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Key Biscayne Stories will showcase the people, history, and magic that make this beautiful village a paradise and a great place to live. The KB Stories Podcast is exclusive for residents and for all those who love Key Biscayne.
Welcome to Key Biscayne Stories where neighbors meet neighbors. Today, we have Pat and Pat, the power team. On the left, we have Patricia Romano, and on the right, we have Patricia Riestra Peraita. Alright. Before we jump into their story and the power team, we have a quick word from our sponsors.
Alejandro:Doctor. Bocash has been in practice as an orthodontist for over a decade, helping to create beautiful smiles in the Key Biscayne community. She's inspired by her patients to do her job better every day and to continually learn new methods of treatment to improve the care she gives. Doctor. Vakash enjoys using her knowledge of science and engineering to make a positive difference in the life of her patients.
Alejandro:She built her career as an orthodontist on a foundation of quality education. She received her certificate of orthodontics and a master's degree in medical science from Harvard University. Doctor. Bacash is a member of the American Dental Association, the American Association of Orthodontics, and the Harvard Society for Advancements of Orthodontics, and is also a certified Invisalign provider. At Bokash Orthodontics, we provide the highest quality orthodontics treatment and Invisaligning for children and adults.
Alejandro:We are conveniently located in the heart of Key Biscayne at 240 Crennen Boulevard, Suite 106. So, Pat and Pat, welcome on the show. How are you ladies doing today?
Pat RP:So happy to to be here after so many attempts, and I wish you a productive and a healthy 2026 with you and your new family and Luna.
Alejandro:Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Know we've tried a couple of times to get together. Finally, we did it.
Alejandro:Yes. Yeah. So as we get to know you guys together, I think I think a lot of people that know you, you know, see you guys together. You guys are going to events. You guys are part of many local things plus your your businesses, which we'll tap into.
Alejandro:But first, let's dive into each one of you individually for a little bit. Tell us a little bit about that background story of how you guys came into The Key.
Pat R:Okay. I came well, I came to The States many, many moons ago. I live in New York, Houston, and then we moved to Key Biscayne over forty years ago. And then I started working on real estate because my background is design and construction and I thought that way through real estate I could find clients for design and construction. But then I fell in love with real estate and developed a very strong business in design and construction through Coldwell Banker.
Pat R:I have my license with Coldwell Banker. And then after a few years, this lady show up in Coldwell Banker as well. And that's how we started our partnership in real estate. So we worked with Coldwell Banker, and then we moved to Wimbish right away that used to be a big company that was as a matter of fact, the owner was the one who gave us the name of Pat and Pat Power Team. I managed the office, Key Biscayne and Coconut Grove for a year, and then went back to full time real estate.
Pat R:And then we opened our own company, which we have for a few years, and very successful. And then after that, we things changed and we decided to move the real estate license with Coldwell Banker. But since we have our own office, because we do property management and we do construction work, only the real estate is with Coldwell Banker. And then Patricia had been we have been together since when? The nineties?
Pat R:I don't remember.
Pat RP:In the nineteen nineties. A generation. Let's say that.
Pat R:Yeah, for many, many years. And it has been a strong relationship because we are very different. We are our client calls us Le Blonde and Le Brunette. We are Le Blonde and Le Brunette in many ways. Yeah.
Alejandro:Yeah. And and what about you, Patrice?
Pat RP:Well, I came in 1980 as a housewife, as a mother, a mother to be. At that time, my husband had gotten a work visa, HB1 or something, which didn't allow me to work. And through my sister, we eventually got the green card. As I said, eventually through the times, at that time, my forte was the prayer group in San Agnes. That's how I got involved in everything in that church.
Pat RP:When it was almost a small church through Monsignor and MacGeever, our group did everything. We requested the 07:00 mass. We were lectors. We were Eucharistic ministers. We even I don't know how, but we even took fingerprints for some immigrants in the 1990s.
Pat RP:I think that for the hurricane Mitch or something. So we did everything. And as a matter of fact, that's where I met Patricia's mother. So in the beginning, my friend was Patricia's mother. No, Patricia.
Pat RP:And I remember your mom and Daniela coming to to our prayer group. And it was a very you will think that it was a prayer, prayer only, but it formed me in so many ways to open up from my shell and to become the person that I am now. So at that time, my husband who didn't smoke went for a cigarette and never come back. And I decided to stay in this country. How?
Pat RP:No idea. What I was going to do? No idea. So, friend of mine and my aunt says, Why don't you try real estate? You're used to talking to people.
Pat RP:So, that's how I started. And then eventually at the beginning, was very shy. I wasn't that open. I was afraid. But then through, I mean, to the background, through the training that I had in the church and through this friend, I said, Help me.
