After years in Berlin, she guides globe‑trotting homebuyers in DC luxury market

March 26, 2026

Key takeaways

Caroline Heinen spent about a decade in New York City's fashion industry before living abroad. She returned to the U.S. and became a real estate agent. Half of her clients come from Europe and Latin America.
European buyers and renters care about natural light and street noise more so than local buyers and renters, she said.
Budget-conscious buyers and renters can replicate any style by shopping at secondhand furniture stores and thrift shops.

After nearly four years in Berlin, Caroline Heinen came home ready for a reset — and a career pivot.She had spent nine years climbing the fashion ladder in New York City, eventually becoming a senior head designer at Steve Madden. Along the way, Heinen worked on collections for Target and collaborated with designers, including Oscar de la Renta and Monique Lhuillier. In 2011, after only a year in her leadership role, she left and moved to Germany with her husband, settling in his native Berlin.

As Heinen tried to carve out a place in the city’s fashion scene, she learned she was expecting their daughter. The timing, she said, prompted a fresh start. In 2014, she returned to the U.S. and got her real estate license with plans to join her family’s real estate business.

Today, Heinen is a global real estate adviser with the Graciela Haim and Heinen Group at TTR Sotheby’s International Realty, working alongside her mother and husband. Living in American University Park in Washington, D.C., along the Western Avenue border, she helps buyers, renters and sellers navigate the Maryland and D.C. markets, with a heavily international client base.

"A lot of people when they come, they bring their culture with them," Heinen said. "It’s not hard to incorporate a sense of home within their home here."

Roughly half of her clients are relocating from overseas — from Germany to Uruguay, where her family is from — often shopping at the $1 million-plus price point. Her fashion background, she said, helps guide sellers through renovations, while her years abroad inform how she works with international buyers, from prioritizing natural light to factoring in noise and location.

"In terms of design, it’s just talking to clients to understand what their preferences are and what’s important to them. That’s how I can learn how to help them best," Heinen said. "[For] Europeans who want natural light, I look for big windows and which ways they’re facing. If they're sensitive to noise, I need to make sure they're not near a main street or near the airport. It’s getting to know clients as people."

Homes.com News spoke with Heinen about what overseas buyers should know when navigating the housing market in Maryland and Washington, D.C.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

How does your time abroad inform your work as an agent?

Living overseas, I experienced a different culture. I went through the rental process. Here, when you rent, the kitchen comes with the house. When you rent in Berlin, we would go into an apartment and there’s just rooms. Even for a rental, you go to Ikea and get your own appliances.

When they rent in Berlin, they rent for 10 years or for life. There's a big rental market. People make their rental their home. You change the toilet yourself.

I had one renter here in the U.S. who changed the cabinets in the kitchen. I had to tell them you can’t change the cabinetry because you don’t like it. Whatever you purchased and put in the home is now the landlord’s property.

How unique are European buyers' wish lists?

When I walk a North American through a house, I turn on the lights. I make sure the house looks light and bright.

Europeans want to see the natural light. They're more conscious of wasting energy. They also don’t care to have five bathrooms. They're OK with one or two. I had one person say Americans like to waste their space with bathrooms.

Where do you recommend foreign buyers go to find a taste of home in Maryland or Washington, D.C.?

I used to live in Rockville, Maryland, and Rockville is a great area for people who want to find food from their culture. There are many different markets and restaurants, including Polish, Russian, Japanese, Indian, and Latino. It’s a plethora.

You have a degree in graphic design. Whether a newcomer is from New York City or Berlin, how can they incorporate a sense of home into their new place through interior design?

A lot of people, when they come, bring their culture with them. It’s not hard to incorporate a sense of home within their home here.

I love walking along M Street in Georgetown, before you get to Wisconsin Avenue, and looking in the high-end furniture stores. Even if you can't afford it, go through, check it out and see whether you can replicate things. You don’t have to go to Ikea; you can go to secondhand furniture stores like Heirloom in Darnestown, Maryland, or GoodWood on U Street in D.C.

Buy what you love. Don’t buy something because it’s trending, because those are constantly changing. When I was younger, something trended for a season. Now, it trends for a week. If you love green and you want a green dining room table, then buy it. I love pink, and I drenched my dining room in a dusty rose.

How does your time in the fashion industry inform your work today?

I have had the pleasure and the luck to use a lot of my design background in real estate. When it comes to listing a house, I incorporate my creativity through staging, with advice on kitchens, bathrooms and fireplaces. If we have a client with investors, they will bring me in to advise on the space.

When someone is looking to sell or rent out, the details matter.

Look at your light switches, for example. If they have yellowed, change them.

If you have a fireplace, dress up the mantel. Group items in odd numbers or have one big showpiece. If you have a set of three items such as ceramic or brass candle sticks, make sure they're different heights so the eye travels. If it's one piece, make sure it's an oversized one like a huge vase with flowers placed off center.

In the kitchen, if you have a windowsill, dress it up with a photo or painting. Add dried lavender or a rolling pin to display.

It doesn’t cost a lot of money to make a big impact. The devil is in the details. It makes the house look fresher and newer.

WRITER

Rebecca San Juan

Rebecca San Juan is a staff writer in Washington, D.C., covering federal housing policy and national housing news. She previously reported on real estate for the Miami Herald, contributing to a Pulitzer Prize-winning team.

After years in Berlin, she guides globe‑trotting homebuyers in DC luxury market

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