Martin and Valentin Kretz (L'Agence): "The series has significantly accelerated the development of our company"

Posted on 10 Jan. 2023 at 5:56 PMUpdated January 10, 2023 at 6:24 PM

The highest house in Marseille, a penthouse with one of the most beautiful views of Paris, a Venetian palace… In season 3 of “L’Agence”, broadcast from Thursday 12 January on TMC, the Kretz family resumes its search for extraordinary properties . For those who are not (yet) familiar with the program, it is a bit like the “Recherche appartement ou maison” program organized by Stéphane Plaza, but in an ultra-luxurious version. With the bonus of regular interventions in the private life of the family.

The agency was founded in 2007 in Boulogne-Billancourt by Sandrine Kretz, a former teacher, and her husband Olivier, a former large group executive, and has continued to grow ever since. Over the years, all the children of the family have joined. First, Martin, the eldest, in 2012. He graduated from Montpellier Business School and had previously worked in communications, particularly in Chile and Mexico. Two years later, Valentin, an engineer by training who worked in real estate in New York and Manila, Philippines, took the plunge. In 2018, Louis, the siblings’ third son, joined the family business after sinking his teeth into the hospitality and luxury hotel business. The only thing missing was the last of the four children, Raphael.

It’s over: in this new season he will be employed with an apprenticeship contract. And in addition to relatives, the agency has new recruits. Now she works with forty agents. If the company has been able to grow in this way, it is mainly due to the fame that the reality TV series has brought with it. Aired on TMC and a few weeks later on Netflix, it made the family known all over the world…and boosted the clan’s business. Explanations with Valentin and Martin, the older brothers of the siblings.

Les Echos BEGINNING: How did you come to shoot the series?

Martin Kretz: We started from scratch against large networks that were already well established. We knew that the media was important to get known. At the same time, we told ourselves that the heritage days at home were every day (laughter). Every day we discover extraordinary places that make us dream and we wanted to share that too. So, between 2014 and 2018, we took part in several TV shows, such as “50’Inside”, where we talked about real estate. In 2019, production company Reservoir Prod, looking for a luxury real estate concept to offer to TV channels and Netflix, thought of us. We were cast and selected for this totally innovative program.

At the time of season 1, recorded in 2019, you sold mainly properties in the west of Paris, about 2 million euros. What do you say about today?

Valentin Kretz: We worked as a family then, with three or four negotiators. Today we work with 40 independent agents. We are present in Lyon, Aix-en-Provence, Chamonix, Megève, Marseille, Cannes, Saint-Tropez, Bordeaux, Biarritz, Nantes, Normandy, Corsica… We cover almost all of France and the value of the goods that the one deals is higher than before – about 2.7 million euros. We also have four full-time employees, including Louis’s fiancee and our cousin.

What’s New in Season 3?

Martin: There are still a few properties abroad: in London, Sweden, Brazil… There are also more atypical properties, in particular an ecological building, a penthouse with one of the best views of Paris, the highest house in Marseille… And we work with new personalities, such as the actor François Berléand.

Valentine: A client asks us to buy a property in France and wants to pay… in bitcoins! If it’s not a big deal in the United States or Dubai, it was the first time we were asked. We had to find an owner who…

Over the seasons, we see you visiting personalities: actor Fabrice Luchini, actor and author Lorànt Deutsch, footballer Alphonse Areola… Have you already worked with this kind of client for the series?

Valentine: Yes, and I think that’s one of the reasons why this series is so interesting to viewers. It’s always great to see personalities and get into their personal projects. Our clientele comes from the world of media, finance, some are entrepreneurs… The broadcast of the series has certainly accentuated this phenomenon.

Do potential buyers readily agree to appear on screen?

Valentine: Since the concept was new at first, we had no example, nothing to show, it was quite difficult to convince them. But since the first season, it’s been pretty easy. It is an incredible opportunity for personalities to gain visibility when they want to start a new business or get promoted.

Has the show, broadcast on TMC and also on Netflix, accelerated your development?

Martin: The show brought us instant exposure, it accelerated our development significantly, especially geographically. Now we are approached by sellers and buyers from all over the world, who know us through the series. The nice thing is that at the first contact with customers, the trust is almost already installed because they already know us through the series. This visibility has also given us access to the ultra-luxury market with properties worth more than 10 million euros, which we did not necessarily have access to before.

On the screen, it looks like things are going well for you. What about the facts, are there difficulties we don’t see?

Martin: Luxury real estate is a market that is doing well. In 2022, we made about a hundred sales, or about 250 million euros in value sold, double that of 2021. But we must not forget that we sell on average one out of four mandates. Making a sale requires a lot of work upstream. It is an investment in time, but also financially – you have to take pictures, make videos… – and people – to prospect customers, for example. Sometimes you have to make five, ten visits before closing a sale. For one of this season’s clients, the quest took a year and a half before coming to fruition, with two of his offers rejected. It was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.

Valentine: In the series it looks simple because we often skip a few stages of the sale. But getting there has taken years of hard work. And even today the days are very long. Real estate, seen from the outside, comes down to visits, but in reality you need a lot of skills in the legal, marketing, commercial field (knowing how to negotiate, constantly developing your network, etc.).

Martin: In the luxury market, there are large networks such as Sotheby’s, Christie’s or Barnes that are well established, have good visibility and have the resources to invest. In order to stand out and gain market share from these players, we must continuously show imagination and innovate.

On the screen we see behind the scenes of your visits but also your private life. For example, in season 1 we follow your marriage, Martin, and across the episodes the romantic adventures of Majo, your grandmother. What is the interest to the viewer?

Martin: From the beginning of the series, we wanted to open up our private lives a little bit to show that our work was closely connected to our private lives. We work at the weekend, we talk about real estate when we sit down with the family… Everything is intertwined.

In the series you indicate when a customer makes an offer but it is not always known whether the sale is successful. Why ?

Martin: It is not specified mainly for a matter of timing. In real estate, it can take two to three months between the receipt of the offer and the signing of the authentic deed.

As a real estate agent, you are paid on commission. You sell goods at stratospheric prices. Does this mean equally important commissions for you?

Valentine: Our commission is a percentage of the selling price. In general, this is about 4%. To give a broad range, it goes from 2.5, 3% to 7%, even 10% in Monaco. If a family member makes a sale, we split the commission among the family members. It’s a system that we’ve been using for years, that works really well and that I think has avoided a lot of discussions (laughter). With us everything is always mixed up, it would be impossible to know who first had which customer, when, how… If it is an agent of our team who sells, he is paid and the family gets a share of the commission .

Broadcasting on Netflix has given you a lot of exposure internationally. Do you plan to have agents abroad?

Martin: Absolutely ! Moreover, this has been the case since the end of 2022. We work with our first agents in Spain and Portugal.

Valentine: In 2023, we will accelerate the launch of the Kretz brand in ten countries. This is the goal this year: to develop internationally, so that our customers can find the Kretz family everywhere for their projects, thanks to our correspondents.

Martin: This year the intention is to develop mainly in Europe. We are also in talks to open in the United States. You will see that in season 4! [Celle-ci est déjà commandée, mais la date de diffusion n’est pas encore dévoilée, NDLR]

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