Latino Realtor, Salma Torres Wins Top Spanish Realtors Award

“You don’t really work for awards. But when they come, it’s nice.”

Awards might not be everything, but they are undoubtedly an acknowledgment of a job well done. So, when any member of our team wins an award, we see it as a justification for all the hard work and professionalism we put into our craft. This time, it’s the Latino realtors awards!

Your favorite Spanish-speaking realtor in Chicago – big girl Salma Torres – is the latest recipient of another award on the Crystal Tran team. 

The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) recently announced its NAHREP 2022 Top Latino Agents Awards. HuntChicago’s own Salma Torres clinched a spot among this elite group of Latino realtors across the United States. 

More of this news below… 👇

Salma Torres – Top Latino Realtor in Chicago

They say we can’t help who we fall in love with. 

But even more frustratingly, we simply can’t help who falls in love with us. 

For Chicago Spanish-speaking realtor, Salma Torres, her love for real estate kicked in at a young age. Her real estate passion stemmed from her interest in home design. However, her adult life began in the corporate sector where she “honed the skills necessary to ensure complete customer satisfaction, which I now apply in my real estate practice to bring outstanding results for my clients,” in her own words.

Armed with her background in business management education and experience and a passion for excellent customer satisfaction, Salma now dedicates her time and expertise to “showcasing the special aspects of our Greater Chicago region,” helping homeowners and aspiring homebuyers navigate the Chicago real estate market. 

Salma Torres is a member of the high-flying Crystal Tran real estate team in Chicago.  

That star-studded team is led by another top Chicago realtor, Crystal Tran. 

Recently the team also clinched a spot on the CRAIN’S 2022 Notable Chicago Real Estate Brokers Award, for the second year in a row. Salma and her teammate’s efforts drove an incredible 192% increase in units sold and a 377% increase in sales volume for the Crystal Tran team in just 2021. 

On her own, Salma Torres powered 52 transactions with an eight-figure sales volume. 

This personal milestone landed her a spot on the prestigious 2022 NAHREP Top 250 Latino Agents Award. Salma Ranked #222 nationally and #50 among the top-performing Hispanic realtors in the Midwest. “I hope to continue helping to change someone’s life whether that means helping them find a home where they can make lasting memories or make important real estate investment decisions,” Salma says.  

NAHREP Top 250 Latino Realtors Award

The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) prides itself as the voice of Hispanic real estate. Headed by Luis Padilla, NAHREP‘s sole mission is to help empower Latino realtors to serve as “trusted advisors and passionate advocates to help more Hispanic families achieve the American Dream in a sustainable way that empowers them for generations to come.”

Every year, NAHREP organizes the Top 250 Latino Agents Awards. 

The Top 250 Latino Agents Awards is a performance-based award that recognizes and seeks to honor the best-performing Latino realtors and Latino-led real estate teams across the United States. 

This award is generally believed to be the Hispanic real estate’s most prestigious award. 

As facilitators in the struggle to increase the rate of sustainable homeownership in the United States, the organization recognizes the importance of honoring the professionals who dedicate their time and expertise to making homeownership a reality for families across the country. 

Hispanic homeownership continues to grow at a rapid pace across the United States. Considering the substantial structural barriers that people of Hispanic origins often face in the struggle for homeownership, the housing industry must evolve to support the growing needs of this community. NAHREP’s goal is to make the homeownership process more accessible and sustainable for Latino families across the country. 

Riding the Hispanic homeownership wave in Chicago

According to a recent study by the Urban Institute;

Latinos will account for roughly 70% of home ownership growth from 2020 to 2040. 

While this seems like great news on the surface (it truly is!) – considering the fact that the percentage of young households (households headed by someone below 65 years of age) was just 7.3% in 1990 – Latinos in the US still struggle with several structural barriers on their journey to homeownership. This makes homeownership – a cornerstone of the American dream – a fleeting illusion for many Latino families. “For me, a Latino realtor, myself, I understand how particularly challenging this can be,” Salma Torres says. 

Latino households have historically had to deal with inequitable access to credit and down payments. This not only impacts homeownership ability but also denies people the ability to build wealth through real estate. 

There is a critical need to evolve the real estate ecosystem to break down (or at least reduce) these barriers to meet the growing needs of every American homebuyer. 

The growing rate of Latino homeownership

Latino homeownership increased by 48.4% in 2021, according to the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. “With Chicago being one of the US’s top cities with the most Hispanic population, my goal here is to help Latinos, as well as other Americans from all walks of life, achieve their American dream, more easily.” 

Salma Torres decided to pursue a career in real estate when she began investing. 

Building on her early love for interior design and her passion to delight her clients, Salma has made a name for herself in the complex world of Chicago real estate. Her robust business experience coupled with her integration of new video marketing technology and other visual home staging techniques continues to win her plenty of sales and the unalloyed trust of her clients. Salma Torres currently lives in Woodridge where she’s raising two beautiful girls. 

About the HuntChicago real estate team

Salma Torres is a pioneering member of the Chicago real estate team, HuntChicago also known as the Crystal Tran team. This audacious team of top Chicago real estate agents caters to homebuyers and investors from all walks of life. 

Along with top Spanish-speaking realtors like Salma herself, the team boasts a diverse team of realtors that can provide guidance and support for clients in Urdu, Farsi, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Serbian, and even Arabic.

The Crystal Tran team continues to excel and outperform contemporaries thanks to the incredible diversity of that team, their robust local experience and expertise, and the strategic partnership with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago. 

The HuntChicago team continues to provide delightful real estate representation to clients across the top Chicago neighborhoods including Bucktown, Gold Coast, Lakeshore East, Lincoln Park, Old Town, Streeterville, River North, West Loop, and South Loop.

Salma Torres continues to charge her teammates to continue putting in the hard work that has gotten them to where they are today. On getting this recognition as one of the top Latino realtors in the US, Salma says “it feels so good to win awards like this, especially when you’re doing something you’re proud of. But then, we just have to keep moving forward.”

For real estate-related inquiries and consultations, you can reach Salma Torres on phone at 630-390-4003 or by sending a message to salma@crystaltranteam.com. 

She’s highly responsive and super professional.