Javier Pagán

Meet Javier Pagán. He is a local Realtor. He is originally from Puerto Rico’s East Coast. He was born in Humacao and raised in Yabucoa however his family has lived in Tampa since 1974. Growing up, he used to travel during the summer time spending time with his family in Tampa, Florida and he loved it. So when he was 19, he moved to Tampa with his family. Both of his parents are Physicians. His mom and dad have been general practitioners for almost 40 years. Something they couldn’t forget is that his mother’s graduation from medical school was also the day he was born.

He is someone who loves to help the community in everything he can. He loves to travel and considers himself a big historian since he really loves history.

Thank you, Javier, for your awesome advice and for your love for Tampa.

Questions:

Q: What inspired you or led you to your current career?

A: When I was a child, my mom used to take me to the emergency room, people might know and people might not but they have a small room where you can sleep. My mom used to bring me to the hospital and keep me in that room. While I was there, I used to see what was happening in the emergency room, I used to see people coming ill, so I as child I said to myself that it’s not what I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to help people but in another way wherein I don’t have to be there when they’re going through pain. I saw people with gun shot wounds, and bloody from a car accidents so seeing those things kind of push me away from being a physician.

Q: What is your favorite restaurant in North Tampa, and what do you love there?

A: I’ve been in North Tampa for a while so I like to go to a place called Abby’s Health and Nutrition, they have a cafeteria back there. I am a vegetarian so I definitely like to eat healthy and I’ve been going there for so many years and my wife has been working for Tranzitions Hair Salon for 20 years.

Q: How long have you lived or worked in North Tampa?

A: Eventually when I became 19, I decided to move to Tampa with my family.

Q: Who is the person who has had a big impact in your life now?

A: Two of them come to my mind right now. Number one is my mom who has been a physician in Yabucoa which is a very small town for the past 40 years, taking care  of people and making sure that they’re healthy.  The second is my wife. When my mom couldn’t take it anymore she passed me to my wife. We’ve been together for 24 years already, we’ve have 3 beautiful kids and I moved to Florida because of her and I wanted to start a new life.

Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? And why?

A: There’s one place that I really would like to go as soon as possible. Since I was born and raised in Puerto Rico by the beach so I would like to go to Fiji. Me and my wife have plans to be able to go there,we’re getting closer and hopefully in the next couple of years we’ll be able to visit.

Q: What is your favorite movie OR what is the first movie you remember seeing in a theater?

A: My favorite movie of all time is Braveheart with Mel Gibson. I watched that movie so many times and I think what they show in the movie is how people become independent, though I don’t necessarily agree with the war side of that but I do believe that if you become an independent person, you can create your own things and you don’t need to live in somebody else’s shadow. Also, Mel Gibson is a great actor and producer. He’s definitely the total package.

Q: What advice would you give a crowd of people?

A: We have to learn how to be understanding towards other people.  We have to understand that maybe that person is going through something so treat him like somebody. More than just saying I don’t know what they’re going through but I am here to do what I need to do to make them comfortable, happy and make this world a better place.

Q: What is something on your bucket list?

A: Many things that I wanted to do but top on my the list is to be able to travel the whole world with my wife and maybe spend 2-3 months if I can and visit places to learn their cultures and history.

Q: What is your favorite music/ 3 bands you would like to see (dead or alive)?

A :I grew up with Salsa music so my favorite band is El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico whose been playing for  50 years and always been on the top. The music that the make is very rich in culture and the environment that I grew up in so hands down to them.

Q: Choosing anyone alive and a non-relative with whom would you love to have lunch? Why and where would you have lunch?

A: I think out of 10 buyers that I worked with I will say about 6-7 willing to set code in the Northern Tampa area to look for houses. And what I found through the years of working up here is the people. Everybody that lives around here are kind, willing to talk and listen to you, they’re not pushing back and they’re just really great people. Another thing, it’s very diverse with all kinds of cultures,ages and things like that. And I also like the location, it’s not far away from the beach or from South Tampa.

Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about North Tampa?

A: The community.

Q: Do you think knowing people in the community is important or not so much anymore since we have the internet, social media and stuff like that?

A: That’s a great question but I think meeting people in person and through social media should be blended together. They both play a part in society nowadays and they’re both useful but both can be destructive also. I always stay on the positive side however in the business that I am in, which is real estate, it is always more about face to face. People have to meet you face to face to see who you are, how you will represent them, what kind of people they’re working with, contracts and things like that. Yes, I may say with this business, it has to be in person but you can use social media or any means out there to communicate and reach more people.

Q: (Even for friends or family), what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?

A: There’s one thing, I grew up in Puerto Rico making music a Reggaeton as a child and even until up to this day I can still rap if I wanted to. I just love music I am very particular about  lyrics because I want to make sure that whatever I sing or listen to builds me up instead of tearing me down. I don’t care too much about the beat, rhythm or things like that but I care more about what they’re saying.

Q: What 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?

A: First is Foundation meaning when someone has a home and they have a place that they can call home, you are more relaxed, worry less about ending a lease  and having to move. Second is appreciation , we live in an area that appreciates pretty quick and I know we lived through our ups and downs but I can tell you what I’ve seen here for the last decade we were heading, in my opinion Florida is the next San Francisco. Then last but not the least is why pay somebody else’s mortgage when you can own your own property.

Q: If you were cast into a major motion picture and had your choice of anyone to be your co-star, who would you choose?

A: I never thought about anybody like that before but I have to say, it has to be somebody like me who likes to enjoy life, who likes to have fun but at the same time who will take it serious and be able to portray that character we’re trying to do. So thinking about somebody that could do that, we have go back to Mel Gibson. I’ve seen what he can do in the production side, in the acting side and the messages that he brings are powerful and it’s nothing to do about his personal life but what he brings to Hollywood.

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