Our experience with Engel & Völkers: "We immediately felt at home."

A call in spring 2018 should change the life of family Fiano from Venice lastingly. At the other end of the line was Emiliano Conti, real estate agent at Engel & Völkers Venice, whom the family had commissioned to search for a home. The sentence the real estate agent began this telephone call with should also be the most important one: "Guys, I have found your new home!"

Two months later, the real estate agent and his clients sat with the notary to sign the contract. The dream of being a home owner had come true and Emiliano Conti had become a friend of the family. Some time after moving in, the real estate agent received a letter. In this letter the Fianos not only thanked him for his extraordinary commitment, but also for the fact that he had taken away the worries and fears of the house buyers through his competent advice.

In an interview, Emiliano Conti reveals why the assignment quickly became a matter close to his heart, what challenges had to be overcome and how he ultimately found the perfect dream home for his customers:

Engel & Völkers: Hello Mr. Conti, recently you received a very detailed letter of thanks from the Fiano family. Do you experience such gestures more often?

E.C.: Yes, it's not the first time that this happens. I try to build strong relations with everybody but sometimes there is also a similarity of ideas and life experience that helps connecting with some of my customers. That's exactly what happened with the Fiano's: since the beginning it was more like a friendship than a working relation.

E&V: In their letter of thanks, the Fiano family describes the feeling when they visited their new home for the first time: "We entered the apartment, [...] Emiliano invited us to sit on the sofa and we immediately felt at home. 

When do you as a real estate agent know that a property is right for the client?

E.C.: My approach is very structured and the very first step with any client is a long and very deep conversation. The first question that I ask is always: tell me about yourself. The "secret" is to truly listen to what they say and understand who you have in front of you, what they like and what they dislike. If you figure out what they love, how they imagine their home, the deal is almost done.

E&V: In the case of the Fianos, you faced certain challenges. The family had lived abroad for a long time and therefore had only little local knowledge. Moreover, Mrs. Fiano was pregnant at that time, so the search for a new home was under time pressure. 

How did this affect the property search?

E.C.: My main focus was to find a place similar to their last experience in another country, a quiet place, full of sun and water. The Giudecca island came to my mind almost immediately. It happens that I had this client, an English owner for whom I had sold one of his houses the year before, who had another house in Giudecca with direct lagoon views. 

I called him to take the contract of sales with the Fiano's family in mind. It was not easy to get the contract but at the end I succeeded. I remember calling the Fiano's saying "guys, I found your home!" At the beginning they were not excited to buy something "so far" from the center, but when I brought them there I saw it in their eyes that I was right.

E&V: Despite this skepticism Mrs. Fiano writes that she immediately felt at home. Are customer wishes and reality always so easy to combine? 

E.C.: I like to say that the perfect house doesn't exist, but there is always a right one. Sometimes it’s just a matter of timing.

E&V: Of course this was not the first property you showed to the Fiano family. In her letter, the family also describes some of the challenges that had to be overcome in finding a property: "After helping us to define our selection criteria, Emiliano suggested that we consider some proposals together. We didn't find what we were looking for, but at least we felt we were going in the right direction."

What do you do in such a case when you have to dampen customer expectations? 

E.C.: As I said, perfection is not of this world. Of course, if something doesn't match a lot the customers' expectations, maybe I did something wrong understanding their needs.

E&V: Selling a home is a very personal decision for your customers. How do you experience this conflict? How can you deal well with it? 

E.C.: Of course there are a lot more things in a house than walls and doors and ceilings: there is life, memories, laughter and tears. Sometimes choosing to sell a house means putting a period of one's life behind oneself and starting a new one. This is why I always try to understand who I am facing and what is their story. Sometimes it’s just a matter to help them understand that life is made of changes and that everything is going to be just fine. 

E&V: Which part of your work do you like best?

E.C.: The possibility to shape your own day and gain what you really deserve. But most of all help people to achieve their goals: knowing that I helped a family like the Fianos to find their home always gives me a great boost!

Find your new home too! Engel & Völkers offers you an extensive portfolio of more than 50,000 exclusive properties all over the world - from stately palaces to romantic chalets to modern apartments. We will be happy to advise you at over 800 locations in more than 30 countries and look forward to hearing from you!