Pat RP:And then we started working together, like she said, completely different, but at the same time, having trust. That was the first thing that united us. Because in real estate is so much about ego, who gets the client, who's the first, who has the most relationship with the client, oh, that client, I brought it. So they have to talk to me. And it wasn't like that, even from the beginning.
Pat RP:When the client came, eventually who got the more report and who took the thing. We have never for this past forty years saying, okay, how much business did you bring? How much, oh, you brought more, I brought less. No, always have been half and half. And that's the trick of what our partnership has been so successful because trust.
Pat RP:We have our temperament, we have our character. I mean, we are there for each other, but that doesn't mean we have different opinions. But always, always we are there together. And that's how we started and we continue. And when we moved to Wembich, the owner said, Are you partners?
Pat RP:And we said, Yes. And you had to be partners for everything. So, since that time, even before in Coldwell Banker, we became partners, eventually became the power team. And that's how we are known in the island. Oh, you're one of the pats.
Alejandro:That's how I I mean, I knew you from before, but as I got more engaged in the community, I saw you guys together a lot. And, of course, I know you guys have an office here nearby, and I know you and I are Pat Romano. I'm gonna be more precise since both of you guys are Pat. Both of us are part of the Key Biscayne Chamber of Commerce. Are you part of the chamber
Pat R:or just She was president.
Alejandro:I am. President. Okay.
Pat R:She was. Yeah. We both have been president of the chairman of commerce.
Pat RP:My my life in my life is on hold at this moment for many events because I have my nanny who's 102 years old. And now she's the one who needs care. So, I don't go to events at night or in the morning. Just whatever is from nine to four. And that's what I need to do now.
Alejandro:Your nanny, you mean your
Pat RP:The nanny. The one who raised me. Nanny. Oh,
Alejandro:I remember I wasn't Okay. Lanny. Got it. Got it. Got it.
Pat R:The one who took care of her.
Pat RP:Took care of me and helped me raise my children.
Alejandro:Got it. Got it.
Pat RP:Yeah. I call her the mother of my children and people don't understand that. They say, How's that? Okay.
Alejandro:Cool. So we got a little bit both of your backgrounds. You guys met at Cohort Bankers, and this is how it started. Yes.
Pat R:Well, we met we met before because as she said, she was a friend of my mother who was very involved at church. So I knew of her, but we were not, like, friends friends until she came to Cold Banker. And she started asking me questions because I have been there longer doing real estate, and that's how the relationship in business started and the friendship grew stronger. And we are yes. You have seen us around because we are very involved in the community.
Pat R:I've been involved in the politics of the community, fighting city government for many things or befriend of city government for many things, depending how I see it. And we are part of the Rotary Club of Key Biscayne, which is a very strong Nonprofit. No. A very strong relationship that we have, how we are paying back to the community at large and to the world what we have received because we have been very lucky. At least I consider myself very lucky that we landed in Key Biscayne and we it's the place I have lived the longest.
Pat R:So I feel Key Biscayne is really my home completely. And the people in Key Biscayne are really supportive. And we are involved in as many things through COVID, through helping Liberty City, through through so many, many, many things that we have been living through the years, that it's an amazing life.
Alejandro:I think the best picture I have of both of you in my mind is the fourth of July golf cart. And then you guys were just driving around, you know, doing what you guys do at the parade. I think I even took a picture of that. But when I think of you guys, think of that picture. Was like, you guys, I think it was a lot of fun.
Pat RP:One of the things that I have learned in this country and my new life here, it was that when we come from, mostly or as Latin, giving, sharing. And I'm not talking about only money because Latin American, they share a lot of money, but that's the easiest part. But what I said is to get your hands dirty. And people think that only people with real money are the one that can give. And no.
Pat RP:You always have to think that someone in this world has less than you have. And doesn't matter how little you share, it's good to share. That's why God gave us two hands, one to receive and the other one to hand out and to give. And that's part of the thing, that's how we have been getting involved in things because it's about receiving, it's about sharing, it's about giving, and the way that our God has given us and blessed us, you know, with opportunities to work. But also we have an ethic, a work ethic that is not chance, is not luck, is hard work.
Pat RP:We don't have in our business, which can be done from everywhere. We have a discipline to be our office between nine and 09:30, doesn't matter what. Even if what we think we have nothing to do. And thus people say, Oh, you're lucky because you got this. No, no, no, it's lucky.
Pat RP:It's our ethic. It's our professionalism. And we continue working every day like we were starting in business. I got a question the other day about, for example, in real estate. How is the market?
