Want to take your real estate investing skills to the next level? Then this episode is for you! Today, we have The Miami Guide owner Banna Fakhoury to discuss how to break into luxury real estate. Imagine every perk in investing, except more returns, bigger clients, and bigger everything! However, with great luxury comes great foundation – and a lot of “great things” to be done before you can actually get there. Banna touches on all the important points of getting into luxury real estate. Tune in now and get started!

---

Listen to the podcast here

How To Break Into Luxury Real Estate Like A Boss With Banna Fakhoury

Welcome to the Boss Life show. I love interviewing people from all different walks of life. One thing that a lot of agents have been asking me lately is, “Who do you know that could speak to the luxury space?” Many agents want to break into the luxury market. I could not think of anyone else that has checked off all the boxes.

She has put in the sweat equity. She’s a marketing genius and a first-generation immigrant. What's neat about her is not only does she kill it in the game but on top of that, she is a philanthropist. She gives back to so many local charities. As we were talking right before this interview, I'm like, “Success leaves clues and you sure know how to work it.” Without further ado, with my co-host, Ben, we're going to jump right in.

Welcome, Banna. Thanks for coming to the show.

Thank you for having me. It’s so exciting. What an introduction. I'm going to have to keep you in my pocket, Stefanie, wherever we go.

I haven't even hyped you up because I just shared some of her basics from being a luxury agent. On top of this, she's such a multifaceted entrepreneur. She owns The Miami Guide. Before we jumped onto this interview, I said, “Stop. Don't tell me all the details because our audience needs to hear the details on this.”

Let's start at the beginning of your journey so we can talk people through it. I want to come full circle to The Miami Guide because they have over 260,000 Instagram followers that showcase all the ins and outs of Miami. I'm a branding girl to a fault, so I get inspired by other lady bosses that are stepping up in that space.

Banna, let's start from the get-go. I am very intrigued that you're a first-generation immigrant. What I've been told that the stat is you're seven times more likely to become a millionaire if you're born outside of the United States. You and I missed it. I missed it by a couple of generations. You missed it by one generation. How did that impact who you are now and your work ethic? Tell us a little bit more about that.

We're going right into it. I'm the daughter of first-generation immigrants. My mother is from Ecuador. She’s 100% Ecuadorian and my father is 100% Jordanian. They came over individually in the '90s. Mom was 26. Dad was 29 or something like that. They both wound up in this one tiny neighborhood in California called the Rancho Cucamonga area. They both worked in a bakery restaurant called Coco's Bakery, which is similar to a diner with a bakery. Mom was a waitress and dad was a manager. They fell in love.

It was a different culture in the ‘90s too. They fell in love and were obsessed with each other. They had some issues along the way. Mom came to Miami. She was a single mom for 9 or 10 years. I'm an only child. Both my parents remarried, so I have half-brothers, half-sisters, and stepbrothers. I'm the oldest but I'm an only child. You didn't have a choice but to make it. That's what it always was.

I never saw it as a choice. I never saw it as any other option. I think that was something that was engraved in me because both my parents had to hustle so hard on their own in this country. It's in my blood. It was not even something that I chose. Mom was in Miami. My grandparents, uncles, and aunts came over from Ecuador. All of us were in this tiny apartment in Sweetwater, Miami. Miami knows what neighborhood I'm talking about.

We just had to hustle and make it. That instilled an insane amount of work ethic and independence. Sometimes a little too independent because now we're like, “We don't need anyone.” That's not healthy either. I've learned to balance it over the years. In those younger years to about where we are now, you need that insane great obsession. I've been obsessed and that all plays a big part in it back in the day.

You were mentioning before this interview that you're going into your 10th or 11th year in real estate. Is that correct?

Yes, time flies.

That's awesome. What drew you to real estate? We've heard about the hustle culture and the hustle parenting that you basically had. What drew you to real estate?

It was 2012. I was in a relationship and all his friends had gotten into real estate. This was the end of the recession where there were tons of foreclosures, investment properties, distressed sellers, acquisitions and buying, and fix and flip. That was the market at that time. His buddies created this private investment equity firm and they're like, “Banna, why don't you come on?” I was a marketing intern at that time. We're an eCommerce company and the internship was ending. I'm like, “I think I could do this.”

