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 of “we’re getting busier now – how would you feel about deferring uni for 12 months and coming to give me and your sister a hand with things in the office so she’s got a chance to have a proper lunch and a toilet break?” Pretty hard to say no to an offer like that, right? And I honestly have never looked back – I’d been well and truly bitten by the real estate bug by the time that first year rolled around.
Over the years I went from working the reception desk to marketing and working in property management, setting up systems and growing the rent roll. On the 1 October 2013, I officially took on the role as Director and my father officially retired 12 months after that.
The happiest moment in my career
The happiest moments in my career have been at times when we’ve been challenged in our growth and performance. Thankfully Toowoomba enjoys a relatively stable market and I’ve followed in the footsteps of one of Toowoomba’s strongest selling agents in my father, Ian Knight.
However, being a property manager myself, it was a goal to build a leading sales team alongside our dominant property management force, so achieving and maintaining the #1 marketshare in sales in our region has been a real highlight alongside our official awards.
The most memorable moment
I don’t think there is just one. After 20 years I’m grateful to say there’s still a buzz with each property transaction – they each have a unique tale.
Best advice she’s received
The best advice I rely on every day is from my Dad, and although there’s a few catchy ways to say this point, the sentiment I was taught was to be a person of integrity always – “if we stuff up, cough up”. We don’t always get it right, but we’re responsible to make it right; and to always think of the person who comes after you.
Biggest challenge
The biggest challenge I see for the industry is to continually show our clients our true value. In the early days of my career, we were so caught up in protecting our clients from the complexities of what we were doing, that we almost made it all seem a little too easy. But the reality is, of course, far from that.
Now I think we are better skilled at showing our clients what it is that we are doing and why they should be using us as the skilled professional to achieve the best outcome. We will be required to continue to do so in order to remain relevant.
Change for good?
One of the most important changes I would like to see in the real estate industry is mandatory professional training. With this in place, we will be ensuring our agents are delivering the highest level of up-to-date, qualified services for all customers and clients. I believe this goes hand-in-hand with my earlier comments on remaining relevant by delivering value services.
‘Elite’ agent means
An elite agent is someone who is constantly developing themselves and those around them; a person who contributes back to bettering our industry; and an agent who prides their integrity in all of their undertakings. A no-nonsense agent who does what it takes to get the job done right.
#WeAreRealEstate is a series of short interviews with 140 agents all over Australia, exploring the industry’s hopes, concerns, future challenges, and what it really means to be an Elite Agent.
