We Are a GROUP. And I Mean It

When I named the company “Adrian Leeds Group,” I meant it.

There aren’t any “employees,” but we consist of a large team of sub-contractors who are hired to do specific jobs. And we have an even larger team of qualified professional resources that we have built over many years…23 years to be exact!

You can read my own bio, but my background isn’t as important as the story of how it happened that French property became my “raison d’être.” I joke that I didn’t happen to it—it happened to me—and that’s the truth.

When I was the director of the Paris Office for International Living in 2002, the readers wanted someone to help them find property in Paris. I didn’t know the first thing about real estate, but I knew how to find someone who did…so I did. That was the beginning of the property-finding service, then something else happened. The owner of International Living wanted to test the Paris rental market by purchasing properties that would generate a revenue from short-term rentals. So, that’s what I did. I found a few properties to purchase, found a contractor to renovate them and found an agency to rent and manage them.

I left International Living after three years to start my own firm, “Adrian Leeds Group,” and held on to the resources I had built. That was the beginning of amassing a formidable team of professionals to do everything we can to help someone live and/or invest in France. We’ve never ventured outside of France, and while we could work with anyone who speaks English, we focus on who we know best: North Americans.

The Adrian Leeds Group is a licensed real estate agency. You can’t do business in France without the “Carte Professionnelle.” Pay attention to this, because anyone selling real estate in France, or even property-finding, or advising, must be licensed when it comes to REAL estate that is physically located in France.

The Group is mostly made up of Americans, but not everyone. English is a must, and a good knowledge of American culture vs French culture is essential to someone working with our clients. In fact, I hold this asset high above experience in the field, because managing our clients is the most difficult job we have to do. This is particularly true for managing their expectations, which come from having a North American default mode. Crossing the cultural divide is the toughest part for anyone moving to France, or even just investing here…one cannot expect the French or France to behave like Americans or America. Period.

But, let me introduce you to the Group.

Patty Sadauskas gets top billing because while we’ve titled her “Client Account & Operations Manager,” we don’t really know how to title her. She started as a personal assistant 10 years ago and now she could run the company. Patty is doing consultations with our new clients alongside me, and she’s well-versed and amazingly resourceful. We agree on just about everything, even though we joke that she’s the tortoise and I’m the hare (because she’s slow and methodical, but gets to the finish line at the same time or sooner, while I jump ahead and make mistakes along the way). Patty never dreamed that her séjour in France would end up working so hard, but for such a rewarding job: making the dream to live in France come true for so many people.

Schuyler Hoffman needs to be high up on the list because he and I have had projects together since 1998. He was my first assistant when working with International Living. While he moved from France to Seattle, Seattle to New Orleans (after Katrina), New Orleans to the Seattle area, and works from there, he’s responsible for creating and publishing this Nouvellettre® three times a week. In all these years, I don’t believe it’s ever been late. I know I can count on him to do a fabulous job of preparing it and launching it, so you can thank him for all you’ve had to read and enjoy all these years!

Luz Marina Diaz is one of our Search Consultants in Paris and our longest standing, but she’s also a Concierge for a lot of properties in Paris. Venezuelan by birth, she’s an American citizen and does a bang-up job regardless of what the job is. Her clients love her, just as we have for many, many years. My records go back to 2011, but I’m sure she’s been with us much longer than that.

Ella Dyer is our “doyen” Search Consultant in Nice. She claims she “stalked” me until she flew to Paris just to have lunch and introduce herself. She knows everyone and everyone knows her. With her, will almost always be her sidekick, Simone, who will be dressed as elegantly and stylishly as Ella. I recruited her before she became a full-time resident of Nice for good reason—she’s as good as it gets finding property to purchase and making long-lasting friends with her clients.

Kathy Grassi is a Search Consultant in Nice, too, but Kathy’s milieu is rental properties. She’s as sweet as it comes, but don’t let that soft exterior fool you. She’s sharp as a tack and accomplishes miraculous findings for her clients in a very tough environment.

Zerina Serulle came to us in Paris with more experience than all of us put together. When I met her I knew immediately she needed to be part of our team. Zerina heads our Listings Department and that’s the toughest job of all…ask any real estate agent which they prefer: working with the buyer or the seller?