In my last year of university, I remember I was in this group project and I hated my group members. I hated the group project. I'm like, “There's got to be more to this. I need to go out into the world already.” I left and didn't finish my last year at the university. I joined real estate full-time. I was an acquisition specialist. I would cold call and that's where the hustle began too.

Not to compare with real estate now, but it was different back in the day. We had to cold call, email, newsletters, events, go after investors and properties, and make a deal happen. That's how I first got into real estate. It was through his friends. It's funny how life works. I'm not dating him anymore. I'm not that close to them anymore. I got to thank them. Thank you for taking me to that level.

Are they still in real estate? Do you have any idea?

One of them completely took it by storm. They're killing it. They're doing wonderful things and I have the utmost respect for them still.

That's huge. How did you transfer from the hustle and make it happen to the luxury market? If you go check out her Instagram, it's pretty legit. Take some notes because it's cool. You have a pin that you sold an $8.4 million home. Is that correct?

That was a nice one.

Tell us what that transition looked like.

Are you speaking about getting into the luxury space?

Yes.

It was an accumulation of my last ten years in business. I had to pay my dues. The book Outliers says that it takes 10,000 hours or 10 years to become an expert. In 2022 was my 10th year and that's when it all started coming to me. It takes that one year to make it and I feel like 2022 was that year. I even labeled it as the impossible is possible. The things that I achieved, I never thought that I could in my lifetime. I have never seen that. I've never seen financial dependence like that. We were trying to make it and trying to survive. I had never seen any of that.

“Sometimes, the impossible becomes possible as we achieve things we honestly thought we never could in our lifetime.”

Ten years of hard work to get to this one year is what helped. Now, I'm at the space where I can talk real estate, talk numbers, and talk stats much easier than I could back in the day. I can market myself and I've had ten years of practice. I have ten years of posting it and going to these things. People see your hard work.

I've had clients that I've been trying to get their business for so long and now they're finally like, “Banna is no longer this little 22-year-old trying to hustle. Now she's a 30-year-old established businesswoman.” Those clients are now calling me to sell their properties and to do all these things. It takes time to get into that space.

More or less you were a ten-year overnight success.

I think so. It's been hard work to get here. There were moments where I'm like, “How long is this going to last?” It’s one second to the next and it’s like, “Wow.”

Where was the first like, “This was my first luxury deal.” Do you recall that?

I don't know. What's luxury like a couple of million?

I think it depends on the market. Miami is a little different than some other markets.

I got to the point where I was selling $500,000 per property a couple of years ago. That was very nice, then it got to the $1 million mark to $1.5 million. I was doing it continuously. I have an advisor I talked to like a mentor. I was like, “I need to tap into the higher level. I need to start selling these multimillion-dollar properties.” At the time, she's like, “Your foundation, your finances, and your team are not perfect. Maybe you need to start working on that."

I hired a CPA and I got excellent in my finances. She talked to me, “Let's go. I can talk taxes now.” I got so obsessed with my finances, my investments, my expenses, my business card, my debit card, and everything. I got so obsessed with that. That's when I was able to have the new deals come to me and tap into that luxury space because the foundation was set.

Once I set that up, I bought and sold my first house where I made a tremendous profit. I made that in about six months. That kicked off the luxury space. From there, I started closing some bigger deals like a $4 million warehouse. After that, it was $8 million and it was $6 million. In between there, a couple of million dollars as well. It’s having that foundation because when you're in disarray, there's no space for luxury, money, and deals. Anything could happen. That was a big part of it.

I would also assume that when you get that financial literacy, you can talk to people with money that also have that financial literacy. I would imagine that would probably help as well.

Yes, for sure. Also, you start getting a little more knowledgeable and a little more creative. I like to go to events where I'm the only realtor. I like to go to places where I'm not going to see realtors. I love realtors and everything, but how much longer are we going to collaborate? We're in the same field selling the same properties to the same people.

