Daniel Barraza

Daniel Barraza

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Daniel Barraza never planned on acareer in real estate. Instead, hisentrance into the industry cameabout as the result of people he caredabout needing his help. A formerYouth Pastor, helping others throughextending his hand to those in needhas been a way of life for Daniel foras long as he can recall. Yet, it waswhen he needed help on his own,that the first stones of career in realestate were being laid down, thoughhe didn’t know it at the time.

“When the economy crashed, mybusiness failed,” he says. “I had ahigh end cookware business. It wasa really difficult time, and I need aloan modification for my home,” headds. Armed with an incrediblystrong work ethic passed on by hisfather, Daniel sought out andsecured his own loan modificationas difficult as it was. Soon, he hadfamily members and friends whoneeded the same kind of help. “Istarted helping everyone I could to

get their loan modified,” he says.

However, the recession persisted andmany of those who Daniel helped tosuccessfully modify their loans werestill upside down on their homes, andcame to Daniel for help. “I decided to

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get my license, and help with shortsales,” he says. Noting that somepeople thought he was crazy forlaunching a real estate career focusedon short sales, Daniel ignored theirobjections and trusted his gut. “Iwasn’t doing this for me. People were

practically banging down my door forhelp. That is who I was in this for-those who needed my help. I wasdoing the deals that nobody elsewanted,” he says.

Suffice to say, there were a lot of

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people needing Daniel’s help and by2012 he’d been named one of thetop 100 real estate agents inArizona. He also grew the Phoenixbased Barraza Team from 3 agentsin 2012 to 18 team members today.And 2014 is definitely looking up aswell, as his business is up more than200% over last year. But Danieltakes no credit for his success. “Thesame core group of people who Iwas able to help, have now helped

me. They referred me to theirfriends, and their families,” he says.

To that end, Daniel focuses oninvesting in his repeat and referringclients. “When I first got started inreal estate I listened to everyone’sadvice. They said invest in marketing,so I did, sometimes $10-$15,000 eachmonth. But when I ran my numbers,I saw that 60% of my business wascoming from past clients. So I learned

“I’m thankful, grateful and hum bled, because

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that I only want to take advice fromagents who are actually successful,and I started investing more of myefforts into my past clients,” he says.By way of example, last ChristmasDaniel and his team hand-deliveredcookies to each of his past clients’doors. “It took two weeks,” he sayswith a laugh before adding, “Theresponse has been terrific.”

As the market began to stabilize

Daniel recognized that he needed toadapt with the times as well. Onceagain, his past clients served as astrong base of business. “Many of thepeople who I helped with short salesbegan calling and asking if their 3year seasoning was over because theywanted to buy a home again,” he says.Daniel was once again there for them,and today, 60% of his business nowcomes from traditional buyers andsellers.

I get huge satis faction out of helping people.”

Daniel really couldn’t ask for any thingmore. “I used to be the Youth Pastorfor 8 of the 18 agents on my team. Weserved on missions together. They allshare the same passion for helpingothers that I do. I’m still not sure howthis success happened. The posture of

my heart is to help people, and eventhough I really thought I was going tobecome an ordained minister, Godopened the door and showed me thispath. I’m thankful, grateful and hum -bled, because I get huge satis factionout of helping people,” he adds.

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For more information about Daniel, visit www.barrazateam.com, call 602-441-3702

or Email@DanielBarraza.com