Thursday, October 1, 2026
For many Long Island families, buying a home is about more than finding the right place to live. Over time, that home can also become one of their most valuable financial assets, building equity that can help shape decisions for years to come.
That’s a big part of how Natalie Smith thinks about real estate.
“I love helping people build equity,” Smith said. “I love helping people build that generational wealth.”
Smith, a licensed real estate salesperson with the Colombos-Dooley Team at Compass, said that equity can become important at different points in a homeowner’s life. It might come into the conversation when a family needs more space, when parents are thinking about college expenses or when someone is considering another property.
And those conversations don’t always start when someone is ready to buy or sell.
“I feel people turn to me years before they make a decision,” Smith said. “They’re looking to understand their options.”
Smith’s interest in equity began before she became a real estate salesperson. A native New Yorker who grew up on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Smith was renting in Hamilton Heights when her building was converted to condominiums. As a renter, she was given an opportunity to purchase her apartment and was able to reassign that opportunity to another buyer.
“That was kind of my first exposure to real estate,” she said.
The experience showed Smith how one real estate opportunity could create financial options for another investment. Smith became licensed in 2019 while continuing a longtime career in the nonprofit sector.
She spent roughly three decades working in nonprofits, including positions involving finance and the management of grant revenue and foundation awards.
Today, that financial background shapes how Smith approaches real estate, particularly when helping clients understand their options and think beyond the immediate transaction.
Smith said homeowners don’t always realize how the equity they build over time could become a resource later in life.
A family buying a home with a newborn, for example, may be thinking about the school district, the community and what they can afford. But Smith encourages clients to think further ahead.
“If I have a newborn baby, and in 18 years from now they need to go to college, I can really tap into my equity and refinance or get a HELOC,” Smith said.
That equity could also become part of a conversation about purchasing another property. For Smith, the goal is helping homeowners understand that buying a home can have financial implications well beyond the original purchase.
“For me, it’s more than just, ‘Oh yeah, I’m just buying and selling,’” Smith said. “It’s like, well, what does that even do for me? What is the advantage over renting?”
Smith is equally focused on making sure homeowners understand the costs that can come with accessing equity.
“Everything comes with a price,” she said. “I think people are not aware of, OK, sure, I can tap into the equity, but then what? What are the closing costs? What are the bank fees?”
That is why Smith said she wants clients to understand their options before deciding what to do. Accessing equity may make sense in some circumstances, while in others there may be good reason to wait.
“There are so many options,” Smith said. “You know what, you might not need to sell. Maybe not now, maybe in a few years. Some conversations lead to transactions. Others simply lead to better decisions. Both are valuable to me."
Smith said helping clients understand those options often starts with where they ultimately want to end up.
“I need to know the end goal,” Smith said, “and then kind of work back to what their situation is.”
She pointed to a family she worked with in a multifamily home, where two sisters and their mother lived together. Each sister wanted to purchase a home of her own, but both needed proceeds from the sale of the family property to make that possible.
“In a situation like that, it’s even more complicated because they need the proceeds of that sale to then purchase their new home,” Smith said.
That meant timing mattered. Because the sisters were relying heavily on proceeds from the sale, Smith said she needed to wait for the buyers of the existing property to receive a mortgage commitment before moving ahead with the sisters on their purchases.
At the same time, Smith was helping the sisters think through where they wanted to live. Commuting was a priority, along with affordability and whether Nassau County or Suffolk County made the most sense for them.
“Distance from the job is number one,” Smith said. “And then number two is really affordability.”
For Smith, that kind of planning is an important part of being a real estate adviser. Clients may come to her before they have made any decisions because they are still trying to understand what is possible.
“They’re looking to understand their options,” Smith said. “Most of what I would describe myself as is more of that adviser that is in strategy before that action.”
Smith joined Compass about a year ago and recently became part of the Colombos-Dooley Team. She works across Long Island, Queens and Manhattan and said her clients’ needs can change considerably depending on where they are in life.
Some may be downsizing or retiring. Others may need more space as their families grow. What connects those conversations, Smith said, is understanding the goal before deciding on the next step.
That approach also reflects what first drew her to real estate: understanding what owning property can make possible over time.
For Long Island homeowners, building equity can mean having more options as life changes. Understanding that value, Smith said, can help homeowners make more informed decisions about what comes next, whether they’re considering a move now or planning years ahead.
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