It gets to the point where there's not so much collaboration that we can do. It's competitive and it's South Florida. It's not so easy. I like to go places to meet new people, new clients, new realtors, and direct to consumers. I started going to those events and the competition is so much less. I would meet these financial advisors, these attorneys, or these people in the spaces where I wanted to be their go-to person. That's what I became for a good 5 or 6 people now.

That's so valuable.

You've been in it since 2012 and it's now 2023. You would say that within the last couple of years is when you feel like you hit it or even 2022, as you were saying.

I started making six digits when I was 26. Even then, it was consistent and I was like, “It wasn't easy.” Everyone said, “Banna, I want to get into real estate.” I'm like, “Think about it. What you see now is this amazing, ‘You make it look so easy.’ You don't see the last years of stressing it and putting in sixteen-hour work days.” I only started seeing my results in the last 3 to 4 years, and predominantly the last two years.

I would agree with you. When I got into real estate, I had a couple of closings in my first year. Minnesota was very seasonal, then I had a closing on November 2nd. My next closing wasn't until March 16th, so that's five full months of no income coming in. I was like, “This is why I should budget.”

When tax season comes, that's another thing you got to save for. There are so many things now. There are so many things to think about, so it's not easy.

I heard you say, "My mentor told me to do this." What would you say would be the best advice that you've ever received to help you to up-level in your business?

She's my spiritual advisor, as well as my mentor. She's on the other side of life, but real estate's a big part of life. I can write a book about what she talked to me about. Besides her, I got a big piece of advice a couple of years ago that was like, “Don't focus so much on saving. Focus on making more money.” That was a big twist to it. There's only so much cutting down expenses and saving you can do. There's only so much like, “Don't drink your lattes. Don't get your avocado toast.” I saved $20 a week, now what?

“Don’t focus so much on saving. Focus on making more money. ”

I shifted into the making more money mentality. I also shifted a little bit more spiritually where I wanted to become more of a problem solver. I talked about this in another show, but when I got into the service mentality of it all and I shifted my mindset, business poured in much faster and easier. When you're so focused on money and checks, it sucks because then you have this outcome that you're depending on. When you don't get your expectations, your vibe and confidence change. I stopped caring all about that. I'm always like, "Don't worry, the money will come," and it always comes. It comes tenfold sometimes. It's important to have your values also intact.

I’m completely in alignment. That's so true. I did a podcast and we were talking to Pastor David. He was talking about these people that are doing very well financially but don't have their actual life in alignment as far as spirituality and all that stuff. It comes tumbling down. If you're constantly fighting internally, it comes out one way or the other. If you can build from the base and the foundation and have that all together, you'll have a foundation that can't be taken.

That's where legacy begins. That's where you're able to create a legacy and create something bigger than yourself. I think this is way bigger than me. We are here to serve others. It's our duty to be successful, but it's bigger than us. What are you doing for your community? What are you doing for your family? It can't only be for you and that's important. Real estate married all that, helping others, making money, and growing. The Miami Guide takes it to the next level, which we'll get into later.

“Legacy begins where you’re able to create something that’s bigger than you.”

I would agree with that. Especially you said, “As soon as I stopped focusing on money and focusing on the service based.” I think a lot of times people can feel when they're being treated like a paycheck. As soon as you let go of that like, “Whether this deal happens or not, I'm going to give them the best service possible.” At least for me, that’s where my business took off. I would agree with you. Sometimes people can smell desperation in realtors like, “I need to get a deal.” It's a self-fulfilling prophecy sometimes.

That sharky vibe is gross. I don't like that. Keep it real and genuine and relax. Do you know how many deals have come back to me when I thought they did me wrong? I'm helping them and they go off in a different direction. I'm like, “No problem. I hope you found what you're looking for. I'm here whatever you need.” They come back around to me like, "Banna, we're so sorry about what happened earlier. Can you please help us with this instead?"

That's how I got some big deals. It was with the interactions I had and not being like, “How dare you? You don't know how valuable my time is.” It's easy to get bitchy like, “Are serious now?” It's easy to be like that. I'm so happy that I have that bigger mentality to keep me in check. I'm like, “No problem, I'm here,” and they’ll come back to you. Keep your face on point.

