Rbecause of the real estate boom, and everything that we built was sold even prior to construction.
So I became very intrigued by the real estate, although my background is in marketing. Once the real estate market crashed, I went on a tour to different parts of the country, and that’s where I learned about Engel and Völkers. Their office in the Hamptons caught my eye and then I remembered the brand from Europe. I realized that it’s not just a local brand so I set up and interview. They were looking for partners in South Florida. We put an offer on the table, and we convinced them, made the commitment and acquired the license for the whole territory from Bal Harbour to Deering Bay. Being in Miami and doing the business in this industry was an automatic choice for me.
In terms of number of listing we probably have 100.
What is an active client?
Active client is an individual that is currently
seeking to buy or sell properties within the last
six months. So that’s a huge database. And Mi-
And Commercial?
We haven’t done too much commercial work in the U.S. We are still making more changes to add more value to that section of the real estate industry here. Last year we did about $80 million dollars in commercial transaction volumes, a very good year overall hitting the $300 million mark-and that was just in my offices.
“A lot of people find comfort in dealing with an internationally acclaimed firm” ami in the last ten years became so connected internationally. Miami is a top 3 destinations to own the properties in.
How many residential listings do you have right now?
Engel and Völkers wouldn't just take any listing. What are your guidelines?
Our guidelines are that we don’t take anything below a million. But to be honest, it is hard to abide by those rules in the beginning.
There are clients that have houses and condos for $600,000 that are very reputable. So who is to say that a property under a million is not good. So we try to work it out. There’s not a policy written in Engel and Völkers that we can’t take it. We want to be perceived as a highend brand. It’s more about who our client is and not just the target price
FEB-MAR 2014
Such internationally well-known brand like Engel and Völkers must bring some comfort to your clients.
We have a lot of people who find comfort in dealing with an internationally acclaimed firm. There is a lot of brand recognition. We have about 5,000 agents in our company and
we have about a million and a half of active clients within the network.