Sofia Estrada Castro has rightfully earned her Real Estate Investment Queen title. Still, it didn’t come without hard work, determination, and a willingness to keep pushing forward despite obstacles along the way. While she’s always been a true entrepreneur at heart, successfully running a business took years of working long hours and gaining new knowledge on building a leasing brokerage.
Several years before her success, Sofia worked on a business venture with Bobby, her loving husband. Although the business venture didn’t work out, it didn’t stop her from wanting more in life. And, although she ended up going to school to become an ultrasound tech and eventually worked in a cardiologist’s office, she knew that this wasn’t what she wanted her end goal to be. Instead, she wanted to continue to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams.
Starting an empire meant risking it all. Sofia Estrada Castro and Bobby decided it was best to invest in a manual on running a successful leasing brokerage from scratch, which would cost them around $1800. Although they didn’t have the money to afford the investment at the time, their parents were willing to support them and believe in their dream, ultimately providing them with the funds needed to get started.
“We had paid for an expensive manual and weren’t even sure what to do with it at first. However, we built a close relationship with the manual’s owner and continued putting in long hours, working on our business venture at night. The effort we put into connecting and building the business would eventually begin to pay off,” shared Sofia Estrada Castro. “That initial $1800 loan from our parents led to such great success. As of June 2019, our business was valued at approximately one billion dollars. It’s an amazing accomplishment.”
The journey to such significant success wasn’t always easy and came with its fair share of complications. For example, Sofia recalls when she bought 72 million dollars worth of condo conversion when the market took a turn and caused her to have over-leveraged herself. “It was a valuable lesson learned. You don’t want to put yourself into a position where you’re overleveraging and losing out on money. Although it wasn’t a wise decision, I learned from it and used it as a stepping stone to my success. I can now proudly say that I’ve earned millions from my involvement in real estate,” she said.
Building an empire alongside her husband, Bobby, is one of her most significant accomplishments in life, and now Sofia hopes to help other women achieve the same level of success. Although the real estate investing industry is currently male-dominated, she believes there has never been a better time than now to change that. Intending to show women the ropes and provide them with the educational tools needed to succeed in real estate investing, Sofia has launched the start of Queen Ventures. She hopes women of all ages from different places around the country will take advantage of the opportunity to learn from her while getting their start in real estate investing.
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