Let's jump into Ocean Sky Media. Let's jump into the Miami Guide. I am so intrigued by not only have you built out a luxury brand to be reckoned with but now, you've built very big brands that work synergistically with your main empire. Tell us how you decided, “I want to dial into that.” Where did that come from?

This must have been 3 or 4 years ago. My business partner Mike owns the Miami Guide for ten years before me. For a few years, I was doing workshops and podcasts on my own. He invited me to be the 100th guest on his podcast. I said okay. I was like, "That's cool." I told him, "Let's sit down. Let's brainstorm what I want to put together. Let's do marketing workshops for my real estate. We can do something together,” and he was so for it. The next thing you know, we partnered up, signed papers, and became business partners where we launched and started monetizing the Miami Guide.

We then created Ocean Sky Media because we saw the need for people needing help to put their life and their business online. That's pretty much what we do. We assist with social media management and content creation. Anything that you need in the marketing space, we assist with. The Miami Guide and Ocean Sky Media work hand in hand together. Let's say the Boss Life needs promo help. Let's say you're doing a huge brunch with all the girls or a Boss brunch and you need some help with ticket sales or something. You will send it to us. We will promote it for you.

Ninety percent of the business are paid promos. We do the free stuff, more for the charity work. We know we need to help each other out. We're not going to say no. For the most part, it's a business. We try to keep it as that. Let's say you also need help with email newsletters and content creation and doing other things, then we put together a proposal and a monthly retainer, and we work together that way.

That's awesome. Do you start that business, Ocean Sky Media, with Mike? Are you guys 50/50 partners?

We’re 50/50 partners. We call them both together, the whole thing.

Where do you see these businesses going? Where do you see the real estate business? Are you going to keep going in real estate or are you hoping to have some of these other businesses take off?

Real estate is doing fantastic and my marketing is doing fantastic. They're both going up at the same time. I have teams and I can leverage my time on them. We delegate things to both businesses. Both of them are pretty remote for the most part. I can do anything everywhere. I'm more in charge of the sales and getting some contracts for The Miami Guide. He's more in charge of the day-to-day aspect of it.

I handle the accounting. He handles more of the general posting. I'm dealing with that. Most of the Zooms and everything, we’re doing together. We make great decisions. I'm more the brain on the back sometimes and he's more on the front. We work amazingly together and we've grown it. We have insane partnerships now. We've worked with the Dolphins and the Heat. Now, we're working on something with the Marlins.

We have eMerge Americas, Formula 1, Ultra Music Festival, Live Nation, Leonardo Prosecco, Lucid Motors, Copa Water, restaurants, charities, and hotels. We've done it all. We are a big affiliate partner with a lot of these hotels. We are in every little part of Miami. Anything you can think of. If you want to go somewhere for a weekend and you want hotel recommendations or restaurant recommendations. It keeps us busy but it's fun. There are a lot of perks involved.

Do you get much of your referral business in your luxury business from that?

No. I try to keep them separate. TheMiamiGuide.com/realestate goes to my page. We just started in the last few months posting real estate projects on The Miami Guide.

That would be an outlet that does take off down the line.

We have so far and we have some things on there. Real estate is such a big part of Miami that we have to post about it. We have to post real estate news. We have to post Steven Ross, the Villa Hotel, and all these things. Now, we're posting a lot more on that with some of the lead traction going to me. Most of my luxury real estate business, 99% of it is myself, my own personal network, my own referrals, and my own everything.

I know we chatted about this a couple of days ago, Banna. If you don't mind, I would love for you to share your amazing wisdom with our tribe. What would you say would be the three main things that an agent should do if they want to break into the luxury market? I thought about your answers when I chatted with you and I can't keep this to myself.

We mentioned getting into those circles. That's important to get into those circles and change your life a little bit. I feel like I changed my life every eighteen months. Last Mayor maybe before that, I got a new car, new place, new company, and new everything. That's what it takes sometimes, and to do things like that.

Tapping into those spread circles is important. Are you going to the places where people who can afford luxury are going? I'm part of a couple of private member clubs here in South Florida. It's costly but it's an investment that taps me into those networks that I want to be in. I'm constantly going to brand new restaurants, brand new events, and brand new anything where I can meet other people.

