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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Micah Johnson speaks with Karelin Santana, a real estate agent in Cleveland, Ohio, who is dedicated to empowering the Hispanic community in real estate. Karelin shares her journey from helping her mother transition from renting to homeownership to educating her clients about the importance of investing in real estate. She emphasizes the need for financial literacy and understanding the numbers behind real estate investments. Karelin also discusses her own investment strategies and the importance of building relationships and networking within the industry.
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Karelin Santana (00:00)
Yes. The reason why I joined, I decided to be a realtor was because I saw how many people are renters. So we are one of the largest renting community in the United States. So I saw at first hand, my mom been here for like 25 years and she never owned a home.she was always renting. It’s like a 30 year mortgage. She will be almost done if she had the right education or like she had the right information.
Micah Johnson (02:06)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host, Micah Johnson. And today I’m speaking with Karelin who’s been making serious moves for the Hispanic community in the real estate investing space. Karelin great to have you on.Karelin Santana (02:19)
Great to have you too. ⁓Micah Johnson (02:24)
I think our listeners are really going to take away from how you’re approaching real estate, especially for your community specifically. So let’s dive in on that. For people who may not know you yet, what’s your main focus right now and what markets are you operating in?Karelin Santana (02:38)
Hey, my name is Karelin. I am operating here. I’m a real estate agent here in Cleveland, Ohio.Micah Johnson (02:46)
Okay, take us into more, what all are you doing there? Because in our pre-call, you were sharing some really interesting facts about the Hispanic community when it comes to owning homes and just the overall thought process towards it. So how did you get to real estate and what made you so passionate about that?Karelin Santana (03:05)
Yes. The reason why I joined, I decided to be a realtor was because I saw how many of my community, how many people are renters. So we are one of the largest renting community in the United States. So I saw at first hand, my mom been here for like 25 years and she never owned a home.she was always renting. It’s like a 30 year mortgage. She will be almost done if she had the right education or like she had the right information.
So when we moved here and my mom decided to become a homeowner, I was the one who helped her through this transition. I was the one who helped her get a home. And with one of like the
less with one of like the less attractive type of lending, is VA. My brother is a veteran and we went with a VA zero down. I didn’t know it at the time. Thank God I didn’t because we ended up getting a duplex for my mom. I was able to negotiate down her price and we got some concessions too, which made it that
They didn’t have to bring anything to the table with a VA loan, zero down, which was amazing deal. It was a great experience. It was one of the hardest deals I had to do to this date. Cause again, it was a VA loan, but I did not know it at the time. And I’m great that I was able to get that experience upfront because everything else was easier after that. And yeah, so that’s like one of the examples after that.
that I saw that my mom could do it. My aunts, they all have own homes now and they were not able to do that. We moved from New York to Cleveland because everything was a lot more, like it was a lot more affordable. A half a million dollar, we’re not getting to so far in New York, but half a million dollar here would get to really far. You can still get really affordable homes in the 100 to 200 range.
Micah Johnson (06:18)
Interesting. Yeah, that’s I like how you took it and applied it right to your family immediately. Local communities started changing that whole mindset. So how have you continued to use real estate in your world? What are you doing today?Karelin Santana (06:32)
So today I help mainly my Hispanic community. Again, my goal is to help them with through education, know the steps of either home ownership or investing themselves. Most of my clients are first time home buyers or investors. And the reason why they get to do that is because now they’re learning.a little bit more of what it looks like. Like for instance, one of my clients, she literally lived in the same home for 30 years. The landlord wasn’t doing any remodels, like the home was falling apart. And she lived in the same home for 30 years. She could have paid a whole mortgage, 30 years in the same place.
Her husband died, she’s taking care of her household with a minor. And I was able to help her transition from living in a place for 30 years to owning her first home. And those are like stories that it just like bothers me. I’m like, if she would have gotten this information 30 years ago, she would have probably had her home.
but because there was like no one out there like helping, especially because my community, if you don’t talk to them in their language, they’re more skeptical. They’re more skeptical. So it’s more like just getting to know them and helping them navigate through the whole process. And imagine if the first step would be,
owning your home because they’re going from renting to owning. Now the second step would be, okay, now you own, let’s invest together. Let’s go to the next step. You don’t have to stay just with owning homes. Now we can take that next step and invest. And some of my clients, they invest. I have clients in Spain, I have clients in England and France.
that they’re taking that next step of investing because Cleveland is a great place to invest right now.
Micah Johnson (08:56)
Man, that’s cool. I like the education part. What would you say is the lesson or the thing that you teach that makes it click for them? What is it that it kind of makes that light go off and changes their whole mindset?Karelin Santana (09:10)
is going back to giving them examples like my client Maria that she paid a whole mortgage. So it’s like making it with real life examples of people that you don’t have to be in that situation. You don’t have to wait 30 years to invest or you don’t have to wait 30 years to own your own home.You can literally start now. You don’t have to know what you’re doing. That’s why you hire someone to help you navigate and help you step by step to go ahead and take that leap of faith. Cause at the end of the day, yes, is nerve wracking because you don’t know and nothing is guaranteed. Nobody said anything is guaranteed. But if you can take that step now,
you don’t have to be like Maria and wait 30 years to buy your first home.
