In this article we want to introduce you to our Administrative Manager and former Team Assistant Andreia Pratas, who has been in this new role since January 2020.
How did your journey at Engel & Völkers start?
R: In the summer of 2017, when the previous TA decided to change course of his life, and an informal conversation between Vitor Paiva and a member of my family, the doors to enter E&V Comporta were opened.
What motivated you to seek a change?
R: I had returned to Grândola after 12 years away and was looking for work in my study area, geography, but unfortunately no opportunity arose, so I had to look for an occupation that would suit my tastes and fulfil me as a professional. I did not know at first that this move would turn into another one bigger in 2019 with a position that fulfils my professional expectations.
What do you value most about working with Engel & Völkers?
R: I am a person extremely focused on organisation, so E&V, with its international structure, meets this requirement very well. Internally, we also have a well-thought-out structure that allows me to put my organisational ideals into practice. Furthermore, there is a real team relationship between everyone, there is concern for each person and I feel that many of the professional relationships go a little further than work and become extraordinarily strong and important personal relationships these days.
What is your analysis of the sales market in the area where you will work?
R: Fortunately, we are in a rapidly growing area and every year we see it grow and develop a little more. It is possible to see growth, but now it is not possible to see the end in sight, and fortunately so, because we are an ambitious and intense team that wants to respond to the challenges of the market and take advantage of this incredibly positive wave.
What advice would you give to people who are looking for a professional change but are afraid?
R: Fear is not just fear of change itself, it is most often fear of failure or fear of not being successful. When we change, we can challenge our limits and/or create boundaries and the taste of "victory" in the end is the answer we should give to our fear. We should always weigh our scales if fear overcomes our will to change or if it is just a small barrier we must circumvent.
What are you most passionate about in your job?
R: Above all, the dynamism that it allows me to have, although most of the day I sit in front of the computer, this does not mean that every day is the same. I have a pile of contracts to do as quickly as I must analyse documentation. There are other days when the phone does not stop, and I spend a large part of the day replying to colleagues or clients. But I confess, and it may sound strange, that what gives me the most adrenaline in this function is really looking for answers and solving puzzles in property documents, because despite the great evolutions in the last few years we still have many properties with peculiar histories.
Comporta is in fashion. Do you think it is an interesting place to develop a career as a real estate consultant? Why?
R: Yes, yes, and yes. I see it every day by the comings and goings of my colleagues between visits, meetings with clients and meetings, and by my e-mail box which is constantly receiving new e-mails with requests from each of them. Above all yes because Comporta is a "rough diamond", there are many projects happening, but there are still so many opportunities to explore, in the space of a few years we went from having locals and "half a dozen" foreigners to having a gigantic international demand that creates a great dynamism not only at the level of residential real estate but also the demand for restaurants and commerce that is essential to make this piece by the sea an increasingly attractive place.