BL Banna Fakhoury | Luxury Real Estate — Luxury Real Estate: It's costly to go in luxury places, but it's an investment that taps you into like those networks that you would want to be in.

I try to be the only realtor at some of these events too. It's all about meeting meaning the correct people. It’s like 99% of it. Also, advertising yourself and knowing the numbers in that space. That's important too. What is the price per square foot? What are the top buildings? Who are the developers? Who are the architects? If you talk to me about a neighborhood, I know what's going on in each of the neighborhoods and what restaurant groups. It’s having that little extra knowledge.

I also think it's the time. After years and years of being in this business and consistent hard work, people see that, and they like it. They want to give you business. I call them Banna supporters. I can name supporters that want to see you win. Those are the ones that are on your team. Those are the ones that you want to keep and have healthy nice relationships with. Those people will take it to the next level, my attorney of ten years, my inspector of many years, and my best friend for fifteen years. Nurturing long relationships yields amazing results too.

One thing that I love about your story is a lot of people would be like, "I've got a successful luxury business. I can stay right there," but you've branched out into multiple other businesses. For the person who's been doing something for a little while and thinking, "Maybe I should branch out and start that next thing,” in your opinion, when is the right time to do that?

I feel like I'm a little different because it landed on my lap. It's not like I'm seeking to do this business. It wasn't like that. In addition, the marketing business is real estate. Marketing is real estate. Real estate is marketing, so I feel like it worked well for me because everything I need to do with real estate, I'm doing on the marketing end. It’s two passions into one that works together.

I also have a partner in it, so I'm not alone. I will not be able to do this on my own. With luxury real estate, I have a team and an assistant. If I didn't have that help, it would be very difficult to operate any business. I'm at the point now where I can buy back my time. My theme for this year is buying back my time, from assistants to interns to agents, and maybe hiring more employees to help me lock on in West Miami or whatever. It’s little things like that. Buying back my time helps.

The correct time to do a second business might not be the correct time for you. It might not be for you. I would see if there's a way to branch out. For example, real estate and property management. I have that too but we don't have to talk about that. Property management is in alignment with real estate. The same with vacation rentals, it's in alignment. If you have a business that branches off and it's similar to your business, then that's a good idea. If it's completely different, then I don't know if that's something worth pursuing.

I agree with you, Banna. It’s probably not a hard and fast rule because everybody learns at a different timeframe and a different rhythm. Everybody has a different experience that they bring with them as soon as they enter real estate. What would you say, five years into the business, two years into the business or it's a case-by-case basis? You can't put a label on it.

It is on a case-by-case basis. The only reason I'm able to do this is because real estate is doing well for me enough that I can take some of my time. I have that time, but if you want to succeed in real estate, for the good first 8 to 10 years, you need to give your all, like everything. It needs to be your world. Join things from fitness clubs. You need to be with people. You need to be out.

I also stopped many years ago caring about sales and caring more about people. All I want to do every day is meet people and make the most amount of contacts that I can possibly. That's all I care about. Now alone, I had my assistant put in ten business cards. I'm in the elevator and I'll start talking to someone. I'll be like, “Where are you from?” Honestly, that's how it works sometimes.

When I go out places, I get their numbers, their contacts, or their cards. Those same people go into my CRM. They see my emails, my marketing letters, and all these things. Eight months later, they're like, “I want to sell.” You've been there nurturing that. That's how I generate a lot of my business now. It's from cold to hot. It is by nurturing.

My literal business model is going out to lunch and coffee with people and just connecting. You might be able to agree with this or not, but I'm going out to lunch with them. If they need real estate help, it will come up in lunch. If not, I networked with somebody great for an hour. Good people know good people. I totally and utterly agree with you on that.

I don't even care if I don't get the business sometimes. I'm not going to make it a big deal. We have 200,000 realtors in South Florida. There are going to be cousins, uncles, and aunts that have realtors. What are you going to do about it? If you're their friend and you maintain it. Maybe they'll send you some other business. You got to be cool about it. That's important too. It's funny you say the one-on-ones because I prefer one-on-ones as well or maybe intimate events. When I go to events with 300 people, it is very hard. What I like to do with those events is choose 3 to 4 people that I'm going to give a good twenty minutes of my time, instead of 50,000 randoms. I think that plays a little bit.

