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  • We Are Real Estate

    Frank Cui: DIY agent

    On getting into real estateI was in corporate banking and moved into property development but had not really considered real estate sales as a career. However, in using others to sell property, my expectations were not being met, so  I decided to do it myself.  The happiest moment in my careerThere have been many, many of them but any moment…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Julie Munro: Policing to property

    On getting into real estateAfter 23 years of policing, I fell in love with a real estate agent who lived 1400kms away from me. I took eight months of long service leave and dabbled in what I would do when I moved to Townsville.  Before I knew it, I was a ‘sorta’ PA to my partner (his whole family are…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Jo Mooney: Going โ€˜all-inโ€™

    On getting into real estateItโ€™s probably strange to say, but real estate sales was always on my bucket-list, but the timing had never been right earlier in life for the commitment I knew it would require to go ‘all in’. Seven years ago, at just the right time, the opportunity came up within a well-established franchise group, so I grabbed…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Matt Goding: Setting goals

    On getting into real estateIt has always been an interest of mine since I was in secondary school. The happiest moment in my careerWhen I was promoted to a department manager role in a previous job. The most memorable momentThe first unit I sold when starting my career in sales. Best advice he’s receivedDon’t take what your clients say to…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Jason Martin: Turning a hobby into a career

    On getting into real estateIn another life I was working in the money market for a merchant bank and looking for a new challenge or career where my results were more tangible and benefited people I dealt with more directly. I ended up turning a keen interest and hobby in real estate into a career.ย …

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Pamela Lee Burge: Your smile is your logo

    On getting into real estateMy cousin worked in a real estate office that managed our property while we were overseas and when we returned with a three-month-old baby, I said what everybody says: “I’ve always thought I’d like to be a real estate agent”. I left her office with a job I wasn’t even sure I wanted and have never…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Darin Butcher: treat every sale as if itโ€™s your first

    On getting into real estateAt first I chose computer science to do at university, but after a year failing and reviewing my options, I decided that I would come back to the Central Coast. I was looking for a job at the same time I was learning real estate at Tafe as a backup. Once I started studying real estate,…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Andrew Milne: The art of selling

    On getting into real estateI had been working in men’s retail, in particular selling suits. I had always liked property but I wasn’t handy so I couldn’t be a tradie, but I knew I could sell so I decided to sell homes instead of build them. The happiest moment in my careerWinning my first award for the top salesperson in…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Matt Lahood: Reaching full potential

    On getting into real estate From the ages of 7 to 15 my parents owned three rentals, which my mum managed. They couldn’t afford an agent, so mum would collect the rent and visit the properties – I would go along too and I thought this would be a fun job. The happiest moment in my career When I first…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Katie Knight: Family ties

    On getting into real estate My dad opened the business when I was half way through Grade 12 (we were the ninth RE/MAX office to open in Australia) and I had planned to head to Brisbane to study law when I finished school. Dad spoke to me before I returned my paperwork for university and said something along the lines…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Spiro Drossos: Going off-script

    With 17 yearsโ€™ experience under his belt, Barry Plantโ€™s Spiro Drossos reveals why itโ€™s important to have real conversations and to think like a customer โ€“ not a real estate agent. On getting into real estate As a kid I was always intrigued by and interested in real estate. This, together with my strong customer service background, made real estate…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Grant Smith- Integrity, honesty and passion

    On getting into real estate I have had a passion for real estate since I was a young boy when I used to ride my bike to open homes around the area on a Saturday. This was before the internet and realestate.com.au, so it was a Saturday paper and a marker pen to choose which open homes Iโ€™d look at.…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Michael Coombs: Focus on the people, not the money

    On getting into real estate I left school and worked as a landscaper but growing up I always loved looking at houses and going through open homes. I use to go through as a kid, when I was about 15 years old, and ask a lot of questions. Most of the time they would kick me out. I grew up…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    John McGrath: Keep changing and growing

    On getting into real estate I thought I’d like real estate and figured out it was an important transaction in everyone’s life. I was pretty determined to find one thing I loved and stick to it, so it had to be something important if I was going to do it for 50 years. The happiest moment in my career You…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Fadi Hajjar: Break up and make up

    On getting into real estate After a short stint in real estate upon graduating from high school, I decided that real estate was not for me, so we broke up. I went on to complete three university degrees and was a secondary school teacher for almost a decade. But the theatrics and adrenaline of auctions kept luring me back. I…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Lisa Novak: Doing things differently

    On getting into real estate The short answer: I married a real estate agent. Iโ€™d always loved property so it was no wonder that I fell in love with a real estate agent and then the industry! I came into the industry as โ€˜a favourโ€™ to assist with marketing in our then-brand-new agency, then moved into a general management role…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Stuart Benson: The Power of Relationships

    On getting into real estate I consciously chose real estate. I knew a traditional 9-5’er wasn’t for me, and was happy to do odd days and hours because every day was a new location, a new client, a new challenge. On the other hand, auctioneering chose me after a few colleagues reckoned I was born to do it. The happiest…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Joel Davoren: A genuine love of real estate

