How does your usual day look?
A typical day for me starts at 6am, reading the paper and going through my emails at breakfast. I then get ready and head straight to work for 7am. I use the morning to go through my calendar for the day’s tasks and meetings and spend a good hour preparing for my day ahead. I focus on my weekly and daily follow ups, spend another hour prospecting looking for development and underutilised sites.
I try to set my appointments for the afternoons so I can focus more on all my administrative tasks in the morning, therefore I know I’m fully prepared. I believe preparation makes for better performance. I always finish my day at the gym, I find it’s a nice way to recharge from the day that’s been and refocus on my tasks for the next day.
How did you start your career in commercial real estate?
Stephen Harrison and I worked at a small boutique agency in the western suburbs. We casually discussed branching out as a commercial agency and, after a four year hiatus from real estate, Steve approached me to be a part of the Ray White Commercial Western Australia group. Steve could see my attributes combined with my background and contacts would make me an excellent commercial agent.
What do you enjoy most about being at Ray White Commercial? What makes Ray White Commercial different?
The team environment and balance is everything. Working somewhere that you can get along with everyone, bounce ideas off and collaborate can only benefit yourself and clients. The thing that sets Ray White apart from other agencies is that it has been in existence for almost 120 years, so it has a huge amount of history and culture as well as being family based, which strikes a chord with me. Not only that but using the network and the broader reach to promote ourselves and the clients ahead of the competition.
What are your go-to property marketing methods that you present to your clients?
- Database marketing
- Realcommercial.com
- Commercialrealestate.com
- Photography including drone
- Print advertising including The West Australian and the AFR
- eDM’s (RWCWA and nationally)
- Signage
Tell me about a unique success story?
There have been many campaigns that I have enjoyed and many success stories but the one that jumps out is a recent transaction. It's an off market, medical leased investment of which we achieved well beyond the seller’s expectations (5.7% yield), which hasn’t been achieved in the Perth investment medical market for some time.
Do you auction?
Traditionally no, due to the sector I am in, it has not been so successful. Although some of the listings I’m currently pitching on (because of the type of asset class) I have recommended an auction campaign as I believe it would be the most beneficial to create competition and should achieve the best result on the day.
What’s the one thing you know now, that you wish you knew when you first started out?
This is a tough one, as I really started in real estate when I was 14. My dad was always in real estate so I learnt and watched from an early age.
The industry has changed so much over the decades, the days of picking up clients and driving them around is still there but not like the 80s and 90s. Technology wasn’t there at all and has drastically changed the industry. I’ve been lucky enough to grow up in the industry so I've been able to evolve with it.
What is your outlook for the Perth market over the next 12 months?
I believe the Perth market is on the way up. The last 12 months' vacancy has come back, which gives more confidence to the market. With this, I further believe prices will become more stable and further potential to see prices increase in the next 24 months. With the rental value steady, banks are now lending again and a lot more positive energy in the Perth market is starting to already filter through.
