Balancing Sales and Leadership in Luxury Real Estate Market

In this engaging episode of "Love Your Sales," Leighann Lovely chats with Andy Daro, a seasoned real estate professional and commissioner of North Bay Village in Miami, Florida. Andy shares insights from his 12 years of experience in luxury sales, discussing the unique challenges and rewards of managing a successful real estate team. He also delves into his role as commissioner, focusing on community development projects like the Island Walk. Listeners will gain valuable advice on balancing sales and management responsibilities and the importance of hard work and personal growth. Tune in to discover how Andy navigates the world of high-stakes real estate while juggling multiple roles

 

Contact Andy

Website – compass.com/agents/the-daro-team/

compass.com/agents/andy-rotondaro/

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/andy-daro-b7838471

 

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Leighann Lovely: Welcome to another episode of Love Your Sales. Um, I am joined today by Andy Daro. Andy is the commissioner of North Bay Village in Florida, Miami, Florida, and the founder of the Daro team at Compass, a leading real estate team in South Florida. With over 12 years of experience in luxury sales, Andy has established a reputation For exceeding exceptions and building lasting relationships within his [00:02:00] community. I am very excited to have Andy join me today. Welcome to the show.

Andy Daro: Hi, Leighann. I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me on your show.

Leighann Lovely: Yeah. So why don't you expand on that, that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself.

Sure. Thank you.

Andy Daro: Sure. Um, I lead a team, as you mentioned, at Compass, uh, located in Miami. There are nine, uh, of us on my team, uh, international. We deal mostly in luxury residential sales, condominiums, and single family homes, uh, a lot of them waterfront in Miami, Florida. And also, uh, recently I've became commissioner, as you mentioned, of North Bay Village, which is a 9, 000 island, um, 9, 000 resident, sorry, island community in the middle of, uh, the heart of Miami Bay between Miami and Miami, Florida.

Leighann Lovely: Wow. Okay. And how, how does one become commissioner and [00:03:00] what is that role?

Andy Daro: Well, it's an elected position. Uh, so it is, uh, elected, uh, as I mentioned, though, we have a, it's a small island, so there's only about 9, 000 residents. Um, and it's a, it's a four year term and I'm currently serving my second year. Um, as commissioner.

Leighann Lovely: Okay. And so what, what are some of the responsibilities with that? And forgive me for being naive.

Andy Daro: Sure. No, it's a, it's a local municipality. So, um, there's been a lot of, especially in Miami where Uh, the kind of crossroads with my real estate is we currently have a lot of development happening into the area.

So it goes from development laws to development agreements, uh, planning and zoning. Um, but then it also ranges as just kind of anything that happens in our community, from our infrastructure projects, uh, to our school, our police department, um, funding and budget, uh, anything [00:04:00] that goes into running a city.

It's a board of five. So I'm, you know, and then of course we have a great team at North Bay Village, uh, that are employed by the city. Um, so it's a big, it's a group effort, uh, but it's, it's been a good experience so far.

Leighann Lovely: Yeah. Awesome. So let's, let's talk a little bit about you. So you're with what, 12 years of experience in luxury sales.

So and you run a team of, of nine. So let's, let's talk, let's dive into that. You know, tell me a little bit, well first, I guess before we get into that, let's, let's back up. Have you always been in sales? Have you always been in the real estate kind of industry?

Andy Daro: I have mostly always been in sales. I've been in fortune 500 sales, corporate sales prior to getting into real estate, which you mentioned was about 12 years ago.

It was in New York city. And I was licensed two years as a realtor in New York city before coming down to Florida. Um, I [00:05:00] have now been here in Florida for about 10 years and I started my team in 2018. So, uh, maybe about what's that six years now I've had my, my own team running.

Leighann Lovely: Okay. And how does one go from New York to Florida?

