One of the Greats of the South

At age 51 and with sixteen years of valid experience in real estate under his belt, Kenneth Grillo, is a senior property advisor at Alliance.

Although he is based at the Alliance Tigne office in Sliema, Kenneth’s main areas of expertise are residential properties located in the South East and South of Malta, especially his hometown of Fgura, Paola and Tarxien, Zabbar and Marsascala, Marsaxlokk and Zejtun. The three cities of Birgu (Vittoriosa), where he grew up, Bormla (Cospicua) and Isla (Senglea), are also amongst his favourite locations to work in. Kenneth also often ventures into the small villages in the geographic South of Malta – Kirkop, Mqabba, Qrendi, Safi and Zurrieq, as he also has a lot of knowledge of these localities and can provide sound advice to both sellers and buyers.

That’s not to say he doesn’t work on anything else. Kenneth’s most memorable sale is one of a €4.7 million warehouse, that he had brokered between two business people some years ago. “It’s my most memorable transaction, not only because of the life changing paycheque that came with it, but more so because of how it happened”, he muses. Kenneth goes on to explain how his first contact with that client was for a store that was reduced in price from €1.6 million to €1.1 million. That property turned out to be too small for that client’s needs, so Kenneth kept looking and thinking of more creative options to offer. In the end, after going out on several viewings with them, we closed on a property somewhere in the region of €2.3million. This was a good deal, but the place was not big enough for their future needs.

“So I kept on brainstorming on offering my client other valid solutions and possibilities. Since I knew that the vendor company had an adjacent property which was not on the market, I believed that a solution to the ‘extra space’ could be found. When we met with the seller to sign the promise of sale, I sparked the conversation into that direction and before you know it we where signing for the whole lot! My initial enquiry of €1.1 million euro ended up becoming a sale of €4.7 million, just because I kept believing and working hard on it.

“Working in real estate is often like putting a big puzzle together”, explains Kenneth. “Our knowledge of the market, our extensive contacts and experience, give us valuable insight that nobody else has in our business, and this is exactly why we are so important for our clients.”, he continues.

When not advising clients on their real estate puzzles, Kenneth’s passion is enjoying the outdoors. As a young boy, he grew up watching episodes of “Born Free” and “Daktari” on television, dreaming of driving a rugged Land Rover like his hero gamekeepers and veterinary doctors on the great plains of Africa. Spotting a similar vehicle in Paola one day, he promised himself that he will own one when he was old enough to afford it, and sure enough that is exactly what he did.

Since then he’s always owned Land Rovers and has already set his sights on his next model. His plan is to have this ready decked out with everything necessary to be able to drive off onlong trips in the great outdoors at the drop of a (Kodiak) hat. “Right now, I could get ready to go camping in a couple of hours and with this new vehicle, I’ll be ready to go out in even less time”, he quips.

Asked for his best advice in real estate for buyers and sellers, Kenneth advises buyers to seek out estate agents that demonstrate they are willing to work for them seriously, and to drop those that aren’t proactive. He advises property owners to set their asking prices on sound advice from the real experts of their area, and not just go on hunches or wishful thinking. “Before coming up with a price, you not only need to understand the market, but you also need to be up-to-date with what’s going on around you today, not yesterday, and this is exactly where we come in”, he concludes. For everyone else, Kenneth’s word of advice is to “Respect one another. Don’t do things to others that you don’t want others to do to you.The world is full of nice people. If you can’t find one, be one yourself.”

Kenneth is based at Alliance Tigne Sliema Branch and can be contacted on +356 9986 1713 or kenneth@alliance.mt.