The Engel Team
With over 40 years of experience, this dynamic and innovative team offers their clients current market analytics and boundless creativity in their approach to listing and selling real estate.
The Engel Team guides clients through pre-listing their property, pricing, marketing strategies, and the sales process. Buyers benefit from the team’s in-depth knowledge of local real estate and tremendous market insight in the areas of both real estate investment and development.
Each week, the members of the Engel Team spend hours doing market analysis, researching, conducting broker open house tours, and conversing with other realtors to get the current pulse of the market. They meet as a team and with other realtors to discuss market status and buyer trends. They then provide clients with an easy-to-understand and in-depth monthly market analysis called the Market Report.
The Engel Team leverages their 40 years of shared real estate sales experience as well as John’s 20 years in internet marketing and media to ensure that every property is marketed locally and globally.
The team delivers a service platform that encompasses its members’ knowledge, network, and analysis so that clients can confidently transact within the area’s (New Canaan, Darien, Wilton, Norwalk, Stamford, Rowayton) dynamic residential real estate market.
John Engel
2017 Agent of The Year – New Canaan
Producer’s Council – Top 5% Companywide
A consistently top-producing agent in New Canaan, John recently won the 2018 Realtor of the Year Award in New Canaan for his dedicated service to the town. He is currently the Chairman of the Town Council and was formerly a member of the New Canaan Zoning Board of Appeals. He is therefore well-versed in land-use and zoning issues in town. He is also the owner of two commercial buildings in downtown New Canaan.
John also brings an insight into internet-based marketing that is unsurpassed. Before going into real estate he was the founder of two successful internet businesses, e-Media.com and Paper.com
He is a member of the New Canaan Rotary Club and previous board member of The New Canaan Land Trust and Staying Put New Canaan. John was also instrumental in the formation of the New Canaan Outback Teen Center.
John grew up in New Canaan before attending Davidson College in North Carolina. After graduating, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army and fought in the first Gulf War. He lives in New Canaan with his wife Melissa and four children.
What is John’s role on the Engel Team? John is creative. He comes up with unique and exciting ways to market properties, cutting through the clutter of a thousand listings, causing the viewer to stop and say, “Have I seen that before?”
John is analytical. He pores over the data each month in order to get a better understanding of the market. When a buyer says “I love this house, but what’s it worth?” we know that John will have a point of view on value, supported with data on what has been selling lately.
John is a writer. He writes a column for the New Canaan Advertiser. He writes a market report which is widely distributed throughout New Canaan and the tri-state area.
Susan Engel
Licensed in Connecticut
New Canaan – Elm Street Office
Susan Engel has long been one the area’s most knowledgeable realtors. Consistently a top producer, she was voted Realtor of the Year in New Canaan by her peers and has twice served as President of the New Canaan Board of Realtors. She has been involved in more than 500 real estate transactions in New Canaan since 1982. Her 30-plus years as a full-time agent in town have resulted in her knowing the current value and attributes of almost every home in New Canaan.
Susan works with top builders in our area to communicate trends in the market and changing customer needs. Her expertise includes the areas of luxury homes, vintage homes, condominiums, land, and new construction.
What is Susan’s role on the Engel Team?
First of all, Susan has the experience of being in every home in town. That is no exaggeration. She has lived in this town 40 years and been a real estate agent for 35. When you drive around New Canaan with Susan she points out the window and gives a commentary on each house, when it sold last, whether it was renovated, and what were its greatest assets and issues. Her encyclopedic mind is a critical asset to the team and new agents.
Susan shows a house better than anyone. And really, this is an essential part of the job. If we were selling stocks we might look up the associated facts and weigh a decision. But, houses are so much more than stocks and Susan is able to paint a picture of what it might be like to live in each home, imagining the family coming together to eat in this space, opening up walls over here, and having coffee together over there. Its quite something to behold an experience realtor with imagination who can articulate for her client what is essential about a house and to bring that house to life. If you want to see what I mean, watch the videos at 312 Elm Street, 269 Dans Highway and 7 Canaan Close. This is how Susan shows a house.
And Susan is a people-person, and that makes her a natural rainmaker. People come up to me every day and say, “I just love your mother.” She is genuine with an upbeat, a positive personality. That is the kind of person people want to work with, whether its looking for a home they can be excited about, or whether it is going through the process of putting a house on the market for sale. When you’ve been around so long, and everybody knows you and trusts you, they want to hire you. Rather than slow down saying, “I don’t want to work that hard” she has decided to surround herself with a capable team and it allows Susan to do what she does best, connect with people.
Melissa Engel
Licensed in Connecticut
New Canaan – Elm Street Office
Melissa is from North Carolina and graduated with a B.S. in Business from Queens University in Charlotte, NC. She is an efficiency expert managing the listing side of the business for the Engel Team, which she co-leads along with her husband John.
Long-time residents of New Canaan, the power couple is deeply rooted in the town and has in-depth, firsthand knowledge of the area. The Engel Team is composed of full-time agents who provide an invaluable edge in meeting their clients’ needs, providing professional service and unbridled creative solutions.
Melissa is a mother of four children, and when not in the office, she volunteers her time to run the board of the New England Dance Theater. She loves to garden with her chocolate Lab, Lucy.
What is Melissa’s role on the Engel Team? Melissa organizes the team. That is how the Engel Team is able to leverage the skills and talents of every member to our client’s advantage. Melissa plans the advertising, schedules the open houses, and assigns the leads according to who is doing what, has the skills and whether they have any available bandwidth.
Melissa communicates with our clients. As she so often reminds us its not enough that we do the work, we have to let our clients know what’s going on. That means letting them know in advance about showings, and providing feedback after each showing so we can collectively learn and adjust.
Melissa has the perspective of a mother, wife and homemaker in New Canaan. She remembers what it felt like to move here, raise a family, and become part of the community and so she can provide a perspective that John, Charles and Susan lack. First of all, she is a great cook and cooks every night so she has a point of view on every kitchen on the market. She looks at the mudroom and the laundry room with the perspective of a mom.
Charles Anello
Licensed in Connecticut
New Canaan – Elm Street Office
Charles’ journey started in the construction field, and over the last 30 years, he has owned and managed a number of successful companies. He has worked hard to be 100% referral-based, relying solely on his quality of work and being “of service” to his clientele. While still at the top of his game, Charles enters the real estate field, bringing his knowledge of homes to a new variety of customer. Combining his construction, management, and real estate investing skills makes him a real estate salesperson that you can rely on to help on your home journey.
What makes Charles so effective is his understanding of the unique needs of buyers, sellers, and renters, as well as his gift for bringing together a successful deal that satisfies every party involved. As a longtime property investor and manager, he appreciates the value potential of real estate, as well as the emotional side of buying or selling a home.
Born and raised in New Canaan, Charles has seen the numerous transformations the town has undergone, becoming the sleepy hub for affluent CEOs, actors, and musicians. The town’s draw to New York’s elite is legendary and is part of what makes being a realtor here so special for Charles.