I mean, those are very different landscapes,

Andy Daro: is it? But yeah, um, there's actually, I mean, actually, it's one of the most common routes, I think, for relocation in the United States. Uh, New York to Florida is very common. And my My, well, I always kind of envisioned myself being in South Florida, but I came, uh, to, I was working with a team from New York when I first started real estate and they were looking for a representative for the Miami area.

Uh, and that, that was what originally brought me to Miami.

Leighann Lovely: Okay. And let's talk about the different type of sale that must be. I'm assuming. I mean, that's got to be a [00:06:00] very different.

Andy Daro: It is. I always found it much easier in Miami. I mean, we have beautiful weather all year round. We have better tax policies.

Um, it actually, it's sold for much less than New York City. Now that gap has been changing. over the past 10 years, you know, we've seen such a high increase, uh, in the cost of, of real estate in South Florida, in Miami. So I think the gap has closed some, um, but nonetheless, yeah, uh, I've always, you know, New Yorkers have always gravitated to investing or coming to live in Miami.

Leighann Lovely: Right. I mean, you go from SkyRise, you know, buildings and not all of New York, I suppose. I mean, depending on where you are, there's beautiful parts of, of every state where you can get out into. But when we hear New York, we think of all of the flashing lights, the, the city that never sleeps, the, the tall, you know, SkyRise buildings, that kind of thing.

But, [00:07:00] so tell me what, and when you got the itch to run your own team?

Andy Daro: I yeah, it You know, it kind of happened naturally. Um, it started when I was still working with the team from New York and I kind of, You know, was able to our business was growing down here and I had the freedom to hire, uh, one agent, you know, to come under us here.

And then it became a 2nd agent and we were working as kind of a team of 3 at which time we were with the Corcoran group. If you're familiar, it's a large agency in New York. Uh, and in 2018 was when, you know, we kind of positioned or 20, you know, during the pandemic, um. Um, when we started to switch over to Compass, uh, which is where I've been for the last three years and is where we've kind of expanded our team from three agents under a New York umbrella to our own team down here in [00:08:00] South Florida.

Leighann Lovely: And so tell me, you know, how that, how that shift evolved and, um, you know, what your, uh, you know, are you running the team? the operations on that? Are you still out there day to day selling? Are you really a little

Andy Daro: bit, a little bit of both? I mean, most of all of the team that I manage are Sales agents themselves.

So I carry a little bit of a sales manager role, but of course I am still heavily involved in sales myself. That is still my priority to be out there, closing deals, um, finding new places for my clients at the best deals that we can do.

Leighann Lovely: So what would, I mean, do you, do you like wearing both hats? Do you like the managing of the sales?

Also doing the sales? Do you, what is the, because, and I ask this question [00:09:00] because often they say a great salesperson struggles to also manage. Or to really manage a team.

Andy Daro: Uh, that's a good question. Again, I think, you know, the growth kind of happened organically. It wasn't something, it was on a need basis.

And as our, our brand kind of expanded, more people came to us asking for opportunities that were a good fit. Um, but the management role itself, uh, there are certain days where I would agree, um, it kind of takes you back from growing your own personal sales as a person, you know, where you're helping others grow.

Um, so there is a part of that, but I, I enjoy it. I'm, I have all great people that work for my team. So I'm very lucky to have such, you know, everybody is very high energy. They're all, uh, you know, they're all able to carry their own, uh, Workload without needing such a, a micromanagement, uh, manager to kind of show [00:10:00] them the way.

Um, you know, I think that's, I think that's important and, and kind of takes off a lot of the work of a manager so I can still kind of just focus on doing what I do best and that I still think is, uh, is selling.

Leighann Lovely: And that's, that's awesome. And so I guess. When you say what I do best and, and here's what I'm going to dig in on Andy.

Andy Daro: Sure.

Leighann Lovely: So again, me being a salesperson and often I've been told in my life, Hey, you're really, really great at selling. So stay in your lane, right? And people will say that like, if you're really great at selling. Don't become a manager, but it sounds like you found a balance of being a, cause you have a team of nine.

That's nothing. A team of eight include or nine, including you.

Andy Daro: Yeah.

