Leveling Up

WITH HECTOR CASTILLO, FRANCHISEE - NY

It’s not uncommon for the younger generation to follow in their parents’ footsteps when it comes to a career path, however when you’re both named after as well as mentored by one of New York’s top real estate professionals, your journey seems almost inevitable.

“When I wasn’t playing in my backyard, I often found myself playing real estate in my room or in the office since I was six years old,” recalled EXIT Realty Limitless Franchisee, Hector Castillo, a moniker he shares with his father and EXIT Realty New York Metro regional owner. “My dad taught me the value of how the real estate business impacts the community from his firsthand experience in helping others. In my mind I was always a real estate broker like him. I believed it so much that I created my first business card at the age of 10.”

Young Hector was one of five children in a blended family, and watched his father build a successful career as an agent with several brands in Queens before opening an independent office in 1998 a decade after he started in real estate. He recalls “comping out properties” as a child in the office and going on drives to the various properties his father flipped.

Hector’s interest in real estate would only grow after his father and stepmother, Gigi Fernandez purchased the regional rights for what was then known as EXIT Realty Downstate New York in 2002. For the next two decades he would grow up immersed in all things EXIT Realty, learning some hard lessons, but ultimately leveling up and coming into his own career.

“[My dad] literally invested everything possible to make it happen because he knew there was a better way to make an impact for their agents. This was such a cool time to witness it firsthand. I would attend trainings with OG’s like Bill Nasby. Imagine being 10 years old listening to him speak about ‘the path to deliberate creation’ and going door knocking with a bus full of agents. I was already infatuated with real estate before EXIT, but these experiences propelled my love for this business exponentially.”

Coming Into His Own

Hector was eager to be a part of what became the family business. He stuffed envelopes and assisted around the office as a young boy, then handled CRM data entry and event coordination as a young man in the region. He finally got licensed at 21.

“[Real estate] is in my DNA, it’s in my heart, and it’s something nobody can take away from me,” he said recalling that dangerous feeling of arriving. “I was the man. I knew everything about everything real estate. I was always able to assume any position I got and knew I could accomplish anything. This was both a blessing and a curse because my dad poured his knowledge into me, but who listens to their parents at that age? The first three-to-four years were a little difficult for that reason until I got over myself.”

Having real clients was far from Hector’s childhood imaginary real estate world. He quickly learned that it’s a people business and struggled as an introvert. He teamed up with his sister in the beginning who helped him close his first deal, catapulting his career from making no money to being fully independent. In the beginning Hector leveraged what he knew best, technology like EXIT’s Resource Center and the Expert Marketing Suite™. He built confidence by training other agents in other offices on utilizing these features. His first big break came in the form of a $1.3M listing referral from fellow New York agent, Thomas Reid His first investment property followed shortly after thanks to the help of his attorney and business partner, Carol Jaramillo.

“One day I’m on hubzu.com making offers on properties with barely $5K in the bank. Who was I? I was just Hector ‘playing’ real estate analyzing properties and figuring out profit margins,” he said of winning his first bid that day, which started his investment dreams.

“When I got licensed, I felt empowered but now I was creating possibilities that I only ever dreamed of. It was an amazing experience and a hell of a ride. But after a couple flips, I leveraged too much too fast with a lifestyle I couldn’t sustain and in 2018, I literally lost everything.”

A Hard Lesson

This blow resulted in his move back to his childhood home with his mother, Lourdes. Having also lost his car, he was forced to borrow hers or Uber back and forth to appointments just to keep up, which he was determined to do. It all felt too embarrassing to share with family, especially his father, but it was a necessary mistake to learn from.

“I always made it seem like I had it together. I never thought I would fail. It was one of the greatest lessons I had to experience for myself,” he admitted. “Truth be told [my father] never forced me to follow in his footsteps in real estate. He believed in me; he never placed or imposed any expectation on me. He always gave me the freedom to be me. The way I saw it from my point of view was that I was Hector’s son…I have to succeed."

There was no other option but to push through this experience, which lit a fire within him that still burns today. He realized that he had to let go of what he had in order to do it again, only better and smarter. Under the continued tutelage of his Franchisees at the time, Susan Hamblen and Jeff Mistretta, Hector got back to working in the field every day, spending late nights on the computer, eventually having enough listings on the market and under contract to pay off his debts, get another vehicle and place to live, and then COVID hit.

He recalls the nervousness that seemed to be everywhere, and although challenging, Hector said 2020 felt like nothing compared to what he’d just been through. This mindset helped him nearly double his gross commissions from 2020-2021. When doors started opening again, he rarely went into the brokerage, choosing his car as his office, and keeping a steady pace between showings, twilight open houses, and appointments. More and more he found he was helping agents around him both within and outside of EXIT, and it was then that he opened up to his dad about leveling up his career through ownership.

A STORY COME FULL CIRCLE

He would get some good perspective from his dad, and some more experience under his belt before accepting a fateful offer.

“When [dad] opened the region in New York he owned a building that we lived in and that the office was situated in. In 2006, fellow broker brothers, Roman and Solomon Davydov purchased the brokerage from him, along with the building. These guys have one of the best brokerages in the region. They’re leaders in their office, communities, and families,” Hector shared of his real estate story coming full circle. “They were gracious enough to offer the opportunity of purchasing this existing territory to me 16 years after they first bought it from my father.”

Everything aligned his 10th year, after obtaining his broker’s license on 2/22/22. All that was left was a name. He bounced a few ideas off his father, but none seemed to fit until he remembered something from his own past saying, “The name Limitless came about years before when I was younger. I wanted to create a brand called Limitlessxdesign. The first property I bought was under Limitless Real Estate Corp...The minute I texted [my dad] he said that was the one.”

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

Operating for just over a year now, Hector sees how ownership was just a matter of time, even though the road from salesperson to owner was conflicting at first for a natural closer such as himself. Now he sees how both owner and agent mindsets serve him as a better leader. He has enjoyed the journey of building the office up to 20 agents, which he managed by leveraging EXIT’s Formula of sponsoring prior to opening. He surrounds himself with a trusting team, maintaining a “no BS” culture of love and support in the office, that’s action backed. He continues to share his wealth of knowledge, helping to train and mentor, believing it’s this experience that has helped him attract top producers because he can “speak the same language.” Most importantly, he feels how everything is bigger than just him now, and that what he does is for his team first and foremost.

“I really enjoy seeing the agents succeed and thrive in this business that I’m so fortunate to be a part of. I’m honored to serve the agents that I’ve attracted which I call power brokers,” Hector said. “The amount of information I’ve accumulated over the years is what I share because I’ve been coached and trained by the industry's greatest like Bill Nasby, Erica Nasby, Ed Escobar, Rick O’Neil, Floyd Wickman, Richard Flint, Steve Morris, Tami Bonnell, Bob McKinnon, Susan Hamblen, Angel Tucker, Key Yessaad, Stan Bishop, Judy LaDeur, Terry Watson, Darryl Davis, Verl Workman, Greg Reid, and my father, Hector Castillo. He’s THE MAN. I had to share this piece of my story because it’s important for the world to know. When I’m on the street I feel what he’s embedded in me, and it’s a feeling I cannot describe. I can't wait to share the next decade with all of you reading this, because I know that if anybody can do it, I can do it, and if I can do it, anybody can do it.”