The Agency on Netflix | See you at the Kretz’s!

Met in their prestigious property-agency of Boulogne-Billancourt, at the gates of Paris, the Kretz – the illustrious family of the show The agency on Netflix – tell their story and promise an even more incredible second season than the first. Immersion in the reality of a very endearing clan, which makes us dream big.

Emmanuelle Mozayan-Verschaeve
Special collaboration

(Paris) In the Kretz family, there is father Olivier, mother Sandrine, eldest son Martin, the second Valentin (traveling to Los Angeles during the interview), the third Louis, the fourth Raphaël (studying at the university) and the adorable grandmother Majo, who lives in the building opposite and is surprised that the neighborhood merchants consider her a fictional star! However, everything is true, they all assert, and when you rub shoulders with them in their environment, sitting around the large table in the dining room, there is no doubt.

First broadcast on the French channel TMC, then picked up by Netflix, The agency is a reality TV show that follows the daily life of the Kretz family, whose particularity is to work together in the luxury real estate sector.

The idea of ​​working in the sale of high-end real estate was born from a long reflection between Olivier and Sandrine. The latter was a teacher, very close to the parents of the students who often asked her if she knew of any properties for sale. “I understood their lifestyle, since I lived with them on a daily basis, and therefore I wanted to make them happy by finding a house that would suit them after having educated their children. I liked this contact with people, ”she recalls.

Olivier Kretz, meanwhile, had been working in telecommunications for ten years. “I was mostly talking to machines, actually. So I really needed a job that was completely the opposite, deeply human. ”

From teaching, Sandrine moved on to decoration, which her husband was also passionate about. “This is how we entered the world of luxury real estate, working for mansions, and it really started when we acquired this house in Boulogne, because it had everything a story: André Malraux had lived there for 20 years, General de Gaulle came there. I would say that the combination of 1930s architecture and the entire history of the property inspired us, along with Sandrine, to do this profession. It was a story of people and we wanted a common project for both of us. “

People at the heart of success

The couple started in 2008, despite the subprime mortgage crisis (subprime, global financial crisis). Entrepreneurs believe in their real estate project and ideas germinate in the head of their eldest son who watches them work hard in their corner. After several professional experiences, the young man with a business school wants to take part in the family business. “Martin arrived to create the brand and a new website,” says Mr. Kretz.

A few years later, Valentin, who is an engineer, brings a new brick to the company on the technological side by developing a very unique operating system, because it does not depend on an IT company. “We are our own master and this is very important, because with all the distribution channels that exist, it has become extremely complex to reach the right target, with the right content”, adds the latter.

Image, technology, marketing, then of course the sale of real estate: the Kretz control everything in their agency, always keeping in mind to preserve their identity, which goes through the relationship with people.

Building on their success, they have recruited brokers in other regions of France and are now around thirty. They are also in demand abroad, including in Canada, but do not want to go too fast. “It’s a profession where people are at the center of everything, so we really have to invest in the right people if we want to keep our strengths, our reputation, whether it is an extended family with the same values ​​as ours, which ‘there is mutual trust between our agents and us, ”says Sandrine Kretz.

A second season that promises

Louis, the third of the siblings, joined the agency six years ago. “I was well trained by my parents and my older brothers. I take care of the accounting, of all that is rental, of the social networks, and I train the agents in the hiring ”, explains the one whose fiancée, Adriana, will appear besides in the second season of The agency, which is slated to be on Netflix before Spring 2022.

This whole aspect of training and recruiting new agents will also be highlighted in the next season of reality TV, around the hard family nucleus. “There are some pretty thrilling twists and turns! You will also see more places, because we filmed all over France, while the first season was based only in Paris and its surroundings. It represents the country well and you will discover even more spectacular things, ”says Sandrine. Like Quebec, France has also experienced a craze for real estate in the region since the pandemic.

Obviously, this family with complementary qualities is having a lot of fun and feels privileged to have been chosen to make this reality show, while continuing to work together in a field that makes you dream. “We are very lucky to be surrounded by our young people, then to see that at the very beginning of the adventure, we were just family, now we are 30 and maybe next year, we will be 50! But you have to go gradually, question yourself regularly and always keep a link with customers, ”believes the mother, who is currently taking Portuguese lessons with her husband, while the company’s agents can already answer. in ten languages ​​to their customers.

The gong rings for a Quebecer

Invited to the Kretz’s, Sophie Charest has been established in France for nearly 30 years. “I am originally from Quebec; I moved here for work, then I met my husband, who is French. We have known each other indirectly for a few years with Sandrine, because our husbands met on the beach while kitesurfing, ”she explains.

With the children leaving the nest, Sophie Charest and her partner planned to sell their house in the Paris suburbs to change their lives by moving into a condo in the heart of the French capital. “This reflection came to us during the confinement. We are also lucky to have a small house by the sea in Normandy, where we spend more and more time. We talked about our project with the Kretz family during the lockdown, then it ended there. ”

Sandrine contacted them again after this period to inform them of the exceptional demand for houses in the Paris suburbs, with young families looking to leave the city center to have more space. They therefore decided to bring their project to fruition, by setting fairly ambitious price targets, which were realized: their property was sold in 10 days. “It’s a family team that understood our needs. It was not easy for us, because it had been more than 25 years that we had been installed in this house and there was a lot of support, of psychology to make sure that things went well ”, specifies M^me Charest, who took great pleasure in hearing the famous gong ringing announcing the sale of his house.