    On getting into real estate It took me some time to realise that I love the industry, probably three years. I just stuck with it through the challenging first few years and on the other side of that, I realised I genuinely loved the nature of the industry. Initially it was a job and now it is a passion and…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Phil Harris: Strong results and service to community

    On getting into real estate Real Estate was not something that I grew up wanting to do. I always dreamt of being a professional sportsman, however that didn’t work out for me so I had to get a real job. A friend suggested real estate so I applied with a number of agencies and I was fortunate enough that Ray…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Adam Scott: The truth no matter how tough

    On getting into real estate Real Estate was always something I really wanted to do and I thought I could be good at it, but it was always too much of a risk to move away from my safer career positions. Then, after a bit of a brain fart where I quit a job with no back up plan, I…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    John Cunningham: Professional and Proud

    On getting into real estate I started out training to be a valuer and completed a Diploma in Valuation whilst doing all kinds of work. After two years working at The Water Board, I was very bored with the prospects so started to look at general real estate when I was 21. The happiest moment in my career I think…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Jodie Hedley-Ward: Connection first, Commission second

    On getting into real estate My husband encouraged me for several years to enter real estate, telling me he thought I would love it. I was writing books at the time on motherhood and had two small children, but when they started primary school, I decided the time was right to check it out. I pretty much fell in love…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Alex Ouwens: To go all in

    On getting into real estate I was working at a drive-through bottle shop in 2006. The manager spoke to the staff in a way that did not create a team atmosphere and often was belittling. One night I had enough and quit on the spot. I walked down the street feeling great for 100 metres โ€“ OK, for 200 metres…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Troy McLennan: Learning through experience

    On getting into real estate Until I was older my family was not really on the real estate path. But, after my parents divorce and a huge change in lifestyle, my father found himself investing and my mother found herself building a very successful career in property management. Throughout my youth I’d spent more than a decade in retail sales,…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Alison Ross: Setting her sights on a winning outcome

    On getting into real estateย  Real Estate chose me. It was not the career path that I thought I would end up in, but my mother encouraged me to join the team after uni (I have a degree in Agricultural Business). The happiest moment in my career There were several happy moments in my career. Negotiating rural property transactions with…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Matt Bolin: Adding value outside the norm

    On getting into real estateย  Prior to real estate, I spent the first decade of my career in the film industry, in lighting for film and TV. I had my own business, with trucks, vans, a warehouse and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment. The GFC in 2009, coupled with massive technology changes in film and the birth…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    Hugo Ortega: How to get your first listing

    On getting into real estate I chose to get married โ€“ I fell in love at first sight, and with all cliches aside, I knew my wife would be my life partner from the moment we met. So if you ask me did I choose real estate, or did real estate choose me, then all I can say is my…

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  • We Are Real Estate

    James Leslie: Calling for more education

    On getting into real estate After experience in retail, I was convinced by my best friend to join him in real estate. I loved the thrill of the chase, the ability to improvise and think outside the box. For some reason, it just works. The happiest moment in my career Starting my own Agency at the start of 2019 after…

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  • Elite Agent TV

    Insta TAKEOVER – AREC 2019 Day 1

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  • Elite Agent TV

    #WeareRealEstate AREC 2019: Kurtis Pirotta

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  • Elite Agent

    The measure of success: Margaret Kneebone

    Margaret Kneebone is the walking definition of a high achiever. Born and raised in the country town of Parkes, NSW, many kilometres away from where she now resides in South Australia, Margaret was a sponsored athlete who represented Australia in squash as a teenager. “I started to play around Australia when I was 18 and then I got selected to…

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  • Elite Agent

    Transforming after the storm

    Two years ago Gardian Real Estate sales consultant Leanne Druery was crowned the winner of Transform 2017, but the gong didn’t come without its challenges. After the win, she shared the inspiring story of her decision to return to the industry following the loss of her husband to pancreatic cancer. Now, Leanne continues to prove there is no substitute for…

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  • Brand Editorial

    Your most valuable clients: Fiona Blayney

    In the final instalment of our Transform/19 highlights series coach Fiona Blayney is back to examine how the 80/20 principle can be applied to your customers. Fiona gives her best advice on accurately determining the return on investment of every client and how you can improve - in every area - of the four segments of employment and functionality within…

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  • Brand Editorial

    Building your database from scratch: David Stewart

    In this instalment of our Transform/19 highlights series, coach David Stewart draws on his years of experience as a sales agent and as an innovator in the tech space to advise people on how to effectively build their database from scratch.

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  • Brand Editorial

    The bottom 20 per cent: Fiona Blayney

    VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS 00:10 Applying the 80/20 rule to your team on an individual basis 00:51 Determining the reasonable performance level of every person in your organisation 01:25 Lessons of effective delegation from Jack Welch and GE 02:55 Customer satisfaction is the number one metric of a great property management business 04:20 The three reasons why a customer chooses your service…

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