Last year you received the Game Changer Award at the 9th REMAX European Convention.
Is this how you would describe your professional career at REMAX Latina, and was this the role you initially set out to take on?
First of all, thank you for the opportunity you gave me to speak with CASAFARI. It is a spectacular project that reminds me of REMAX Latina, which I had the honor of starting almost nineteen years ago. It is thanks to this that they call me Game Changer.
I don't see myself as a game changer; I see myself as a person who tries to do the best he can every day, and I believe that with time and perseverance, this award is within anyone's reach. If we do our work with integrity, and if we serve and focus on our clients, over time we can all be game changers in our work, in the real estate market, in technology, at REMAX, in the brokerage, in Lisbon or, who knows, even in the country.
Do you think there is any key advice to succeed in the real estate market?
The first piece of advice I can give, and perhaps the only one, is that you have to define what success means to you. The word success varies from person to person; success is a result, so you have to define what result you want to achieve, and if you define that result as success, it is something that is within everyone's reach.
Everything we do or don't do produces ebay database some kind of result. So the advice I can give is to define what success you want, and then focus on that, build a team and fight every day for your dreams and your values, and use them to help others.
My definition of success is achieving the results I want and feeling the excitement of serving my clients, my team and my company. For me, it means improving and growing.
What makes Lisbon so attractive?
I was born and raised in Lisbon, so for me, Lisbon is a very special city for several reasons. One of them is, without a doubt, how safe it is: in Portugal we have a very high feeling of security due to the low crime rate, especially when compared to other European capitals.
I don't think this has to do only with the law, but also with Portuguese culture. We Portuguese are very peaceful, friendly, diplomatic and avoid conflicts; we try to integrate everyone.
The climate is also spectacular. It increases the feeling of well-being and, in a way, the joy of people. Another important reason is the food. Sitting around the table, eating and socialising outdoors is a kind of social tradition, which is very good in relation to the cost of living.
I think traditions, history, the feeling of security, the climate and the food are the ingredients of Lisbon's recipe for success.
How will the real estate market adapt to Proptech?
Technology only exists to serve us. Real estate agents will have to be very attentive to any innovation, to any tool that helps us to better serve the real estate market, to serve our clients and to be better prepared. In a way – and this is one of Casafari's strengths – technology exists to filter data, collect it and organize it so that real estate agents can better serve the buyer or seller.
We always have to be on the lookout because every day there is a new device or a new virtual reality tool. New technologies are always appearing that bring us closer to the customer.
CASAFARI technology has the ability to give us this kind of information without replacing the human contact – the emotional touch. Technology will never be able to give the support that a family or an investor needs when they are about to make that big decision. But it certainly plays an important role in the present and will do so in the future.
How has your experience with CASAFARI been?
When I first came across CASAFARI , it was at a time when I had been trying to create something similar for two years. I thought that the problem was me, that I was looking for things that didn't exist or that weren't realistic; I had encountered many obstacles, both legal and technological. So, when I saw this tool, I felt like the best client ever, because it was exactly what I was looking for.