Leighann Lovely: Semantics. Yeah. That, I mean, [00:11:00] it is hard to jump from salesperson to manager. To manager and I'm making a, you know, putting on a different hat type, but to be able to, and, and let's not forget the commissioner of the North Bay village. So you're, you're juggling a lot.

Andy Daro: It's, it's certainly time consuming. And I think you are absolutely right. When you talk about the balance, which I think I am still. Learning, you know, I think I'm still finding my highest level of efficiency. Um, but on that note of efficiency, perhaps you're right. I mean, when you're, when you're talking about just trying to gross the highest level of personal sales, I think if I stayed an individual and didn't kind of grow the brand, or, you know, there is something that.

Is to be said about maybe it would be best just being able to focus on yourself and only having to deal with their own problems. But at the same time, I think, you know, [00:12:00] I've learned that through teams, we can do so much more, uh, so that we've been able to grow our volume number wise. Um, and able to also kind of delegate and prioritize, I think is very important when you have a team so that, you know, I haven't been always.

Brought down with the same type of administrative issues, which take up a lot of time. Um, you know, we want to help everybody. We want to work with everybody. So, you know, I never, I never like to say no to people. So it's, we're able to help more people this way. Um, so I think that that part of having a team has led me to be able to grow my business, but definitely finding that right balance is important and something I'm still working on.

Leighann Lovely: Well, that's, and it's good that you recognize you're still working on it. Some people think, Hey, I'm great at everything I do, right? But it's that, that constant evolving. So if you are going to talk to somebody and give them advice on how to hone [00:13:00] in and get better, what do you, you know, do you have anything in place where you're like, you know, checks and balances on your own personal growth?

Andy Daro: Hard work. I mean, what's the only thing we can actually control is being able to put in the work as a salesperson, being able to put in the effort, being there, being present, willing to, you know, go the extra mile for your, your clients. I think this is really the only controllable in, in what we do. Yeah, I mean, so much.

Uh, there's so many variants that happen. I mean, interest rates, uh, you were dealing and especially in real estate, you know, you can't control everything. There's so many emotions that go into it where, uh, there's so much of people's personal lives that get involved, you know, half of what we do with sales and real estate.

Um, it is considered sales, but I think it's so much different than other types of sales. We aren't, for example, uh, Always handling three [00:14:00] objections, you know, this is like something that they teach you in sales and when they're trying to sell you something, well, what about this? Or what about that? And it isn't always that way.

When you deal with real estate, you really have to understand people's feelings, uh, what they really want to achieve. And that is the sales process in real estate, um, which I think differs from a lot of other sales that I did prior to getting into real estate

Leighann Lovely: because you're selling. Well, because ultimately, somebody is coming to you saying, I'm, I'm ready to buy.

Usually they're pre approved by a bank. Well, they should be, right?

Andy Daro: Yes. Hopefully.

Leighann Lovely: And so they already, they already have their dollar amount. And so you're working with them on a emotional level, and I'm going to, I'm going to guess that there's a lot of emotions that are running high, running low, [00:15:00] running all over the place, especially, you know, and, and I'm going to pull from my parents were in real estate.

So I'm going to pull from, you know, my years of listening to that and my experience in buying my own house. You know, you put in a, an offer and now you're all bundled up in like, I want this and if it doesn't go through,

Andy Daro: yeah, you feel a bit responsible. You always want to, you know, especially when you're working with a client on the buy side, as you've been mentioning, uh, You know, you don't have the, as persuasive as I can be, I don't, you know, you don't have the full ability.

Uh, if somebody else is out there in this instance where you manage, you know, you're managing a client with, uh, uh, pre approval or who's plans to finance, if somebody else is coming in with a stronger cash deal, I don't think there's anything that I can say at this point that would make a seller [00:16:00] wish to, you know, accept our offer.

