Today we’d like to introduce you to Loriza Rubio
Loriza , we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I have been in property management for over two decades, since 1997. It is a fast-paced industry with high earning potential, benefits, professional and education growth in real estate, and even job stability, but it is the ability to make a positive impact on communities that has been my driving force throughout the years. I have helped develop and maintain many apartment communities in the Houston area with great passion to serve the community. Managing a community with such great diversity requires juggling multiple tasks and comes with responsibilities. It calls for a combination of social, financial, technical, and even legal skills.
Home is where the heart is and a big chunk of their budget, one third of a person’s income goes to rent on average, this is the qualification marker for most communities in the Houston area, thus it is imperative that we consider this when we are taking on this role. We might forget how important and impactful we are in the everyday life of the citizens of our beloved city, no one wants to go to work an 8 hour day and come home to a ac that is not working when Houston’s temperatures reach over 100 degrees, or get ready for a night out on the town in a tub that won’t drain, what we do impacts the everyday of the lives of our tenants and making sure they have a great place to came home to at the end of a day to rest their heads is, and should be just as important to us as the peace we get from going to our own homes.
Property management requires continuous marketing, strategic managing, coordinating repairs and preparing financial reports, on the hard days you play bad cop when it comes to discussing late payments, evictions, legalities, or other contract breaches, but on good days you pour love into your community and its people, and the gift of being part of their daily lives, and new journeys and memories are also just as fulling and why I am so passionate about what I do.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Overcoming Covid in property management was not easy, many lives were greatly impacted by the pandemic.
Many of us are aware of the impact covid had on our lives, and our economy. In that time, many lost their jobs and even their homes, many programs were instilled to help the citizens of our city but were not properly managed. Properties were lost, due to the misuse and mismanage of funds. Much of those funds were used to house the homeless who were not acclimated to residential living and no greater impact was seen that that of the beloved Galleria which is now the new Bissonnet due to the impact that it had when relocating the residents in and of our city to areas where the programs were accepted that made the biggest negative impact on our city then we had hoped or expected. I found 8 bodies in my first 8 weeks in a community that I managed in the Galleria. Theft and Murders were at an all-time high toward the end of the pandemic when funds for assistance ran low. Homeless increased greatly in our city during that time as well and many have not restabilized since then. I watched while those who were trying their best to maintain their jobs and keep up with their responsibilities and were essential workers received no help while those who did nothing but stay home received assistance, for me that was the hardest part in all the years that I have served the Houston community.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
The only thing that I would want to be known for is making a difference in our local communities, and we can do that one day at a time. Helping others learn this line of work but with a manner of care and consideration to them impact we have for me have gone hand in hand. We can always put love into our work, offer a small gesture can make a biggest impact someone’s day, something as little as feeling seen and heard inspires others, makes them feel important and that they matter, putting a smile on someone’s face, you can even genuine compliments like telling them how great they look that morning, how nice their outfit is can lift someone’s spirits. We can always offer a warm cup of coffee on the way to work, to make sure they have a great start to their day. Sometimes offering help even when it’s not asked for, such as when did you last get your filter changed, so that we ensure they stay cool on these long hot summer days because we care about you and value you as a resident, is a simple way of showing how important they are to us. We can find ways to show it thru our service. We can uplift one another by recognizing each other’s strengths, showing each other a little patience and grace, giving, and being honest also make a difference, and sometimes just giving someone a smile can be contagious.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Since Houston is such a large melting pot, a diverse city with great economic opportunities, I see growth.
I read an article that stated that over the past two years, Houston gained 23,000 residents during the pandemic alone. Houston has been cited as one of the youngest, fastest growing and most diverse cities in the nation with the seventh largest metro economy, according to Patsy Fretwell of the Colliers Houston Economic Outlook | 2023 – 2024 report, so with that amount of people coming to our city from all over the world, I see growth for our industry now and in the immediate future.
Image Credits
I do not take photos often. It is a simple selfie.
