How does your usual day look?
My day usually starts with the gym or a one kilometre ocean swim or surf, depending on the conditions.
At the office, I sit down with my analyst Sam to run through current campaigns, offers, contracts and upcoming appraisals followed by meetings, inspections and prospecting.
I try to be home by 6:30pm for my three children’s homework and assignments.
How did you start your career in commercial real estate?
One week after leaving school I started as a cadet valuer with Knight Frank in 1979…. Yes, that’s 40 years ago.
What do you enjoy most about being an agent at Ray White Commercial? What makes Ray White Commercial different?
Having worked for a few of the major CRE’s, the difference with Ray White Commercial is the freedom to work with established clients across all aspects of their property portfolios whether it’s sales or leasing for commercial, industrial, retail and/or development sites. This diversity is what makes it interesting. An example is having just sold a $14M office building to a client, he has now asked us to lease his 90 bed aged care property.
What are your go-to property marketing methods that you present to your clients?
We are steering toward a lot more social media marketing, you’ll see us doing a lot more in this space soon.
Tell me about a unique success story?
My most pleasing sale was a recent $25.4M office building sale. I knew the owners very well, having done a number of leases and smaller sales for them. We pitched for the whole building sale against the majors and lost the appointment to CBRE. After they failed to sell it the owner then appointed Cushman & Wakefield Brisbane believing it needed a capital markets agent. Twelve months later and a week after the end of C&W’s appointment we sold it off-market to a buyer we had sold a $42.8M retail/commercial centre to, and they trusted we knew the asset and the local market better than the major agents.
Do you auction?
Yes, we auction leased assets; we know that the investor market will compete for these properties.
What’s the one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you first started out?
Tenacity is probably the best asset an agent can have.
What is your outlook for the Gold Coast commercial market over the next 12 months?
The Gold Coast commercial market appears to remain good buying when compared to the other major city capital markets. The supply of major infrastructure and development projects is strong, supplying businesses with the confidence to expand. Overall I’d say it’s going to remain consistent with the past two years.
Contact
Email: brad.duncalfe@raywhite.com
Phone number: 0419 641 058
