How Barbara Isabel Left Corporate Law and Built an $85M Real Estate Business

Barbara Isabel (00:00)
I sold one property, I sold two, I sold three, and then I think I’m in the development aspect. I’m at over 182 sales over the last six years. So last year alone, I did 42 transactions that converted into about $85 million in real estate.

Scott Bursey (01:48)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host, Scott Bursey. And today we’re thrilled to have a true market specialist joining us, Barbara Isabel of the Barbara Isabel team. Barbara, thanks for being here.

Barbara Isabel (02:02)
Thank you for having me.

Scott Bursey (02:03)
It

is our honor and for our listeners who may not be familiar with your journey, please tell us how did your career begin and what’s your main focus now?

Barbara Isabel (02:14)
My career began really nine years, nine and a half years ago when I moved to LA. ⁓ I went to Pepperdine Law School. ⁓ I had a full scholarship. I thought I was gonna pursue law. That was my call and I definitely still love it.

⁓ Two corporates started working for a law firm in LA early 2017. Did not like it, pretty much hated my life, very low pay and decided I needed a change. So since I grew up in a background of development, my dad was a developer in Spain. ⁓ I took on the idea of, let’s pursue being a real estate agent. Let’s see what that looks like. Certainly not what I thought. The first two, three years were tough.

But eventually I found my niche. I was very attracted to the idea of cashflow, passive income, and how to build wealth long-term. So I started learning about sowing in land, meeting with architects, going to the city of LA, setbacks, assessments, learning about everything I possibly could on my own. And then I started to try to find properties that I believed were a good asset and sell it to developers.

I just found developers who used to, you know, buy 10, 12, 15 properties a year and start cold calling them.

I sold one property, I sold two, I sold three, and then I think I’m in the development aspect. I’m at over 182 sales over the last six years. So last year alone, I did 42 transactions that converted into about $85 million in real estate.

Scott Bursey (03:46)
What a great transition from corporate law to real estate development. That is fantastic. And you had to have taken a leap of faith, Barbara.

Barbara Isabel (03:58)
Big one. And my parents were not happy. Coming from a very old school background where you’re going to be an architect, a doctor, or a lawyer, when I told them the idea of going into real estate on the cell side, they were not happy. But I still pursue it. Obviously, they are happy today.

Scott Bursey (03:58)
Yeah.

Well, let’s…

⁓

I can imagine that they are. So Barbara, tell me how does the Barbara Isbell team structure its lead generation and client handout process to maintain a consistent high touch experience while scaling up operations?

Barbara Isabel (04:31)
Well, it’s very important to learn to delegate. That’s one of the things I struggle with the most, especially the first three years where you are not sure whether your business is going to scale or not scale, but eventually it comes to a point where you really have no other choice. ⁓ If you want to be able to obviously provide a good service to your clients. So I tried several different people over the last two years. ⁓ Most of them didn’t work out for several reasons. You would think that again, coming onto a team.

or into a group that is already a big clientele. And again, all my business, would say over 90 % of my business is referral. ⁓ The lead generation is literally word of mouth. As of recently, about three months ago, since I hired a couple more people ⁓ onto my team, I decided to do a little bit more of lead generation, which is something I’ve never done before. My whole career, especially the first three years, were strictly call calling. ⁓ So there was a system called Volcan 7, and it was like,

$250 a month and you will have access to expires, cancel, these things. And I would just literally call probably about 50, 60 calls a day. I wouldn’t go insane and trying to do 200 calls because obviously, you know, I have an accent. was, you know, I was even younger at the time. So like some people will be a little, you know, thrown off by my accent or like, do you know LA? How long have you been in LA?

Scott Bursey (06:35)
Thank

Barbara Isabel (06:40)
I hear an accent and then a lot of people like my accent too, so they will keep me on the phone for 20 minutes and then they will be like, can you repeat all that again? I just really didn’t hear what you said. I just can’t hear your accent all day. So it’s been definitely a journey.

Scott Bursey (06:47)
Right.

