Juan Huizar has risen each morning before the sun for as long as he can remember.
At 9 years old, he worked predawn hours alongside his mother and siblings in the garlic fields of Lemoore, California, where they earned money based on the number of five-gallon buckets of clean garlic they picked.
“The harder you work, the greater the reward,” he said. At the same age, Huizar took on a newspaper route, where he was paid in pizza for expanding deliveries — reaping the rewards of sales years before his career would truly begin.
Huizar’s drive stems from his immigrant roots. His parents uprooted the family of ten from La Victorina, Zacatecas, Mexico to give Huizar and his siblings a better future in the U.S.
“They sacrificed everything to give us a chance at a better life,” he said. Huizar worked to honor their sacrifices. “I wanted to work hard to show them that I wasn’t taking that opportunity for granted.”
After earning a degree in accounting from Cal State Long Beach, Huizar decided to make the city his lifelong home and pivot into real estate. He left behind a corporate job offer and quickly became financially independent by age 27 under the mentorship of a local investor. Six years ago, he founded Sage Real Estate Group, which has flourished ever since.
For Huizar, success is about more than financial gain.
“Providing good housing is a huge part of what we do,” he said. Now, he empowers others to build wealth through real estate.
After finding success with Sage, Huizar decided to launch a YouTube channel to educate others about real estate and wealth-building. What started as a small project has grown into a platform with thousands of subscribers, reaching viewers not just in Long Beach but across the country and even globally. Through his new found platform, he shares his personal journey, offering valuable insights into the world of apartment ownership, real estate investment, and financial independence.
Huizar’s hope is to empower others to take control of their financial futures — regardless of race, gender or socioeconomic background.
“If I can do it, you can do it,” he says. “It’s about taking that first step and being willing to learn.”
Get insights about building wealth through multifamily property ownership from Juan Huizar by checking out his YouTube channel here: youtube.com/@SageRealEstate or sageregroup.com.
“I wanted to work hard to show them that I wasn’t taking that opportunity for granted.” -- Pull quote to go by the photo of Juan's parents.