Pat RP:People love to ask, how is the market? And my question is, as a realtor, as a seller and as a buyer, you are a realtor that had done very good in the year, they will tell you the market is great. If the seller has sold these properties and everything, the market is right. Or if the buyer is getting deals, the market is right because it's a buyer's market. So if you ask someone the opposite, they said, Oh, the market is bad.
Pat RP:So, real estate is an art. Real estate is depending where you're talking, what product are you talking about, and then it becomes, you know, relative of what that it is. And that what we do is to be informed. Not to know everything, but to be informed and to find the answer for our clients. That's why they trust us.
Matilda:And how did you guys start off in management?
Pat RP:Okay. It started with this condominium association. Back in 2003, when we had our own company, we were like by the post office. And then when the market came, going changes, let's say, this unit where we are now became available. And at that time I didn't have anything to do, so I started looking for a buyer.
Pat RP:So at that time, we sold it, the buyer back out and our lease was coming to an end and then we bought it. And that's how we ended up in that office. At that time, the association here, the condominium have different management company, but the management company usually came to Pat and Pat to ask what was wrong with the building. And I said, walk around the building and then come to us. So one of the owners asked us, why don't you manage the building?
Pat RP:That was something completely new. Nothing that we knew about managing a building. So what do we do? We thought that since this being a commercial building we needed a license so we go and got the CAM license. Which at the end we didn't need it because this is a commercial building, not a real estate condominium.
Pat RP:So that's how we started this management. And at the time, I can say there are like two majority owners. And at that time, they were only four individual owners. So far, there are two majority owners and two individual owners and we are one of them. We have gone through a lot of changes like bringing the two majority owners to sit down on the table to talk about us what needed to be changed.
Pat RP:And we have been going through the changes little by little. First, of course, the public wants to see cosmetic changes. But the cosmetic cannot be done without electricity, plumbing, roof. Her background in constructions had helped a lot. I love phone, so I'm calling everybody about getting quotes.
Pat RP:And we have been through the process of changing the roof. That was a lot of work.
Alejandro:Just just to be 100% clear, we're talking about this building, which is the Lesplanade. Is that the right way to
Pat RP:say the name? Lesplanade.
Alejandro:Okay. Good. Lesplanade. Yeah. Yeah.
Alejandro:Okay. I just wanna since you guys are since you guys run the show here, I figured I would confirm if I'm saying the name right now this entire time.
Pat R:Not to give it all the time to Lesplanade because we have done also individual property management through our clients who don't live here and we which is a little different than commercial property management. So we are in a mix of the two because we do the residential and the commercial. And a few buildings here in The Key has come to ask us to to do their management. And we haven't agreed because they don't wanna pay the money that we think is worth to be doing a good job. Because, you know, if you sell yourself short, you work short.
Pat R:You don't perform at the level that that you have to. So either you lose money doing the things that you are supposed to do because you don't get paid enough or you don't do them. So, we choose not to do if we don't get paid. What was the
Matilda:evolution of management?
Pat RP:Personally, as a team or in general?
Matilda:As a team.
Pat RP:As a Okay. We started you know, we saw an itch on on the need of our clients because most not most of them, some of them are from out of town. Other people, they also need guidance. Something breaks down. They need something.
Pat RP:Everybody needs something immediately. And we have good connections with providers. Like I said, we don't know everything, but we find out. And that's how our evolution as a partnership came in the management. First, it was through this building, then through different things.
Pat RP:We have the CAM license and the law, the license says that if you have 10 people to manage property, you need the license also, we have it. That's how we start getting, but we are picky, we're choosy. Because we have first to have the trust of our client. If they don't have the trust in us, we don't want them. We cannot trust them, we don't want them.
Pat RP:We want someone that we do we go always a step beyond to try to do our best for that person. And that's why we have evolved it. I I'm not gonna say that management is the strongest part of our business. I think real estate is, still is, and for the near future, I don't know, it will be. But the other one complements our business, which is constructions, design.
Pat RP:She has done a lot of the sands. She's known as the queen of the sands in remodeling several units and all the balconies, most of the balconies. And then a lot of things. And that's how the management is completely evolving along our other two business, but real estate, we're here to stay.
Matilda:And what is something you value in your business?
Pat R:Well, what we value the most is the trust that we can have with our clients who usually become our friends or friends who become our clients Because it's that's the way it works. Sometimes you can have a friend who cannot be your client because it's a different relationship. So you don't want to taint your relationships with people. And sometimes the business relationship has to stay in business because going into friendship is a different step. So the trust has to be on both of them.
Pat R:You have to trust your friends and you have to trust your clients. And they have to trust you in order to really develop a strong business friendship relationship with anybody who crossed your path.