Which has a lower probability of closing, you know, unless we were willing to pay an over asking price, um, which is, you know, that that is one of the situations, uh, You know, that that's definitely where you aren't in control, um, on the buy side and, you know, and if half of the time, uh, we're on the sale side dealing with the sellers, you know, and there's a whole different set of emotional circumstances when you're working with a seller and their home, whether they're being emotionally connected to a place where they've raised the family or, you know, there's so many different things that can go into it.

Um, that you're, you're always dealing with this in real estate. Um, but that's, you know, I, at the same time, that's, but that's part of the job that, that we enjoy. So,

Leighann Lovely: right. The emotional side and most sales

Andy Daro: people.

Leighann Lovely: Right. Dealing with people. And, and, and most consumer sales of some [00:17:00] have emotion tied to them.

You know, it's obviously for going into an extremely large corporation as a salesperson pitching to a board of directors, it's very non emotional, um, in the sense that, well, you have a product they have, but people buy an emotion justify it. on logic at the end of the day. I mean, that's, yes,

Andy Daro: I, I, I think that's, I think that's correct with, uh, well, yeah, uh, yes and no, uh, there's still a lot of logic and I think numbers that go into real estate.

I mean, you always have to have the right value, the right price per square foot. So there is this numerical sales component to, to what we are doing, but the additional Um, that I don't think is if you're selling medical devices, so to say, uh, is all the emotional, personal, um, intertwines that that are involved in real estate and making real estate deals happen.

[00:18:00] Uh, Sometimes I call myself a firefighter, you know, and they're like, what are you doing? I'm a firefighter because you're just constantly, uh, solving issues or putting out fires is what, you know, I think I spend half of my time doing is just, uh, problems will arise in real estate. How can you deal with that and keep people, um, level, you know, from not wanting to do, uh, to do stuff, cancel a deal or, or move elsewhere in another direction.

Leighann Lovely: Right. Interesting. A firefighter, right? Well, anybody who's, you know, an operationally, you know, on the side of sales, but it's pretty much what they are. Right. Hey, go to work. I'm going to go up pretty much put out fires all day long as my clients are calling me and they need this or they need that or some deal is blowing up in our face.

Right.

Andy Daro: So some deals are definitely easier than others, but I always say that I, in 12 years, I don't think I've had one [00:19:00] easy deal where everything just goes smooth. So there is always some, uh, expect the unexpected,

Leighann Lovely: right? And you still are in it, which means you're okay with that.

Andy Daro: Yeah, I'm still here. Um, yeah.

So I've had a, an ability to endure it or that, or we have, uh, fortunately we've had some success in the recent years, which always makes it easier. Um, when you are closing deals, it will get you through, uh, the, the ones that don't go your way.

Leighann Lovely: Right. Right. Absolutely. So obviously the real estate industry, and I guess you being in luxury sales, it's been Probably not as impacted as just the general because.

People who have money, have money, have money.

Andy Daro: I have

Leighann Lovely: money.

Andy Daro: I think that's accurate. Yes. Uh, in South [00:20:00] Florida and Miami, we deal with a extremely high percentage of cash deals. Something like over 50 percent of the deals that we do are, are cash and they're often, uh, multi million dollar deals. So yes. Um, I think in down economies or in situations like we're experiencing now, Uh, on the domestic level where we're hearing that interest rates are really high.

You know, I think that unfortunately, you know, these interest rates are affecting more of our middle class who are reliant on getting a mortgage to purchase their their home and whether it's 3 percent or 7 percent makes a huge difference. But, uh, when you're dealing with the cash buyer, there is that quote, unquote luxury to just be able to.

Purchase with cash and not be reliant on a bank to make the deal that you want.

Leighann Lovely: And what, what better industry to be in that it, the dips and valleys [00:21:00] don't, aren't as reliant on the state of the economy because you're dealing with a population that they have money regardless of whether the economy is high or low, because.

Andy Daro: Well, I mean, it seems that way. Uh, Miami is, uh, some people say it's not a real place. I mean, the amount of wealth that you see coming to here, often it isn't made in here. Uh, now we do have For the first time, we're experiencing a lot of corporate relocation. Um, seat to Dell Amazon. A lot of the tech companies are starting to come to Florida.

