DNA AMAZING by Ana Graça - General Manager

 

Still going through a pandemic reality, what message do you have to pass to the Portuguese who want to resort to buying and selling a property during this period?

The selection of real estate mediation as a safe activity, covered in the 1st phase of deconfinement, demonstrates that the sector managed to prove, throughout these last two years of the epidemic, that it quickly adapted to the needs that we as a society had to meet, namely through means and services of non-physical presence, which enabled decisions and transactionality by the Clients. We could see a substantial increase in demand in the spring after the 1st confinement in 2020 and we saw a similar pattern this year, if not even higher given the international market.

With the sector being an important, if not vital, socio-economic vehicle in the country's fundamentals, Portugal will certainly be a primary choice for definitive habitability for the foreign customer who until now has visited the country countless times, which still allows the national customer some decision timing, however we may see an even greater increase in the scarcity of supply in some areas given this effect.

On the other hand, this same effect will certainly allow for a good increase in the level of tax revenue it generates for the state coffers, the attraction of investment and foreign capital, thus opening, along with Tourism, doors to other sectors of activity that may prosper in the long term and even in the short term we may see a rapid recovery to pre-covid figures, with a greater strategic distance from some economic crises we have seen in recent decades for lack of this ability to attract and support resources and projects of greater stabilization.

House prices have been decreasing in Lisbon, but increasing in the rest of the country. How do you believe this reality will be by the end of this year?

This reduction was not so much due to the total lack of interest in acquiring real estate in Lisbon, but due to the scarcity of product of a more primary line, more appetizing, given that the level of transactionality until 2019 was constantly being supplanted semester after semester. What we have seen is that the market, a little more saturated, in a less appetizing and even inflated offer of the type of property that was available from 2019, began its natural process of correction due to lack of fluidity and that with the pandemic this effect was leveraged given the swift absence of foreign Clients.

In our analysis, the discovery of other peripheral markets, which confer a good lifestyle, with a greater vocation for nature, beaches, open spaces and that the pandemic has proven to be necessary and valid for a good social, financial and mental balance, will allow at a national level an estimated average price increase of 5%, including Lisbon which will start its natural rebound. In some regions of the country, average increases of around 10% in property prices are to be expected, as has been seen in 2020 and 2021 in peripheral areas of major cities.

Portugal became dependent, to a large extent, on foreign citizens who, coming on vacation to Portugal, ended up buying a property to turn Portugal into their second country, or even investors, who used the rehabilitation opportunities in the big cities to acquire properties and make them profitable. How did Amazing Places deal with the reduction of these potential clients entering the country?

Amazing Places has always positioned itself primarily among the Portuguese non-retail segment, in a more premium profile, in a niche let's say, because we know that in the domestic market there is a desirable premium client profile, such as the Doctor, the Lawyer, the Manager, among other types of professionals that in terms of income and savings per capita are in a 6-digit financial quadrant and that seek a level of service excellence, turnkey and total consulting as is our prerogative, this has always been the guiding line of the business plan, because we knew our valences and our skill's to develop it.

The foreign client arose naturally as a necessary complement, the leverage effect, even given the strategic positioning of our spaces given the demand that the Central European market (France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Holland, etc.) has for this type of market, given the gastronomy, beaches, golf, among other factors that we know are important in the decision. We maintain our positioning in what this segmentation confers, with the difference nowadays, that it is not only in the Portuguese Customer that we grow our networking by recommendation, but also in the foreign Customer.

How do you evaluate the national real estate sector and the evolution that has taken place in recent years (especially after the last economic-financial crisis)?

I see the evolution as positive, however despite considering it so, I encourage and defend a greater professionalization that should not only pass through an obligation of professional portfolio by the Regulator, as a greater tightening of measures to the real estate transaction by the Legislator, so that all operations would be required to real estate intermediation, given the compulsory measures, restrictions and communications that a company in the sector is required in the exercise of its activity and yet we still allow the "treat your own" to happen, with a behavioral pattern exactly opposite.

The sector also ends up being a victim of its own circumstances, since it continues in its profile of acquiring "professionals" to enhance quantity to the detriment of quality, with a need for greater valence of skills and academic qualifications of its professionals, to the detriment of the potentially easy, the ephemeral, often the business of transition between sectors of activity "according to what's on at the moment", which will never lead to a competent specialization.

I hope that more relevant measures are implemented, even by the Administrations of the companies in the sector, for a greater prestige of the class, but for that we will all have to be aligned, in the same type of belief.

Amazing Places has made, since its origin, a solid bet on its image and digital component. How do you characterize your PRIME concept and what are the advantages of virtual visits during this period?

