MEET THE MAROBROTHERS

Young and creative, brothers Dominik and Patrick Maroszek are introducing a fresh new approach to real estate on the Costa del Sol. Raised in Marbella, they have lived here for 20 years and earned their stripes with property companies before embarking on a new-style real estate start-up that is making waves.

WORDS MICHEL CRUZ PHOTOGRAPHY KEVIN HORN

A fresh perspective on real estate

Most industries are pretty set in their methodology; in fact, try to modify things too much and you might just end up ‘reinventing the wheel’, so these days most change involves the growing use of newly emerging technologies. In real estate, this includes long-distance communication methods, drones and more recently virtual viewing tools. But real estate is above all a service industry, and as such it is centred on the agent-client relationship, be it with a buyer or the vendor. This personal connection is at the heart of the broker role played by property professionals.

Real estate with a fun attitude

In an era of call centres and online forms, this kind of one-to-one service is perhaps more valuable than ever.

But there’s another vital element in real estate – that of marketing – and it’s perhaps the field that has evolved the most over the past two decades, moving from footfall and trade fair branding to digital strategies that revolve around website searches, content and SEO.

Good marketing material and advertising are still essential, but now companies also communicate their brand values through social media and other new forms of engagement. “We’re fully focused on digital marketing,” says Dominik Maroszek, who represents a new generation of professionals shaking things up in Marbella. “There are new disruptive technologies changing industries all over the world, and it’s time that Marbella joins these powerful global trends.”

NEW FORMS OF ENGAGEMENT IN A CHANGING WORLD

It’s a changing landscape in which the traditional tenets of personal service and ethical business remain unchanged, yet new ways of reaching and engaging with potential buyers are creating a quiet revolution. In an informationbased world it is no longer enough to simply present properties, as today’s buyers come well-informed but seek a sense of what makes different homes special.

Working in an interactive way that blends insight with an open, light-hearted approach, the MaroBrothers do just that. “The Covid period made us aware that there should be more information available to prospective buyers, without having to fill in forms before you are given access.” He refers to the kind of free information that is now the norm in many markets.

Handsome and successful!

“We always wanted to work together, so when we launched MaroBrothers Realty we had a clear concept of what we wanted our business to be like,” says Patrick, who worked for Sotheby’s in Zurich, while Dominik gained experience at Engel & Völkers. The result is a specialised high-end boutique agency with a modern yet personal feel, which builds on the brothers’ personal connection with Marbella but also identifies with the way things are done in the wider world.

“To offer the right kind of commitment and personal service you can’t be too big and impersonal,” says Patrick, “but you also have to be innovative. These are two fundamental elements that shape our business, and have allowed us to follow a different route.” Finding a lot of marketing cold and impersonal, they prefer a more informal, direct approach, and rather than relying heavily on a website, the MaroBrothers have in a short time made a name for themselves with video presentations of their luxury property listings that are not only informative, but also highly engaging, and in the process create a bridge between conventional property displays and personal viewings.

The honest, fun way in which Dominik takes viewers through luxury homes on the Costa del Sol provides a very lifelike experience that highlights their appeal but also gives an accurate reflection of dimensions, orientation, style, layout and amenities – from the broader picture right down to the details. Even more important is the fact that the brothers manage to convey a sense of the home, how it feels to be in and what is special about it.

Dominik scaling a rock to approach the property

STRIKING A CHORD WITH BUYERS

This, more than ever in the age of Covid, has hit a chord with potential buyers, many of whom use the YouTube videos posted by the MaroBrothers as a highly convenient way of comparing different properties that interest them. “There is no substitution for entering a property yourself and allowing your senses to tell you the story,” says Dominik, “but at a time when travel is restricted and time is a valuable commodity, this is an accurate way to showcase it.”

And this he does with an enthusiasm and charm that has caught on with many, including creating a connection with younger buyers. In fact, the combination of Patrick’s production skills and Dominik’s natural charisma in front of the camera produces the right blend of information and engagement, judging by viewing figures that run in the multiple thousands, and reach potential buyers in Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. What’s more, the MaroBrothers don’t charge for promotion, but invest their time and resources in the properties they believe in, also working with other agents to add a fresh approach to marketing.

In doing things in a way that comes natural to them, Dominik and Patrick Maroszek have found a means to connect with a growing audience and are part of a new wave of young professionals who will eventually transform the local property sector and bring it in line with the rest of the world. However, even if video production of this kind catches on in Marbella, the very personal way the brothers promote quality properties between Sotogrande and Málaga is hard to replicate.

“We know that this is only one aspect of an agent’s work, but it marks the way in which we work,” says Patrick, whose creative approach to video production forms part of a philosophy that also sees the brothers preferring a personal conversation and briefing with homebuyers over receiving an email contact form. As Dominik says: “We would rather send our clients four or five targeted proposals than bombard them with unrelated choices, and we never ask them to fill in forms first.”

CHECK THEM OUT ON YOUTUBE UNDER MAROBROTHERS.