XAVIER & XAVIER

EXECUTIVEAGENT MAGAZINE

Executive Agents of the Month

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By Shannon Hartsoe - Ian Wiant Photographer

ven from a young age, Sam Xavier seemed destined for a successful career in sales. Born in Detroit and raised in Adrian, a small rural town in southeast part of Michigan near the Ohio border, Sam learned about running a business from his parents, who owned an FTD floral shop. He watched and absorbed their dedication to meeting the diverse needs of their clients, how they turned challenges into opportunities and adapted to changes in the business. Sam also got his first taste of sales working as the flower shop delivery boy for his parents when he was 16.

Many years, successes and highly developed skills later, Sam has traded flowers and birthday balloons for houses

as a Realtor® and half of the husband-and-wife Xavier & Xavier Real Estate Team at RE/MAX Estate Properties in Redondo Beach.

“I have always been in outside sales since I graduated from college in 1988. My passion is always to assist my customers achieve their goals with the products I sold and/or my service offerings,” Sam says.

He started out as a buyer’s agent and bought and flipped a few properties. Though it took a good two years and trial and error to perfect his real estate skills, Sam never gave up. With every setback he learned, and with every successful sale, he gained insight into his craft.

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Pictured left to right are Lisa McMullen, Escrow Officer (Peninsula Escrow), Suzy Pelshaw, Vice President (Fidelity National Home Warranty and Disclosure Source), Bindu Xavier, Realtor® and Partner of Xavier & Xavier, Sam Xavier, Realtor® and Founder of Xavier & Xavier, and Steve Carollo, Title Representative (First American Title Company).

Today, his sales numbers and honors speak highly of his skills. Sam was recently inducted into RE/MAX International Hall of Fame for agents earning more than $1 million in sales commissions. He’s also consistently in the 100% Club and the Platinum Club for Top Producers within his RE/MAX brokerage.

company prior to starting his real estate career gives Sam an edge of other agents in the realm of digital communications -- a major tool for selling homes in the highly competitive Redondo Beach real estate market. This includes high quality advertising both online and print— for their clients.

Changing Course Sam’s professional career has taken a variety of turns, each one adding another skill and experience that today gives him a competitive edge in the area real estate market.

For instance, his bachelor’s degree in marketing from Adrian College includes extensive sales management and specialized internet marketing and branding.

“After the millennium and the revolution of the Internet, it made my IT sales career obsolete,” he says. “When I was in IT I was focused in corporate and reseller channel sales and thought I could use some of these same sales skills helping buyers and sellers with their local real estate needs. I always wanted to start my own business and be an entrepreneur. The real estate Industry allowed me to have a career and be a small business owner locally at the same time.”

The 16 years he worked in IT sales for a computer

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Secrets of Success Technologically Savvy Sam says he’s had a passion for Internet marketing since he first became a real estate agent in the early 2000s. He has used these skills to launch several websites. Sam has also partnered with companies including RealtyTrac back in 2005 to generate buyer and seller leads in West and South Torrance and Redondo Beach.

“We were very successful,” he says. Today, he and wife Bindu have several lead-capture websites, including www.xavierandxavier.com, and their community website -- www.southredondobeachrealestate.com, and they have also launched their own mobile real estate app – Xavier & Xavier.

Sam and Bindu believe that technology greatly improves both the marketing opportunities and communication options for their clients. They are effective users of social media including Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. “I think local digital communities and networks are the future, and being viral keeps us open 24/7,” Sam says. “Real estate is a local business and the national companies like Zillow and Trulia are constantly empowering the consumer to act

on local real estate. I think Xavier and Xavier has done a great job marketing our real estate services in the digital networking world among heavy competition.” Bindu adds that the online reviews they receive on Yelp and Zillow have been an excellent way to pre-engage with future clients who are looking for agents offering top-notch customer service. “That’s always our goal,” she says.

A Silver Lining An affiliation with RE/MAX never entered his mind before the summer of 2005. But while working with a small independent broker in his first year as a real estate agent, Sam represented a buyer trying to purchase a home in Carson. The home was represented by RE/MAX and the son of the broker owner. “The deal actually fell apart and when I went to one of the local RE/MAX offices to return the seller transfer disclosures, I fell in love with the office and atmosphere and I contacted James Sanders and their general manager for an interview. We met, and within days I was sold on their training and agent support system and I joined the new RE/MAX Execs South Bay office in Torrance that September.”

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Within a couple of years, though, the market tanked.

Sam, as is his custom, made a bad situation better by adapting to these drastic changes. He started representing sellers and negotiating short sales for distressed homeowners. That led to him becoming an REO listing agent for several major banks and asset management companies until the market picked up in 2012 and distressed inventory disappeared from the South Bay market.

Secrets of Success “Communication and listening are huge on the Xavier & Xavier Real Estate Team and we are always available to discuss a particular situation and will give people our honest opinion on whether we are the right Realtors® for their buying and selling or leasing needs,” Sam says.

And in the coming year, expect to see Xavier & Xavier start a networking and referral group with other local small business owners and entrepreneurs in the South Bay. In addition, they plan to continue building their business as senior specialists, focused on the geriatric care market and partnering with assisted-living and longterm care facilities. “We anticipate our presence in the Redondo Beach community increasing our exposure and expanding into surrounding communities and running our

business 100 percent by referral,” Sam states, noting he and Bindu will continue to focus on serving the areas of South Redondo Beach, West Torrance and begin doing more business in Palos Verdes Estates and surrounding communities, all aimed at increasing their business by 15-20 percent.

But life is not all business for this top-producing couple.

They are involved in the local PTA, sponsor the Redondo Beach Educational Foundation and donate a portion of their commission to those organizations. They also maintain a strong connection with the East Indian immigrants in West and South Torrance, where they get many referrals.

Sam says he also attends mass a few times a week, meditates and takes long walks along the beach with Bindu and their two kids, Sammy and Briana, and their dog Kobe.

He also finds inspiration in the memory of his father, who passed in 2011. “We know he would have been proud to see his name Xavier & Xavier today as a successful real estate brand in the South Bay Area!”

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XAVIER & XAVIER RE/MAX Estate Properties 1720 S. Elena Avenue Redondo Beach, CA 90277 Tel: 310-866-7598 info@xavierandxavier.com www.xavierandxavier.com www.southredondobeachrealestate.com CalBRE # 01449986 - 01818247 ExecutiveAgent Magazine