That’s rolling up your sleeves and getting to it

cold calling. And a lot of times that’s just the best way to begin is what I have found with speaking with people such as yourself. Let’s talk strategy for a moment here. Barbara, in today’s crowded digital landscape, what are the two to three most effective channels, be it social media,

Barbara Isabel (07:02)
It is.

Scott Bursey (07:18)
video or hyper local CEO that the Barbara Isbell team leverages to maintain market dominance.

Barbara Isabel (07:27)
It’s incredible. Really, if you think about it, I, I’m like three generations behind on the social media. I’m just over the last generation of people who, you know, really know how to use the social media. I started my Instagram obviously years ago, Facebook I had since I was very young. but like TikTok and like X and all these other platforms, it’s something I never really used. Up until recently, ⁓ about a year ago, I encountered a few people who, you know, emphasize, Hey,

It’s incredible how many people I know in the social media space that talk about investing and talk about real estate and talk about doing deals, but they’ve never done one deal. And they used to emphasize like, have the business, you do it every day, all day, every day. You’re on construction sites. You have all the systems. You do it. You just don’t put it out there. It’s time for you to do it. So I kind of started this journey with social media really about a year ago. And I started

also a podcast about three months ago that’s called 17 success. And I’m interviewing some of the most elite athletes. Like, know, the former heavyweight champion, I just had him on. None of these episodes have been released yet. I have not released the podcast yet. So this is kind of really first news. I haven’t spoken about this to anybody other than obviously the guests. But the idea behind it is, Hey, let’s bring awareness.

to how you can be wealth while you are still at the top of the mountain. Because then after that, when there is no spotlight and people are not looking, there is always someone younger, hotter. So the same way they have a team on their corner to help them train and become the champion of the world, they should have somebody that should help them structure their life financially. And really, there is no other way other than real estate.

Scott Bursey (09:13)
And that’s why we wanted to touch on that real quick. Social media, it’s such a huge median right now. And it sounds like you’re executing at a high level. That’s fantastic. Let me ask you this, what’s the vision for the Barbara Isbell team over the next, oh, let’s say 18 to 24 months?

Barbara Isabel (09:35)
Well, I’ve been pretty consistent with doubling my numbers every year for the last four years. So I really have to make the big jump this year. And that’s pretty much what I’m trying to do. So the vision for my team is when I say hiring, as you know, real estate agents get paid on commission. It’s a commission based business. ⁓ but I’m really

like very friendly when it comes to commissions, meaning like sometimes even if they bring somebody who already has an agent, I share my commission, which is something no one has ever heard of with everybody that I speak with.

And the reason I do that is because for me it’s a numbers game. That’s how I’m able to, you know, maximize my share of the market. Everybody wants to do business with me because they know they will get paid regardless of who’s involved.

Scott Bursey (10:53)
Okay, wow, that’s a unique approach, but it’s a it’s a good approach I think and let’s touch on client relations and relationships a little bit when you first sit down with the prospective seller or buyer What is the single most critical piece of market data or advice you give them to manage their expectations in the current economic climate?

Barbara Isabel (11:18)
Well, right now the current economic climate is a very difficult one for several reasons. ⁓ I’ve been doing real estate out here in LA for the last seven and a half years and the market has never been this stale when it comes to selling. You still get people through the door, but it’s again not the same it was three years ago, two years ago. It’s still, you know, there’s a little reflection on that in the pricing of the properties, you know, and what they sell for. We’re currently a little bit under the comps.

The most important thing and when people make most of their money is in this type of markets. You have to buy the properties right so that when you saw them, you still make your money. And with my clients, especially when it comes to listing their homes, I always do the same two approaches. One is like, I’m not purchasing the property so I can give you an exact price point. I always give them a range. Number one, I always do that because I think that’s the way you create an expectation of a high and a low. Whatever is the average in between the two, I usually like listing it about, you know,

2 to 3 % under the average just to make sure we get people through because if I get in front of them, I can close them.

Scott Bursey (12:19)
Absolutely and that is such good good perspective right there. What ⁓ do you think is something that ⁓ might be an opportunity that you’re ready to capitalize on as a firm coming up?

