Raine & Horne has continued its aggressive expansion to Sydney with the launch of a new office in Kingsford, in the city’s east by two experienced Eastern suburbs real estate agents Sam Karatasas and Andrew Yong.
“Sam (Karatasas), who worked for one of our inner Sydney offices in the mid-1980s, currently holds some street sales records in Kensington and Kingsford,” Raine & Horne, executive chairman, Angus Raine said.
Yong has over 20 years of real estate valuation and sales experience from Sydney and Malaysia. He has worked with Karatasas since 2011.
“Andrew (Yong) is a highly sought after real estate professional. His impressive range of languages – including English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Malay, Hakka and Indonesian – give him a profound understanding of different groups within the Kensington and Kingsford communities,” Raine said.
Karatasas said the longevity of the family-owned and operated real estate franchise was a major draw for the duo to sign up as franchisees.
“I have been running in the Kensington and Kingsford area for over 30 years, and joining Raine & Horne gave my existing vendors, landlords and buyers the peace of mind that they would be collaborating with a reliable brand,” he added.
“For the first time in many years, we have close to zero vacancy rates, which, when combined with gross rental yields of 4 percent, are increasing the popularity of Kensington and Kingsford with investors,” he added.
In recent weeks, the franchise has opened offices in Lindfield, Hornsby and Turramurra on the North Shore, and Riverwood in the south.
“In total, we opened 28 offices in Australia in 2016, which makes us the fastest-growing real estate network. This is attracting experienced agents such as Sam and Andrew to our network,” Raine added.
