ABQHomeTalk.com

Most people don’t realize that Realtors® don’t get a salary or benefits of any kind. We are all independent contractors. If we make a sale we get a commission and if we don’t… we get nothing. It’s somewhat of a “sink or swim” system, but if we are always working and always promoting our listings we can make it work.

The other misconception that many have is that Real Estate Agents can only sell homes that are listed by their own company or brokerage. That is to say, Century 21 agents can only sell Century 21 listings and Coldwell Banker agents can only sell… (well, you get the idea). That can’t be farther from the truth! The reality is any agent can sell any homes listed provided that it appears in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), the database where all homes are marketed for sale.

Century 21 Unica

However, just because we are all independent contractors doesn’t mean where we hang our license lacks importance. What can matter is the location and philosophy of one’s brokerage. For example, Century 21 Unica, the brokerage where we at The Sugar Team decided to hang our license is located right on 1717 Carlisle Blvd NE, just South of Indian School. We are located smack-dab in the middle of Albuquerque, conveniently close to I-40, I-25, Nob Hill, Spruce Park, Netherwood Park, Ridgecrest and the University of New Mexico. From our ideal location we can get pretty much anywhere in Albuquerque within about 10 minutes. This becomes very important to our Clients if they need to come into our office to sign paperwork in a jiffy. At the same time, because of our proximity and ties to the community, we find ourselves focusing a lot of our real estate efforts in the UNM area, Nob Hill, Downtown and the North East Heights.

Our connections to the community as well are nothing to sneeze (bark) at. Sutter Sugar runs a free

Barking Lot Sale

Spanish Conversational Group in Albuquerque as well as donates time to the Cervantes Institute at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Linda Sugar is a professional painter, donating her beautiful paintings to many wonderful causes. Finally, our brokerage Century 21 Unica gives a portion of its proceeds to breast cancer and AIDS research, the Animal Humane Society and other charities and organizations. In fact, once a quarter we organize a “Barking Lot Sale” right in our own front parking lot. You can rent a space and sell your own garage sell items for a nice profit, you can donate them to us and we’ll sell them for you, or you can just come by and pick through some wonderful finds. Either way, all the proceeds go to Animal Humane. Our next Barking Lot Sale will be Saturday May 12^th. Contact The Sugar Team today to reserve your spot!

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Capitan Unica

-¿Cómo se llama ‘jelly fish’ en español?

-¡Medusa!

-¿Y ‘shark’?

-¡Tiburón!

This could be a conversation you might overhear at the Albuquerque Aquarium on a Saturday morning. Or you might encounter a similar exchange at the museum at Albuquerque’s National Hispanic Cultural Center… or maybe even at the downtown Salsa club. But don’t be alarmed! This is Albuquerque’s Spanish Meetup!

Spanish Meetup is a free local Spanish language and Spanish conversational group organized by Sutter Sugar open to all levels where we meet at different venues throughout Albuquerque to discuss a topic en español without overly stifling people from trying to get their idea across in Spanish. In the past we have done everything from dining together at Spanish-speaking restaurants, receiving tours of the Zoo and Aquarium in Spanish, taking salsa-dancing classes and even hearing a lecture on Day of the Dead. The goal has always been to gain the confidence to speak Spanish and just have fun.

It might seem that Sutter a zealous Realtor® originally from San Francisco might not be the most qualified person to run Albuquerque Spanish Meetup, but his resume really speaks for itself. After receiving a B.A. from the University of Washington in Spanish and then a M.A. also in Spanish from the University of New Mexico, he always felt that he wanted to continue to contribute to lovers of Spanish, whether it be volunteering at the language school Instituto
Cervantes, maintaining ties to his beloved Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of New Mexico or simply running Albuquerque Spanish Meetup. If asked he would state it succinctly in three words: “¡Yo quiero español!”