Barbara Isabel (12:37)
I think the Pacific Palisades with the unfortunate fires we had, you know, 13, 14 months ago, ⁓ came an opportunity, you know, for lack of a better term. So I’ve been helping rebuild that community significantly. ⁓ Most of my clients are currently working on the construction of 15 homes out there. And we’re in the process of acquiring three more. My goal is to get somebody with another probably 10, 15 million to come in, acquire another 10 lots.

⁓ I’m building another 10 beautiful houses out there because again the upside is there the numbers work and obviously I have data to back this up.

Scott Bursey (13:15)
setting and on that note what are some of the strengths that you see your firm employing right now?

Barbara Isabel (13:25)
Well, I would like people who wants to make money, people who are not scared to work, learn. There is so many different aspects that go into the real estate business. Whether it’s 100 % affordable housing, whether it’s just regular rentals, whether it’s construction and development, single family houses.

and so many other things that go into it that I think there’s a tremendous opportunity for anybody to jump onto my team, learn a trade, and obviously become successful.

Scott Bursey (13:53)
Speaking of your team, can you elaborate on how you’re able to acquire the talent and retain the talent on your team?

Barbara Isabel (14:01)
Yeah, that’s been a very difficult challenge. think that finally I’m in a nice ⁓ place. ⁓ I did found interview many, people over the last couple of years, tried a few out, didn’t really work out until again, late November. When I just interviewed a girl, ⁓ her name is Maria, shout out to her because she’s been really amazing.

She’s been working with me more on the admin side, just kind of taking ⁓ on the most essential part of my business. I still do my email load and I try to see her in a lot of the things. I did hire somebody else about two weeks ago to just help me strictly with the rentals of a hundred percent affordable housing buildings, which is basically a cost that I’m working on like housing the homeless in LA. And then the other ones are obviously real estate agents who are hungry, who have seen my numbers, who are excited to learn and work and host open houses and learn every

they possibly come from me.

Scott Bursey (14:51)
Are

you concentrating on the LA market exclusively? Okay, awesome. And let me ask you this,

Barbara Isabel (14:56)
Yes. Yes.

Scott Bursey (15:42)
do you have any words of advice or some golden nuggets for our listeners today regarding your firm?

Barbara Isabel (15:50)
Listen, you have to love what you do in order to do it every day. When I got out of my corporate career, ⁓ it was the 9 to 5 or 9 to 7 or whatever it is, I was really lost at the beginning in terms of what my life would look like. I worked probably three to five times what I was working then.

⁓ But I’m passionate about it. So when you believe in what you do, it feels very different. When you start building something for yourself, it feels very different. And when you get to the point where you need other people to help you expand your business, ⁓ it’s a very good feeling. It’s a very good feeling. Obviously, it’s scary at times because we’re not taught these things in a school. ⁓ You have to go through it to know how it feels. But I encourage anybody out there, if again, I moved to the States,

10 years ago is gonna be this summer and I’ve been able to do everything that I’ve done today. If I’m able to do it, they have already a huge advantage by being here.

Scott Bursey (16:46)
Those are some really good words. Thank you for that insight, Barbara. And Barbara, we love fostering connections here at Real Estate Pros. For the listeners who want to follow your journey or collaborate with you, what’s the best way for them to reach you?

Barbara Isabel (17:02)
You can reach me on Instagram. have the BarbaraIsabelRE Like RealState. ⁓ You can DM me there. I have all type of social media platforms. Obviously, you can always email me, [email protected]. ⁓ You know, I’m available. I answer pretty fast in order to keep up with the business. This size, have to be on it. So I shouldn’t take more than like half hour to an hour to reply to any of these requests.

Scott Bursey (17:28)
Wow,

prompt responses. That’s awesome. And once again, thank you for being on the show, Barbara. This has been just ⁓ a lot of good valuable insight. Thank you so much.

Barbara Isabel (17:40)
Thank you, Scott. Thank you for having me today.

Scott Bursey (17:42)
And for our listeners, appreciate you. If you got value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We have more conversations coming up with exceptional operators, just like Barbara. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you in the next episode, everyone.