Introducing our agent in the French Alps: Emma Casanova

What does a typical day as a Leggett agent entail?
07h00 Alarm call, the coffee is on a timer so it’s already brewing, I really enjoy coming into the kitchen first thing and smelling fresh coffee.
I walk the dog for half an hour on alternate days going to the gym before breakfast, come home to enjoy a vanilla coffee and open my laptop to read any unread emails from the previous evening as well as having a quick look at the diary.
At 09h00 my official working day begins, usually at my home-office responding to emails and checking other websites for any new business. Any appointments I try to make in the morning, leaving the afternoons clear to deal with the overflow or backlog of activity, but unless I have specific office business, I will usually be round and about in my car scouring the terrain for competitor “For Sale” signs or looking for new business.  I also run a small property management company with Clients around the Lake Annecy area so I am often in the car.  It’s a great way to get to know what is happening in the neighbourhoods and make local contacts. I often stop off and have a coffee somewhere, dropping off the odd Leggett magazine here and there and have recently ordered some car-magnets as I think it’s a great opportunity for free advertising!

What is your favourite place in the area you cover? What do you like most about your area?
It is not really a place, but a being, and it is up there in the sky from a paraglider. That is where my favourite place is to see this beautiful area I live in. You can see it all from up there, and it is quiet!
Back down to earth, and my favourite place would be where I am now, above the picturesque village of Talloires overlooking the lake; a privilege I never take for granted. Every passing second, nature offers the bystander some spectacular change of scenery, a living painting of mesmerizing colours and movement. Mountains surround Lake Annecy, in the summer the towering granite slabs stand pale and proud above the shimmering turquoise waters of the cleanest lake in Europe. In winter, as the snowline gradually descends into the valley, the winter sun casts its rays through the low-lying mist onto the water. I am always looking out of the window with my camera to hand, just like now, as the sun sets behind the Semnoz and the sky turns to a tangerine cream. It is magical.

 What is the funniest / weirdest request you ever had?
Carrying out an evaluation for an Owner who spoke about her property in the third-person. I had to speak in lowered tones throughout the entire visit because ‘She’, the house, “could hear everything that was said…”.
What were you doing before you joined Leggett?
Running my existing Property Management business here in the Aravis. Prior to that, working in Corporate Marketing for a well-known Cosmetics company in Paris.

What is the most unusual house you mandated?
A rather ordinary-looking village house, but to the rear of the property the Owner had built a series of wooden “Hobbit” houses with round windows and moss roofs, one in which has a sauna overlooking the garden.  It looks straight out of Lord of the Rings which is one thing, but the Owner looks very much like Frodo. The whole thing is a little weird!
What do you like best about your job?
Dare I use the over-subscribed word, “diversity”?
Nevertheless, put that in the mix with “natural curiosity” and I think you have the perfect combo for a happy everyday work life. I can’t help but say it, I love my job!

Please click here to see Emma’s portfolio of properties.