Pat RP:And also be you. Be yourself. Because there's nothing, nothing worse than to have a duality and someone that presents their self. And you can tell when people are trying and they look fake. Whatever you do, you try you always treat your customers, your clients, your friends with respect by the way you are.
Pat RP:And for me, one of the things is honesty. And I use humor also. I use humor a lot in saying the honesty. And one of the things is like I have always I remember when I started my prayer group, once always told me, You're kosher. And he said, Are you calling me a sausage?
Pat RP:Yeah, I didn't understand. And he says, Because you're true. Whatever you think, you say it upfront. And I have always said that, that. Even with humor, even when people think, How were you able to say that to that person?
Pat RP:Still like you? Because they can see, they can sense when you are really honest and you're thinking of them, not only about you. And sometimes the truth brings you more friends.
Alejandro:Doctor. Biscayne has been in practice as an orthodontist for over a decade, helping to create beautiful smiles in the Key Biscayne community. She's inspired by her patients to do her job better every day and to continually learn new methods of treatment to improve the care she gives. Doctor. Vakash enjoys using her knowledge of science and engineering to make a positive difference in the life of her patients.
Alejandro:She built her career as an orthodontist on a foundation of quality education. She received her certificate of orthodontics and a master's degree in medical science from Harvard University. Doctor. Bacash is a member of the American Dental Association, the American Association of Orthodontics, and the Harvard Society for Advancements of Orthodontics, and is also a certified Invisalign provider. At Bokash Orthodontics, we provide the highest quality orthodontics treatment and Invisaligning for children and adults.
Alejandro:We are conveniently located in the heart of Key Biscayne at 240 Condon Boulevard, Suite 106. So we've we've covered real estate. We've covered management. We tapped a little bit on construction, but can we expand on that a little bit?
Pat R:Sure. Construction, you can say that it's my baby because that's my background. I study design and architecture. So it's really and I love it. I love to the the final product when I when we go and and take an apartment or a house and completely redesign and all that.
Pat R:It's it's so it has been it has become a very strong part of the business as well because sometimes if you are slowing here then you can be strong on the other side. So it has compensated us through the years in maintaining the business strong because we are always have something going on. When real estate can be a little slow, then construction can be very strong. And we have many clients that have been real estate clients who become construction clients because we sell the property and then they want to do the remodeling, the upgrade. And we have the knowledge and we have the contacts and we have the workers.
Pat R:So that helps a lot as it has helped even in management because this building has become a much better building thanks to all the upgrades that we have done in construction. So that has been a very important part of our business as well. So that's why I always say our table has three legs. Real estate, management, and construction. And it's very stable.
Pat RP:Very sturdy.
Alejandro:Good. Good. Good. So after many years of working together, you know, I'm sure there's a lot of growth in the relationship. So how does the evolution of this Pat and Pat power team relationship
Pat R:Go on to be? Well, it's it's it's not how it came to be, how it is, because they have been for so many years. We started very cautiously like, okay, yes, let's work together. Let's let's see what happened. But then little by little, it was stronger and stronger.
Pat R:And I think that's the way our business is really very strong because we trust each other. And even though we may disagree, we always end up in the same point at the end, which is serving the clients and trusting each other.
Pat RP:And also the beginning was this partnership was going like against the current because people were saying, for example, they were telling her she had more experience than I had. Oh my God, why are you dividing your business? Know, you're going now half and half and you have, that she had more experience than I had. But then, because normally it was between mother, daughter, partners, brothers, sisters, but I always understood mathematics by the solution, not the process. And for me, it was like multiplying, not dividing.
Pat RP:Because if I didn't bring business, she brought it. If she didn't bring it, I brought it. And thus, you know, people were saying, No, this is not going to be. Why? Because what I said at the beginning.
Pat RP:In this partnership, you don't have egos. Who's best, who's better, who does more work is to have the job done. And we have evolved. She's more like in a way that she likes technology. I don't like technology.
Pat RP:The way that I learned was about talking to people and I said, she says that constructions is her baby. For me people is my business, real estate is the product. I love people. I love talking to people. Give me a microphone in front of a million people, I don't care what I'm going to say.
Pat RP:Don't give me a computer because I get stuck. So to know your weaknesses and your strength, that's And sometimes I tell the clients, you know, be careful of the paperwork. I'm more into like negotiation, open phones and something, she's more into that. And then we commingle and we do the business together. And people say, Oh my God, so many years and you're still together.
Pat RP:Because we made it work. It's like a marriage. Sometimes our husband says, Oh my God, this partnership needs partnership counseling. Yeah. And sometimes we tell on a trip or something because we're traveling with friends and something.
