Last week, two members of REC’s Logistics Department had the opportunity to interview Inês Penalta and Nelly Beito, the co-founders of le pied à terre- the first Real Estate Concierge Agency in Portugal.
The following article provides the highlights of the interview.
1 - In its website, your company is defined as a Real Estate Concierge Agency. What is precisely a Real Estate Concierge Agency?
A Real Estate Concierge Agency is an agency that provides a wide range of services in order to help clients in anything related to his or her property (taking care of the property when the client is not living permanently there, helping with moving to a new place, among other services).
le pied à terre is open to work with any Real Estate Agency, directly with clients or with someone the client trusts (for instance, his or her lawyer).
Naturally, the majority of the clients are foreigners (around 80%). The clients either have properties that they want to use as their first home once coming to Portugal or just buy a “pied à terre” (temporary second residence) - and need help taking care of all the logistics behind it.
2- How was the Le pied à terre project created?
In 2017, after the Real Estate boom in the Portuguese market, with Lisbon being a trendy city for anyone around the globe, the co-founders started noticing a significant amount of people wanting to live or come back to Portugal. However, all of them needed help in specific logistic details.
The co-founders noticed a flaw in the Portuguese Real Estate market, that could be helpful for many foreigners to streamline their process of buying, owning and maintaining a property. The co-founders, after a market research, analyzed that, in other countries, agencies providing these services already existed, concluding that it would definitely a crucial new player for such an international market like the Lisbon Real Estate market.
3- Are you the only player offering this type of services in the Portuguese real estate market?
le pied à terre was the first company offering in a structured and professional way Real Estate concierge services in Portugal. Even though some premium Real Estate agencies have also started offering this type of services as a complement, it is the only company in the market offering these concierge services independently.
4- How has the agency’s performance been until now in the market?
Unquestionably, positive. le pied à terre has had the opportunity to expand its services since entering the market, seeking to correspond to the increase in the demand and specific desires of the clients. Nevertheless, the agency still provides services to its first clients, in a demonstration of the bond and trust developed with le pied à terre.
Nowadays, le pied à terre can work in so many fields that it is possible to, in one day, help with the project behind a huge construction, and, the day after, simply guarantee the hiring of a babysitter to take care of the clients’ baby.
le pied à terre’s secret is having a 24/7 availability since, with many clients in different time zones, the owners of the agency know that a call can come at any time. Assuring the client will be satisfied with the services provided, added to the trust in the efficiency of the agency, has led to more than three very positive years.
5- On your website we can find multiple services that your agency provides. Besides these ones are there any other type of services not mentioned on your website available?
On the website the agency has a long list with most of the services requested from its customers but, in reality, it is not limited to only these ones. In fact, le pied à terre is available to help its customers with any issue that they might have: “We don’t have two equal customers, our services are tailored to each customer's needs.”. le pied à terre never says “no” to a customer, even if the owners are not able to solve a customer’s issue by themselves, since they have multiple partners that will be able to help customers.
6- What ideas and projects do you have for the future of the agency?
Right now, le pied à terre has two projects in mind:
“Porto has been one of the regions with a remarkable growth in demand for our services, therefore, are working on finding new partners in order to diversify our offer in this region.”;
“We also want to reinforce our services and partners in the region of Comporta, Alentejo and Lisbon’s metropolitan area since these are the regions where the foreign direct investment has been the most significant.”.
7- Now moving away from the analysis of your company, what are your forecasts for the post-pandemic Real Estate market?
It is still difficult to say what is going to happen to the market. Neither Inês nor Nelly consider themselves experts in the analysis of the Real Estate Market but, inevitably they must follow and be attentive to the market trends because this is the market in which their business relies on.
Although both expect a stagnation in the price per square meter and the continuous presence of foreign direct investment in Lisbon’s market, in this fast- paced changing world it is very difficult to make any prediction about the future. The main difference until now, was the increase in the demand for properties in the countryside/oceanside as people started to value more contact with nature.
Conclusion
To conclude, it was a pleasure to know such an interesting project, as a clear demonstration of how there is always room for improvement in any market and how important it is to develop a broad network throughout our lives.
For further information about the agency, its website- https://lepiedaterre.pt - provides a thorough explanation of all the services available.
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