By Gissel Taveras
elinmobiliariodo@gmail.com
SANTO DOMINGO. - The biggest challenge for Indhira Desangles in the world of commercial, corporate-industrial real estate was to stand out professionally as a woman in a sector generally led by men.
“Contrary to what happens in the residential real estate sector, which is invaded by women, those who sell, from assistants, sales managers or owners of companies, the sector of selling warehouses or commercial premises is monopolized by men,” she says.
However, this has not been a barrier for Desangles, who is one of the most prestigious and outstanding experts in this area.
Through her company Desangles Properties, Indhira has managed to contribute to and help fulfill her clients' dream of finding the ideal space for their company or business.
Indhira Desangles. (External source).
As he tells El Inmobiliario, to achieve success he first had to prepare and study a lot, as well as gain experience in other areas to fit into his perfect job: corporate realtor.
But what is a corporate realtor?
Indhira points out that a corporate realtor is an agent dedicated exclusively to the sale and rental of commercial, corporate, and industrial real estate.
“In the corporate sector, you can find large buildings or warehouses, small or medium-sized premises, as well as land of various sizes,” he says.
Beginnings
Indhira started in the real estate sector in 2002 with an opportunity to work in Cap Cana, where she stayed for 12 years, as a real estate agent for high-end tourist properties.
“My clients and target audience, all I did was seek out and deal with international clients from Europe, mostly from Spain, and from the United States,” Desangles says.
His job was to attract clients, prospects who were into the high luxury of beach houses, within the Marina golf course, tennis courts, and everything related to the Cap Cana project.
With nostalgia, Indhira recalls that she specialized in that area for many years and met many dear people.
“It was a really cool, really nice job. I met a lot of dear people. It was during the best times in the real estate sector, when Cap Cana was the visionary, the most daring as a luxury residential tourism developer in the country, because of all the things they did, from construction, development, marketing sales plan, public relations and positioning of the country,” he reveals.
He points out that, while it is true that Casa de Campo had been on the market for many years, being a high-level project, Cap Cana added a lot of value to this sector and there is always a before and after in how real estate began to be marketed in the Dominican Republic, thanks to those companies and all those that were part of Cap Cana from the beginning.
A pause
After completing her work in Cap Cana, Indhira decided to take a break from real estate to fulfill another very challenging and important role in every woman's life: being a mother.
“I wasn’t really doing anything at that time, but many investors I had worked with for years kept calling me, saying things like, ‘Look what you have, I’m selling this, looking for that…’” he says.
I'm coming back in a big way
After some time, he decided to return to the real estate sector in 2015, but this time from his own project: Desangles Properties.
And as if they were waiting for her, when she begins to specialize in the corporate-industrial sector, she gets her first very important client.
“Well, at that stage I got a fairly large client, a corporation, for a property rental, and I started working again. I spent about eight or nine months understanding the market, what they were looking for with a representation of that client,” he explains.
While doing that work, he realized that it wasn't the typical sale of an apartment, a house, or a villa, but that he had to specialize, since he was quite passionate about it.
Then Indhira thought about taking the reins so as not to be just another agent and not to do everything, but to specialize.
“I became part of the Association of Real Estate Agents and Companies (AEI) and there, in one of the diploma courses, I understood that not all agents can be everything, that basically we had to specialize,” he adds.
Desangles didn't want to settle for what he had learned; he wanted to find someone specialized in the corporate sector who could teach him more, but he couldn't find anyone.
“I couldn’t find it because this specialization basically didn’t exist in the Dominican Republic. All the brokers specialize in tourism, residential properties, or low-cost properties, not in the commercial area,” he says.
She adds that over the years, there have been many agents in the country who have done many commercial things, but there was no one as specialized from whom she could seek mentorship or advice.
“There were no courses, talks, or anything related to those types of industries either.”.
However, this did not stop Indhira; as part of the AEI, she became a realtor, with specialized courses for international representations.
Thus, the expert made her way into the world of the commercial-industrial sector, where she has been working since 2015.
Then it specialized in the United States market, by type of client, type of property.
“People will always have the need to have a home, whether they are a recent graduate, because their parents gave them an apartment or they bought it themselves, whether it is a house because they got married, divorced, the family grew, or a house for vacations or as an investment.”.
He states that everyone needs their own residence, and that there will always be industrial corporate assets that will supply all those housing needs.
Message to young people
For young people who want to enter this area, understand that you must be prepared to be a little bit of everything.
“You need to have the knowledge of an appraiser, an architect, an engineer, and a decorator. Basically, you have to be very creative, very skilled, and always have God in your heart,” he advises.
Furthermore, he believes that you have to work with knowledge of the product and the company, knowing that you won't always have all the clients or all the properties.
“I understand that one must do teamwork, with professional colleagues; it is always good to have someone you can count on.”.
He adds that an agent represents a client or a company and that the purchase of that property probably represents the investment of their life, hence the importance of being well documented.
Every day Indhira gives thanks to God for everything, when a business deal goes through and when it falls through, "I always say thank you Lord, for what you give, thank you Lord for what you take away.".
Personal life
Originally from Santo Domingo, she is the second of four siblings, of Spanish and French descent, and lived in different cities in the country due to her father's work.
“I studied at the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), business administration, with a master's degree in marketing, I have done many diplomas in sales, marketing and others.
Indhira is married and has two children, a 12-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl, with whom she shares her time between her life as an agent, businesswoman and mother.
