Mr. Gerald Lucas is the owner of a real estate investment company, Performance Property, LLC,
based in Jersey City, New Jersey and the author of a real estate short sale blog and, quite recently,
his first book. He has attended ECELA’s Spanish Schools in Buenos Aires, Lima, and Santiago. He
has even retuned to our schools multiple times! Mr. Lucas graciously set aside time so that I could
interview him about his experience learning Spanish in our schools, his use of Spanish once he
returned home, and his upcoming book, Short Sale Specifics.
To read Part One, click here.
VV: I heard that your book is available. Congratulations! What is the title of your book?
GL: Short Sale Specifics.
VV: Who or what was your driving force behind writing your book?
GL: First and foremost, I was getting a lot of the same kinds of questions from the homeowners and
from realtors [about short sales], so I wanted to just get it on paper to make it easier. Obviously there’s a need for people to understand how they work. I also started writing articles and putting them online, and I started getting tons and tons of views, thousands of views! I thought that maybe I should write a book about it, more like a guide with shorter articles.
VV: What obstacles did you have to overcome?
GL: Time management issues with my business and my clients and real estate deals I’m working on. I’ve had to create additional time…just to find time to do it. Staying motivated was also a challenge because it’s a lot of work to edit and rework it. Lastly, [a challenge has been] creating the new website and working with developers to do that, meeting requirements, and it looking the way I want it to look. (The website to which Mr. Lucas is referring is WEBSITE)
VV: I think that sums up my questions about your Spanish-learning experiences and your work experiences. Is there anything else you’d like past or potential ECELA students to keep in mind?
GL: I would say opportunities don’t always present themselves, so if you have the opportunity to go to the best Spanish language school in the world (in my opinion), you should take advantage ot if. Don’t put it off, you may not have another opportunity in your life. I always wanted to travel or go to Spain when I was in college and I didn’t. I ended up not really being able to do it until almost ten years later. If you can do it, then do it! It’ll be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life, for sure. [You’ll] make lifelong friends, experience language and culture, and it will be the most fun you’ll ever have in your life…
That’s why I keep coming back!
Interested in studying with us at ECELA? Contact us at info@ecela.com.