ABOUT US

Athena owners Peter (“Pete”) Tafaro and Everett (“Ev”) Fineran grew up in New Orleans practically within walking distance of each other. They followed similar tracks—both majoring in business at local universities and earning their law degrees at Loyola. No doubt they crossed paths along the way—perhaps watching Guns N’ Roses at Lollaplooza in City Park—but it wasn’t until they worked together at a law firm in downtown New Orleans that they fast became friends.

Ev, a real estate attorney, had also been an agent since his college days. When Pete “licensed up” years later, it was a natural fit for the two to work together. So they teamed up—initially just the two of them—with the plan of focusing on their own deals.

Then their interactions with other agents caused a paradigm shift: Pete and Ev reached the inescapable conclusion that the quality of representation in real estate is utterly inconsistent and, all too often, utterly lacking. Some agents, of course, were professional, responsive, and competent. But that seemed to be the exception, not the rule, with the quality of representation on an agent-by-agent, not brokerage-by-brokerage, basis.

So Pete and Ev set out to change things, to create a real estate company from whom clients could rely on quality representation, no matter which agent they choose to work with. And Athena was born. Founded in 2017, Athena has quickly grown from the Pete-and-Ev two-man team to a robust group of over 20 highly skilled professionals. The brokerage has lived true to its mission: throw a dart at Athena’s agent roster, and no matter where it lands, you hit the bullseye. Athena’s agents, hands-down, are the top realtors in New Orleans.