The glamorous and talented Rachel Luna is a businesswoman whose ambition and hard work has placed her at the top of the Texas title and real estate industry. Most famously known as “The Texas Title Queen,” Rachel Luna is a true queen at heart who loves to give back to her community and empowers other female entrepreneurs to follow their passions. Her humble beginnings continue to fuel her mission for success. This Latina powerhouse is an inspiration to all aspiring female entrepreneurs and a prime example that anyone can achieve their dreams.
Since this is for LuxClub, can you share with us what luxury means to you?
Luxury to me can mean high-quality, lavish, expensive, but luxury also means a lifestyle. Luxury doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive. It could be a look, or a feeling it gives you.
How does luxury real estate differ from conventional real estate?? How is it similar?
It’s very high-end. Luxury real estate is talking about a different economic class of people who are selling and buying. You only can view these properties by appointment-only. It’s not something where people can just come in and out with a realtor. They have to be escorted by the listing agent that has been hired by the sellers. The luxury real estate market is very competitive as well.
It is similar in the sense that the seller is trying to sell their home to the highest and best offer, and similar because they go through this same process of a contract, earnest money, title company closing, and so forth. It’s the same process as a regular retail sale in reference to a contract sale and the whole procedure, but just in a different market with different buyers and sellers.
When it comes to the feeling of luxury, would you say that has to connect with an emotion of safety or success for someone? How does this play into your business?
I think the luxury aspect of it means that you’re successful in your craft, that you’re able to deal with this echelon of people that are in this price bracket which require exclusivity and privacy.
A luxury home gives the buyer a feeling of safety and success, being able to show their hard work reflected in their home. Although luxury can mean something different to an individual buyer. What’s luxurious to one person might not be to the next.
If you could describe your lifestyle in one phrase, what would it be?
Fast-paced and fabulous.
Tell us about your rise in the real estate market?
It took meeting a lot of people and creating strong relationships with a lot of business owners throughout our market and being able to to establish myself as someone who caters to the luxury real estate market. I started interning in a title and real estate company while I was in high school and continued working there through college, and here I am today with a prospering business that caters to a luxury market with over 26 offices around Texas.
How has your business been able to expand into one the largest female-dominated companies of the Texas real estate game?
We’ve been able to expand by utilizing social media and leveraging our educational platform. We educate real estate professionals out there about the changes and about different ways they can expand their business through marketing tactics, marketing tools, and marketing resources. Because at the end of the day, it is about sales. A realtor is a salesperson.
Our office is heavily dominated with female professionals who have innovative tools and resources at their disposal because we are very big on giving women the opportunity to succeed in this industry. I believe women are key to diversifying and growing any industry.
What advice would you give to anyone seeking to hit a break in luxury real estate?
I definitely think that the luxury real estate market is a tough market to break into, and I believe you need to be in the right place at the right time. If you want to represent homeowners and do sales that are in this luxury market, you need to be in those circles.
I really believe for anyone who’s trying to break into the luxury market, they really need to position themselves in those social circles that are going to expose them to that caliber of client and market. Find social networking events, galas, a country club, or any other organization where you might find your ideal clientele. Invest in a membership and invest your time into getting to know the people in those social circles so you can develop those relationships for your business. Finding the right buyers is key to breaking into the market. You might have the right property, but you won’t make a sale without the right buyer.
What are the biggest challenges or misconceptions within your industry, and how would you see these being overcome?
I think the biggest misconception is that anyone that sells luxury real estate doesn’t have to do anything. They just have fancy cars and beautiful bags, and they just go and show up to a listing and be fabulous. But there’s a lot of work behind all that. I think that dealing with that high-end market, you are absolutely catering to that client, and that there’s a lot of availability of your time given whether morning, noon, or night, even on the weekends, to serve your client. I think people don’t understand that there’s a lot of work that goes behind listing and selling fine, luxury real estate. The expectation of performance is very high, and you have to provide a high level of servic. If you’re not able to adhere to them, you will not be able to grow and flourish in this market.
I think these obstacles are overcome by communication and transparency. I think that that’s something that is very difficult to do when you’re a salesperson or an individual doing business on your own, and you’re not working with an organization every single day. It’s important that you expose yourself to different networks and to other professionals in your market to give exposure to your properties to their buyers. Being able to work collaboratively with others will give you and your business an upperhand.
How does it feel being the very first female to grace the cover of LuxClub Magazine?
Oh, wow. I didn’t know that. That’s amazing. I feel absolutely privileged and honored to be able to have this opportunity to be able to pave the way for other women. It’s a testament of my journey, and it’s the first of many firsts.
What have been the top three moments of your life that have shaped you into who you are today and why?
I would say the top three moments of my life have been the births of each one of my children: Paul, George, and Rachel. Each of them have shaped me into the woman and the mother I am today, and they have given me every reason to continue to work harder as a businesswoman.
My top three career moments that shaped my journey I would say was when I was told no. I was trying to hit the next level in my professional life, and I refused to take no for an answer. On my journey to my own entrepreneurship that would be one moment that drove me to pursue opening up my own company. At that point, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to do it working for a company, and I then came to terms with the only way for me to attain that success, and financial freedom I was seeking was to follow the path of entrepreneurship.
When I was able to get my first real job in this business and was able to buy myself my first luxury car. I remember being twenty-three when I traded in my Chevrolet Tahoe for a Mercedes Benz CLK convertible, and that was my first trophy where it was like a reflection of all the work I’d put in for years since high school. I had saved up, and was just able to build and build and build from there. There was also a sense of respect given to me as a businesswoman from it too.
The last was when I opened up my own business and actually made my first profits. That was back in 2009 when I opened my very own business so I’ve been an entrepreneur for thirteen years, but in the real estate game much longer.
Any last words?
Luxury is a word that’s defined by the individual and subjective to an individual person’s experience and tastes. I believe luxury is something that’s achievable by anyone. Expensive
doesn’t always mean luxurious. I think luxury is about the experience received by a person whether it’s a service, a place, a memory, or even a meal.
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