Professional Experience

Melina joined Coldwell Banker in 1998 after a varied career in acting, retail, and interior design. She is a recognized real estate professional in the Southern Marin community where she has resided for over twenty-five years. Melina is a Global Luxury Property Specialist.

Professional Philosophy

Buying and selling a home can sometimes be a perplexing and frustrating process. Melina's primary goal as your realtor is to make that process as uncomplicated as possible for you. Her commitment is to provide a professional service that yields your desired results. She uses her experience in interior design to showcase your home in its best possible light. She is passionate about what she does, and it gives her great satisfaction to make her clients dreams come true!

With all the resources available to her through Coldwell Banker, and her extensive experience in the local real estate market, Melina can assure you that she will make selling your property a priority, getting you the highest sale price possible and closing the transaction thoroughly with time of the essence. Her goal is to bring results.

Melina's enthusiasm and willingness to focus on making your property a showcase is her forté. Her skills in staging and marketing luxury properties will serve you well. She intends to use all available marketing techniques and state-of-the-art technology to actively promote your property in many avenues. She is responsive, dependable, communicative, and proactive and can step in readily to resolve any issues that may arise.

Professional Affiliations

Marin Association of Realtors
California Association of Realtors
National Association of Realtors
Sausalito Historical Society
Sausalito Women’s Club
Sausalito Yacht Club
Habitat for Humanity (Champion)

Personal Background

Melina is a Sicilian by birth and has lived in Germany, Belgium and Spain. She worked and studied in New York City for over ten years before moving to Southern Marin, an area which reminded her of her hometown of Taormina, Sicily. Melina is very active in her community, belonging to The Sausalito Women's Club, Sausalito Yacht Club, Sausalito Historical Society, and Habitat for Humanity.

Education:

Graduate, Lee Strasberg Theater Institute, NY, NY.
Continuing Education: Communications, New York University

Testimonials

As first-time home buyers, we could not have been more fortunate to have had Melina in our corner as we navigated the Marin real estate market. She is fiercely loyal and transparent, she is understanding and patient, and she is extremely responsive, organized and professional. Melina doesn’t want to sell you the most expensive home you can afford (or a home you cannot afford), but rather, she wants to sell you the home of your dreams while respecting your budget. And to do so, she listens to your needs, and will identify and visit countless homes in order to ensure you find the perfect place for you and your family.

Melina started out as our real estate agent, but she quickly became a trusted advisor, a fierce advocate of ours, and a true friend for life. If you are looking to purchase a home in Marin, especially if you are first time home buyers, there is no better person to work with than Melina D’Arro.

Jason Parkin (Corporate Attorney at Fenwick and West) and Leah Parkin (Director of Product Marketing at Salesforce)

I can't overstate how extraordinary Melina's efforts were. She is a shrewd negotiator who always places her client's interests before anything else. To say Melina did an excellent job would be a gross understatement. She managed to navigate a very complex sales process whereby no fewer than two potential buyers fell out of escrow, only to close the third buyer at a level above my offer price. What an incredible accomplishment! She went well above the call of duty in following through on her commitment to ensure the property was sold. She also made so many of the cumbersome processes easier for me given I reside in the UK and have limited ability to travel to the US. Incidentally, this is the fourth transaction Melina has completed for me, and I cannot recommend her more highly.

C. Barter

I am honored to acknowledge your outstanding sales performance last quarter. Your tremendous efforts have earned you a place among NRT's Top 1,000 sales associates for the fourth quarter. This achievement places you in the Top 2% of all NRT sales associates nationwide and it elevates your local market leadership to national excellence.

Having achieved this accomplishment during one of the most challenging housing markets of our time, you are to be especially commended. You exceeded expectations that were presumed limited in an unstable market and you redefined truly remarkable service.

Bruce Zipf, President and CEO of NRT/Coldwell Banker

Edith and I thank you very much for your highly professional hard work devoted to completely satisfactory selling of the house at 410 North Street, Sausalito, California. Your success is due to your recognition of the potential of the house, your excellent decorating skills, public relations aptitude, and steadfastness.

V. Roth

Your advice on what we needed to do for the sale was right on target. All your hard work paid off handsomely for us and made a big difference in what we were able to purchase.

K. Wade and T. Dawson

Melina walked us through each step of the home buying experience. Our situation was one that took a great deal of negotiation and adjustments. Melina expertly and patiently managed each step. If there was an issue, Melina found a solution.

D.M. Fuelling

Melina has the passion, courage, energy, dedication, knowledge, experience, and the good design sense to do the right things; which sometimes are difficult to achieve, but she does the impossible every time…. Everyone who is lucky enough to work with Melina will be enriched by her.

I. Tsang, AIA, NCARB

In less than two weeks after being selected as my broker, Melina literally transformed my house. She went beyond the traditional responsibilities of a broker and help me project manage the general clean-up of the property. More importantly, she brought her vision for the property to life with minimal cost to me. After Melina’s touch and care, the property sparkled. As a result, when the house debuted on the market in April, I received four offers within the first 24 hours, two of which were over asking price. The offers were all high quality and I was able to close on the house in a short period of time. From start to finish, Melina was in the trenches helping me make decisions and advocating my interests.

Scott Morrow, President/CEO This Next