“Ivan Chorney with Ivan and Mike Team at Compass talks about his own life journey and his transition from a bartender to moving to Miami from LA as a developer. Ivan discusses the importance of networking and communication as keys to a successful relationship with his own team and clients. He also emphasized a quote he repeats to his team ”How you do anything is how you do everything“, because that will determine how they will be as an agent. Last, Ivan talks about delegating work and how important it is to have a good relationship with clients and not feel neglected.”
This week, the spotlight shines on Ivan Chorney, a Miami broker specializing in luxury real estate developments
How did you choose your first brokerage?
I was newly licensed and was not yet working with any broker. At the time, I was moonlighting as a bartender for a staffing company.
I was assigned to a sales launch party for Canyon Ranch. The brokerage handling the party was Majestic Properties. While working for the party, I witnessed how glamorous and how fun it was — all of the agents seemed super cool.
So, I went up to the broker and asked what it takes to work with their team and told him I want to work on a new development like the Canyon Ranch project. That week, I met with their office manager, showed up every day, put in the work and was assigned to the Fairfax six months later.
What’s something you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
I wish I knew that my only limitations are in my mind. There is no sale that I cannot handle and there is no level of wealth that I cannot work with. I have all of the intangibles to work with the best and sell with the best. Anything that I do not know, I am willing to learn. I am constantly growing, learning and taking courses.
Tell us about a high point in your brokerage career.
A high point in my brokerage career was selling my most expensive property ever which was a $20.5 million home on Palm Island, Miami. In order to get there, I am constantly working on myself and my own belief systems. I had to gain the confidence to know that I could handle something of this caliber.
I was also tenacious with follow-ups and made sure that I was constantly reliable and resourceful for
my clients.
What’s your top prediction for 2023?
In the Miami market, real estate will be much more resilient and robust than people think. There is a lot of sensationalism in the news and it is easy to get pulled into negative thinking. From my boots-on-the-ground perspective, there is a very low volume of super prime real estate in A+ locations and there is still a lot of demand due to business-friendly government and tax issues in home states (ie. wealth tax).
Miami is a constantly evolving city that is becoming a real player on the world stage with culture, restaurants, amazing weather, all major sports and amazing world-class architecture.
What’s your top tip for freshly licensed brokers?
I recommend adopting Tony Robbins’ Three Keys to Mastery: immersion, mentoring and repetition. The best way to get all of these things in one place is to join a top team where there are people that have been through what you have already been through and can help navigate you through the hurdles. I spent a lot of time grinding in the beginning and think that if I had joined a team, then I could have been more successful.
Ivan Chorney
Partner Ivan and Mike Team
ONE Sotheby’s International Realty
So, Real Estate in Miami I would say it’s a 95% stand step, things that were already in the pipeline, things that were already in motion, those businesses are closing. So if you get an email from your realtor like “Just Sold”, those deals were in the pipeline before. I don’t think we are fooling anybody that things are steaming along over here in Miami with Real Estate, and I don’t think they pretty much are anywhere in the world right now.
And that makes sense. As an investor myself I’m putting that (investment) on hold for the moment. To put a 20% investment on a piece of property when I don’t quite know what is going on doesn’t seem like the right thing to do right now.
I think there will be a moment of opportunity just like the stock market, but nobody has a crystal ball. We don’t know if we are at the bottom of the “stock market”, we do know that there was a huge dip, and for people who bought on that dip they might be seeing some danger right now.
So I think it’s going to be very similar here in the Miami Real Estate Market. I also think there will be a window of opportunity, and you are going to see discounts that go anywhere from 15% to 20%. Perhaps if this goes longer, if we continue in this roller-coaster of Covid-19 where we get quarantined, and then released and then quarantined again, I think that is going to elongate things. You might see discounts in certain buildings in some areas that have a little bit more supply. You might see discounts up to 30%.
Everything is hyper-local and whenever I am talking to clients and friends I tell them that is the most hyper-local market out there. Miami you have South Beach, Bal Harbour, Surfside, Sunny Isles; even in South Beach you have these micro-markets like Sunset Harbour, South Of Fifth, Venetian Islands, Coconut Grove. So what happens will depend a lot on how things go with Covid-19, if things go roller-coaster and the behavior of specific markets. The Miami Riviera from South Beach to Bal Harbour always seem to stand tall during the tough times.
Miami-based brokerage, which expanded to Vero Beach and Melbourne last year, closed $3.2B in sales, up 30% y-o-y
One Sotheby’s International Realty handed out its top awards for 2019 – with Dennis Carvajal as the company’s No. 1 producer, and Mirce Curkoski and Albert Justo taking the top team win.
The Miami-based brokerage, which expanded north to the Vero Beach and Melbourne markets last year, closed $3.2 billion in sales volume in 2019, a 30 percent increase compared to the previous year, according to a spokesperson.
Carvajal had more than $100 million in sales last year, which included the $14 million sale of 9501 Journeys End Lane in Coral Gables.
Michael Martinez, Ralph Arias, Anna Sherrill, and Saddy Delgado followed Carvajal as top producers in 2019. Arias was involved in the nearly $50 million sale of 3 Indian Creek Island Road in Indian Creek.
The top teams were Curkoski and Justo’s The Waterfront Team; Ivan Chorney and Michael Martirena’s The Ivan & Mike Team; Denise Long and Lynda Smith, Daniela Bonetti and Darryl Fox’s The Bonetti Fox Team; and Nestler Poletto’s team.
Susan Gale was the No. 1 commercial broker for the company, followed by Manny Chamizo. Gale’s deals included the $34.75 million sale of 344-350 Ocean Drive to Henley.