Jay Corless leads the organization in rental searches in Paris. He’s a highly organized and efficient guy who can find properties for our clients in the blink of an eye (small exaggeration). He’s so efficient and effective that he’s heading the design and installation of our new CRM system (Customer Relationship Management).

In Nice we have a couple of Katies: Katie Friedland and our newest addition, Katie Archer. Katie Friedland we call “Katie,” and Katie Archer we call “Archer,” so that you can tell them apart! But it’s not tough to see or know the difference. They are two very different people.

Katie Friedland was recruited after meeting her at Après-Midi in Nice with her parents, who live part-time in Nice. It was clear her big personality would be well-suited for finding property and that was certainly true. She can snag properties to rent or purchase as fast as Jay can! And nothing gets in her way of accomplishing what she sets out to accomplish. She also runs a French course called Parler Power. In her “spare” time she devotes her life to her adorable six year-old daughter, Tallulah. And who knows? Tallulah may want to take after her mom and end up in the Group, too!

Archer was our most recent addition to the Nice team. She came as a client and we recognized her capabilities immediately. She’s devoted to rental searches for now, but am sure she’ll progress and grow into the French real estate world very quickly. We have high hopes for her…so keep an eye out for a star to be born!

Our newest team member in Paris is Fiona Costello, Immigration and French Administration Assistance. She may be Irish, but we won’t hold that against her (!). She’s a cracker jack at getting things done. And that’s no easy task when it comes to French bureaucracy! Fiona wears a lot of hats and wears them all very well, so you will likely see more of her as time goes on and she inherits more and more projects, including property searches. It’s thanks to Zerina we found her—she had Fiona in the background acting as her own personal assistant, until we recruited her to join us.

Willow Miller-Cornu, Rental Search Consultant and Administrative Assistant, I’ve left for last. But she’s the first contact you will have with the Adrian Leeds Group. She’s half French and half American, so she’s bilingual. Even though she’s our youngest member, she can outsmart us all. We met at Après-Midi and I grabbed her up to work with us. She’s in charge of our customer service and handles all the administrative work for the Fractional Ownership properties we manage. It’s a big job that keeps her very busy. The sad news for us is that she moved to Los Angeles last year to be with her film industry boyfriend, so we miss having her big smile in Paris with us. But for now…we’ll punt and pray she comes back!

The others you don’t have direct contact, but are in the background doing a lot of heavy lifting include Nicole Oliver, CPA, keeping the books; Diane Carruthers, my personal assistant who keeps me sane and for whom nothing is too difficult or impossible; Said Ali, our IT guy, who keeps us all up and running smoothly and has for many, many years. Matthieu Duclos, a French accountant, is my business partner who provides the Carte Professionnelle and ensures we tow the French administrative line to a Tee.

Also part of the Group are all of our fabulous resources and partners. Where would we be without Martine di Mattéo, Laura Poirier or Joanna Carubia when it comes to gorgeous interiors? And there is no way we could exist without the brilliant advice of financial advisors such as Brian Dunhill, Jonathan Hadida, Benjamin Pik and of course, Matthieu Duclos…or mortgages thanks to Simon Conn? Daniel Tostado and his growing team make getting visas a snap for our clients, and as a client of his, I can tell you that they are THE BEST. For insurance, Fabien Pelissier at Fab makes insurance sexy, as does Angélique Moore at BH Assurances. In Paris, Benjamin Noblinksi is our Notaire of choice and in Nice, Carole Vangioni gets all of our business.

(Note: all of these resources are available to contact via our website.)

All of these professionals make up the ADRIAN LEEDS GROUP to provide you with the kind of top notch service you deserve. Each and every one of these people have had to prove themselves to me…I’m the seal of approval. And I’m a tough test.

The point is that this is the team you can trust. None of these people owe us anything, but we owe them our trust and appreciation. You can go directly to any of our associates and rest assured you’ll be well taken care of. Just be sure to tell them that I referred you and you’ll get the kind of treatment and professional advice you want and hope for.

A la prochaine…