You have the same conversation 50 different times. It's better to pick the three people and go deep. I would agree with you. I got my license in 2015 and for the first four years, it was nose to the grindstone like, "I am going to make this work." This can lead us to our next conversation. I was like, “I should start dating because otherwise, I might be lonely for a little while.” That's when I started dating. That's when I found my wife and everything like that.

I'm married but I'm on this show with two single women. Talk to me about being a single woman in a space like this. I know my sister runs into it. There are people who say, "Let me go look at this nice house. Can I go out to dinner with you afterward and stuff like that?" Talk to me about what's it like being a single woman, especially in the luxury space.

I have filtered all of that out. I have radar now. They can easily tell. In my younger years, they got me. You get hustled quickly. Talk about it for lunch. How many times can we have a meeting about a meeting? I hate that. How many meetings are we going to have here and talk about what? Let's go for a drink and a happy hour. You get over that, and you see the signs are there. We don't need to have dinner and talk about a property.

I'm at the point where I'm rarely accepting anything these days. I don't want to have lunch with something just for you. There needs to be some value proposition here. Otherwise, we're going to be here all day for you to get to know me. I think it's important to see people's intentions and actions. If you want to date me, you go that route. Don't try to go through real estate. Keep it real here. That's why I don't like when they start doing that little conniving. Now we were talking business and now you have to buy a property through me. Now you're never going to date me because you're wasting so much of my time.

Luxury Real Estate: It’s important to see people's intentions and actions.

Banna, I could not have said it better. It ticks me off so badly. Pick a damn lane because here's the thing, I am all about that dating life.

Stef is getting fired up now.

Where's the wine?

I can see that there's potential there. I'm open, but if you're going to sideswipe me midway through. I had this guy send me this long Facebook messenger, “You’re so inspirational,” this, that, and the other thing. If he's locked in this, I'm not apologizing. We get at dinner or it was lunch. He goes off in the left field. I would've respected it and maybe even gone out with him if he would've told me upfront that that's what his intentions were. Boss up, in my opinion. I will simmer down. You tell me your thoughts on that.

It can be frustrating. Sometimes it is tough having that line between business and pleasure. It's good that you have a very thick line in the sand like, “No, it's either business or it's pleasure. We're not doing both.”

We're not. If you are, you're going to have to buy a property first.

It's an expensive date right there.

Banna, let's be honest and real here in the aspect of what that looks like as far as your dating life. Once you start dialing into that luxury space, what's your game plan? You're super busy with what you're doing with Ocean Sky Media and with the Miami Guide. Is that a priority for you now? Tell me the details.

We're getting deep here.

We asked if there were any off-limit questions. You said no.

You've been warned.

I just turned 30. I had a couple of relationships here and there but I feel like you start knowing what you want later. Now, I'm at the point where I know exactly what I want and more importantly, what I don't want. A lot of learning happened in the last couple of years. I also wanted to be financially stable before I got into a serious anything with anyone. Maybe it was that independent part of me and all. I just wanted to be my own woman.

I wanted to make my own name. If anything were to go wrong, I have a nice little nest egg. I have a nice skillset and a nice business that I can fall back on. I also think women need to do something with their time. They can't be at home all day. That's important too. A successful relationship is when both woman and man individually have their own life.

Luxury Real Estate: Make your own name so if anything were to go wrong, you’ll still have a nice little nest egg, a nice skill set, and a nice business that you can fall back on.

The wife doesn't need to be a boss babe or whatever. She can be into philanthropy or charity, just something to do mentally. I think that's important. I personally wanted to buy my own house. I told myself, "I'm not settling down until I did that." I bought it and I sold it. That happened last May. It's like, "Check, game. Businesses are running pretty well. I know who I am now." We have a lot of healing from it. I'm in a very good space now where I'm a lot open to dating, and even being in the luxury.

For the right person.

Does that make me pickier than ever? I would say so.

Let me ask you and you don't have to answer this but I'm curious. No commentary from the peanut gallery over here.

