Just five years into the real estate business, Diana Galavis already is a beacon for her profession and her peers.
Galavis is a familiar face and respected voice at City Hall and the Florida Capitol, where she tenaciously advocates for homeowner rights and property investment.
She also puts her money where her mouth is: The “Crystal R” pin Galavis wears daily reveals she’s a major Realtor Political Action Committee (RPAC) donor.
Galavis’ mother, fellow real estate professional Millie Kanyar, says her daughter has always been determined. And big-hearted.
But, Realtors shouldn’t bother asking to borrow Galavis’ trademark “sold” sign.
She’ll say no.
“That’s the one thing I’m selfish about,” the 34-year-old Watson Realty Corp. broker associate said.
With the word “sold” emblazoned in white across a red background, the sign is simple, if not downright artless.
But it’s huge.
Six feet of marketing ingenuity.
And in Northeast Florida, at least, Galavis aims to be the only Realtor who shares the news of her latest real estate transactions in such a grandiose way.
She got the idea from a peer in Mississippi. After brokering real estate transactions, the two agents often share photos and the hashtag #giantsoldsign.
“It’s part of my branding,” Galavis said. “I’m known for my giant sold sign throughout the state, actually.”
Her unwillingness to be generous to her peers stops there, though.
Indeed, because of the personal involvement and support she’s given to the profession through the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors, Galavis was selected as the organization’s 2015 Realtor of the Year. She received the award last month.
“Proud doesn’t come close to describe how I feel about being able to watch her develop and see her commitment, which is exactly what we need in our industry right now,” said Kanyar, a longtime leader in Jacksonville’s real estate community.
Among her advocacy and community service roles, Galavis chairs NEFAR’s Legislative and RPAC Awareness and Events committees; helps screen political candidates; and meets with local leaders to discuss issues like blight sign ordinances and vacant property registries.
She also conducts seminars, helped start a NEFAR young professional’s council and is involved with the Women’s Council of Realtors and Northeast Florida Builders Association.
Advocacy and service, Galavis says, are just as important as showing homes.
“I really don’t think of it as balancing things because it’s one in the same, to me,” she said. “I think we have a duty (to serve) and a responsibility to know every aspect of the business because when someone comes to you, you’re not just selling them a home, they are opening their lives up to you.”
A Jacksonville native and graduate of Bishop Kenny High School and the University of North Florida, Galavis is the product of servant leaders.
Individually and with her parents and brother, Galavis has volunteered for as long as she can remember.
“It’s just what we did. My parents always believed in giving back to the community,” she said.
Kanyar hoped her daughter would follow her into the real estate profession, but Galavis had different ideas.
She aspired to be an attorney and received a degree in political science on the same day her mother received a law degree.
Then, Galavis got married, helped run her husband’s flooring business and moved with him to the Dominican Republic. The couple returned to Jacksonville a few years later looking for new opportunities — and Galavis quickly found one.
All it took was attending a national Realtors convention. Today, Galavis and Kanyar lead the four-person Impact Team out of Watson’s Jacksonville Beach office.
“I rode to New Orleans in the middle of the backseat in a car full of Realtors … and when I came back home, I said, ‘I’m going to be a Realtor’ and enrolled in the Watson School of Real Estate,” she said.
Galavis said she was drawn to the profession by the energy and spirit at the convention, where she came to the realization that selling real estate “is much bigger than opening a door.”
That’s the push behind another social media hashtag of hers: #MoreThanAHouse.
“When you have the keys to a house, you’re opening the door to so much more than a home,” she said. “It’s people’s jobs, their schooling, their insurance, their parks, their communities — I could keep going on and on.”
Galavis says her experience as a small business owner provided her with perspective that has greatly benefitted her real estate career.
“If you didn’t go out and get it, you didn’t get your paycheck,” she said.
Motherhood also has provided a broader view of the profession — along with some extra motivation. She and her husband, Carlos, have a 2-year-old son, Charlie.
Watson President Ed Forman says Galavis exemplifies “the future of our industry.”
“She is extraordinary,” he said. “I am very proud when someone of her caliber chooses a career in real estate and totally commits herself to education, professionalism, involvement and participation.”
Galavis credits much of her success to the support she receives from her mother and Watson’s leadership team, but says attending the Florida Realtors Leadership Academy produced her “aha moment” in the business.
“That’s where I was able to really learn the ins and outs — and that this business is more than local,” she said. “I learned that collectively, Realtors can make a difference as one voice together all pushing for homeownership and for private property rights for communities.”
Kanyar says she’s always known her daughter was born to be in the real estate profession. It was just a matter of when Galavis realized it, too.
“If she commits to doing something, she’s in 110 percent. It’s been that way since she was a kid, whether it was swimming or softball or gymnastics or whatever,” Kanyar said. “Giving everything you have is important, especially if you’re going to be in this industry for the long haul.”