Get the most from your holiday rental

By Renting September 21, 2018

I believe that. In fact, I know that. Starting my start-up career at Zillow (see this for some perspective) was a very good and very bad pre-cursor for my entrepreneurial journey over the past few years.

It was great in the fact that I now KNOW building a technology business at massive scale is possible; I’ve seen it done from the inside. Most people seriously question whether building something that reaches millions of consumers is possible, because they haven’t seen it with their own eyes

It was bad in the fact that, prior to starting my own company

I thought start-ups were easy. As an employee at Zillow, sure there were challenges, but from my perspective there was never any real risk the company wouldn’t succeed. That’s why I took a personal loan when I left in 2010 to buy my options; I knew there was basically zero chance I’d end up on the short end of the stick (and I didn’t). Of course, Zillow’s not the average start-up. Most start-ups don’t have $6 million in funding pre-launch, a team of 50+ without having shipped a product, or a founder with a multi billion dollar company that transformed an entire industry under his belt.

They seek product feedback and strategy. They want to know about problems and incentives for agents as well as consumers. They are looking to get a handle at how to gain adoption, traction, and partnerships in this massively complex and wide-reaching industry we operate in.

Many have no prior history in the industry. Others were agents at one time or another. Still others grew up in a real estate family.

I’ve seen 10 years of what has worked, and what hasn’t. When I hear a pitch or play with a product, I tell it how I see it, regardless of whether that’s what the founder wants to hear. Sometimes, it doesn’t validate their strategy.

About the Author
Jose Peralta
Jose Peralta
Since 2006 I have been a leading Realtor in the Los Angeles area. Having closed hundreds of transactions, and winning various awards, I am honored to be in the Re/Max “Hall Of Fame” for sales production. Through my career I have built deep relationships within the real estate community as well as highly successful business’ and investment groups. I have vast experience in traditional real estate sales, investments, flip properties, and other aspects of real estate As a personal touch agent with extensive market knowledge and complete devotion to my clients my success is based almost exclusively on positive referrals.

Specialties Include: negotiating contracts, providing detailed analysis of specific market areas, sales and marketing, relationship building, flipping properties and real estate investment strategies.

While going to college I began working for a company in Los Angeles that produced ink and toner cartridges. I began there in purchasing and worked my way up to manage and lead the production department. I oversaw all of the purchasing for the company, oversaw the inventory and scheduled production lines according to sales. After working with the company for 3 years I moved down to San Diego and worked for a sales company within the same industry as their international sales manager. There I helped build new relationships with various people in foreign markets. I specialized in creating collection programs with companies in Spain, South America, Mexico and Central America. This position gave me time to craft my sales skills and learn how to apply them. Shortly after that I became part of a start up team and created my own company. We worked hard as a start up and within a few years built a profitable multi-million dollar ink and toner cartridge business. The company focused on collecting empty ink and toner cartridges from other countries. We also created fundraising programs with local schools throughout the United States. We helped local schools in various parts of the country to organize their students and staff to bring in recyclable ink cartridges, toner cartridge and cell phones and receive a donation for them. We also implemented the program with various Chambers of Commerce. The company was later successfully merged and I stayed on to consult for some time. During this time I started to get a passion for real estate. I began with investing in some duplex properties and decided I wanted to learn more and get more involved. I started working at Re/Max and was mentored by an agent that had over 15 years of experience. Under her mentorship I came to appreciate and love the ability to help clients with their real estate needs. I started a team and have always stayed focused on putting my client’s needs first. Real estate can be intimidating even for a seasoned buyer and seller. I pride myself in working closely with my clients to try to make the process as seamless as possible. I am responsible for building and maintain relationships with potential buyers, sellers and investors. Although I started in a down market I have seen nothing but growth within our team.