FEATURE INTERVIEWS
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Holly hits a home run: Holly Komorowski
Holly Komorowski does things differently. Her signboards have ditched the words ‘For Sale’ in favour of ‘Buy Me’, and her ‘Sold’ stickers come in the form of eye-catching hearts with the words ‘#sold.byholly’ standing out boldly. Having won the AREA Residential Property Campaign of the Year award, she talks to Kylie Dulhunty about her unique approach to property marketing. Holly…
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New York State of Mind – Nick Harrington
Before settling down in Sydney, Nick Harrington lived in France, Germany and New York, where he faced stiff competition against high-flying agents from Million Dollar Listing. But in the early days, desperate to compete with them, it was some wise advice to ‘start acting like them’ that set him on the road to sales success. How long have you been…
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He who Dares: Luis D. Ortiz
It’s been an incredible year for Luis D. Ortiz. The 31-year-old was reaching the summit of success in the highly competitive and insanely lucrative New York real estate market as one of the stars of the hit show Million Dollar Listings New York. The suave, stylish and passionate Puerto Rican was a fan favourite; he was a fireball of energy and…
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Tracey Fellows: What’s in your heart?
During Transform Masters 2017, Elite Agent Editor Samantha McLean spoke to one of our top industry leaders, CEO of REA Group Tracey Fellows. Here, Tracey shares some of her career and leadership journey, including why being a great leader does not need to be complicated. The Beatles sang All You Need Is Love and Tracey Fellows’ leadership philosophy doesn’t deviate…
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Climb Every Mountain: Stephen Bock
Writing $1 billion worth of property over his 20-year career isn’t enough for Stephen Bock. To push himself a bit further, he climbs mountains and flies planes in his spare time. Azal Khan caught up with Stephen to find out more. Having been in the industry for almost 20 years, McGrath Manly agent Stephen Bock has been in a variety…
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Marcel Dybner – Mastering Leadership
Marcel Dybner is the Head of Property Management at Boutique Agency Besser & Co in St Kilda, Victoria. With the business in a rapid growth phase, he applied for Transform Masters to ‘take a step back’ and look at how he could grow the company by growing as a leader. Taking in all the lessons, the transformative idea he put…
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Adrian Butera: The Big Give
Compton Green’s Adrian Butera is someone who understands priorities. When things get tough, his team come first. “The first thing I’ll do is go to an Italian supermarket and buy fresh ingredients – pasta, tomatoes, parmesan, herbs – before going back to the office and cooking lunch for my team. That’s what I do on days when real estate is…
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Tom Ferry on the Innovative, Motivated Agent of the Future
TRANSCRIPT Claudio Encina: So, Tom, tell me, you were one of the forefronts in technology. I remember going through all your summits. You were always one of the ones who was predicting the trends and they came true. I remember even that little flip video that you said, “I went to Australia, and I couldn’t find it anywhere. I had…
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Overcoming adversity and setting goals: Anna Thomas
If there’s someone who knows a thing or two about overcoming adversity, it’s Anna Thomas, COO of Stockdale & Leggo. Anna grew up at the MCG Pub in Melbourne and was kicked out of home at 19, but became the first woman in her family to get a uni degree (and now she has multiple qualifications). Her career has taken her…
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James Baker and Adrian Venturi of McGrath Avalon on leadership and resilience
After studying architecture and structural engineering in Manchester, James practiced or a year before spending 15 years in recruitment, which included running the Asia Pacific rim for a business with a $50 million turnover. Real estate combined his passion of structure, architecture, sales and people, and he started his real estate experience during the GFC selling prestige property in Palm…
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Talking Technology with John McGrath
What are the tech tools agents will need in the future? For prospecting and listing, a solid CRM database system which categorises customers to allow you to send only relevant messaging to each client will be important. Curation of messaging will become more and more significant as people get bombarded with information. The next big thing will be predictive algorithms…
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What was Coach Tom Ferry about to say?
