On paper, Maile Aguila’s story reads like a fairy-tale version of the American dream: After 30 years of hard work, a daughter of 1960s Cuban exiles sells $1 billion worth of Miami condos in a single year for a multi-national developer. Then she partners with The Agency, one of the buzziest luxury real estate brokerages in the country, to sell even more of them. She lives on a sprawling farm outside Miami with a menagerie of horses, dogs, cats, a koi pond and an aviary full of exotic birds. A charmed life by anyone’s definition.
Of course, none of it came easy. Even in a once-in-a-generation boomtown like Brickell, Florida, where the best condos get snapped up before construction begins, 30 years of hard work is still 30 years of hard work.
I recently sat down with Aguila to find out how she did it. She walked me through how she helped transform Brickell, a formerly sleepy Miami business district, into a younger, hipper Dubai where you can still get a surprisingly good Cubano sandwich – and gave me her best advice for new agents who want in on the action.
Follow the money, then follow your passion
In my New York City brokerage in the mid-aughts, every agent wanted to work new developments. I did too. Here’s why: While we were schlepping around the East Village in August showing sixth-floor walkups, they were sitting on Aeron chairs in sleek, air-conditioned sales offices. We spent most of our days (and nights) trying to generate leads. Their phones never stopped ringing. We all wanted in. Who wouldn’t?…