When Connie Torres got divorced, shehad two children to raise on her own —Jannell and Jacob, who was only 3 at thetime. Never one to allow circumstancesto pull her down, she grabbed the reinsof her destiny and made fundamentalchanges in her life; changes that todaypositively impact all three lives.
Connie grew up helping her parents intheir small family business — a tortillafactory. She discovered a natural talentfor salesmanship. When she was firstmarried she turned that knack intoselling home–based business productsand saw a healthy jump in income. Butshe had harbored a long love affair withreal estate and chose to move into thatfield, albeit on a part time basis.
She entered the real estate world atone of the toughest times in the early1980s, but did not allow that to deter her.
“I was fortunate enough that I wasonly doing it part time, and I was notcompletely reliant on that income for myfamily,” Connie says.
However, being a single mother,Connie saw that her family becametotally dependent upon her. She took onthe challenge by working long hours inthe accounting field to provide the bestshe could for her kids.
“I worked so much that Jacob livedduring the week with one of my sisters,”she says. “I’d pick him up from school soI could at least see him for a few minutesand then get him for the weekend.”
Jannell, in the meantime, was workingjust as hard to help the family. Afterfinishing high school she was hiredby UPS and worked her way up into amanagement position of their call center.Unlike other young women her age whosometimes think mostly of themselves,and what they can spend their salary on,Jannell wanted to help her family. Herface creases into a big grin as she recallsa phone call she made to her mom oneday a few years back.
“Mom was working two jobs, but herfirst love has always been real estate,”Jannell says. “She had been held backfrom making it a full time career becauseof the financial uncertainty at the outset.I called her at one of her jobs one day, ajob she absolutely hated and said, ‘Mom.Quit. Quit right now. I got a promotionhere at UPS and I make enough to coverall our bills. Get into real estate fulltime.’”
Connie nods in agreement: “It wasgreat to tell my manager I was quittingthat very minute.”
Driven to succeed, it didn’t takeConnie long to find her niche in realestate. She became the No. 1 sellingagent for the real estate company shewas with. Ever the entrepreneur andencouraged by her children, Connieopted to get her broker’s license andopen her own real estate company– Towers Realty and Investments inJanuary 2003.
“Torres is the Spanish word for‘tower,’” explains Jacob, who joined thefamily business in 2008. “It’s a nice playon our last name; but we also use theHemisphere Tower in our logo, to bringhome that we are a San Antonio basedcompany.”
Not unsurprisingly, success followedConnie to her own firm. Investorsfrom all over the country contactedher to purchase investment homes forthem. Towers Realty does not stop atpurchasing the property on the investor’sbehalf, the company oversees theirmaintenance and rents them out.
“We are a management company aswell,” says Jacob, “but we are a personalcompany. We have a relationship withthe tenants and with the owner.”
Family loyalty was tested againrecently. Jacob, an accomplished golfer,was invited to the Hawaiian Classic in2006. Jannell and Connie accompaniedhim on the trip. While there, Jannellreceived a life–changing phone call.
“My manager called to tell me thatUPS was closing the call center in SanAntonio, effective immediately,” Jannellsays. “They were moving to NorthCarolina. I had to move there to keep mycurrent position.”
Jannell told her mother and brotherabout the call. “I told her not to worryabout it right then. We were on vacation,she was not to allow it to spoil herholiday,” Connie says. “Once we returnedhome I suggested she get her real estatelicense. ‘Try it for a year,’ I told her. ‘Ifyou don’t like it after a year, then you goand find another job.’”
Fortunately for the Torres family,Jannell was another natural in the realestate industry when she joined in 2006and says she absolutely loves what shedoes.
The loyalty that has seen this familythrough trials is ingrained into theTorres’, and spills out into their workethic. They’ve got one another’s backs,but if you work with them, they’ve gotyour back too. They are faithful to a fault,and honest as well.
“I am always honest with my clients,”says Connie. “I may tell them things theymight not want to hear, but they willalways hear the truth from me.”
Tenants who rent through TowersRealty are also positively impacted.Approximately 90 percent of theirtenants go on to buy a home, either theone they are renting, or another one thatthe Torres’ sell to them, Connie says.
One lady in particular never thoughtshe would be in a position to own ahome, but Connie made it possible. Shestill has the angel pin this lady sent her,along with the note that reads, “You aremy angel.”
