Michele Marano Makes Real Estate and Design One

I’ve come to the realization that real estate and design are articulated in my sleep and when I wake up I put the pieces together, where they belong.

Not much thought or struggling goes into what, or are how things get done. My intuitive approach is insight. I immediately know the way I want the house to look and feel when clients walk in the door, not to mention how the owner will feel when they see their home transformed.

Everyone likes to think they are their own best designer, however there are no comparisons when you see one home professional designed, furnished or staged and another that is not.

Everyday I look at homes on the market and although I cringe many times, I have to wonder why some agents don’t go the extra mile and hire an expert to do it for them.

My recent listing is an architectural gift, however I had some challenges with too much of everything in the home, some pieces just out dating it. I start with “un-furnishing” the home, taking out pieces that will not work and using as many hand selected items that belong to the owner. I take what they have, add pieces from my company’s inventory and freshen up the look. Sometimes it means making the look youthful and bright, giving the home what I call a facelift, de-staging and redesigning its style.

Real Estate agents will call me and say, "I can't get my listing to show. Can you come by and rearrange things?" One particular agent called me back a few days later and said the immediate next buyer who viewed the home, submitted a contract and ended up buying it. She was amazed but so happy. I do charge agents a flat fee but very wiling to help them out.

There is a sense of magic in design. I do everything in business through inspiration and most importantly, intuition. My intuitive approach is almost always right, basically guiding me on every turn. I learned this early in life as a child. I grew up along the countryside of upstate New York, being in nature daily. I didn't realize then how my perceptions were formed, but it made a tremendous impact later in life. I saw things as a normal child would, but decades later, those exact memories became vivid, as if they are in front of me now. Inspiration was the cause of going back to moments, realizing them through vision and memory. It's how I write, paint, create and design. It's how I live my life now.

When I studied through the Chopra Centre, during covid year, my life changed drastically. It was almost like a full circle going back to where I grew up. Being all those years in nature to the present, a fulfilled life of beauty, truth, wonder, and of course inspiration. I always wondered as a child why I lived in the country on endless acres of nature, a huge agricultural farm surrounded by thousands of acreage my dad owned. Inspiration was the driving factor and I have made inspiration the core to my design business. Not everyone knows me but those who do use my business are touched by what I give them.

Clients don't get an agent with just some design skill. You get an experience of empowerment, transformation is what I bring to my clients. It's just the way it is. If you design your home with me, you will later hire me for the real estate because the trust and skillset runs deep, believing in what we do together forms an automatic bond. Clients are excited. There is a lot of work that goes into this though. It's not always a walk in the park. I bring my part and I ask my clients to follow along. I like to let them lead in some ways. I ask for their inspiration, a story or memory and I bring it to life. That's what I do. I take the client's inspiration and I bring it to life.

For me, real estate and design are hand in hand. I’m an expert in the market, pricing, homes and the economy, having worked in markets for years, giving moment by moment commentary on the Exchange in New York, Wall St.? Ask me anything about markets or real estate, and I’ll have an hour conversation with you.? Then, I add my touch of magic. I’ve owned my design business for more than 20 years so I have the knowledge and experience, creating my own homes.? It’s what I love but what makes this extraordinare is being one person, offering my clients a specialty of both, design and real estate together.? You get the ideal design experience and knowledge in markets. The clients are so excited to see their homes transformed to a whole new light. I don’t know anyone who would not want to utilize an expert in markets. It just makes sense.? If you know me, it’s a given.? You would not hire anyone else.