UC Merced Magazine | Volume XIX, Issue V

(Continued from page 19) A Man With A Plan

like hearing the details of a contract in a common language can be crucial and comforting. In addition, the Bobcat connection is strong at Mokha Real Estate. Many clients are current or former UC Merced students. e agency also is bringing on university students as interns. On a recent a ernoon, Khella took two UC Merced students on a tour of houses for sale in town. e students were looking separately for investment properties in the form of homes with four bedrooms and two or three bathrooms. Hashdeep Singh, a second-year computer science engineering major, planned to live in the house for a couple of years with roommates, then move and rent it out. Tarun Singh (no relation), a fourth-year economic sociology major, was shopping for straight-up investment property. “My dad and I got into real estate about two years ago,” Tarun Singh said. “We ipped a couple houses but that requires so much manpower that dad didn’t want to do that anymore. So now we buy and hold, and once the price goes up enough, we sell.” Mokha and Khella rmly believe UC Merced will be a powerful driver of growth in the region’s real estate market. Even now, they see parents buying

properties in and around the city so their children will have a place to live when they become Bobcats. He and Khella met in 2018 on campus at UC Merced and were in some business entrepreneur classes together. Years later, when Mokha was selling homes out of a London Properties o ce in Atwater, he asked his friend to help with logistics (Khella has an eye for “staging” — adding furniture and decor to a vacant listing so it looks more appealing). happened — Khella turned 22 and earned her master’s degree while Mokha le London Properties. ey cemented a partnership that would become Mokha Real Estate. ere was no o ce, so business was conducted between classes at a campus dining hall or inside a local Starbucks. When they bought the space that would become the agency’s home, it was a stark shell with a cement oor and mounds of roughly stored construction material. ey got to work in September 2022. More Than A Partnership One day in 2022, three things

Clients also can be impressed by results. As of mid-March, the agency had closed residential, commercial and agricultural transactions valued at more than $65 million. At the time this story was led, Mokha Real Estate had 15 properties listed or under contract. e agency carries the name of its broker, Jagandeep “Jag” Mokha (Jag’s sister, Magan, is a partner). He said the agency represents a key step in a life plan of growth and success he has mapped out for himself. How far into the future does his plan go? “Fi y, 60 years,” he said with a smile. Khella and agents Magan Mokha, Simon Chima and Gurbeer Sangha, along with in-house lender Simranjit Singh, are UC Merced graduates. Anoop Nagra and Jag Mokha are current students (Jag said he’s “about a semester away” from graduating). Providing opportunity is a key part of the Mokha business plan. Many clients are of Punjabi or Mexican heritage, mirroring that of Mokha’s employees. Clients not only appreciate working with agents who speak Spanish, Punjabi, Hindi or Urdu, but feel they are in capable hands, Khella said. When you commit to one of the biggest transactions a person can make, things

We create a culture that we’re going to be the best, so when someone walks in, they can feel the positivity. — Gurleen Khella

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