In the total consulting process we wanted to go a little further in our differentiation, to empower our Team with the best technical capabilities, to develop top differentiation in the high net worth (PRIME) segment. We have always looked at our branding with the passion that as Clients we like to look at the companies we are Clients of, the "less bad" has never been enough for us and we knew that to have the impact we wanted to have, more than what we consider primary, which are our professionals, our People, the brand would also have to be irreproachable in everything it represents and proposed to achieve, fortunately, as a result of hard work, it has been.

Given this fact, it is perfectly natural for us to put at the disposal of our Professionals and our Customers a panoply of services, tools, and technical means, so that Amazing is a word that, more than a brand, is the word by which the work developed and its success is recognized, that "wow" factor. I am very proud to highlight and emphasize that no technological means, drone, 360 camera, high performance camera, website improvements, an Image and Marketing department, whatever, were ever neglected or rejected to be acquired, because as we say, our quality is intrinsic, non-negotiable, and that always puts us at the forefront of what is best in the industry, but at this level "at home".

The virtual visits ended up being more than a valence, a necessity, given the demands of the market and the pandemic situation, and some of the investments we were going to make throughout 2020 and 2021 in Marketing, Media and Technology we decided to anticipate to 2020, which allowed us to have a very solid start to this year and to the deconfinement that now begins, in terms of pipeline, with the annual business plan reached at the beginning of the summer.

Do you still consider that, for many, the real estate consulting profession is an alternative profession? What needs to be done to combat this?

A greater accreditation of the professional type in the sector will inevitably lead to levels of success not only in the financial, revenue component of the professionals, but also in the fluidity of the evolution of the business activity itself through commercial leadership positions, positions in other departments on the rise such as human resources, administrative and operative, to a greater level of overall efficiency. A company that bets on its main resources, its People, through this type of evolution and segmentation, are typically the companies that will present the greatest evolution and satisfaction in their staff, where the Customer will consequently be the greatest beneficiary of this level of business excellence.

Amazing Places: a brand with its own identity

What made you move towards a project of your own? Why a project in the real estate area?

I should mention that I was not the creator or founder of the Amazing project, but Mário G. José, having associated myself with this project a few months after its birth.

My path in real estate started in an international brand, where I was able to develop some valences not only in the commercial forum, but also in the technical reality, which allowed me to create solid foundations in my method and to develop relationships both with Clients that are with me in their businesses up to the present, (so I hope to be up to the same standard in the future), and through Institutional relationships of excellence that I know we have as a respected brand, because it starts by respecting.

The invitation came naturally, given the opportunity to be part of something different, of a different level of service, of more segmented consulting, of a highly specialized "boutique" of investment and advisory in real estate. Above all to enhance the growth of something from its very origin and to enhance my own growth in a position that allows me to do what I also like, to lead and deal with people beyond the clients.

As for why the real estate area, it's not a question that depends on me to answer as far as Amazing Places is concerned, because I was already in this area as a professional "body and soul" before it was created, having just transitioned a few months after it started.

What are the characteristics that you apply in Amazing Places and in your relationship with the clients that are part of Ana Graça's and the management's way of being?

Our multidisciplinary capacity, not only of the management, but of the whole team that makes up Amazing. We are genuinely concerned, when hiring, in striving for high standards of excellence, not only in professional skills and competences, but also in the human factor, in character, for often the professional back-up that we give to a Client when taking his or her decisions needs, more than technical or commercial elements, it needs character, a competent human being with Amazing DNA, as I usually emphasize, ready to have a conversation of greater emotional support as a result of his or her experience, or even a more difficult conversation to end a relationship, given the mismatch of human values between the parties.

The fact that Management also comes from the Premium Financial and Corporate sector, allows us to reach a different client, a client that looks at a business as a whole, with a more comprehensive action plan, more assertive for building future relationships of greater impact, a client that analyzes all variables with a high level of monitoring and information, thus giving the team a greater capacity for valences.

I believe that the passion put into the day-to-day, the primary level of self-demand, the loyalty we give and feel from our Private and Institutional Clients, ends up being the demonstration of who we are as a Team and as a Brand.

As a Woman Leader, what words or encouragement would you say to someone who might want to aspire to the leadership of a company?!

Access to opportunities is vital, and until recently what we have seen is a lack of such opportunities for women, to show their value in decision making, to have their points of view heard, not just for skill's sake, but for the status quo. A more equal world in top positions, where decisions are made, where it doesn't matter the gender, but the competence. To lead is to know how to set an example through Theory > Practice and vice-versa, it is to know how to act in multiple scenarios and who better than women to deal with such a reality!

I believe that in a company, human resources are its most valuable asset. An accompanied and motivated team will make the company a place where we feel happy, where on a daily basis we breathe knowledge, sharing and business fluidity, which will inevitably translate into an optimized, passionate, valued level of excellence and AMAZING character.