Lizandro Medina, 29

Growing a career in apartment leasing requires appreciating both the aesthetics of a space and the notion that helping someone find a home can be a calling. For Lizandro Medina, an agent focused on apartment rentals for Gotham Organization’s The Ashland in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and Gotham Point in Long Island City, Queens, it’s a natural fit. He’s in fact become known as a specialist focused on marketing high-end units. 

“Everybody told me that I would be great — I have a personality, the charisma,” said Medina. “It’s very client-based work and you get to wear many hats.”

Medina recalls his youth in Mexico, surrounded by colonial architecture and Moorish-inspired designs that cultivated his appreciation for aesthetics. A few decades later, as he began gaining his footing as a leasing agent in New York City, first at Compass and now Gotham, he’s found a niche, closing more than 400 deals in two years, often asking $9,000 or more gross rent a month. His rapid dealmaking, including 10 such leases last May alone, has been instrumental to successful building openings for Gotham, a leading multifamily owner and developer.  

“You really have to know your properties, and know how to move around the stone walls that people throw up at you,” the SUNY Farmingdale grad said. “They’ll point out something negative, and you need to know how to circumnavigate.” 

The challenge remains finding the right place for someone in what can be a costly, cutthroat market. “People want a neighborhood, people want an experience, people want a lifestyle, and people are willing to commit,” he said, adding: “It can be a challenge sometimes.”