Coronis Director Lia Storer is being remembered as a top property manager with a great sense of humour and “the biggest heart” following an 18-month battle with cancer.
Close friend and fellow Coronis Director Jodie Stainton paid tribute to Ms Storer who passed away late last month after being diagnosed with cervical cancer in early 2021.
“Lia had the biggest heart,” Ms Stainton said.
“She loved people, she was so vibrant and had so much energy. Everyone who knew her will miss her.”
A real estate professional with more than 20 years’ experience, Ms Storer started her real estate career as a receptionist and worked her way through the ranks to own her own agency, Superior Property Agency, in Gippsland, before opening the first Coronis office in Victoria in her hometown of Sale.
“Lia was the first person to take us (Coronis) into Victoria and open up an office,” Ms Stainton said.
“We’d never had an office outside of Queensland, but she was the first person to do it. She took photos of the office and sent them to us and she was just so excited.
“It was really amazing.”
Ms Storer joined Coronis in July 2020, but she and Ms Stainton first met about a decade earlier when they both worked for another agency in Brisbane.
Ms Stainton said they clicked right away.
“Lia was such a funny person,” she recalled.
“She was always trying to make everyone laugh and she had a very dry sense of humour.”
Ms Stainton said her friend and work colleague was also highly respected in the real estate sector as an astute property manager who set the standard in the industry and recently won a national property manager of the year award.
She was also dedicated to guiding and helping other property managers learn and grow.
“She was really strong on keeping up with legislation and best practice and she was forever training,” Ms Stainton said.
“Lia wanted to know everything about everything and in the Australian property manager community she was constantly giving advice to others.
“She was always helping others and she had a very good relationship with all of the property managers in Sale.”
That willingness to lend a hand didn’t just reside with other property managers, Ms Storer was also generous with her time and support of tenants and landlords.
“She was known for helping all the disadvantaged tenants,” Ms Stainton said.
“She would help them find properties and was never that person trying to wield power over tenants.
“Lia always had a big heart and wanted to help everyone, sometimes to her own detriment.
“She would hold events for landlords in her area all the time to keep them up-to-date with any changes in legislation.
“Lia was always working to help everyone else. She was very selfless.”
In a December 2019 interview with Elite Agent, Ms Storer said she fell into property management only to discover it was where her true passion lay.
“When I started investing in property myself, I realised that I wanted to offer personalised property management service and work with people to grow their assets,” she said at the time.
“I resolved to start my own agency specialising in property management to give it the attention that’s needed.
Ms Stainton said Ms Storer was a much loved mother of three amazing children, Callan, Claire and Hannah. She was also a beloved daughter and sister.
She said if there was one message Ms Storer would want her to continue to promote in her honour, it would be to encourage women to regularly have their pap smear.
“Every time she had to go in for surgery, she would go, ‘Ladies, get your lady bits checked’,” Ms Stainton said.
