Looking back, one of the biggest factors in Fiona Dogan’s choice of a career in real estate was the opportunity it afforded her to work with international relocation clients, and help them make the same transition she did when she first moved to the United States in 1993.
Looking back, one of the biggest factors in Fiona Dogan’s choice of a career in real estate was the opportunity it afforded her to work with international relocation clients, and help them make the same transition she did when she first moved to the United States in 1993.
Born in Dundee, Scotland, she attended the University of St. Andrews. She’s lived in London, Munich, Brooklyn Heights, and Michigan, and, for the last 18 years has loved residing in Rye. Her husband hails from Istanbul, and they spend much of their free time visiting family in the United Kingdom and Europe, as well as traveling nationally and internationally. It helps that Fiona speaks fluent German and some Turkish and French.
Having an international background has given Dogan an unparalleled understanding of what expat families go through when they make their first move to the United States. “International families tend to seek each other out to discuss and learn about how things work in their adopted country,” Dogan said. “I joined the Rye Newcomers Club and the Rye Expat Connection, and met other new arrivals, many of whom are still my close friends today.” Through the schools and these groups Dogan got to know a lot of relocated families of all nationalities.
Her career in real estate began in 2004 when she built her own home in Rye. She joined Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty as a full-time Global Real Estate Advisor in 2007 and has worked with all types of clients at entry-level to luxury price points since then.
“My international clientele is based on a mixture of personal referrals, global clients who have sought my services after visiting my website, and others who have responded after seeing my global-themed advertising in The Rye Record.” Dogan added, “They know that I completely understand what they are going through as they try to navigate the complexities of moving to a new country, new community, new school system, new customs, and even language barriers and different types of humor!
Dogan has enjoyed working with German, Dutch, French, Mexican, Canadian, UK, Japanese, Swedish, Swiss, Finnish, French, Australian, South African, and Argentinian clients, and is currently working with families from France, Britain, Albania, Turkey, and India.
She feels that having been a fish out of water herself has been a big factor in her success with foreign buyers. “Because I can relate to that, I can help ease their transition until they are ready to spread their own wings.”