So I think we are going to see a lot more jobs and a lot more wealth creation being made in Miami. But I think this is all this is all something new for the city. It's. historically been known, I think, as a place where you vacation or maybe have a second home. But I think that there's a whole new, um, and [00:22:00] again, spared by the pandemic of people living here with their primary residence and choosing to call Miami their home.

Leighann Lovely: Interesting. And, you know, we, we see different flexes of, of that happening in different cities from time to time. Um, do you see that continuing to, I mean, you're, you get the first indicator, right?

Andy Daro: I do think it will continue. Uh, At the level that it's been continuing where you've seen in some cases prices up 30 40 percent year after year.

Is that sustainable growth at some level? I would have to say no, nothing can continue to grow at the level that's we've been experiencing in South Florida. But do I see a reason that the market should be as cyclical as it's been in the past or prices crashing? No, I think there's still a very high demand to be in Miami.

We're still experiencing a lot of relocation. And so far, the [00:23:00] people that have moved here, uh, have not been wanting to leave here, you know, so there's still, they're not going back to New York. Like a lot of people have said in my experience, well, once the pandemic is over, then they'll be back. Uh, so far in my experience, that, that hasn't been the case.

Leighann Lovely: Interesting. And, and you, the pandemic definitely shook up a lot of, you know, I mean, a lot of people relocated to, um, a lot of different places. Um, you saw a lot of people leaving California, um, the L. A. area. You saw a lot of people leaving and going to places that maybe were more lenient on

Andy Daro: Ubi. Policies may be lenient, uh, and definitely tax friendly.

I would say this has to be, uh, a big part of it. So it goes in, um, I think the largest is that. A lot of people started [00:24:00] working from home also in the pandemic. So I think this kind of spirited. And when you're no longer going into an office, why are you going to justify paying a 10 percent tax to your state when this is no longer mandatory?

Or, I mean, it's not mandatory in the sense that you're working from home. So, uh, whether your home's in New York or California, or in this case, Florida, uh, there is a difference to your take home, even though you're working.

Leighann Lovely: Absolutely. And I, I, you know, I live in, in the state that I live in, I'm in one of the highest tax, you know, as far as the property tax that I play or

Andy Daro: find you, Leah, can we find you a place in Miami, Florida?

Leighann Lovely: I don't know. I think that might be outside of

Andy Daro: podcasts. I'll give you, I'm sorry. Usually I have a much better background. I'm in my office today, but I'll get you a beautiful ocean view in the background for your podcast. I think it would be, [00:25:00] I think it would be great.

Leighann Lovely: That's awesome. Will you fly me out there on your dive to look at homes?

Andy Daro: Yeah, we'll talk about this.

Have you ever been sold yourself, Leighann, on your podcast and they try to sell you their own product? Yeah, this is Again, it happened naturally. It wasn't my plan either, but this is Right.

Leighann Lovely: That sounds amazing, though. I would love, I would absolutely love It really is. I mean,

Andy Daro: that's the easiest part of selling Miami.

I've always told people it kind of It has the ability to sell itself. Uh, we live in such a beautiful place here. It really is amazing to be home here.

Leighann Lovely: Yeah. And I love, I love Florida. I visited there many times. Um, my, my other favorite place is, is, uh, you know, San Diego, California, but here's the, here's the thing is that I don't have to write well, and I wouldn't, I work from home, so I wouldn't have to drive anywhere.

I can't stand traffic. So when I have to go to the grocery store, I want it to [00:26:00] take me two minutes. To drive there and 2 minutes home.

Andy Daro: Yeah, that

Leighann Lovely: is my only and I don't want to become one of those people that never leave my home and have to order groceries.

Andy Daro: Yeah, that's a good point. I also, uh, love a walkable community.

