SoCal Luxury Agent Reveals His Strategy: Partnering with Developers & Serving International Clients

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Show Summary

In this conversation, Kevin Mareverwa, a realtor based in Southern California, shares his unique journey into the real estate industry, highlighting his international background and the importance of building relationships with clients. He discusses the luxury real estate market, the significance of new builds in SoCal, and the competitive landscape between Southern California and Southern Florida. Kevin emphasizes the relational aspect of real estate and offers insights into his strategies for success in a hyper-competitive market.

Resources and Links from this show:

• • • Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
    • Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
    • Mike on Facebook
    • Mike on Instagram
    • Mike on LinkedIn
    • Kevin Mareverwa on Youtube
    • Kevin Mareverwa’s Email: [email protected]
    • Kevin Mareverwa’s Phone Number: (559) 554-4786

  Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode

  Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

  Kevin Mareverwa (00:00)
  so I had a bit of a strategy ⁓ when I started Real Estate here in America. ⁓ The first thing I did was I attached myself to a very prominent ⁓ luxury developer in Central Valley, ⁓ Granville Homes, Daris Asimi. Most of you might know the Asimi family. ⁓ That was my strategy. I wanted to ⁓ attach myself to ⁓ great developer who’s doing work that I believe in, you know, to the quality and standard that I want to attach my name to. So we did that for about five years and it worked out so well for me because I ended up, you know, having the ⁓ access to people who are buying homes before the homes exist.

  Dylan Silver (01:22)
  Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest is a realtor based in beautiful Southern California. Please welcome Kevin Mareverwa. Kevin, welcome to the show.

  Kevin Mareverwa (01:35)
  Thank you so much for having me, Dylan. It’s an honor to be here.

  Dylan Silver (01:40)
  It’s great to have you on here, Kevin. We were talking before hopping on the show here really about how you’re a luxury agent, but you are open to really any and all deals. Before we get into that though, tell me how you got into the real estate space. How did you get into real estate?

  Kevin Mareverwa (01:52)
  Hahaha.

  Well, long story short, I come from a project management background back in the UK and I found real estate by accident, but it really was my destiny when I found real estate. You know what happened when I went back home to Zimbabwe to help my parents with their business ⁓ and then I found out just how much power I had in my phone that I could.

  ⁓ be of service to people back in England and America who want to buy real estate back in Zimbabwe. So that’s really how I kind of stumbled into it. And I must say, I guess I found myself.

  Dylan Silver (02:39)
  You know, it’s interesting the international perspective that you have and you’re also probably, I’m not a SoCal expert, but I imagine there’s a lot of international interest in SoCal. Has that in any way factored into, you being a SoCal realtor, but also your interest in real estate in general?

  Kevin Mareverwa (03:00)
  my goodness, as I said, well first of all, ⁓ if you are as lucky as I am really to have access to different worlds, as the world is growing, people are everywhere. ⁓ So I wanted to use that access that I had. As real estate is ⁓ international language, everybody knows that if you want to invest,

  you have to invest in real estate. That’s the most solid investment that you can have. So that’s a given. But my coming to SoCal from Clovis in Fresno was a natural progression, but rooted in that, really. ⁓ There’s more of an international audience ⁓ here in SoCal. So you are quite right. I’m in the right place to be able to…

  tap and be of better service to all my clients domestically and internationally.

  Dylan Silver (04:05)
  It’s an interesting niche to be in because on the one hand there’s, I would say, specific hotbeds of international real estate. SoCal is one that comes to mind, another one is like South Florida. And on the other hand, you have an international perspective that I would say lends an advantage to someone like yourself because you can truly speak to multiple different… ⁓

  cultures, multiple different countries, multiple different areas of the world, which ties things in on a level that maybe someone who’s from SoCal might not necessarily appreciate.

  Kevin Mareverwa (04:42)
  You have just said it, know, better than I can ever put it really. It really what it is because I have actually lived in all of these places and in most cases I can actually speak the language. So when you can relate to somebody at that level, that puts you in a completely different league. This is why I certainly have a niche market here in SoCal.

  Dylan Silver (05:55)
  Yeah, I would agree. One of the things that is interesting about SoCal is you see what I would say to be the glory of real estate, right? And you’re in luxury as well. And so there’s definitely been, I would say, a trend for people who are looking at luxury and saying, that must be great. I want to go be a luxury agent. But as someone who’s seen all sides, I know that

  Luxury listings are harder to get, they take longer to sell. ⁓ Also, you’re dealing with high-end clients as well, so maybe there could be increased pressure. What about luxury drew you to it and made you say, you know what, I want to step into this arena?

