Deborah Evans’s name is well known in the real estate domain, both in the industry and her marketplace.
She launched a career with RE/MAX in the year the brand opened its first Australian office. That was 1997.
She recently became the first Australian in the 50-year global history of RE/MAX to receive the Luminary of Distinction award, the global network’s most exclusive career award, representing US$20 million (currently $29,634,237 AUS) in individual gross commissions in more than 20 years.
Just 21 RE/MAX sales associates, from the network of some 140,000, earned the Luminary of Distinction title in 2022.
The Brisbane agent also made history in 2013 as the first Australian agent to receive the global RE/MAX Circle of Legends Award.
Ironically, Deborah, who has ranked in the top five internationally on numerous occasions, joined RE/MAX because of the world-wide collaboration.
“I first joined RE/MAX Vision at Carina on August 1 and went to R4, the global RE/MAX conference in Las Vegas in the February of the following year,” she recalls.
“That cemented my decision to open my own office, which was RE/MAX Results at Morningside.
“I’ve been to R4 at least 10 times. I was there for the 25-year anniversary of RE/MAX and would have been among the 9000-plus at this year’s R4 50-year celebration except for family commitments.
“It is always an inspirational event – every single time!”
Deborah opened RE/MAX Results in September 1998. It took just three years to be a number one office and Deborah a number one agent.
She expanded, buying an existing RE/MAX office in New Farm, one in Clayfield and an independent agency in Ascot. In 2006, she decided to return to the one office at Morningside.
An early exponent of teams, Deborah had a personal assistant in 1998 and an established sales team by 2001.
“People didn’t have teams back then, or a PA, because real estate agents didn’t see the big picture of growing their own business,” Deborah says.
“For me, this was another big RE/MAX drawcard, part of its culture and offering.”
Deborah says she was regularly called upon to explain the value of teams to the RE/MAX network in those days.
Around eight years ago her son Fraser, and then son Ryan, became part of Deborah Evans Properties; and Deborah was beginning to think about succession planning.
Hayley Van de Ven, now owner of RE/MAX Results, was part of the succession plan.
“Owning the business was holding me back from my true passion – sales – and you can have your own business without owning an office,” Deborah says.
In April 2016, Deborah handed over the reins of RE/MAX Australia’s most highly acclaimed office, but remained in sales along with her team.
“During my career, I have observed that there are many good agents who are not good money managers and I think this needs to be addressed,” she says.
“I believe that wealth creation comes most effectively through owning property, buying and holding, rather than through owning a real estate office, and this is what I’ve gone about demonstrating to my sons.”
Deborah says that resilience, discipline and focus are crucial. Master these, achieve your goals and believe that the sky is the limit.
“I love working with the boys and sharing with them what I’d learned through the past 25-plus years,” she says.
“When I see that they truly understand a real estate career is not just a sale, that it is about building relationships and working with people to achieve their goals, I am immensely proud.”
At some point, Deborah Evans Properties became Evans Property, and Deborah says the transition was seamless.
“I’ve been asked to define my legacy to real estate,” she says.
“I thought about this for a long while. It is my sons, Ryan and Fraser, equipping them to offer the best to their clients and to the industry. They are the future.”
Deborah’s role in mentoring her two sons continues.
Deborah’s key takeaways for agents:
- have a PA
- build your sales team
- a real estate career is about far more than making sales
- master resilience, discipline and focus to achieve your goals
- building your successful real estate business doesn’t have to mean owning an office
- wealth creation comes through buying and holding property.