TRANSCRIPT Claudio Encina: So, here I am in LA with Elite Agent Magazine and we’re doing a little US tour. It wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t stop by and said hello to one coach, who certainly impacted my life almost 20 years ago. I was in Palm Springs, at the Marriott, and I saw this guy and it…
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Passion and Dedication: Jacob Pirrone
How many years have you been in real estate? On and off since I got my licence at age 18, actively selling for the last four years. Pirrone Property just celebrated its two-year anniversary! What motivated you to get into real estate? Other than family influence, my wife and I are keen renovators and have been buying and selling across…
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The Future of Real Estate: Meet the promising new talent at The Agency
PRINT MEDIA, DOOR-KNOCKING, letterbox drops and handwritten notes: it sounds a bit like a coaching mixtape from way back. While everyone expects the younger generation to be behind a tablet or mobile, these agents who are the future of the industry are actually more sold on the traditional listing techniques that top agents were successful with 20 years ago. But…
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Giving your Time for Growth: Dwight Ferguson
The esteemed principal of Ray White Ascot said the single biggest area that many agents let themselves down with was they don’t give people enough time. “If you have never met someone and you are given the responsibility of managing their biggest asset, and their most emotionally invested asset, you need to give people your time,” Mr Ferguson said. “If…
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Ewan Morton on leadership, teamwork and discipline
Ewan Morton has spent 24 years in the industry which were shaped by some earlier years at IBM. “When I look at real estate and how we carry on, (most) wouldn’t cut it at IBM,” says Ewan. Ewan studied an economics degree and completed the graduate trainee program at IBM, which he says was one of the “toughest things I’ve…
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Balancing Selling and Leading: Ben Faulks
Becoming an agent and principal on the same day is a feat that not many in real estate can attest to. Leaving a career in banking, Ben Faulks changed to real estate in 2010 and set up the first Ray White office in the ACT. At first, when Ray White was new in the area, Ben says it was difficult…
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Rachel Lawrie: Scientifically Speaking
As an agent, Rachel Lawrie professes she is different than most, but when you get talking to her it’s clear that’s definitely in a good way. Having grown up in the country on a farm, and also having experienced physically and mentally challenging work as a marine biologist for 16 years, she says, “I’m used to doing that sort of…
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Mark Earle, Principal of Buxton Real Estate Sandringham, talks Leadership
Mark started his real estate career in 1995 in property management never intended to go into sales. Funnily enough, Mark became the top salesperson within a few years in the inner western suburbs of Melbourne and made key mentor relationships along the way. Mark is no stranger to hard work and earning his way into the “upper echelons” of Melbourne…
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Peter Hutton on building your own independent brand
Creating a boutique agency comes with its fair share of challenges and rewards. Peter, who opened the doors to his boutique agency Hutton & Hutton in Fortitude Valley, Queensland, earlier this year, shares his insights on creating an authentic brand from the ground up. Challenges Peter says the biggest hurdle when Biggest hurdle was that mindset. “Can I do it…
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The Innovators at Ray White: Putting Agents face to face to face with more people
As a result of the explosion in digital lead generation, the traditionally separate departments of marketing, service, and technology now need to work together. When leads are ‘generated’ they should be nurtured, according to the individual’s needs, both online and in person. As a group, Ray White are continually on the cutting edge of innovation through investing in people and…
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Century 21: Future by Design
TODAY’S CONSUMERS ARE increasingly connected and tech savvy, so real estate franchises must lift to meet new service demands by using technology to its full potential. Century 21 are leaders in innovative thinking and today are considering how a new era of innovation will help their network to thrive in a mobile future. Samantha McLean talks to CEO Charles Tarbey…
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People First: Nathan Najib
What was your first job and what did it teach you? At 13 I worked at an internet café, cleaning and tidying up after the customers and occasionally standing by the door greeting people. I learned three profound lessons that have shaped my working life: hard work, attention to detail and customer service. This shows in everything we do at…
