We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nadia Fakih a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Nadia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Commitment, focus, ambition. Fail forward, learn from every mistake you make.

Nadia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My parents were immigrants, my father from a war-torn Country (Lebanon) and my mother from a third world country (Trinidad & Tobago) . Growing up, we struggled to achieve the American Dream. They worked hard to give us everything we wanted and more . Their hard work and determination resonated and their ability to provide a balance of culture and ethics shapes who I am today.

I realized there was an opportunity for us to become successful. My goal was to ensure that we never had to experience the bad times ever again.

I began working with my mother at the age of 16 as a loan processor at a mortgage company. At the time we lived in Las Vegas. My father drove a taxi cab at nights and worked in the restaurant industry during the day. Soon after my mom got her real estate license and I became her chauffeur. At the time, there were no iPhones or google maps. I would drive her clients around Las Vegas, listening to her sell real estate. It wasn’t long before I became her little assistant, selling homes to any and everyone that I met who could qualify.

We became very successful, we opened a mortgage company and soon my youngest sister, Sarah, became licensed at 18 years old, joining the family business.

My father was able to pursue his dream and the family decided to open a restaurant of our own. We used the establishment to network and grow our real estate business and both industries fed one another.

After 6 years, my sister and I both graduated with our undergraduate degrees and decided to pursue our Graduate Studies. We found ourselves living in Southern California, working for a small real estate brokerage selling REO’s and short-sales. It was then A local commercial broker brought to our attention an opportunity to open a restaurant on the famous Sunset Boulevard, in Hollywood.

The trials and tribulations we experienced with the start up of that business was a lesson of a lifetime. We fought the city and council members to survive. The restaurant thrived for 6 years, all the while I still dabbled in Real Estate and got an Executive MBA at Thunderbird School of International Business. My sister, got married and moved to Dallas. She obtained her Law Degree at SMU.

Shortly after I met my husband, a regular at my restaurant- we decided to start a family of our own and join Sarah and her family in Dallas.

We soon saw the opportunities in Dallas Real Estate and began Niche Realty Group. Using our comprehensive knowledge of commercial and residential real estate, we joined Compass in 2020 and are now the #1 team in North Texas. With over $250M in sales since 2020, we have been name to producing agents by D magazine and REAL producers.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In 2020, I was given an opportunity by an investor to purchase a home from an auction in cash. Using my constant knowledge and eye for design we renovated our first home and made our investors a 30% cash on cash return in 4 months. This was the beginning of a Niche Market for me. Since then, I have renovated and designed over 40 homes and have grown my business exponentially. There was a lack of inventory- and therefore my ability to acquire distressed properties and showcase them in today’s market has become my primary focus.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I began flipping houses, I made mistakes that were at no fault to the investors. I had to pay money out of pocket to untrustworthy contractors. There were instances where houses did not profit – I would concede my commissions to make my investors profitable. I basically learned on their dime and was certain that my losses would turn to gains in the near future.

In 2022, I changed my business strategy by focusing on larger homes with higher profit margins. Instead of acquiring a ton of small houses all over DFW, I would get one Large home in the most desirable locations and focus on less projects. This would allow for my subcontractors to stay in one area on one project at a time and in turn, my investors would make a better ROI.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.compass.com/agents/nadia-fakih/?fbclid=PAAabsM2Qa6NZZVuIfvDgj7aXQo1tatIalKwwnE4CPpsnSJh9okGjURM_TBEg
• Instagram: @nadiafakihrealtor
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nadia.fakih.37?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadia-fakih-420ba84a