  Kevin Mareverwa (06:37)
  I have a natural ⁓ passion for detail. ⁓ I love detail. I love the arts and I love design. ⁓ So ultimately when people are paying top dollar for something, it very often is something that’s precisely created and I have a natural interest in that. So that’s how I found myself. ⁓

  specializing although I hate the word specializing because I am broad you know work is work to me ⁓ yes luxury is what I do best and what I’m known for ⁓ but that’s by no means discouraging any clients who are not luxury you know I work with everybody

  Dylan Silver (07:26)
  about that because I think a lot of people will brand themselves as one niche, one specificity. You mentioned luxury but you’re saying you know I would like to be able to help all people. ⁓

  I think that that really helps cast a wide net, right? When you’re finding clients and when your people are reaching out to you and saying, hey, I’d like to discuss maybe finding a home or listing my home, what’s the main way that people are seeing you? Is it the YouTube? I was watching one of your YouTube clips. Is it a lot of referrals? Is it past clients? How are folks ⁓ finding you and reaching out to you?

  Kevin Mareverwa (08:03)
  So look, after doing this for over 10 years, ⁓ I know certain trends and how these things work. ⁓ I can tell you that yes, you might be kind of like market ⁓ and agent, but it’s a full cycle. I’ve had people who’ve bought, you know, $2 million homes from me, 1.8, whatever, you know, right at the top of their budget.

  But they call me back when they’re ready to downsize. You know, now they’re empty nesters, the kids have left in this huge home that they just, you know, cannot keep up with anymore. So it’s the same client who then calls you back and goes, you know, Kevin, could you find us something a lot smaller and a lot easier to manage? And then they come from that end to maybe medium or actually a condo. So it’s the same people.

  Dylan Silver (08:57)
  Yeah?

  Kevin Mareverwa (08:58)
  Or you can have somebody who starts in a sort of normal four-bedroom home and they’re doing something right, they’re working very hard. So now they call you and go, know, Kevin, now I think we’re ready for that estate home. We are financially able to upgrade. So you can’t rule out anybody because it’s a relationship game. Sometimes it takes five, 10 years, 15 years, but you will find that you might sell.

  three different types of real estate to the same people. ⁓ Depending on where they are in their lives.

  Dylan Silver (09:34)
  You know that’s a huge point, right? So if you lock yourself into saying I’m only gonna be doing this, then you miss out on deals. And that also points to the relational aspect of real estate, which is huge. You you mentioned downsizing, ⁓ which might not be the first thing that people think about when you think of luxury, but that’s also the flip side of it, right? If you buy a really beautiful home at some point in time when the kids leave, you might need to downsize. I wanna ask you about

  Kevin Mareverwa (09:49)
  yeah.

  Dylan Silver (10:39)
  making a name for yourself in a hyper competitive market, SoCal, right, luxury, ⁓ what was your approach when you were making the name for yourself? And then also, would you have any feedback for folks who may be, I’m not necessarily saying in SoCal, but elsewhere in a hyper competitive market?

  Kevin Mareverwa (11:00)
  ⁓

  so I had a bit of a strategy ⁓ when I started Real Estate here in America. ⁓ The first thing I did was I attached myself to a very prominent ⁓ luxury developer in Central Valley, ⁓ Granville Homes, Daris Asimi. Most of you might know the Asimi family. ⁓ That was my strategy. I wanted to ⁓ attach myself to ⁓

  great developer who’s doing work that I believe in, you know, to the quality and standard that I want to attach my name to. So we did that for about five years and it worked out so well for me because I ended up, you know, having the ⁓ access to people who are buying homes before the homes exist.

  it’s a long relationship, you know, they pick up the colors, the plan that they want, you get to see that transition.

  Dylan Silver (11:50)
  Yeah.

  Kevin Mareverwa (11:57)
  to the end until you hand them the keys. So you become that community leader, okay? You become the face of that company and that trust. And these are hundreds and hundreds of phones. And so that was my strategy. Senni, that’s how I kind of got in front of everybody, which worked out really, really well for me.

  Dylan Silver (12:20)
  I want to ask you about, you mentioned really partnering or being closely in connection with a developer, which is a strategy that I have not heard before, but I like a lot, specifically as someone.

  Kevin Mareverwa (12:34)
  No one

  knows the community better than the people, developers that build it and make it what it is. If you want to get to the bones of what a community is, you’ve got to speak to developer. These are people who’ve seen that piece of land bare, nothing in it. These are people who are involved in the decision making. These are people who are paying for the roads, paying for all the developments that we’re seeing. So if you really want to

  Getting into community, ⁓ a local developer would be the best call for me. That’s my advice.

