Ivonet Torres, owner of Ivonet Torres: Bilingual Realtor-Property Pros Group. Photo by Jasmin Adriana Gonzalez, JEFAS Magazine.
By Christina Fernández-Morrow
Nearly all of Ivonet Torres’s real estate clients are Spanish-speaking first-time homebuyers, many of whom are navigating a system that often feels designed to keep them out. For families without Social Security numbers, the path to homeownership can feel impossible. Torres understands this feeling personally and has made it her mission to change it.
Building a Business Around Community Needs
As a bilingual realtor serving both Iowa and Nebraska, Torres has built a thriving business helping immigrant families achieve homeownership. Her work goes beyond simply closing deals. She has created specialized resources including her “Buyer 101” program, which guides buyers through the process of purchasing homes with Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITINs), making the American dream accessible for those the system often overlooks.
Torres’ commitment to serving immigrant families is inspired by her own journey. She was just five years old when she and her mother moved to Nebraska, where she faced the challenges of a new culture and language as her mother worked long hours at a meat packing plant.
Overcoming Barriers to Education and Opportunity
The path to a real estate career was not straightforward. As an undocumented student, Torres had limited options after high school. Despite being bright and motivated, she graduated before Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) existed and could not qualify for financial aid. When she was nineteen, her mother lost her job. Torres supported them by working three different jobs: at a gas station and two local restaurants. While she felt as though all she did was work to survive, Torres was actually learning valuable skills that would define her career.
After years of this aggressive schedule, marriage, and the birth of two children, Torres finally enrolled in the hospitality management program at Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City, Iowa. Having worked her way up to restaurant manager, she used her degree to pivot to director of sales and marketing for the city’s convention center. While she enjoyed hospitality, the 2020 shutdown made her pause.
Torres turned to her mentor for advice. “We brainstormed, and customer service was always important to me,” she recalls. What came to mind was the feeling of accomplishment and pride she felt when she and her husband bought their first home. That memory sparked a new direction.
Creating Inclusive Resources for Buyers
After months of online courses and exams, she became licensed in Iowa and Nebraska and launched her real estate career. Torres vividly remembers how collaboration with her brokerage helped her get her first clients into their home. “I had a supportive brokerage team who assisted me throughout the process,” she says. “It was a very emotional day because I knew I was making a real difference in someone’s life. It is so much more than just a house.”
Life as a bilingual realtor serving two states is demanding. As Torres puts it, “No days off.” Yet, she has no plans to slow down. “I love getting calls or texts from referrals saying ‘Hey, you helped my friend and she said she had a great experience, tell me more’,” she says. Almost 95% of her business comes from referrals from her Spanish-speaking clients.
Recognizing that most of her clients are first-time homebuyers, she created Buyer 101, which she personalized with an outline of key points, including the steps to purchase a home using an ITIN. “I tailor the experience because it’s not one-size-fits-all,” Torres says. Buyer 101 provides a personalized path for each client.
“It’s way more than just selling a house when you really care about what you’re doing. That ultimately makes the difference, not only for your own family, but for the people you impact in your community.”
Ivonet Torres, owner of Ivonet Torres: Bilingual Realtor-Property Pros Group. Photo by Jasmin Adriana Gonzalez, JEFAS Magazine.
Finding Support and Giving Back
Over her four years in real estate, Torres credits a community of supportive women with motivating her. “I’m part of a really supportive group called Property Pros Group,” she says. This group has not only been a helpful source of insider tips, but also taught Torres a lot from their collective experience. They built so much trust within the group that they sometimes help each other serve their clients, which led to recognition in top Iowa sales.
This support also allows her time for things she values, like volunteering with El Proyecto Dramático, Sioux City’s first bilingual theater program, which she co-founded in 2022.
“Our productions are about our Latino culture. The first production was called El Sueño Americano about a family that crosses the border – a single mom raising two kids. She works at a meat packing plant. We split the stage with kids on the right at school, on the left, mom working when ICE detains her. The next scene had a fence we made with barbed wire. That scene really hit home,” she says. “What people had seen on the news played out with kids from our community. That was eye-opening because it could be any of our kids.”
Honoring Her Family’s Legacy
Torres plans to continue bringing thought-provoking productions that highlight Latino leaders and tell stories that uplift the community.
Today, as Torres balances her growing real estate business, bilingual theater productions, and raising three children with her husband, she sees her mother’s legacy of hard work in everything she does. But there’s one crucial difference: Torres is showing her children that hard work can create opportunities, not just survival.
“It’s way more than just selling a house when you really care about what you’re doing,” Torres says. “That ultimately makes the difference, not only for your own family, but for the people you impact in your community.”
For Torres, every ITIN loan she helps secure, every family she guides to closing, and every story she brings to the stage is proof that the little girl who arrived at five speaking no English has done more than achieve the American dream. She’s helping rewrite it for others.
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