The property market had been belted during the war. Bank lending facilities were non-existent and businesses tightened up in a most remarkable way. It was now time for the post-war rejuvenation and Alan White was soon to lead that and, during his leadership, to create Brisbane’s strongest real estate business covering all activities including a significant commercial real estate presence.
As you can see from the photograph above, Ray was there and ready to help. New premises were taken in Brisbane’s main thoroughfare, Queen Street. The world had now become optimistic and real estate, as usual, led the way to a recovery.
I still remember some words Ray told me back then. It’s amazing how some things stick with you indefinitely. He spoke of the need to get the best results for people selling their homes and was a great believer in the auction process. Those of you who have seen photographs of the original shed will see the focus on auctioneering as part of the services being driven all those years ago.
So Alan had a good jumping-off point. He was very successful in obtaining the agency for new land estates, and photographs show him standing on a stool auctioning blocks of land, with his sons (Brian and Paul) being “runners” - taking sales sheets back to the administration area.
It clearly was such a change from the terrible war years, when a whole nation had locked itself down to provide troops and other professionals for six to seven years (makes the COVID restrictions seem mild!)
A sales team covering Brisbane’s geography was established with all the performers based in the one Brisbane City office. (In fact, Alan was immensely proud to be the first business owner to employ a female salesperson!) Traffic was nowhere near where it is today, as you can imagine and Brisbane, like most of the other Australian cities, was just one big market.
In due course, it was time for the next generation to step forward. But Alan maintained a strong interest in the business for the rest of his life. He was very supportive of the decisions to expand throughout Brisbane and, subsequently, into Queensland. It was this fantastic Queensland business that gave us the opportunity to go national at a later date.