Micah Johnson (10:49)
True, true. It’s just, it may not be the most like aha moment thing, but just something simple that you just didn’t think that way beforehand. It wasn’t how it, I think that for my own self, some of the best lessons I’ve learned weren’t like something huge. It was honestly something kind of like, wow, how did I not see that before? Why didn’t I see it that way? And it just kind of clicks and opens up a whole new world. So that leads you to where you are now. So you’re helping investors and are you doing investments yourself?Karelin Santana (11:17)
Yes, I also have investment properties too. We have four plugs and what we do is like we do two of the units, we do we rent it, we do short term rentals through either Airbnb, VRBO or other short term rental platform and the other two are long term. So my goal for 2026 is to grow my investment.investment portfolio, but not only that help my community invest themselves too. I do have this client. She moves pretty fast and I love when people are like, okay, this is what I want to do. I got the information. Now let’s move on. Like this client of mine, she got three back to back investment properties that I helped her get.
The strategy that we used was first, as I identified the property, what you want to do with it. Do you want to do the BRRRR method or do you want to flip? They wanted to do the BRRRR method. So the first one, we’ve got this opportunity. We went right into it. It has some equity in the home once they were finished. It wasn’t like a total rehab. They immediately got tenants in there.
took the equity out of the home and moved to the next one. And they also use other people’s money like car money lending or private money so that way they can move faster. So the second one, they did the same thing. There was not much that needed to be done but we needed to add value to the property. So we added a bathroom and we added
Yeah, it was just like we added the whole house was remodeled already. So how can we add more equity into a home that already been renovated? We added a second bathroom. That second bathroom made it, we got this property for like 130 and that second bathroom made it to go to 160.
Micah Johnson (13:29)
Wow. Yeah. Small tweaks.Karelin Santana (13:30)
And what they did wassmall little things that people don’t understand. It’s like, it is the difference between one, it was a five bedroom home. So from five bedroom, one bathroom. So now you get five bedroom, two bathrooms. It’s totally different numbers in that area. So they didn’t sell, they could sell that property. They didn’t sell it.
what they did, they added that bathroom, they added tenants into this property. This again, all right, is identifying that our Hispanic community, they’re mainly renters and they’re moving from big cities like New York. They’re moving here because it’s still more affordable than living in New York. So we still have a lot of people that want to rent here.
in the Hispanic community. So they rented to a Hispanic couple and they moved on. So they did the BRRRR method, rented it, take the equity out and put it into the next property that they’re working on. It’s a full rehab, three, a triplex that they’re fully remodeling. And they’re doing that. Yeah. So it’s like knowing your numbers, the
Micah Johnson (14:46)
Man, they did hit the ground running.Karelin Santana (14:52)
The first thing I do with every investor is first, identify their why, why they’re doing this. Do you either want to cash flow or you want to build generational wealth? They knew that they wanted to build generational wealth. So that’s why they do in the BRRRR method. They’re taking out the equity and moving on to the next property.We have to the second thing that you have to do is Identifying and knowing your numbers if the numbers don’t make sense don’t get into that deal and trust me a lot of times and I have a Client that now she’s trying to get rid of her properties because the person that she was working with we’re giving her the the bigger number I always identify three numbers the lower number the middle average number and
the highest number and I give them those three numbers because I’m like you can either be in the lowest or the highest but you cannot always go with the highest number because you might not get that higher number. Be more consecutive, go with the middle or the lowest number. So she was given the higher number and now to exit it’s a lot harder because you
you are going off of numbers that you might not get now. So now we’re trying to exit because she wants to switch her whole portfolio of holding to flip so she has more cash flow and to exit that portfolio is a lot harder because she didn’t understand the numbers at the beginning.
Micah Johnson (17:01)
Yeah, putting your capital at risk for sure.Well, it’s a big key in real estate that who you work with matters and that the education that they have to provide, and that’s where it looks like you’re doing a great job, is taking on people from beginning to end, not just trying to sell them a property, but understanding why they want to even do it to begin with so that they know the point of it all as they go along and then step by step through each property. Because you know as well as I do, most properties in real estate don’t work.
