Leah Santos, principal of South Florida Group of Companies, has a history of building successful organizations and relationships within the Miami community and giving back to the community through sponsorship and association with the Environmental Coalition of Miami and the Beaches, chamber of commerce and other community associations. Leah’s father, now retired, was a builder and self-made entrepreneur for all his adult life. He built numerous companies throughout the time she was growing up: Elro Enterprises, builder and developer of new homes and apartment complexes; Puerto Rico Floor Service, a direct supplier of commercial janitorial products and services; and the family even owned a coffee farm in their native Puerto Rico called Café Borinquen. In short, they were never bored and never lacked anything. This grew in Leah a love for entrepreneurism. Being surrounded by real estate while she was growing up really stayed with her. Leah began her career with the Limited Companies, Victoria’s Secret. She quickly moved up the ranks to general manager, where she won several achievements in sales volume and was quickly recognized and sent store to store to clean up and get the location performing at its top sales volume. Leah then transitioned to account executive for a major eyewear distributor, Linea Roma, going to trade shows and selling their products to business owners and suppliers all over the world. While it was a fun job and she had many good experiences, she had a burning desire to get into real estate, purchase and rehab properties and enjoy a higher quality of life while adding value and bringing quality solutions to people’s lives. Leah began her professional real estate career with one of the top real estate companies at the time, Coldwell Banker, well-known for their advanced training program. This was the best decision she ever made, as much of what she learned she still uses, even today. Simultaneously Leah started buying and selling residential property for profit and selling homes to her friends and family and sphere. When the market went down, she decided to go into her first real estate venture, despite the market downturn, and opened as co-founder and partner Imobilia Real Estate and Renter’s Café on Miami Beach (www.renterscafe.com and www.imobilia.com, respectively). Short sales quickly became mainstream, and Leah closed more than 50 transactions that year (2007-2008) when many agents didn’t even know what a short sale really was. Then in 2009, she decided to cut ties with the partnership and branch out on her own and created what she has today—founder and principal of South Florida Property Group & Management. Leah’s new venture is all about creating value and building long-term customer relationships with customers in order to create customers for life. Leah’s biggest pleasure is when she helps customers who share in her commitment or have been referred by other happy clients from her raving fan club. She also enjoys meeting new, committed customers, solving problems and helping these customers reach their goal of homeownership or investments. More often than not, Leah can usually lead them to their own conclusion about what they want in life when she asks them the right series of questions. Leah is hooked on constantly gaining more knowledge about the industry so she can provide added value and best help her clients. Leah is always interested in new, innovative ways of doing things differently, attending conferences, and looking for ways to gain more knowledge about the industry so she can best help her clients and provide this value to consumers, which is what sets Leah apart. When she’s not working on her business and representing home buyers and sellers, she’s on vacation, skiing, traveling and spending quality time with her family. For more information about Leah and South Florida Property Group and to subscribe to Leah’s blog or to download other great articles and resources for preparing your home for sale, please visit www.southfloridapropertygroup.com. To schedule a private marketing consultation and receive an in-depth market analysis tailor fit for you, call Leah at (305) 639-8374.