Every team, every topic, everywhere. This is Belief. Welcome to Stay On Course with me, Julie Riga. My life has been a roller coaster of highs and lows. But what I know to be true is that when we are grounded in our purpose and savor the sweet moments of life, we are truly a success. Today, you are going to get the ingredients for success because life is salty and life is sweet. Together, let's explore the possibilities of our own lives and learn from thought leaders around the globe. Ready guys? Let's cook it. You were thriving on your own until leading others became your new reality. I'm Julie Riga and I created Before I Lead for high achievers like you, CEOs, new leaders, and side hustlers who've hit that uncomfortable space from doing it all to having to lead it all. It's not just a skill gap. It's an identity shift. You're overwhelmed. You're doubting. You're stuck between growth and burnout. Let's change that. Join me at beforeilead.com or visit julieriga.com because it's time to stop surviving the shift and start owning it. Welcome, welcome everyone to the next edition of the Stand Course Podcast. Today I have Mila Snyder, a South Florida real estate advisor with Lair Realty Partners Bowen. Mila helps buyers, sellers, investors, and relocating families navigate both coasts of Florida with confidence, care, and clear communication. Mila knows what it feels like to make a big move. After coming to the United States and spending five very cold years in Vermont, she packed her belongings into her car, drove straight to Florida, and never looked back. And today, she uses that personal experience along with her knowledge of both the Sunrise Coast and the sunset coast to help clients choose not just the right home, but the right lifestyle. This episode is brought to you by Investment Current. My friend Mitch Abel learned trading the hard way. He lost $150,000 starting out, but six months later, he made it all back. And now he is on a mission to help others build real generational wealth by mastering three things, patience, discipline, and emotional control. If you're ready to think bigger about your financial future, start your five-day free trial at investmentcurrent.com. That's investmentcurrent.com. Mila, welcome to the Stand Course Podcast. Thank you. Thank you, Julie. Thank you for having me. I love it. Before we get started, I ask all of my guests, what is your favorite food? well i am an american made in ukraine and i was born raised and grew up in ukraine and of course ukrainian cuisine is still my favorite but as an american i would say it's probably steak and i'm not talking about a piece of meat i'm talking about seasoning my husband and i would just recently discovered the seasoning. It's called Chicago steak seasoning. All you need just a good piece of meat, Chicago seasoning and grill. Try it. You'll never regret. Oh my gosh. Well, thank you. I love a good steak. I think it is so American. It's so very American. So I would love to hear more about your story, your Florida story. How did you get here, Mila? Very simple. You know, Florida is just amazing. I did visit once, one town, and I said, I want to be here. I want to be in this warm weather, in this sunshine state. And I just simply, over a decade ago, I packed my carved with my personal belongings only, drove all the way down and started all over and never regretted even for one single day since then. And to be honest with you, I really didn't know Florida that much at that time. I just knew that, oh yeah, it's sunshine, it's warm, it's the ocean. And I had no idea that Florida offers so many different lifestyles and opportunities. that's why now as today as real estate agent i help my clients explore the best of both coasts east and west sunrise and sunset so they can find the lifestyle that fits them best not just a place a place to live i love that so you're specializing in both coasts let's take one coast at a time tell us about the sunrise coast first and then let's talk about the sunset coast sunrise is palm beach martin and saint lucie county and sunset is sarasota d sota in charlotte County. Awesome. And so what should we be looking out for, for the sunrise communities? I know they're building a lot in West Palm Beach and the Palm Beaches. This is like the hot place to be right now. Tell us a little bit from your perspective, what, what people should be looking out for what we should be thinking about Obviously it the same weather right But different lifestyles And the only reason I know and the only reason I started to work on both sides because we do own homes in both, both coasts. And when I discovered more opportunities, besides just Palm Beach, besides just Sunrise, then I decided that I need to announce it to the world, to all my people. I would say price is slightly different. Lifestyle is different. And beaches are different. One is the ocean. The other is Gulf of America. And it depends what you like, sunrise or sunset. You know what we found out with my husband? We do like the beach, right? And we like to watch sunrise and we like to watch sunset. But for sunset, it's a little bit, I apologize. For sunrise, it's a little bit more complicated because you have to get up early before work you know most of the time we cannot find this time but for sunset it's after work you definitely can afford it so we see sunset more often than we yeah it's true and i love like because i've visited the sunset coast and there is like a ritual to it there's a lot of people out on the beach and it's like it's like a thing every day yeah uh approximately 15-20 minutes before the sunset i don't think you will be able to find a parking spot it's really fun i mean there there's something to be said for both coasts i think and a lot of people right now mila are coming from new york new jersey connecticut the tri-state area. They all want to be in Florida, you know, so now with you, they get to have the opportunity to explore both the East coast and the West