We've got another single woman who's like, “I need to take some notes.”

I want to know this. Do finances matter in dating someone? Do you prefer that they make more, less, or the same? Is that off the table? If they're a good human, you’re good with it. I have my own thoughts on this but I want to hear from you. if you don't want to answer it, that's cool but I'm curious about what you say.

I'm old-fashioned in that sense. I don't want to discredit it. People are into other things, and there's nothing wrong with this. It’s just me. What I'm trying to say is that I used to men being the provider, taking care of the household and protecting, and things like that. As a woman, bringing something to the table is important. She can't be just this beautiful useless thing. Make yourself useful.

We're here on this planet to do other things, but money is important. Eggs are $8 or something like that. Inflation is through the roof. I'm not going to make more money than you. I honestly do not want that. Maybe he's the most spectacular man on the planet, and he needs some help getting there. Maybe I'm here to help. In my experience, when I make more than them, it makes them feel a little emasculated. I never want a man to feel like that.

It's better in general for the dynamic of a man and a woman if he makes a little more than she does, a lot more preferably but whatever. I honestly like it a lot more too because they can teach me things and I can learn from them. We can do other things. I have an amazing life but if he has an even better life, then we can combine. Let me see things that we can do together. Having money gives you this financial freedom and resources where you can do what you never thought possible. There's only so much that I can do alone. I'm not one of those, “I don't need a man.” I need a man, especially when it comes to my car. I hate car problems.

I texted my sister. I was like, “You should get your blinker fluid checked,” then she googles it. She's like, “You're joking me. I know that it's a joke.”

I can't with him.

It's one of those things. I love that answer, Banna. Everybody has a different protocol for what they're looking for. It is important to know where their heart is at but also what type of guy are they because their stigmas are on their end too. Sometimes, they're not cool with it if their woman makes more than them. It's a conversation that needs to be had.

We're in 2023 also where dynamics have changed and gender roles have changed too, and nothing odd to them. I know some amazing relationships where it's 50/50 and she makes more. It's all beautiful and it's an amazing life. It's interesting. Sometimes I'm like, “Maybe I should be a breadwinner. Maybe I should just,” but then I'm like, “I don’t know.”

Have a nice stay-at-home dad, absolutely.

A lot more than me please, but I'll take a little bit more.

Ben, do you have any other questions before we go into our lightning round with the lady boss? I know you have a call and we're all hitting on all cylinders.

Go ahead. Go into the lightning round stuff.

First off, if you wouldn't have started in real estate, what would you have gone into?

Marketing.

People would be surprised that you spend so much time doing what?

Napping.

You take those power naps. That's awesome.

I took one before this. I was like, “A good 30 minutes. I'm back to work. Let's go.” Every day I try to take one.

That's great. Who's that guy, Ben? You're more of a history buff than I am. He would basically be at his work sleeping.

Winston Churchill. He would hold keys and doze off in a chair sitting straight up. As soon as he would drop the keys, it would make a sound, then back to work.

That's amazing to do that.

He was on it. Productivity is so good. Chipotle or Chick-fil-A?

Chick-fil-A. I had some today.

Your favorite way to spend downtime?

I go to the beach a lot. I go to the spa a lot.

You're addicted to what?

Spaghetti.

That's all about that life.

I love Italian food. My favorite food by far.

I need my lashes as well. I try to let go of them and I try to go the natural route and I can't. I can't stop. I'm getting addicted to that too.

What are you reading now?

This is a book called For the Love of Money. It's a spiritual book. They talk about how money is an exchange of energy. It belongs to you and it's a very deep spiritual way of thinking about money. I like it so I'm reading that now. It depends on my mood. I have a bunch of my Audible too that I like to listen to. I am obsessed with the concept of quantum leaping. Quantum leaping your life and the timelines of it all. Since I achieved a crazy amount of things that I never thought possible, now I'm like, “What I thought would take me twenty years to get here, it took me a couple of years.” Now I'm like, “What's next?” I'm obsessed with this concept, so I ordered this book by Price Pritchett who works with Bob Proctor. He created this whole book and the whole thing about quantum leaping your life. That's what I'm obsessed with now, jumping timelines.

