It was a full house at Brisbane’s City Hall on Thursday, February 25 for RE/MAX’s annual awards night, with hundreds gathered to see the network’s top performers recognised for their achievements.
“Last year was a good year, now that we can look at it in the rear-vision mirror,” RE/MAX Australia Managing Director Joel Davoren told the crowd.
“What is the best is that we can even be here this evening to celebrate the best of 2020.”
The evening’s formalities culminated with the announcement of the ultimate individual honour, The Eagle Award, and, for the first time in nine years, the recipient was not a broker owner.
This year The Eagle went to RE/MAX Bayside Properties sales associate Dave Neilson, who was also recognised with Double Diamond status – the highest level of RE/MAX Australia’s annual commission-based awards.
RE/MAX Results, which has offices in the Brisbane suburb of Morningside and the north Queensland city of Mackay, took out the Pinnacle Enterprise Award, the network’s highest business performance accolade.
Many individual, team and office achievements were also recognised as the awards rolled out.
These included Top Sales Agent for commissions – Todd Gerhardt, RE/MAX Advantage (Wynnum); Top Sales Agent for transactions – Jenna Pollard, RE/MAX Vision (Junee); Top Commercial Agent – Geoff Esdale, RE/MAX City (Brisbane); and Stephanie Lelliott from RE/MAX Revolution (Shailer Park), who was named Property Manager of the Year.
Daniel Burrett from RE/MAX Success (Toowoomba) picked up the award for Young Sales Associate of the Year and other awards included Business Development Manager of the Year – Richard Masigan, RE/MAX Xtra (Parramatta); Personal Assistant of the Year – Natasha Whalley-Thompson, RE/MAX Real Estate Service (Cairns); and Office Support Person of the Year – Karissa Tigges, RE/MAX Success (Toowoomba).
The top sales teams in the network for 2020 were the Neilson Team from RE/MAX Bayside Properties (Cleveland) for Commissions and the Melita Bell Team, RE/MAX Success for Transactions. RE/MAX Results was named the Property Management Team of the Year.
Cairns took home both of the gongs for auctions, with RE/MAX Real Estate Service winning the office awards and its principal, Ray Murphy, winning the individual award.
Growth awards went to David Moore, RE/MAX First Residential (Coorparoo) and RE/MAX Gold (Gladstone). Growth in property management went to RE/MAX ACPA (Williams Landing).
RE/MAX Regency on the Gold Coast was Top Sales Office; RE/MAX Success was Most Productive Office and claimed the Community Service Award; and RE/MAX Advanced (Bribie Island) won the Innovation Award.
Special Achievements in Marketing Awards went to RE/MAX Regency and Kylee Harnisch, RE/MAX Results (Morningside).
Jenna Pollard and Stuart Legg received international RE/MAX Lifetime Achievement Awards and Gizzelle Powell, (RE/MAX Lifestyle Marketing); Tamara Hall (RE/MAX Advantage); Leoni Strydom (RE/MAX Extreme); Kylee Harnisch and Stacey Arlott (RE/MAX Results); Charl Lou and Brian Dobson (RE/MAX Regency); and Gary Klein and Justine Dill (RE/MAX Success) were inducted into the international RE/MAX Hall of Fame.
Club status, from 100% up to Double Diamond, was acknowledged for 140 agents.
Winners in the ranks of Pivotal Financial (PF), the finance arm of RE/MAX Australia, were Tim Denton who was named Finance Broker of the Year and Top Performer (RE/MAX Settlements) and claimed the Top Market Share award; Rising Star Tara Lancashire and Deborah Murphy were recognised with the Best Marketing Program award.
RE/MAX offices and agents who excelled in PF business last year were Dave Neilson and RE/MAX Results, Top Performer awards for referring real estate customers, and RE/MAX Gold for Top Market Share.
“2020 was a year nobody could have planned for – no individual, no business, no government,” said Mr Davoren.
“The year threw at us the most unexpected circumstances we never could have imagined. We went from a solid start, then ground to a halt… then exploded.
“Through all this, we have seen a gigantic shift in lifestyle choices as COVID led us to put a magnifying glass over how we live our lives.
“Home as our sanctuary was just one of the many things that were heightened through 2020 and, because of it, we move into 2021 with confidence in property as an asset.”
Mr Davoren wrapped up the night’s proceedings by congratulating all winners and top performers in the network for their outstanding achievements over the past year.
