One of the most prestigious real estate industry journals, the “Journal de l’Agence” selected Maxwell-Baynes Real Estate as a French luxury real estate market leader, to look behind the scenes and ask some penetrating questions about modern real estate agency in France and what it takes to operate today.
Representing the journal de l’agence, journalist Alix Feux was interested to investigate if there are any comparisons between a family doctor and a family real estate agent. Alix suspected that in the US luxury real estate markets there might be more similarities in the way that US agency is structured than here in the French luxury real estate markets. Since Maxwell-Baynes is a fully qualified US broker they were well positioned to discuss this question. Below is a transcript of the questions and responses of the interview that has now been published this week in the Journal de l’Agence here.
The interview was held in July 2023 with Karin Maxwell, Arthur Maxwell (our resident Iron Man) and Michael Baynes.
1. JdA – Can you tell us a little about your agency?
MBRE – Our agency is built on the following values and principles:
• Territory: “Bringing Bordeaux to the World and the World to Bordeaux” – We are an international agency. Our geographic focus is Nouvelle Aquitaine which is best known for its capital – Bordeaux.
• Business approach: “We exist to provide a reputable and safe pair of hands for those who expect confidentiality and discretion for their family and their capital in the acquisition of expensive French real estate assets.” It is a guiding value of our business that our clients feel confident in our advice and service throughout the transaction project.
• Our people: Our objective is that each person in the company can become the best version of themselves. Agency is all about people and relationships, therefore it is essential to provide the right atmosphere and foundation for our teams to prosper. Our strategy is to constantly look for ways to help our staff and agents advance their careers and develop themselves as professionals.
• Behind the brand: we believe that the strength of the brand is only as strong as its qualifications, as well as its legal and administrative foundations. While famous brands, relationships and personal comfort with an agent is important, to build a reputation as a market leader means being a professional organization that is reliable, stable and legally conforming for the long term.
- We are qualified with the Carte Professionnelle in France
- Members of the Royal institution of Chartered Surveyors in the UK
- A fully qualified Broker in the USA
- Our administration teams work consistently to ensure we are “audit ready” with our files and paperwork.
- We provide regular and consistent training for both managers and agents.
- A strong recruitment policy focused on our values and company culture
- Continual contact with our international partners in particular Christie’s and attending regular professional development events.
2. JdA – What background and values led you to concentrate on the prestige real estate markets?
MBRE – In many ways, prestige real estate chose us. By this we mean, wealthy clients and brands kept putting their trust in us and asking us to represent them. Before the formation of Maxwell-Baynes in 2008, Karin Maxwell was invited to represent Knight Frank who could see that she had the skills and professionalism to represent their prestige clients. Then in 2010 MBRE were invited to join the invitation only affiliation of Christie’s International Real Estate. In 2019 we were awarded the prize “affiliate of the year” for 2018 for our outstanding work in the prestige market.
3. JdA – In your opinion, what links and differentiates traditional real estate from luxury real estate?
MBRE – The legal system is the obvious link between the two since it is almost identical. The difference is mostly to do with the expectations of the owners of luxury real estate. The level of commitment for the agent is more demanding and the length of time for a prestige transaction is longer. The agent must accompany and find creative solutions to what can be challenging problems of both a personal and technical nature.
4. JdA – In your opinion, what are the qualities needed for a luxury real estate agent?
MBRE – a luxury real estate agent should be focused on building their reputation not their bank balance. At MBRE we have an annual prize for the agent with the best client testimony (best testimony Matthieu Maziere) since there is no better way to demonstrate that an agent has established the qualities that build a reputation.
- Working very long hours – it is not unusual for us to work 70 hours per week.
- Building confidence and credibility with each word, email, call and meeting.
- Knowing the market – detailed experience both past and present.
- Integrity
- Communication skills
- Foreign language skills (the Maxwell-Baynes team has 7 languages between them).
