Marika Kalogerakis on the Power—and Joy—of Working in an Extraordinary Environment
It was a calling—and an entrepreneurial mindset—that he would pass on to his daughter, who in turn became familiar with the trade at a young age. “I’ve been around real estate my whole life,” she says, describing how working with and learning from family gave her experience in both a buyer’s and owner’s shoes, along with an in-depth understanding of the myriad issues each side face—a both-sides perspective would prove pivotal later in her career.
Right after the North Carolina native earned her degree in international business, Marika Kalogerakis also got her real estate license and quickly set about learning different facets of the field as both a commercial broker and a marketer of new and existing residential properties. A move to Southern California in 2008 yielded more commercial experience, and she also started selling residential real estate in the South Bay. “I’ve never left the South Bay,” the Palos Verdes resident muses. “I love it here.”
So much that at the beginning of 2018 Marika Kalogerakis welcomed the opportunity to work in Palos Verdes as head of real estate at award-winning Terranea Resort. Having worked in Terranea real estate in 2011, she was later hand-picked by her predecessor to lead the office. It wasn’t just the resort’s sparkling coastal beauty that drew her; it was Terranea’s leadership and general atmosphere.
“There are so many interesting people who work at the resort and are guests of the resort, and our owners are a remarkable group of people” Marika Kalogerakis explains. “It’s a pleasure to work with them and get to know them.”
With the last of the resort’s available 82 Villas and Casitas sold earlier this year, Marika Kalogerakis now focuses on the re-sale of these homes by private owners. That and being the friendly point person for buyers and sellers of vacation homes at Terranea. She handles everything from marketing properties and assisting clients while navigating their management contracts, to helping new owners ease into life at the resort and getting clients in touch with the ownership services team that assists in the rental of properties.
An integral part of the sales process, she points out, is helping buyers be aware of the requirements of the California Coastal Commission, which directs owners to stay at their properties no more than 90 days per year, and when not in use, avail them for rent as vacation homes.
“There are a lot of considerations when you buy a resort property like Terranea,” states Marika Kalogerakis.
And those who buy properties at the resort tend to be savvy real estate owners, she explains, with high expectations when it comes to service. Therefore, an agent like herself, with a wide breadth of real estate capabilities; spanning commercial and residential, and acting as an agent for both buyers and sellers, has been essential for success.
It’s this diverse background, she points out, “that gave me a very full understanding of issues that Terranea owners were going to navigate.”
For this real estate professional, however, hailing from a small Southern town, where she was raised by parents who had immigrated from Greece (“They were extremely hardworking, and family was everything to them,” she says), it’s the personal aspect of the job that’s she values the most. “Selling a vacation home is really a privilege in a lot of ways,” Marika Kalogerakis shares.
“People buy it so they can go there and have fun, and to share it with the people they love.”
In this positive atmosphere, she says, relationships are built that continue long after the sale: “I get to see that buyer come and enjoy the beauty of Terranea with their friends and family and observe them making memories.”
“It’s no hardship to come to work every day,” Marika Kalogerakis says of the resort.
“Terranea is an extraordinary place to be.”
Marika Kalogerakis
Terranea Real Estate
310.265.2888 | mkalogerakis@terranea.com
Photographs: Portrait by Grove House Photography. Drone photo by Erik Jay. Photos of Villas by Walkthrough Productions