That's awesome. You've paid your dues, so it's going to be fun to see what you do in the next couple of years. You’re most embarrassing moment?

There's been many. In what sense? I'm a little clumsy.

Let's hear a random story about that.

This is not so embarrassing but I remembered it. When I first started real estate, you have to be very professional. This was in the very beginning. I was only 20 or 21. We're talking slang. We're talking like when you refer to money or something, it's dollars. One time, I'm talking to a client and I'm telling him, "It's 300 stacks.” I'm like, “Oh my God.” It's not so embarrassing but it's that one moment I'll never forget in my entire life. As soon after that, I'm like, “Banna, bring that vocabulary.” Don’t talk like this anymore. That was crazy. He looked at me and I'm like, "Next topic.”

Coffee or chocolate?

Coffee.

Describe yourself in one word.

Dynamic.

I would agree. The last three questions. If someone met you and said, “Banna, I want to become the boss of my own life and call the shots,” what's my first step?

Picture who you want to be and work backward. What does she look like? What do they want? What do they have? Work backward. If she's a supermodel and you are overweight and obese, that's not going to work out. You have to start working out. How are you going to workout? Through smart goals. Break it down into a very attainable goal. You then hire a trainer. You go two days a week, three days a week, then you work backward.

I'm all about the ends in mind. I would work backward. That's pretty much what I would do. I would also cut off all distractions, toxic ex-boyfriends, little things that are in the way, friendships, bad habits, drinking, and partying. Miami is a big party city that you can go twenty years. You wake up and you're like, “I've done nothing. I've spent all this money. I'm super hungover.” It's important to end all distractions and habits.

Luxury Real Estate: It's important to do a cold block in ending all distractions and habits in order to become you’re own boss. Someone that can do whatever they want whenever they want.

Your definition of a boss.

Someone that can do whatever they want whenever they want. I think that's the boss. I would say being a true leader and fulfilling the lives of others and creating other bosses.

Any last words of wisdom?

I think we covered them all. This was so nice.

Banna, I so enjoyed this interview. We've seen each other and followed each other on social media, and also at events randomly in Miami. It was fun to get to know you here. Thank you so much for your time. My audience is super excited to get to know you more. Why don't you share all your handles of where people can find you?

My Instagram is @Miami__RealEstate. Follow @TheMiamiGuide as well on Instagram. That's pretty much my two biggest handles now, our Instagram and those two pages. Also, Banna@bannamiami.com.

Thank you, Banna and for all of you tuning in. We are super fired up about helping you take your life to that next level. Without further ado, it is your time to fire your fear, build your faith, and become the boss of your own life. Let's go after it.

I love that. Thank you for having me.

Thank you.

Important Links

About Banna Fakhoury

As a resident of Miami for nearly her whole life, Banna Fakhoury has a deep appreciation for all that Miami has to offer and how it’s unique to every other city in the world. As the bilingual daughter of Ecuadorian and Jordanian parents, Banna embodies the wonderful diversity for which Miami is known.

Her love for Miami inspired her journey into real estate, and drove Banna to earn her license in 2013. She is a certified Realtor® and serves her clients in the Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Downtown, Edgewater, and Miami Beach markets, in addition to the greater Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Banna has served on the board of the Miami Association of Realtors® Young Professionals Network (YPN) for 4 years and is heavily involved with philanthropy and local charities. Currently, she is the Treasurer of the Friends of Medicine Foundation, Board Director for Latin Builders Association, regularly hosts and supports beach cleanups, and participates in all local Miami-Dade organizations such as Parks and Recreation, Libraries, Miami-Dade Sea Turtles, Ronald McDonald House and much more.

Previously, she served as a sterling investor for the Realtors® Political Action Committee (RPAC) whose mission is to promote the election of pro-Realtor® candidates across the United States. Banna studied marketing at the Florida International University in Miami.

How To Break Into Luxury Real Estate Like A Boss With Banna Fakhoury

Listen to the podcast here

How To Break Into Luxury Real Estate Like A Boss With Banna Fakhoury

Important Links

About Banna Fakhoury

Are you a real estate agent looking to get inspired?