Marcus Washington operates Area Specialist Solutions in Pakenham and the broader Southeast region of Melbourne, and said the decision to join Area Specialist five years ago was driven by his desire for flexibility and control.
“What drew me to Area Specialist, was the flexibility,” Marcus said.
“We were able to start a company without much capital. We were able to start it without an office, and we were able to grow it as fast or as slow as we wanted to.”
Building a reputation through results
Marcus’s journey in real estate began sixteen years ago when he jumped straight into a sales consultant role – a trial by fire that taught him valuable lessons.
“It was tough. I probably could have started as a sales assistant, but I got in the trenches and got the hard work done,” he said.
He credits his early success to fundamental activities like calling, door knocking, and following up with as many people as possible.
“I think activity was key – doing the groundwork to build your name and reputation around the smallest fundamentals that just took time and essentially getting results,” Marcus said.
For him, real estate has always been about more than just transactions.
“It’s the relationships with the people we deal with and the long-term rapport with many people and building your reputation around your results and those relationships,” he said.
“Results and relationships go hand in hand. That’s the baseline of why I do it.”
Covering Southeast Melbourne
Marcus’s main area is Pakenham, but his business extends throughout the Southeast region, covering Officer, Warragul, Drouin, and down to the Bass Coast.
“We tend to cover an area of up to probably forty minutes to an hour,” he said.
“That’s basically because we do get clients that move out further, and we get clients that want to use us again that are further out, and we’re happy to accommodate them.”
Navigating market cycles
With sixteen years of experience, Marcus has seen multiple market cycles and learned to adapt his approach accordingly.
In strong markets with plenty of buyers, he focuses on maximising his name and building market share. But in tougher conditions, his strategy shifts.
“In a market like it is now where there’s all these listings but not enough buyers, we’re really focused on pricing property correctly, having the property presented correctly, and then any buyer that shows any interest we’re working hard to make sure they get through it and trying to generate an offer from them,” he said.
Growing the business
Since joining Area Specialist five years ago, Marcus has steadily grown his team from a solo operation to a small but effective group.
“We’ve gone from myself to two sales consultants and one property manager under me,” he said.
The property management side of the business has seen particularly impressive growth, expanding from 30 properties to 110 in just eight months.
“We’ve listed around 10 a month since January when I had my property manager come on board,” Marcus said.
In a significant milestone, the business recently purchased a factory outright to house their operations.
“We bought a factory, and we’ve got an office set up in our factory. So we’ve got room to grow,” he said.
“That’s something that Area Specialist offers – we don’t have to have a street frontage. We can work differently.”
The Area Specialist advantage
Marcus said the Area Specialist model allowed him to avoid the heavy capital requirements of traditional franchises.
“The bigger franchises have things that you must do such as an office and probably an office in a main street location,” he said.
“We can essentially focus on being more profitable as well as growing at our own pace.”
He said the flexibility has been crucial for maintaining work-life balance.
“I love the job, but I also love my life outside of work. Having that balance and that freedom is probably the big one,” Marcus said.
He also values the dual branding approach that Area Specialist offers.
“Area Specialist has the brand presence as well as offering an individual agency with your name and the way it’s set up. It gives both ways,” he said.
“We’re one group, but we’re also individual with our names.”
Looking ahead
Marcus has ambitious but measured goals for the next five years.
“We want to grow from 100 properties to realistically 600 properties in management,” he said.
“I’d want to have four sales consultants in total working under the brand and under us.”
But growth for growth’s sake isn’t the goal.
“We’re not aiming to be the biggest. We’re aiming to be the best team, the best culture, and have the most freedom at the same time being as profitable as we can as well,” Marcus said.
His advice for others considering going out on their own is simple: ensure you have the right support structure.
“There’s definitely flexibility and freedom involved, which is great. And I think you want to have a base for yourself to be consistent, to have a business that grows, and having that support network with Area Specialist does that,” he said.
Area Specialist is a real estate platform for top-performing agents, providing the systems, tools and technology they need to create, grow and power their business. For more information visit beyourboss.com.au