significantly affected our everyday lives. Having to adapt to strict COVID regulations for house showings, not being able to have face-to-face meetings with clients and prospects, and having to work directly from home challenged me to get creative with my networking and communication. On top of that, let’s not forget the HISTORICALLY low house shortage that we have been facing since the end of 2020, which has put the homeownership dream on hold for thousands of buyers. The buyers that are pre-approved are having to go above and beyond with never-before-seen terms and conditions with their offers, just to maybe have a chance at winning a house. This all worried me for the future of my business and the future of my clients. Aside from this, self-doubt, social anxiety, and being economically disadvantaged were also huge obstacles I had to overcome in the beginning.
Despite everything, I started to pick up steam pretty fast with leases, which were also very challenging at the time because of the limited availability everywhere you looked. I kept going and going, and then boom, I had my first pre-approved buyer! I was still learning the ins and outs of a transaction, but I was overwhelmed with happiness and determined to provide as much value as I possibly could for my first buyers. We searched and submitted offers on a couple of properties until we finally got a beautiful house under contract by beating out multiple offers. It was my first big transaction, and I was beyond excited until things took a turn for the worst. We were set to close on Monday. We ended up terminating the contract Sunday night due to some unexpected events. I was devastated. This was going to be my first transaction and months’ worth of work literally fell apart hours before closing. Imagine this being the very first experience in your new career. Regardless of how these events played out, it was an eye-opener for me, and at that moment, I knew I was in for a ride. I picked myself back up, and shortly afterwards, I had my next buyers under contract on a property. It wasn’t easy, but I knew I had no other choice.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I pride myself and my real estate career on education, value, and customer satisfaction. Buying a house is one of the biggest financial commitments a person makes in their life. Coming from a community where no one ever taught us about mortgages, financial literacy, credit, or anything related to home buying for that matter, I take it as my responsibility to nurture and educate those around me so that they are well informed on home-buying process and know exactly what they need to do to prepare for when the time comes. One of my biggest focuses is the Hispanic community, who I feel is often belittled and underrepresented. Being fully bilingual and biliterate allows me to extend my knowledge and expertise to those who want to become homeowners but don’t have adequate representation because of a language barrier.
I am always looking to provide value in every possible way I can, not only to my clients but to my community. Whether it’s helping someone through the home-buying process, designing comprehensive buyer & seller packets that breaks down every step of the way, implementing seamless communication systems, or simply talking to a prospect for one hour over the phone just to help them understand their credit score, my job before selling houses is to give my clients all the tools necessary to be successful and achieve their real estate goals.
Without my clients, I am nothing in this business. From start to finish, my main goal is for my clients to have the best possible experience and feel comfortable and reassured that they are in the best hands, not only with me but with the team around me. Everything from contractors to lenders, relationships mean the absolute world to me, and it gives me so much joy knowing that with the right team behind me, I am changing people’s lives. It’s amazing to be able to say this. I work just as hard for a $1,000 lease that takes six months to close as I do for a $10 million dollar sale that takes ten days because every client to me is equally important, and I think that really sets me apart from my competition and shows every one of my clients just how much I truly appreciate them for putting their trust in me.
Contact Info:
- Email: miguelcepeda@rogershealy.com
- Website: www.migrealtor.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/migrealtor
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/migrealtor
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/migrealtor
