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By Lauren Comander
The sky is the limit for real estate leader and philanthropist Andres Asion (BBA '98). With a hand in more than 50 buildings that tower over Miami, the founder of Miami Real Estate Group definitely leaves his mark. Over the last 20 years, Asion has garnered billions in sales while helping design floor plans for skyscrapers, pricing out buildings and educating clients on precisely where to buy commercial property.
Born and raised in Miami Beach, Asion still lives there today, in the apartment he bought 20 years ago after moving out of his parents' house. He started on a path of hard work and determination as a student at FIU Business, scheduling his classes for the mornings so that he could spend every afternoon as an aide in then-Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez and then-Miami-Dade County Mayor Stephen Clark's offices, where he handled calls from disgruntled residents and gained insight into both community service and customer service. After graduation, he took these lessons with him to Cervera Real Estate. "I found it exciting to connect people with their home – it's win-win when you do that successfully," Asion said.
After a dozen years there, he founded Miami Real Estate Group during the real estate crash of 2008. After successfully selling three projects, he was hired by Fortune International Group to lead development sales for the company. Seven years and $7 billion in sales later, he returned to his company Miami Real Estate Group to become the broker of record. Today, Asion has 15 employees who specialize in real estate sales and leasing of residential and commercial properties. During the pandemic, he expanded his horizons, hiring a stock coach and creating WhatsApp group chats for trading stocks and cryptocurrency with more than 500 members on now. "It's important to have multiple streams of income, something I think many people learned during COVID," he said.
Meantime, whether through the Andres Asion Foundation, which supports organizations like the Overtown Youth Center, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, or a spur-of-the-moment call to action, Asion makes it a point to find a way to give back each and every day.
One of those days came at the beginning of the pandemic, when Asion filmed a video of hungry locals waiting in miles of car lines for food and posted it to his Instagram and Facebook pages. Someone who saw it while shopping for a $500 pair of sneakers online was moved and sent the money to Asion, telling him to use it to help the people. "That put me in action!" Asion recalled. "The supermarket said it would match the funds, and his $500 became $1,000."
"It became a beautiful thing," he said. "We raised over $100,000 and helped so many families." This labor of love and paying it forward never stops. Recently Asion's foundation has teamed up with Global Empowerment Mission and Aerial Recover Group to help many in need after the tragedies in Haiti and Louisiana.