  Dylan Silver (13:12)
  I couldn’t agree with that anymore. As someone who works a lot with investors and developers. ⁓

  looking for land and looking for opportunity to develop. I haven’t thought about it from the perspective of, you know, I have a real estate license. What if I made connections with developers because they’re going to have homes to sell because that’s the inevitable end play, right? But I thought, well, they’ve of course they’ve got their own realtors. They don’t necessarily need me. But then again, who’s going to turn down connections and who’s going to turn down free leads effectively for these developers? So it’s a great strategy. I want to pivot

  a bit here, Kevin, and ask you about the new build space in SoCal. I can imagine that SoCal has got to be probably ⁓ very densely populated, but at the same point in time, I’ve heard that new builds are actually very common, that a lot of people will do full roof to studs, basically new build. Is that the case?

  Kevin Mareverwa (14:10)
  ⁓

  That is the case. It’s ⁓ shift from what it’s always been. ⁓ So we’re seeing a lot of developers actually doing quite well here in SoCal. ⁓ Developers like Toll Brothers, for example, who are just down the road from where I am now, ⁓ building just massive ⁓ communities. But I want to stress one thing.

  You know, the quality and standard of build couldn’t be better. It’s only getting better. I mean, the pressure is on you in SoCal. You’re 10 minutes away from Newport Beach. People expect a certain level of quality and standard here in build. And you’re seeing that just explode on the market. The other important thing to realize is that

  most here in SoCal, especially Newport Beach,

  you have an older population, you know what mean? It’s only recently we were getting a lot of more younger people coming to Newport Beach. But what that means in real estate is that people have owned these beautiful large homes for so many years. So when the younger generation is coming in on the market, they’re going, you know what, it’s a beautiful home, but I want to get it. I want to upgrade everything in it. So they end up going for new builds.

  Dylan Silver (15:59)
  Yeah.

  Kevin Mareverwa (16:24)
  that are within the same area but everything is brand new. So we’re seeing that transition where people are moving from remodeling old stately homes to settling into very new brand new modern construction. So definitely there’s that demand.

  Dylan Silver (16:42)
  I’ve seen that trend in Texas and so it’s interesting that that is really happening all over the map. I’m curious, Kevin, to get your perspective on ⁓ some of the hot areas for entrepreneurs in general. ⁓ Pivoting a bit here, So Cal, of course, is a hotbed for a lot of industry. ⁓ Entrepreneurship seems to be one of them. In southern Florida, I’ve also seen a lot of ⁓ investors, lot of entrepreneurs across so many different industries.

  industries

  in southern Florida. There does seem to be a favorable business climate in Texas, which is where I’m licensed, and so we get lots of folks coming. But it seems like there’s almost like ⁓ a friendly competition between the coast, between people saying, want to go live in SoCal and people saying, I want to go live in southern Florida. Do you ever come across clients who are thinking of moving either to southern California or southern Florida?

  Kevin Mareverwa (17:41)
  So at the moment, mainly Southern California, there seems to be a buzz to Southern California at the moment. I’ve only had maybe about a handful of people talk to me about Florida, unfortunately. But what I get all the time because I work both markets, I do the Central Valley and SoCal. There’s a lot of people who are wanting to upgrade from Central Valley. You know, they’ve made a bit of money. They’d like to be by the beach. They want the SoCal.

  Lifestyle so those guys are looking to move here and then you get people who’ve been here all of their lives, you know Maybe they’re sort of slowing down or getting a bit expensive for them and they’re deciding look we are going to invest in Fresno and Clovis because you know for two million I can get a gigantic house, you know, and I can’t get it here in SoCal So it’s always that give-and-take someone is discovering SoCal for the first time

  Dylan Silver (18:12)
  Yeah.

  Yeah.

  Kevin Mareverwa (18:40)
  and someone is discovering Central Valley for the first time. So I love being in the middle of all

  Dylan Silver (18:47)
  Well, let me tell you, I’d like to have a home that I’ve lived in my whole life in SoCal that I can sell and ⁓ get some, take advantage of that equity. That sounds like a wonderful position. ⁓ We are coming up on time here though, Kevin. Where can folks go if either they’re in SoCal, they’d like to reach out to you, or maybe they’re thinking about ⁓ purchasing a home in SoCal.

  Kevin Mareverwa (18:58)
  yes.

  Okay, so look,

  I said before, I saved two different markets. So you can easily find me on YouTube, Keys with Kevin. Very easy to find. So if you type in Keys with Kevin on YouTube, I’ll pop up. ⁓ Or you can call me on 559-554-4786. Or email me on [email protected]. My actual office is in Long Beach.

  But yeah, please reach out to me by email or phone and I will answer

  Dylan Silver (19:46)
  Kevin, thank you so much for coming on the show here today.

  Kevin Mareverwa (19:49)
  Dylan, you’ve been a delight. Thank you so much. I’ve been waiting to do the show, so I’m really happy that I got the chance to do it. Thank you.