A native to Fairfield county, Melissa and her family live in Westport and Southport for the past 25 years. She is active in the community, contributing through volunteer work, fundraising and event planning. These organizations include: Westport: Westport Historical Society, O.A.R.S. (Olympic Athletes in Training at SRC), HORIZONS: Rowing Program at Greens Farm Academy, PTA for Westport Public Schools, Pegasus Therapeutic Riding, and Westport/Weston YMCA. Southport/Fairfield: Fairfield Historical Society, Rooms with a View, and Pequot Library. New Canaan: New Canaan Historical Society, Modern House Symposium / Grace Farms, and Arts for Healing.
Melissa carries a background of a successful career working as Creative Director at Bankers Trust (Investor Relations), specializing in branding and identity development, the corporate annual report and building their in-house design department. She is founder of Melissa Makris Design for Living, a luxury interior design, space planning and project coordination firm, for luxury waterfront properties, notable historic preservation, modern classics, pool houses and guest cottages. Numerous magazine publications feature her award winning work. Her background also includes Art Direction for TIME Magazine, New York Magazine, Connoisseur, Andersen Lembke at Chiat/Day/Mojo Advertising.
Melissa brings a very dynamic element to her clients whether listing a property, seeking a dream home, with a unique foundation trifecta for real estate properties. She is passionate about architecture design, cultivating the client relationship, and possesses strong negotiating skills for the best possible deal. Working on many job sites, she comes equipped with a visionary design mind for short term and, or long term investment planning.
She studied Art History + Architecture at The University of Connecticut, and Design at Parsons School of Design, in New York. Melissa is a fine art photographer and competitive rower.
In 2019, Melissa was inducted into the ‘Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame’, at Hudson High School, Hudson, Ohio.
Client Testimony:
“Even though Melissa has handled almost a dozen listings for us in the last few years, this one stands out in our minds for many reasons. Through her in-depth and diligent market research, she discovered that membership in this private Point Beach Association of Milford would include use of five waterfront greens, known as pocket parks. In pricing…Her market analysis for pricing our home was spot-on in a market area where many similar sized homes were half the price than what she recommended. Ultimately, the buyer’s bank appraisal came in at exactly her listing price for our house. In this very uncertain market, through her constant market analysis, she knew exactly when to hold firm the list price. The deal itself…Melissa, highly trained and skilled in negotiations, protected and saved the sale itself on three separate occasions, to everyone’s exuberant surprise. She stayed close with timely information and feedback through the entire process. Melissa has a fabulous support team that was able to stay on top of all the paperwork on a very fast close timeline. Melissa left this house, its new buyer, we her clients, and realtors she worked with in a better place than before listing our home. She made everyone feel appreciated, special, and cared for with her professional care and charismatic ways. She exudes pure and ethical professionalism at its highest level. We felt so protected by her always representing our best
interests and guiding us every step of the way to a great success at the closing table. It is quite apparent that Melissa and William Raveis/AFA Homes in Southport, provide an extra level of intellectual finer points on real estate, high performance finance, creative marketing, that come together evidentially clear in the results. A most enjoyable experience, kudos to all and see you on the next one.” ~ Robert and Bonnie Vontell, Point Beach, Milford
“A sincere ‘thank you’ for your help with both transactions. The prospect of selling a 6100 sq. ft. historic ‘white elephant’ in a historic neighborhood was daunting. Your generosity to identify a local realtor to facilitate the sale was much appreciated. Moreso, I truly didn’t expect the stellar service you provided after the referral. It’s evident that without your insights and persistence, our home would have been underpriced by 20%. Furthermore, your help with staging and marketing resulted in a buyer, just as you predicted and as quickly as you predicted and from of all places, FAIRFIELD! Selling was only half the equation. We were stunned and ecstatic that you were able to find us a new home as seamlessly as you did. How you managed to overcome yet another local agent’s quirkiness — and win over my long-term attorney in the process from such distance — was commendable. Finally, I need to thank you for opening my eyes to the ‘art of the possible’. To your credit, you saw the vision. Especially, where value can be gained through design ROI. I couldn’t be happier with what now feels like a bargain price given the cost-efficient upgrades planned and premium we yielded for the white elephant. I’ve bought and sold many homes. This dual transaction was a gem. Again, your market analysis, proactive equity protection (i.e. outworking entrenched talent) and sharp negotiating skills were beyond exemplary. Bravo Zulu!” ~ Michael Shea, Farmington, Connecticut
“Thank you both for creating a smooth, organized team-like experience with the sale of our home. Even as the reality of the pandemic began to take hold in March, keeping cool heads and sound advice, we maneuvered through town hall closings and the start of working remotely to final closing.
Thanks again to you both!” ~ Hank and Barbara Morehouse, Westport
“In today’s sophisticated real estate market, we all need a real estate sherpa to walk us through the ups and downs of the home selling journey to greener pastures. Melissa Makris is a most excellent design/realtor sherpa to lead the way. We worked with Melissa, our selling agent, on five separate real estate transactions. She handled complexities and details on every property with the utmost care. With her savvy expertise in architecture and design, she “custom listed” our properties, positioning and recommending them in their best presentation to prospective buyers — a process that paid us huge returns when the properties each sold. Melissa has a great understanding of the local real estate market, how to deal with folks on either side of the deal and was super accessible through the whole process. Melissa went above and beyond our expectations, was most resourceful with her team and knows how to negotiate, navigate and direct with high efficiency to the closing table.” ~ Robert and Bonnie Vontell, Easton