Pat RP:No, the husband stay. This is another kind of type of trip because we're going to Rotary or we're doing this volunteer work that husband, they have to stay away. So, that's and the families, which she has two children, I have two children, different backgrounds, but when they need, have been for one of us, is there. And that's what I tell our clients. Sometimes I tell their clients, I said, I'm the worst realtor because I'm telling you not to buy or not to sell.
Pat RP:What realtor says that? Or I tell him the way it is and he said, You're talking to me like that. I say, Yes, you call me because you trust me. Now you have to hear what I am going to say. And then at the end, we laugh.
Pat RP:And then we listen. We listen and we tell them the why. And that's maybe can be the secret of why our partnership has evolved. When are we going to retire? We don't know.
Pat R:Not yet anyway.
Pat RP:We are one of the oldest realtor in the island, not the oldest, please. But I will say more experienced, mature, and we have things, the good, the bad, and the ugly in real estate. That's why in everything in life, like in religion, she's going to talk about politics, I talk about religion, you bring the story. You tell the people to remember where we are coming and where are we going. And that's also in real estate, in design.
Pat RP:In design, this is what it used to be. Now, this is where it's going to be. And that's how this partnership has evolved.
Matilda:And what is your favorite part of the Key?
Pat R:Okay. When you are driving into Key Biscayne, can go all the way to the lighthouse and have a wonderful stay there or you can go to the beach club, look at the fireworks the fourth of July or you can go to the jack club and have the rib off or have the aqua party or or then you can just walk at the village green and see the kids playing there and the amount of kids that are in the quay. And that that really makes you wonder what you have been through in this island. Because we came and that wasn't the life at the time. And even it has evolved.
Pat R:It has changed. And sometimes we complain. But all that is beautiful. All that part of Key Biscayne is beautiful. How about you?
Alejandro:Do you wanna answer the same question?
Pat RP:Yeah. I will say that at the beginning coming from Nicaragua, something that everything was bigger. I mean, in the houses or something come to this way of life. I didn't like it. But then it's not that I started liking it.
Pat RP:I became a part of it. And that's what I love about it, that when you are a part of something, you're used to these big cities and you're just a number, a member. Here, you are part of everything she has said. Which is my favorite part of the island, I think, the one square mile. Because through these years, it has been different parts.
Pat RP:There was one time that I will enjoy the beach, to have to spend the weekend there doing nothing. Now, sometimes, you know, the best part of the Key Biscayne for me is my home. To enjoy staying home and trying to do nothing, which we're not used to anymore. We're used to be doing all the time. But I don't have to know everybody, but I know everyone.
Pat RP:Here you become, you say hi. You just smile. You enjoy the nights that people say is quiet. I enjoy that stillness of the night. So we have these precious, that I said, island paradise that is still Key Biscayne.
Pat RP:And even though we are a little bit crowded than we used to be, it's still paradise. It's still a favorite spot where everyone wants to live. And that's what I'm grateful for, to have come to this island. And it's going to be hard when we need to leave.
Alejandro:Thank you, Pat and Pat, for coming on the show. It's been great to build a relationship with you guys over the times and the things that we've shared together in the community and also for what you guys do. And we got to go we got to get to know you both a little more and the things that you do. So thank you for jumping on the show.
Pat R:Thank you for having us.
Pat RP:No. Thank you for having us. And that's what when they say, you know, we met you when you were a little kid. And even though we didn't, I mean, build this close relationship, there is something when we see you, when I see you, that I know your mom, your dad, your sister, that's something. When you came to work for Regalado, I told him, be careful with him.
Pat RP:You do something wrong to him, you do it to us. Because there is a protection that you have for people who know each other here, and you develop that warmth to everybody. Thank you for having us. Until next time.
Alejandro:Doctor. Bocash has been in practice as an orthodontist for over a decade, helping to create beautiful smiles in the Key Biscayne community. She's inspired by her patients to do her job better every day and to continually learn new methods of treatment to improve the care she gives. Doctor. Vakash enjoys using her knowledge of science and engineering to make a positive difference in the life of her patients.
Alejandro:She built her career as an orthodontist on a foundation of quality education. She received her certificate of orthodontics and a master's degree in medical science from Harvard University. Doctor. Prakash is a member of the American Dental Association, the American Association of Orthodontics, and the Harvard Society for Advancements of Orthodontics, and is also a certified Invisalign provider. At Bocash Orthodontics, we provide the highest quality orthodontics treatment and Invisaligning for children and adults.
Alejandro:We are conveniently located in the heart of Key Biscayne at 240 Cronin Boulevard, Suite 106.