What has been your greatest success and your greatest challenge as Project Director at Laje Capital?
I think there is no single success or challenge at Laje Capital. In a job where we manage projects, the greatest success is having mini-successes every day, being able to overcome your challenges and create solutions to get where you want to go.
I would even say that being a project manager is being a problem solver, since every day you interact with so many people and entities whose interests are so different that it is difficult to direct all efforts towards a single objective.
That's why it's the small difficulties that are overcome on a daily basis that pave the way for the overall success of a project. I think that's what defines you as a project manager. And of course, being able to count on a good team.
How would you describe your professional career at Laje Capital?
Right now, I am lucky to be surrounded by a fantastic and competent team. It all started with getting involved in a project and its development.
Thanks to these small successes, the scope of work becomes larger and you take on more responsibilities, which is a challenge, but it allows you to evolve and grow professionally.
I think my career has been very positive; there have been difficulties and obstacles, but I think the overall outlook is positive. I hope to continue to perform as well as possible at Laje Capital and in my projects.
What can we expect from the Portuguese real estate market in 2019?
This is a difficult question because no one can predict the future. I think that in 2019 the positive trend will continue. The Portuguese real estate market is going through a good phase.
We have already started to see ebay database signs that some real estate companies are taking more precautions, although I think there are reasons to believe that this strong and dynamic property market has much more to give. For example, foreign investment does not seem to slow down – on the contrary, more and more buildings are being built in Lisbon.
The effect of advertising is also noticeable, which does not depend only on a company or a project manager, but on what society as a whole offers, which gives us more visibility abroad and attracts more people who come with Golden Visas and non-habitual resident investment plans. Together with our level of security, our sense of empathy towards people and the ease with which we integrate different cultures, are factors that will continue to attract investments to Portugal .
Another thing is that banks have been giving Portuguese families the credit they need to start buying property again and making investments that they couldn't make a few years ago. But I think there are still some precautions to be taken when investing.
At some point, measures that have already been implemented in countries such as Canada and New Zealand, such as restrictive policies and stricter tax regimes for foreign investment, can be discussed here. Right now there is a big discrepancy between what the Portuguese can afford in terms of property ownership, which is one of the main priorities, and what is actually being implemented.
That is why I think that some of these measures could end up being debated in Europe and in Portugal. In general, I think that there will continue to be a positive trend, but with warning signs in the type of projects that are promoted and put on the real estate market.
How should the real estate sector adapt to Proptech?
This is also a good question. It seems obvious to me that Proptech is here to stay and that there is more to come. This is to be expected, as this type of evolution has occurred in all sectors, from information technology, for obvious reasons, to the functioning of cities, to the healthcare system.
The biggest adaptation will be the cultural exchange and how much people will have to learn. Throughout the real estate value chain we still have very traditional models, which are seen in agencies as well as in real estate development and building inspection. I think that right now it will be the project managers who will lead the way, as they are assimilating new technologies, such as BIM (Building Information Modelling), for example.
However, professionals in this sector will have to undergo extensive training to adapt to new technologies, which will ultimately free them from other tasks and responsibilities. I think they will have to train a lot and be open to new ideas, but adapting to Proptech is obvious.
Have some agents shown resistance to Proptech?
Yes, and sometimes it depends more on where [in Portugal] you work. There is a huge difference in Lisbon and Porto , and even in Coimbra , where things are much more developed and more dynamic, probably due to the strong presence of universities and technological innovation. People there are much more open.
