Thanks for visiting us at East Group Boston. Over the past few years, our team has seen a lot of changes in the real estate market. We have created great memories working with some of our favorite clients, and along the way and gathered a lot of wisdom. In today’s world, knowledge is wealth!  So we have created this blog to introduce you to our licensed partners, help you gain useful knowledge about buying or selling a home, and offer professional advice for working in the Boston real estate market.

Recently we sat down with our office founders Ali Choucri and Raz Panossian to ask them a few questions about how they got into real estate, and what advice he has for young investors!

Young entrepreneurship skills with dad.
Ali and his daughter hard at work!

 

1.) Ali, what do you love the most about working in real estate?

What I love most about working in real estate is how hands-on I can be with deals. When selling a property, whether it’s a single-family home or apartment building, I get to interact with the buyers and sellers, walk through the asset, control the marketing and presentation, and impact its market value. Having worked in finance before, I worked on deals where I was very removed from the asset itself. In real estate, the asset is tangible. I like to think of real estate deals as mini investment banking deals – they happen quicker and are a lot easier to analyze and sell.

2.) How did you get into real estate?

3.) Outside of real estate, what do you enjoy doing with your free time?

4.) Why Boston versus other metro areas in the North East?

5.) What advice do you have for people interested in getting into real estate right now?

The thing I love the most about real estate is the interaction with people, There is a challenge in finding what someone is looking for, and helping them with one of their biggest investments in life! It’s a great feeling when everything falls into place and a deal is made.

I got into real estate at the age of 26 when I bought my first house. At the time I was involved in my family business of shoe and leather repair which I was doing for many years. I saw the potential of making great earning in real estate as I watched the market grow, I also learned how to build equity on properties by doing renovations, which got me involved in a different part of this business I enjoy as well. Taking an old home and creating something special, that people would love to own.

I’m a very active and social person, I love to workout and keep a healthy lifestyle. I do enjoy spending time with friends and family as much as I can, it’s very important for me to stay in touch with the people that I care about, we never know how long we’re able to have them in our lives.

Growing up in Watertown, I’ve become very familiar with the market in the area, and I feel like you can be a great asset to any client that wants to purchase a home in areas that you understand very well and give them the advice that they would need to help them make a smart decision.

My advice to anyone who wants to get into real estate would be that it is not an easy task, it’s a very competitive industry and to make sure that they don’t give up or get discouraged if things don’t go as planned, give yourself enough time to build your business and try to grow your network as much as possible. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, that’s one thing that I can assure you that goes a long way in the industry.

Ali and Raz, thank you so much for sitting down with us today.  The advice you gave is amazing. It is so nice to see behind the scenes into two successful agents’ train of thought! And to all of our readers, perhaps you are here looking to buy or sell a home, or you are a new or aspiring agent, or perhaps you’re looking for ways to diversify your portfolio. Whoever you are, we hope to bring value to your real estate experience today!