Thomas Pons, founder and managing director of Alternative Real Estate Solutions (ARES Immobilier), France and Switzerland.
After studying in the United States and the United Kingdom, I spent nearly six years in corporate-restructuring consulting, in London and Paris.
This first chapter gave me a working method focused on organisation, adaptability to every situation, and communication.
Ten years ago I moved into real estate and settled in Megève — the village close to my heart, which I have known for forty years.
Today, ARES brings together two entities, in Megève and Geneva, to best serve a clientele attached to our resort. I offer them three lessons from my journey: rigour, confidentiality and network.
Every ARES valuation follows the same discipline: prices Achieved (the transaction history, including our off-market sales), Benchmarked (comparable properties for sale), Calibrated on the basis of our knowledge of the market. A defensible range, never a number of convenience.
The method, in detail →40% of our portfolio is sold off-market (ARES observatory): no listing, no portal, individual presentations under confidentiality. In Megève, Demi-Quartier and Combloux, it is our speciality.
Off-market, in numbers →An office on the route Edmond de Rothschild, at the foot of the Mont d’Arbois, and an office on rue du Rhône, Geneva — the resort’s primary buyer base, home to 35% of our clientele. The team works in French, English and Russian.
The Geneva office →