My Thoughts
Tis the Season for Property Sales
Although many industry experts suggest that the property market is sluggish over the Christmas and New Year period, Stuart Cox, Chief Executive Officer of Harcourts Western Australia, says that this is the perfect time to buy and sell property.
“Regardless of the general industry trend to slow down over the holiday period, December and January is a great time to buy or sell property.
“With school finishing in early December and not returning until early February, it is the perfect time for those wishing to relocate to finalise their property transactions and get their children into new schools,” Mr Cox said.
Mr Cox also suggests that many people from rural and regional Western Australia travel to Perth during the holidays to visit family and friends, many of which decide to look for an investment property or relocate to the city.
“During the Christmas season, many people…
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Coaching, Accountability Imperative to Success
Harcourts Victoria are placing a strong focus on coaching their top sales consultants in order to increase accountability and drive results.
General Manager, Vanessa Kupsch provides one-on-one coaching with a number of Harcourts Victoria’s top sales consultants, including Shane Donovan, the group’s number one agent.
“I have worked with Shane for the past three years, and during that time his figures have significantly improved as a direct result of having someone to be accountable to.
“To put it in real terms, Shane’s figures have tripled since working with me and appointing a personal assistant so he can focus solely on dollar productive tasks,” Ms Kupsch said.
During the coaching process, Ms Kupsch provides the agents with prospecting plans, detailed KPIs, thorough business plans and customer services plans, and measures repeat and referral business.
“The key to a successful agent is their mindset. High levels of
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Eight Reasons to be Optimistic about Australia’s Future
1. Australia has an enviable unemployment rate of 4.9%. Although the EU zone and the US have unemployment rates of 9.9% and 9.1% respectively, other advanced economies in our region like Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and even Japan are all below 4.5%. Seems like a solid neighbourhood.
2. China is now our biggest trading partner and even conservative growth predictions for that massive economy are at 8.5%. They are currently recording 9.6% per annum growth. China’s GDP growth in one year is almost as big as our entire economy. And we are riding that long China wave.
3. Our two biggest exports are Coal and Iron Ore. China consumes 47% of the worlds Coal and 48% of the worlds Iron Ore. We are in the box seat.
4. Our Public debt level is one of the lowest amongst the so called “advanced” economies. This means a smaller interest cost to…
Harcourts Conference is Fast Approaching
In recent months the Harcourts events team have been working long and hard in preparation for the 2011 Harcourts Conference in both Australia and New Zealand this May. Kicking off in just two weeks, this year’s Conference is sure to be one of the best yet!
David Martin, Leanne Howard, Laura Watts, Emma Revell and their teams have worked tirelessly to prepare for this event and their efforts will ensure two outstanding conferences!
There are some truly exciting things planned, including some world class guest speakers such as Richard Flint, leading American author, achievement coach and mentor, Bob Wolff, Principal and Sales Agent with Harcourts USA, Richard Robbins, author, sales and business peak performance coach, and Stan “The Man” Longinidis, eight time kickboxing world champion.
I’m excited about this year’s conferences and look forward to seeing you all there on the Gold Coast and in Rotorua, and to share the…
Christchurch Earthquake Tragedy
As you will all be aware by now, the Christchurch area suffered another very significant earthquake yesterday measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale.
The effects have been truly devastating. Within Team Harcourts, we have incredibly lucky so far with just two minor injuries reported, however many have lost their homes and many of our offices have been severely damaged.
Harcourts NZ CEO, Hayden Duncan and COO, Jo-Anne Clifford are already on the ground with the Harcourts team in Christchurch helping to support our teams and offices. Our first priority is the safety of our people and their families.
In amongst this adversity, the Harcourts culture and spirit is more alive than ever before. I have received calls, texts and emails from our team throughout Australia, South Africa, China, Fiji, Indonesia and the USA showing concern and support for the team. I’m incredibly proud to see the culture so…
Highlights from Business Leaders Conference 2011
The 2011 Business Leaders Conference wrapped up this Wednesday in Melbourne and it was one of the best BLC’s yet. The event attracted over 400 delegates from around Australia, New Zealand, China, South Africa and Indonesia.
Over the three-day event, several exciting announcements were made including the announcement of a joint venture between Harcourts and regional and rural real estate brand, Landmark. When the announcement was made on Tuesday morning, the excitement, enthusiasm and energy in the room was amazing.
We also heard from our Harcourts International heads of department about the growth we’re experiencing and the many great new projects that are currently underway. After hearing from them there is no doubt that 2011 is going to be another exciting year for Harcourts across the globe.
We were also lucky enough to be addressed by some fantastic keynote speakers including Ewan Morton of…
Queensland Flood Tragedy
It is difficult to express the thoughts and emotions that we are all feeling during this incredibly challenging time. Irene and I (and our son Steven) left our home two days ago as it was expected to flood at the 5.5 metre Brisbane River peak on Wednesday. We were incredibly lucky, because the river’s peak was lower than predicted – we were not flooded and have now been able to return home.
There are however so many so less fortunate. I know all of our thoughts are firstly with the family and friends of those who have lost their lives, secondly the many thousands who find themselves homeless and of course the many more who have lost businesses and livelihoods. The scenes we are seeing on TV are heartbreaking.
Our team have also been directly affected. We have a number of offices that have been badly damaged or impacted –…
Reflect on 2010, Prepare for 2011!
With Christmas and the New Year just ahead, I can’t help but reflect back over a pretty unique year! After a strong start and a very good first quarter, the market really did soften and in some areas slowed quite significantly. Yet in other areas, like Victoria and NSW, the market remained strong, and has only slowed a little in recent times.
Of course on top of uncertain, patchy markets, we had the massive earthquake in Christchurch which presented such a significant challenge for our team in Canterbury, and we also saw unexpected interest rate rises.
We saw growth in economic activity, with better figures out of the US and falling unemployment in both NZ and Australia. Our team in South Africa are seeing improving sales as well as increases in the major banks’ loan approval rates – almost 50% now!
Right around our group, in amongst all this uncertainty…
News From Around Harcourts
It has been another exciting few months for Harcourts with many new ventures, appointments and initiatives being announced.
One of the most exciting occurrences has been the launch of Harcourts in the USA through a joint venture with Altera Real Estate and the exciting new appointments that have come with it.
Aaron Hodson, formally the International Franchise Development Manager with Harcourts International, has been appointed to the role of CEO of Harcourts USA. I’m confident that Aaron will help to grow and develop our brand in the US. Co-founder of Altera Real Estate, Gary Thomas has been appointed as Chairman of the Harcourts USA joint venture, while joint co-founders of Altera, Dennis and Colleen Badagliacco have been named as partners. Leading American real estate professional, Rick De Luca has also been announced as a partner and shareholder in the Harcourts / Altera joint venture.
I believe we have…
Pre-Christmas Reprieve for Home Owners
This week Australian home owners have been offered some reprieved in the lead up to Christmas as the Reserve Bank of Australia has decided to keep interest rates on hold, with the official cash rate remaining at 4.75 per cent.
The RBA’s decision has no doubt been applauded by home and business owners around the country, particularly with the financial pressure of Christmas and the school holidays fast approaching.
We have seen some mixed economic data recently and given this, I believe the RBA’s decision was sensible. Raising interest rates at this crucial stage would undoubtedly have negative knock-on effects, not only for the property industry, but for several other industries within Australia.
Both the growth of Australia’s property market and the wider economy need to be encouraged, and holding the official cash rate will assist this growth.
Recent reports have also suggested that interest rates may remain on hold…