I think this is a great. Um, and there are plenty of, you know, I think South Beach in Miami or Brickle, if you're familiar with this neighborhood, they do have this walking community. But one of the main things that as I switch hats here and I talk about my role as a commissioner that I am working on as commissioner is really improving the walkability of our island.

Because I think, you know, that people really like this and that you don't have to get into a car to go to your supermarket or a restaurant or to go get your coffee. So we are Definitely one of the roles that I'm looking to play in our community is to improve our walkability, um, not just with our, our sidewalks and infrastructure, but we're also having an amazing project we call called the Island Walk, where we're building a waterfront, uh, walkway [00:27:00] for a waterfront boardwalk for our pedestrians.

So we have about, uh, it's one square mile, our Island, and we're trying to connect most of the areas that have commercial zoning all by this route called the Island Walk.

Leighann Lovely: Wow.

Andy Daro: Yeah, that

Leighann Lovely: see that just that seems like a dream to me. This

Andy Daro: is the dream for me too. Yeah. Uh, and a lot of it is, um, time. Yeah, it's time consuming isn't right where we're waiting.

I mean, there's a lot of development that's coming and it's a lot of it is reliant on the new developments that are coming, which are helping us build the infrastructure. So there's a lot of public private, uh, collaboration in, uh, Seeing this dream fulfilled. Uh, but I do think that the pieces are in motion and in about five years time, I think we'll really start to see some of the benefits of the work that we're putting in now.

Leighann Lovely: That's amazing. So, um, we're, we're coming already. We're coming to time. So I want to give you your, um, I give [00:28:00] everybody their 30 second. Shameless pitch. Um, but before I do that, I want to ask you one question. Um, you know, as, as a sales. As a sales professional, as a manager of people, as a commissioner, if you had to give advice to your younger self or to somebody who's coming up, um, seeking, you know, what do they want to do with their lives?

Do they want to go into sales? Do they want to go into real estate? You know, what advice would you give to some of the younger listeners?

Andy Daro: Oh, this could be, uh,

Leighann Lovely: I know it's a broad question, isn't it?

Andy Daro: Yeah, but, uh, I mean, getting into sales is something I wish I did earlier. Uh, and I'm not even sure, you know, college is a great path for some people, but I don't think it's for everyone, especially if you need to be in this entrepreneurial sales role, you know, I think we were built to kind of go.

Uh, college is where we wanted to go corporate and there are certain things [00:29:00] where, of course, you'll need this education to do, but I don't think it, you know, if you have your heart set on being a salesperson, um, it really just comes down to your personal, uh, work ethic, you know, what you're going to put into it.

Um, and especially in real estate, you know, I could have, if I could have gotten going on in my career 10 years earlier than I did, um, that would have been something that if I went back in time, I would have just done from the time I was 18, I would have been in real estate, uh, but I'm happy. I found it, uh, still later in my twenties.

Um, you know, so it's, uh, I, I got there in time, but, um, maybe that's some advice I would consider, uh, as my earlier self.

Leighann Lovely: That's awesome. And now your 32nd shameless pitch and how people can reach out to you.

Andy Daro: Sure. Uh, again, my name is Andy Daro. Um, the leader of the Daro team at Compass. We do sales for residential in Miami and Miami beach.

And if you're happening to listen to this podcast today and you [00:30:00] have interest in South Florida real estate, we'd love to help you out. So, uh, please feel free to get in touch with me and we'll find you your home down here.

Leighann Lovely: And Your website, will be listed on the, show notes. That's and andy Daro.com.

So you are welcome to reach out that way. Is there another way that you would like to me to reach, reach Out? Yeah, that's a

Andy Daro: personal website that'll connect to me, but, uh, if you, Andy Daro at Compass, um, if it Google, it'll, it'll find its, it'll find itself, um, as, as well on Facebook and Instagram.

Leighann Lovely: Awesome.

Perfect. Andy, this has been such an amazing conversation. I really appreciate you coming on and joining me today.

Andy Daro: I enjoyed talking to you. Have a wonderful day. Thank you.