coast of Florida. I don't think a lot of realtors are doing this right now. Right. And you know, this allows me to guide people with real time knowledge from both sides of the state. And just last month, I helped a family from New England by introducing to the advantages of both coasts. And together we found the right fit, not just financially, but for their lifestyle too. And it was not where they initially started their search. So I'm very proud of it. Yeah, well, that's the thing. When you're from the North, you don't know what's here until you get here and you spend a little bit of time or you have a guide helping you figure out, do you want to live on the East Coast? What does that mean for you? Or do you want to live on the West Coast? I live on the East Coast and I tell people that this is the best place. But then I have people that are coming from the North that I know that are my friends that want to live on the West Coast because they've been to Sarasota, they've been to Clearwater and it's just beautiful there. So it's a tough, tough call. So true. Yes, it is. But in order to make a decision, you need to be introduced. And I'm here for you. Awesome. Well, we know that buying and selling a home is more complicated than looking at homes online. Tell us a little bit about, you know, what people should be doing if they're first looking for a house. I highly recommend to connect with real estate agent. and even if it's not even not me it doesn't matter you need somebody you need the professional who will walk you through the details there's so many things in realist new things in real estate and constantly updating new laws new contracts new market trend it's impossible to know right It's like when you go to a doctor, you don't go to a therapist or you don't go online to treat yourself, right? You may do discover a little bit, but eventually you go to a professional. And there's so many details which are important to follow. and missing one thing can, you know, it's important to keep money safe, not lose opportunity, don't lose your time. Just give it to the professional and let that professional take all worries away from you. Yeah. And, you know, when I think about all the times I bought and sold homes, it kind of all comes down to this. And I always tell people it's location, location, location. It is really about the location of the home because all these other things are somewhat changeable. You can fix the inside of the house. You can fix the bathroom, the kitchen, you can build things, right? But you can't change the location once you buy the house. And I think that if you're happy with the basic structure of the house and the location of the house, those are the top priorities, at least for me as a, as a buyer. And I bought a lot of homes. But what I love about what you're doing is you're able to share with them a, so a variety of different locations and, but by yourself, like if you're just trying to find a home by yourself, You can't do that. Right. Yeah. And to be honest with you, a lot of people think that real estate agent job is to show homes. Yes, it is a part of the job. But if you have a real estate agent who just shows homes and think this is it then you probably in the wrong direction It a door opener Honestly real job for real estate agent starts when you found a home We, real estate agents, we put all people together. And there's a lot of people involved in this transaction. It's a lender. It's an inspector. It's a title company. It's an attorney. There's a lot of people. we keep all together. We do work for you. I love it. And so Mila, this, the podcast is called Stay On Course Ingredients for Success. And I know that you have your own special way of working with people. I'd love to hear about your ingredients for success while you're working with your clients. Yes. It's, it's a very good question. And there's of course, tons of ingredients. I would underline probably three the most important, three the most I found valuable. So we can talk about it nonstop, of course. Discipline. Discipline is one of the most important qualities in real estate. And it's often the part that clients never see. It's not flashy. It's quiet. It happens behind the scene. And it happens every single day. and it's time management you know i'm my only uh own boss and managing my time well staying organized is very important it also means communicating um with everybody it's committing to continuing education um our industry as i mentioned before has a lot of updates regularly and staying informed allows me to provide the best advice and service. And of course, keeping every transaction moving forward means paying attention to important days and missing one detail can cost time, money, and even opportunities. second ingredient which is not less important is accountability and it means showing up following through and communicating constantly whether i have good news bad news or simply no news people deserve an update and silence create anxiety uncertainty and unnecessary stress I've seen many agents avoid difficult conversations because they don't have the answer someone wants to hear. I do the opposite. I'm proactive. I give heads up to prepare for all scenarios and I definitely stay present. I communicate and I communicate honestly and support you every step of the way. You will never feel alone. yeah and you know it is there's a lot here you know they say that moving is one of the most stressful life events you could possibly have that's true and for a lot of people it's it's first of all it's very expensive transaction right purchase it's not like you go and buy shoes when you go buy shoes you still make a choice right and for a lot of people it's probably the only purchase in their life. Of course, it's very stressful and they want somebody to hold their hand through the process. Oh my gosh, Mila, I remember, I'll never forget like the first, I bought and sold a bunch of houses, but the paperwork. Oh my gosh, especially