- Responsiveness – we have always believed that “agency is urgency”
- Excellence with photography, video and marketing materials.
- Problem solving
- Skillful negotiation
- Attention to detail
- Listening
- Putting others first and thinking collaboratively.
- Leaving everyone and everything better than when they found it.
5. JdA – In what way do you associate the idea of a good real estate agent with that of a good family doctor?
MBRE – When we take our children to a good family doctor it is because we feel secure putting our most precious lives in the hands of someone else for a specific and defined objective. We have confidence in the doctor, we believe she has been well trained, we believe she is correctly qualified and we listen to her advice. Over time, we allow our family doctor to see more sensitive and private sides of our lives and we feel comfortable speaking openly with them. Our home is one of the most important assets and often our most valuable. It is very personal, it is where we make memories, share important moments and feel safe; it needs expertise to be handled correctly by an experienced professional. Our homes are not as precious as our children nor our health but they are nonetheless one of the most important parts of our everyday lives. In the USA this principle is well understood and has been adopted for many years. An agent becomes an important part of a family’s advisors for life decisions and professional support.
6. JdA – How do you play this role over the long term with sellers and buyers who have a great need for information, follow-up and trust?
MBRE – People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care. Words, behavior, patience, listening provide the basis of relationship. We adopt a posture of humility and approach each person as someone unique that we can learn from. Then confidence and credibility must be built through expertise and deep and current knowledge of our markets and business practices. The agents must have the ability to adapt to each client and be highly responsive in communicating.
7. JdA – At Maxwell-Baynes, what is your positioning and strategy with your customers?
MBRE – To consider their interests as if they were our own. As with the point above, clients do not care what we know until they are confident that we care about their best interests. This takes time so our positioning is to recognize that we must speculate our time and our expertise until our clients can trust us. Agency is intensely collaborative so the No.1 strategy is to ensure that we can establish a collaborative working environment with our clients but also with the other professionals that contribute to a successful transaction. Every customer is important to us, and we strive to respond quickly to their requests. We have a prospect management tool to enable our agents to receive their requests very quickly. This in turn enables them to deal with them promptly. Our company policy is to respond to customers immediately but always within 24 hours.
8. JdA – Would you say that the missions and expectations associated with prestige real estate are currently evolving?
MBRE – Missions are more complex due to the speed that technology brings to transactions, but also because prestige real estate clients tend to have more complex and fast moving lives including travel and work commitments for both spouses. In addition to great expectations from clients there are also constantly evolving legal and regulatory professional requirements with each passing year.
Missions have become heavier, as have the obligations on the administrative side. 20 years ago sale contracts used to be 6 pages long! Nowadays, it’s not unusual for purchase and sale contracts to run to over 100 pages. Our role is becoming even more important with our customers in navigating the mass of paperwork that needs to be produced for the sale. Customers rely heavily on us and our advice legally, (often) linguistically, culturally and for their transition.
Technology is the most powerful influence in marketing real estate. We have embraced this new world because Google and social media are designed to favour real professionals with real qualifications and credible industry knowledge. When we write content on blogs and social media this is a first step to allow a client to know us. The objective and the destination is to establish a trusting relationship with a client however, the journey to that outcome starts 99% of the time online. First the brand of the company is important – this is a general statement of confidence and reputation. Then, blogs, social media, video and photography must reveal who the agent is at an authentic and personal level so that a client can establish a first “feeling” about who they might work with. Thereafter personal contact is made and confidence in the agent develops.
9. JdA – What expertise or advice would you like to share with your peers?
MBRE – focus on others before yourself, be collaborative, build your reputation and do everything with excellence.
- Provenance – build a reputation and a brand that inspires confidence
- Authenticity – be detailed, transparent and open with your marketing and communications
- Customer service – be prepared to give your best to your clients and work very very hard for long periods without being paid.
Written by Arthur Maxwell, Karin Maxwell and Michael Baynes