Karelin Santana (17:27)
ThankMicah Johnson (17:51)
for an investor. There’s very particular things that need to be in place for it to be the kind of deal that makes that go. And I know a lot of new people, they get antsy. They want to get those offers in, get that money out there, trying to get that deal done so they can say they’ve done it. And without that knowledge, man, it can come back to bite you.Karelin Santana (18:11)
yes. And again, I always tell all my investors, if the numbers don’t make sense, don’t get into that deal. It’s a bad deal. So let’s look at the numbers, see if they make sense even before we put in an offer. Like identify what is it that works and then, okay, if the numbers make sense, let’s move on to the next step.Micah Johnson (18:35)
What are you, so that’s where you’re going now. You’re expanding into 2026. Your sole goal is to get more investment properties. What strategies are you using to find those?Karelin Santana (18:46)
Well, we as a realtor, we have access to the MLS and that’s where I find all my deals. And the reason why I like to use the MLS is because that’s where we like all the real estate agents in the area, they have to put it in the MLS. There’s still a lot of great deals out there. Contrary to like unpopular opinion like that.only like off market deals are gray or like foreclosures and auction, we are, we still find great deals in the MLS. And the reason why I like to do that is because it’s not like all of them are not condemned. There are some condemned properties and the MLS is most likely you are able to get a lot of that information upfront and you can either back out or
say, okay, are you willing to take this risk? So again, it’s mainly knowing that information upfront and making sure you take an educated decision based on the information you have at the moment. So that’s how I get most of my deals are in through the MLS. Some off market, but they’re rare.
Micah Johnson (20:07)
There’s deals in all of them is what I’ve learned. it’s which one, you most people forget Amazon only sold books for nine straight years, right? Getting really good at one thing before you expand out to other things is very helpful, especially in building a business. Cause you get too much at once and things fall apart. It doesn’t set itself up correctly to sustain that growth.Karelin Santana (20:10)
youMicah Johnson (20:32)
Okay, so for listeners who are earlier in their process or trying to level up, what’s the biggest difference for you when it comes to building relationships and growing your network?Karelin Santana (20:42)
So the biggest thing itIt’s just being a person. Like to me, I love to go and network. So I do a lot of networking events in my community, outside of my community. I just go out there, put myself out there, look for the information, try to work with people that know what they’re doing. And that’s how I stay informed. I go to different
workshop and classes. I just took a 1031 exchange. The more I learn, not only for myself, like how can I use a 1031 exchange for myself, but like how I can add that to my clients too. You know, for like tax purposes, you are running a business, especially if you’re investing, how can you keep more of that profit in your pocket so you can grow faster?
and a way of like using a 1031 exchange can be a big difference between you keeping most of your profit. Again, it’s things that are a little bit more complicated, but they can be simple if you have the right guidance. I’m always learning, I’m always taking workshops, I’m always…
going to that next event that will help me especially like learning about AI, how we can utilize AI to go ahead and get those deals faster or identify those deals a little bit faster and you don’t have to go out there but those deals can come to you. At the end of the day, if the deals don’t make sense and that’s what I always say, if the numbers don’t make sense, don’t get on it.
Detach yourself from the emotional side of things because now you’re running a business. It’s not like, yes, I love first time home buyers, but they’re so emotionally attached to the home. You’re not a first time home buyer. You’re an investor. So you have to detach yourself from this property. Look at the numbers. If they make sense, go ahead and do it. It’s not like you’re going to be living in there.
it’s it you know what i mean like sometimes they get so caught up into like but this property they don’t look like if the numbers make sense go ahead and do the deal if it doesn’t don’t do the deal even if you love this property well this property isn’t gonna cash flow or this property has a hard exit don’t don’t buy it
Micah Johnson (23:29)
calls it naming the puppy. Don’t name it. doesn’t need it. Because once you do that, you’re taking it home and getting yourself in a position where you feel that connection. You know I’m all about trusting your gut, but you know without data, it’s just an opinion. You got to have the hard information to show you that this either is something or it’s not something. OK.Karelin Santana (23:30)
ThankYeah.
Yes.
Micah Johnson (23:53)
I’ve loved our conversation so far. So if someone’s listening and they want to connect and collaborate or learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way to reach you?Karelin Santana (24:02)
Well, the best way to reach me if you want to learn more about investing in real estate is through my Instagram. I’m pretty active there. And also if you want to book a one-on-one, you can reach me through my calendar. I’m always open. I do free consultations. So you have nothing to lose, but all the things to…Gain the knowledge and the information so you know exactly what to do or like the steps you need to take to start investing because 2026 is gonna be a great year to invest especially in the Cleveland area because they’re pouring so much money into this areas and Cleveland is growing. So you can reach me.
Micah Johnson (24:51)
What’syour IG handle?
Karelin Santana (24:54)
is Karelin Santana.Micah Johnson (24:56)
Okay, so we’ll make sure we have that link for you in the description. So perfect. I appreciate your time, your story, your perspective. I think we need more people in the space doing it the right way. So thanks again for being here. And for those of you tuning in, if you got value from this, please make sure you’re subscribed to our podcast like this episode. And we’ve got more conversations coming out with operators, just like Karelin, who are making real businesses out there in the real estate space. Thank you for joining us. We’ll see you on the next episode.Karelin Santana (25:27)
Thank you so much for having me. Bye.Micah Johnson (25:29)
You’re welcome.