at closing. I was like, are they serious with this? I thought it was a joke. You know, there was over a hundred pages and like a hundred signatures or something like this. It was crazy. And I could just, uh, remember how much I relied on my real estate agent to help me through the process. There's a lot to learn. There's a lot to know. And I'm actually a Florida director and I do go to all the meetings in Orlando and Tallahassee. And I hear all the updates from the first source. very important to know all the forms we have let me just give you an example um i don't remember maybe it was five four years ago um i had a couple who successful very happy they purchased a home and here's the day to move in right everybody signed everything and they're going back to the house and the current owner have not moved their stuff yet they still were in process you know and my people are waiting and waiting hour two three and you know it's getting a little bit more complicated obviously everybody is rushing and they broke a front door by accident obviously moving the stuff right and they're like oh don't worry we will we will the current owner we will fix it nobody will fix it unless you sign a document and i was there for them and we did and we legalized everything and even with a signed document it still took us about six months to get it fixed wow otherwise it would be their expense and you know my job here is also to protect your money. I love that. You know, my commitment does not end at the closing table. I'm here way before the transaction, obviously during the transaction and after the transaction is completed. My goal is not just help someone buy, sell, rent a house. It built a lifelong relationship based on trust honestly and reliability You know what they say Your brand is not your logo or your headshot. It's what people say about you when you're not in the room. I love that. It's true. It's true. And your ingredients for success will be those things that people talk about. Mila, what's the last ingredient? You said there were three. I think we got two so far. Yeah, it's balance. You can, how do I put it? You cannot pour from an empty cup. And I do follow the rule of five Fs. It's finance, family, fitness, fun, and faith. And I make room for all of it. between my husband and I, we have four daughters. They all live in different states. We visit them. We cruise. We golf. We play pickleball. We go to church. We party. And we, of course, work and work a lot and hard. Which is like what we all do. We all strive to have a balanced life. helping people with their real estate needs. I also want them to find balance in their new chapter as well. Yeah, I think it's so important. I think like, what I was thinking is that you're the model for the people that are now buying because really, when you buy a house, it's a new chapter, right? You start a new chapter of your life. And when you start a new chapter of your life, you want to make sure that you have balance, that you have community, that you have a faith-based community, you have friends and you have activities that will help you, first of all, stay active and young, but also just overall really add to the enjoyment of your life. Right. We buy house not to be stressed. We buy house to enjoy the life. Yeah. And you're helping people with this every day. It's very exciting. It is. I'm excited for every single person. And I tell everybody, I'm here not for the transaction. I'm here to make you happy. If you're happy, you will come back. If you're not, you'll give me a bad review and I don't want that to happen. Yeah, this is true. And, you know, where you live is one of the most important decisions of your life. And so having a trusted advisor like you, Mila, to help somebody go through that very stressful process and do it with grace and ease. I mean, there is no better opportunity. So what would you like to say in closing to people that are listening if they're on the fence about working with you here in the state of Florida? Call me anytime. You will never feel alone. Doesn't matter we are under contract or you're just getting ready or maybe in not even near future i'm here for you to help to explain and get you prepared amazing mila where can people find you any social media and probably the easiest way just type the future is brighter with mila snyder and it will pop up. Awesome. Awesome. Do you want to leave people with your email address or phone number so they can reach out to you directly? My phone number is 561-727-9835. Thank you, Mila, for being a guest on the Stay On Course podcast. Thank you, Julie, for having me. My dad, Annie Arriga, was not just a chef. He was my hero. From the hardships of World War II to the heights of culinary excellence, his story is nothing short of remarkable. Now, this story lives on in Stay On Course, a book that is very close to my heart. It's filled with his own words, his recipes, and the wisdom he imparted to me. Just imagine, four months before he passed, he handed me his life story, urging me to finish it. In these pages, you'll discover the secrets behind mouthwatering dishes and the lessons he taught me about leadership and perseverance. And trust me, there are some incredible tales in here, like the time he pulled off a birthday bash for Frank Sinatra with just 48 hours notice. So if you're hungry for inspiration and craving a taste of Ennio's legacy, go to julieriga.com. That's www.julieriga.com. Thank you for listening to another episode of Stay On Course. Please don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast so Julie can continue serving up delectable experts and appetizing content directly to your earbuds. And remember, right now you have the ingredients to be living the life you are meant to live. This has been a production of Stay On Course Studios. That's stayoncourse.studio. If you like the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe. It really does help the show to grow. Thank you for listening.