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The Un-Million Dollar Agent: Alexander Waters
Tell me about becoming a million-dollar agent. I basically worked about four years of normal working hours in that first two years. I was switched on all the time and shut myself in, doing the job, getting the next listing, transacting. There was almost a sense of anxiousness if I wasn’t doing something work-related like being on the phone. It…
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Feature Interview: Andrew Rechtman with Samantha McLean
Transcript: Samantha McLean: Hey everyone, Samantha from Elite Agent Magazine and I have the pleasure of welcoming Andrew Rechtman, who is the Executive General Manager of Residential for realestate.com.au. Hi Andrew. How are you going? Andrew Rechtman: Great to be here. Thank you very much. Samantha: You’ve got a lot of robotic devices here at AREC this year. So tell…
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Feature Interview: Andrew Cocks with Samantha McLean
Transcript: Samantha McLean: Hi, everyone. Back at stand 18 in the expo for AREC 2017 and my guest is Andrew Cocks, who is the managing director of Richardson & Wrench, one of the bigger franchises in New South Wales. Welcome, Andrew. Andrew Cocks: Thank you very much. Samantha: Who, so far, do you think has been your favourite presentation? Andrew:…
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Feature Interview: John Cunningham with Samantha McLean and Sarah Bell
Transcript: Samantha McLean: Hey everyone, back in the AREC Expo Hall at the Elite Agent Magazine stand. This time we’re almost ready to wrap up. We’ve got John Cunningham, REINSW president and head of the Cunningham ship. How are you going, John? John Cunningham: Good, really good. Thank you. Samantha: What we want to do John is just go through…
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Feature Interview: Fiona Blayney with Sarah Bell
Transcript: Sarah Bell: Welcome to the Elite Agent couch, Fiona. Fiona Blayney: Thank you very much, Sarah. Sarah: Talk to me about how our sales agents can just get more listings from their property managers. Fiona: Look I think the first thing is forget the notion that property management is in one side of the room and sales people are…
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Tradition and Innovation: Toop&Toop Real Estate
Toop&Toop Real Estate, one of South Australia’s leading real estate agencies, has been recognised with three major awards at the 2017 Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) National Awards for Excellence in Canberra. From humble beginnings, this family business has gone from strength to strength since its inception in 1985. Sisters Suzannah Toop, CEO of Property Investment & Finance, and Genevieve…
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Feature Interview: Gavin Croft with Sarah Bell
Transcript: Sarah Bell: Welcome to the AREC lounge, Gavin Croft. Gavin Croft: Lovely to be here. Lovely to see you. Sarah: Welcome, welcome. Now, Gavin, you are fresh off being a coach in our Transform program. What did you make of our Super Six? Gavin: The group had a good energy to it. You can see they’re all there for the right reasons.…
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Feature Interview: James Bell with Sarah Bell
Transcript: Sarah Bell: Welcome back to the AREC couch. Now, interesting interview this morning. I’d like to introduce to you James Bell who is one of Australia’s most experienced and best real estate agents. If not, certainly the most handsome. James Bell: Too kind. Sarah: We often have conversations about how the industry has changed and how everything got quite…
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Feature Interview: Ash Weston with Claudio Encina
Transcript: Claudio Encina: Here we are at AREC 2017, and we’ve got the pleasure of meeting Ash Weston from Ray White Frankston. He’s just come off stage. Ash, thanks for joining us on the couch. Ash Weston: Thanks for having me. Claudio: Ash, tell me a little bit about your team. Ash: I’ve got a team of four. There’s myself,…
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Feature Interview: Phil Harris with Sarah Bell
Transcript: Sarah Bell: Welcome to the Elite Agent couch and AREC, Phil. Thanks for joining us. Phil Harris: My pleasure. Great to be catching up again. Sarah: And what have you made of the conference so far? Phil: I thought there were some exceptional things that I picked up on yesterday. I think Bob Wolff was extraordinary. Everything that Bob…
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Feature Interview: Michael Coombs with Claudio Encina
Transcript: Claudio Encina: Here we are at Elite Agent Magazine stand celebrating 20 years of AREC, and we had Michael Coombs talk with Tom Panos about super teams. Michael, thanks for joining us on the couch today. Michael Cooms: Thanks for having me. Claudio: How many is in your team now? Michael: It’s myself plus three others, so a team of…
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