We’re proud of the team of agents we’ve assembled here at Nest Realty. We think they’re pretty awesome, and we think you will too. During our “Meet the Agent” series, we sit down with our agents to learn more about them, what makes them tick, and why they’re passionate about the real estate industry. In this installment, we chat with Michael Urti, a Broker with Nest Realty in Carolina Beach, North Carolina.
Nest Realty: Tell us a bit about yourself! Where are you from? What brought you to Carolina Beach?
Michael Urti: I was born and raised in Staten Island, New York. After high school, I attended the University of Louisville, where I studied exercise science, played baseball, and met my wife Katie, who is a native of North Carolina. After college, I left Louisville, Kentucky, and accepted a job with a small health club franchise in New Jersey. Ten years and 150 health clubs later, my wife and I decided we wanted a different lifestyle. With my wife being from North Carolina, we decided to pick up and start over in Carolina Beach.
NR: How did you get into real estate?
MU: Purchasing our first home was what kicked off my interest in real estate. It gave my wife and I a great sense of pride and accomplishment being able to purchase a home and make it our own. From that experience, helping others achieve the same seemed like it would be a pretty awesome career. In addition, we quickly learned the wealth building benefits of homeownership and the rest was history.
NR: What was your previous career? How has that prepared you for real estate?
MU: I worked for a heath club franchise, where I was responsible for creating and disseminating best operational practices for our franchisees. This included managing a team of franchise business coaches, creating sales training content, presenting at annual conventions, consulting with design teams on facility layouts, and overseeing at one point 150 gyms nationwide. I believe this experience prepared me for real estate in a number of different ways. First, learning to manage my time and work efficiently was imperative to effectively supporting the amount of franchisees we had. This holds true to any career, in my opinion, but especially in a commission-based field like real estate where your paycheck reflects your performance and not simply how long you were on the clock. Second, I learned how to negotiate and have difficult yet necessary conversations with franchisees, vendors, and other partners to our business. Third, I was often working alongside our commercial real estate team on site selection, demographics, traffic counts, and other pertinent metrics to choose a quality site for our next health club.
NR: What led you to Nest Realty, as opposed to another brokerage?
MU: The vibe, culture, and progressiveness of the company. Nest is not a company that recruits agents in droves and hopes they can perform for the company. They are selective in the agents they bring on, which enhances the quality of the services all agents provide to clients and ultimately the reputation of the company. I wanted to be a part of it!
NR: What is your favorite part of being an agent?
MU: Being able to work with so many great clients that become friends. It doesn’t feel like work…it feels like I’m helping a friend out.
NR: Do you have a specific area of expertise to offer clients?
MU: Investment and vacation rentals. As an avid investor in real estate myself, I am able to speak to clients from experience and provide objective guidance to both new and seasoned investors alike. Whether it be a client looking for an After Renovation Value of a flip property or a buy and hold investor looking to build a portfolio of rental properties, I’m able to provide added value to my clients.
NR: What makes you different from other agents? What sets you apart?
MU: My ability to stay focused on the objective and overcome the obstacles that often occur during a real estate transaction. Real estate transactions can get emotional, and being able to handle your clients’ and customers’ emotions has enabled me to close more deals and create long term relationships while doing it.
NR: What are five adjectives that describe you?
MU: Driven, hard-working, athletic, entrepreneurial, and loyal.
NR: If you had one piece of advice for a first-time home buyer, what would it be?
MU: You’re not only buying a place to live, but you’re making your biggest investment. Many things about a home can be changed and you can often create equity by improving it over time as your financial situation changes. Look at the bones of the house and the area it is in…those are the hardest things to change about a property and will provide you the greatest chance of appreciation and return on your investment.
NR: What is your favorite season in Carolina Beach?
MU: Fall! October in Carolina Beach has fewer tourists, the water and weather are still warm, and many of the local breweries have some great beers during this time.
Michael is a Broker with Nest Realty Wilmington. Michael joined The Costin Group in 2018 and with his expertise, he helped the team break through a 15 million dollar milestone. To learn more about Michael, visit his agent page.