Roula Bakis – A Hybrid Model Changing The Face of Real Estate

 
From a briki on the stovetop across a beautifully designed Westwood kitchen comes the scent of deliciousness – Greek coffee that will serve as the centerpiece of this conversation. In Greece, coffee is brewed strong and meant to be enjoyed in a demitasse cup over an extended period as friends and family chat, catching up on life and exploring new ideas.
 

Fittingly, that’s what we’re doing on this sunny Friday, a lovely fall morning at the home of Roula Bakis, the owner of Artemis Realty & Design and Westwood Living Expert Contributor.
 

“I really enjoy being able to reach so many people and educate them,” said Roula as she sipped the piping hot sweet brew. “I do feel like I have a lot of knowledge to offer on various aspects of the real estate and design world. It’s just a great avenue to reach people.”
 

It was that unique combination of knowledge, plus Roula’s commitment and dedication to Westwood, that made her a perfect candidate to join the Westwood Living family. Providing useful information to neighbors ultimately adds value to their lives, and properties, and helps enhance both the perception and reality of Westwood’s prestige and status in the larger Metrowest community.
 

“In the 24 years that I’ve been here, this is probably the closest I’ve come to home,” said Roula, who was born in North Carolina and graduated from North Carolina State before embarking on her professional career. “I call myself a hybrid model now because I feel half northern, half southern. And I try to bring the best of both worlds together.”
 

That hybrid mindset is what makes Artemis Realty & Design work. In a very competitive real estate market, finding the perfect spot is very rare. When a family has someone like Roula on their team, together they are able to envision an alternative, utilizing the same space and customizing that space to fulfill their needs. This takes experience and a keen eye for re-design paired with expertise in the local real estate market.
 

“My degree is in environmental design,” she said. “So basically, when we were taught design, we were taught to think about two-dimensional design in a three-dimensional space. It’s a little bit different from traditional, just flat 2D design. I think that honed my skill as far as understanding the flow of spaces and how people interact with them. I have a minor in psychology, so a lot of that also weaved together. You can walk a family through a house and when they say, ‘I really need a four bedroom, but I’m only finding threes. Where can I put it?’ Well, we stand in the space, we walk through and think about an alternative. ‘Here’s your kitchen. This is where everybody’s going to gather. But, you know, over here on the right, this would be a perfect spot!’”
 

At that point, because of her building and design background, Roula is fluent in construction rules and regulations and understands, in the moment, what’s truly possible. That flexibility and added intelligence broadens the inventory of what’s available to her clients.
 

With strong Greek roots, the use of Artemis in her company’s name was a meaningful choice for Roula.
 

“Artemis is the Goddess of the hunt and the protectress of the forest,” she said. “Aside from it being part of Greek mythology, I grew up in the south and my father is a big hunter. I grew up shooting guns, bows and arrows, the whole thing. So, Artemis reminds me of my father. It’s a personal tie to my family, a connection. Whenever I see it, I’m reminded of my family, of my heritage and it ties it all together. Being a strong female figure, as well, doesn’t hurt.”
 

If you are embarking on the search for a new home, with a potential major renovation, or perhaps including a teardown and new construction, Roula has extensive, personal experience in that area. It’s exactly what she did with her own property.
 

“I knew what I wanted, having lived in various homes and what I liked and what I didn’t like,” she said. “It starts from the inside of the home. I feel like architects sometimes have a tendency to think more about the exterior of the house and then work their way in. What I like to do is sit down with people and work out the floor plan. How do you want your house to function? That was the most fun here because I knew how I wanted my house to function. Then, once I had the floor plans, I gave them to an architect and I said, ‘Okay, I want you to wrap this and I want it to have this kind of feel to it,’ and they were able to do that for me, so this is the outcome from that process.”
 

Attracted to Boston, initially, because she loved the look and feel of the row houses on Commonwealth Avenue, Roula met her husband, Peter, and ultimately settled on Westwood as their landing spot. Their three sons, Athos, Parris and Thanos, are all enrolled in the Westwood school system. When you’ve called somewhere, ‘Home’ for nearly a quarter century, it’s easier to envision what can possibly make it better.
 

“I’d love for there to be a central meeting place for our youth,” said Roula. “I know there are many buildings turning over right now, and I would love to see the community come together and create a space like that. Right now, the kids all kind of go to Alltown and to the library, which is fine, but I would love there to be a central place where the community can meet and congregate.”
 

When not consulting, networking, designing, buying or selling, Roula is active in town, on the Board of Directors for the Westwood Community Chest and instrumental each year in the success of the annual WCC Gala of Giving fundraiser. Simply put, she is dedicated to her neighbors and keeping all of us informed on the latest trends in realty and design.
 

Listen to my full conversation with Roula on the Westwood Living Podcast Network, available on SoundCloud, Spotify, Amazon, Buzzsprout, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.