Las Vegas native, real estate broker, Realtor and interior designer Crystal Miller has established an impressive career. Miller gave us an inside scoop on how the Las Vegas real estate market has evolved, new developments in the city and her personal blueprint on how she has become one of the top real estate professionals in the area. Learn more on how she produces tens of millions in sales and maintains a satisfied clientele base while she strategizes her business and career trajectory.
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Q: Can you explain to me the full scope of your work within the real estate niche here in Las Vegas? And the brokerage industry?
A: I actually got my real estate license in college before the market crash around ‘07. I got licensed and I wanted to do real estate but then the market crashed so I went back to focusing on my marketing degree. [Real estate] was a space that I wanted to be in but obviously being young and in college I just wasn't prepared for what that meant being a Realtor at that time.
I ended up buying my first house at 24 [years old] but didn't really have that Realtor experience so that was an eye opener for me because my Realtor really wasn't that involved. It was kind of like a referral from a family member and they just showed me a few houses. I ended up going with new construction at the time and then she kind of left me on my own. I was at my signing by myself but still very excited.
So flash forward to 30 years old, I am still working in the [nightlife] industry. Obviously, I knew that there was a shelf life for being in that industry and I didn't want to do that forever; it wasn't my passion. I just kept going back to real estate.
I graduated from UNLV and I had college credits to be a broker. So I went back to school, took my test as a broker and got my license. I immediately joined a team…with a veteran Realtor [which] I recommend for every new agent.
I would door knock. I would get up in the morning on a Saturday and what's crazy about it is at that time in my life I was doing well in nightlife but I treated [real estate] as if I didn't have a job. My bills were paid but I would get off from my nightclub shift at 5am and then go show houses and none of my clients ever really knew so I did that for as long as I could.
2019 was my breakout year where I finally did $10 million in sales by myself; I was really excited. So it was a few million dollar houses a year and I was like, “I could do this just by itself.” So I was preparing my exit strategy; then COVID happened and everything shut down.
I was already prepared to leave that year; that was going to be my last year doing both [nightlife and real estate.] Fate decided for me. I then did real estate full time and it's been amazing ever since.
2020 was by far my best year then 2021 happened, even better. Then ‘22 was even better. Now I’m doing this full-time as a broker and I'm at that impasse where now the next logical step is to start a team and really just grow my brand.
Q: That is so exciting that you are looking to grow your team and your brand. What was the turning point when you realized it’s time to expand?
A: I'm one person...I can't be everywhere. I mean in 2021 I closed 52 transactions; that's a house a week. I think anything more would have been a lot [for just me]...If I want to sell 100 houses a year I have to have a team. So that's where I'm at.
Q: Congrats on closing 52 transactions in a year! Can you go through the link between your education within marketing and how that affects your real estate and brokering business?
A: I had a marketing degree and it was interesting because I had applied for a couple of marketing roles but for different reasons nothing ever really jumped at me or pulled me. I really saw the correlation between marketing and real estate and was like, “Hey, this is something I could actually use what I learned in marketing to help me in real estate.” So I took a different approach early on with real estate.
I really identified how important social media marketing was and I started doing it early on. I was posting pictures of the houses and really putting it out there. I didn't realize how much I was going to use marketing in real estate until then. When I did, it was a game changer.
Q: What do you feel has been your biggest hurdle in breaking through to this level of success that you're experiencing now?
A: Initially, it was probably overcoming…myself. Now there's so many different lanes. I think people embrace diversity a little bit more but early on the stigmatism of everything and me being young [was a challenge.]
I'm a woman of color so I had to overcome those insecurities within myself because I was really hesitant at first to put myself out there…You just want people to see you for your knowledge and your hard work. As a young agent I didn't have a lot of experience so it was like, “How do I break into this market?”
People that were close to me kept saying, “Oh, well, getting a license is the easy part. Good luck.” Back then it [seemed] like everyone was in real estate. I had to overcome [lack of] experience and how people were going to see me.
Q: Seems like a lot of personal growth for you. In what ways have you witnessed the Las Vegas real estate market change throughout your career?
A: The growth is crazy! I feel like we're in such a new city…Just when you kind of learn an area or a community or a subdivision, something else goes up.
[I] just constantly have to stay ahead of things because clients want to know what's coming up. The biggest thing is just keeping on top of all the growth that's happening with people here locally but then also really being able to explain to people the benefit of choosing Vegas over other cities.
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Q: What are some of the main benefits?
A: Affordability, I have a lot of clients that relocate here especially from California, it's still affordable here. I know a lot of people don't feel that way because of the past two years, but that happened everywhere…Vegas is still affordable.
You do have people that are college educated for corporate roles, but you don't actually need that to thrive here. Like you could come here and find a job in hospitality and make five, six figures. The job opportunities here, the cost of living and no state income tax…It's perfect. It's very attractive for businesses.
The commute, the ease of getting around, you can get anywhere almost end-to-end in 45 minutes. I always tell my clients we're very spoiled here. We are like, “I can't drive there. It's too far,” and it's like 20 minutes. When you get your car in California you [may] be in traffic for two hours.
We have the same things that other major cities have as far as restaurants and dining. Like you go to New York and you're like, “I'm going to sit down at this Michelin star restaurant.” We have all that and now with sports, we're a player [when it comes to desirable places to live.]
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People retire in Vegas. So retirement or a second home…It's a big place for people that are like, “I'm going to take this money to invest in real estate in Vegas.” That's not their primary residence, but it's their second home. So we have a big market for that too.
When you're here you can get to other places [easily.] You can drive to get out of Vegas— drive to Cali, Utah or Arizona or fly, it's so quick to fly. You want to go to Colorado? You want to go to Miami? [We have] nonstop [flights.]
I have a cabin in Arizona. I like to travel. I'm so close to everything like even the Bay Area [is] a 45-minute flight. I like to actually get out of Vegas but I love coming back home to my house here.
For more information visit https://www.livingnlasvegas.com/
Photography by: By Thais Vieira
