Formerly trading under a Ray White franchise in Parnell, the team has today commenced introducing the Harcourts and NAI Harcourts brands along with Harcourts’ world-class systems and products in addition to sharing the news with their clients.

Directors James Lee and Rosh Daji say Harcourts is a New Zealand success story they wanted their company to be part of.

Harcourts Parnell senior management, from left, James Law, Rosh Daji and James Lee

“Harcourts is achieving excellent growth domestically and globally, they recently added an exciting new international network via their joint venture with one of the world’s largest commercial property groups to form NAI Harcourts, and from our observations they have industry-leading technology, training and support amongst other things,” the pair says.

“With big plans across both the commercial and residential parts of our business we recognised these advantages would be of huge benefit to our team and to our clients and are confident joining Harcourts/NAI Harcourts will be a great affiliation to bring us to another level.”

As Mr Lee explains, the new Harcourts Parnell office, located at 2 Heather St, boasts a multi-cultural team of 35, including top commercial sales and leasing specialists and business brokers along with high-performing residential sales consultants and property managers.

“With award-winning residential sales consultant Rosh Daji now becoming a Director we have a stronger focus on growing our share of the residential property market and having recently promoted one of the country’s top commercial sales consultants, James Law, to be an Executive Director and lead our top-performing commercial leasing team we have ambitious plans in that sector too.

“In addition we are determined to maximise my strong Asian network and the global networks of Harcourts and NAI Harcourts, with the ultimate aim being to have an internationally-operating office that is one of the top in town.”

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Hayden Duncan says with Harcourts’ key focuses including growth in Auckland and in the commercial property sector he is delighted to welcome NZ International Realty Ltd and their team to the group.

“Having had interest from a number of real estate companies operating in the Parnell area we felt James, Rosh and their team were the best fit with the Harcourts culture and would also add significantly to our group.

“The location of their office in the high-profile suburb of Parnell and the breadth and depth of their team is a great complement to our existing network and we’re particularly pleased they have a strong commercial team to help continue the strong growth of the NAI Harcourts brand.

“In turn, clearly they have identified Harcourts as being the best option to take their business forward with, which is great endorsement of what our group has to offer and where we are going.”

During that six-month period the website, which was relaunched late last year with significant design and functionality enhancements, had the second highest average market share of visits to websites in that category from New Zealand-based users, with only the industry-owned portal www.realestate.co.nz receiving more traffic.

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Hayden Duncan says the award reflects Harcourts’ strength in the New Zealand property market and the calibre and popularity of the group’s website.

“The fact that our website repeatedly ranks highly in both the Experian Hitwise awards and the monthly statistics released by Nielsen/Netratings, which show ours is the most visited real estate brand’s website in the country with an average of around 210,000 unique visitors each month, is irrefutable evidence of the success of our site,” he says.

“These consistent results prove www.harcourts.co.nz clearly has considerable value to people interested in buying, selling or renting New Zealand property.”

Harcourts International Chief Information Officer Jason Wills says the award also reflects the efforts of Harcourts’ partners in last year’s website revamp, NetConcepts, and the work of Harcourts own web designers and developers.

“Everyone’s efforts last year and the ongoing work we’re doing internally have helped lift the traffic received by the Harcourts’ New Zealand website and to improve the customer experience too.”

The Hitwise Top 10 Awards recognise websites from over 140 industries that are leaders in their industry and brings with it the benefit of using the Hitwise Top 10 Award shield.

The new Landlords Dwelling Insurance and Landlords Protection Insurance products have been developed by Harcourts’ specialist division Insurance Express in association with Ansvar Insurance Limited.

Exclusively available to landlords with property managed by Harcourts, the new insurance products are believed to be the best in the market, according to the CEO of Mortgage Express and Insurance Express Andrew L’Almont.

“Like Harcourts Property Management team we know how important it is for landlords to protect their investment and to ensure they are covered for loss of rent or malicious damage for example, and we wanted to be able to provide Harcourts’ clients with a product superior to those on offer through other channels.

“So, having researched what was already available in the marketplace, with Ansvar’s support we have put together two products that combine the best of all of the existing options to create what we believe is industry-leading landlord cover.”

As he explains, unlike other policies, claims for loss of rent due to malicious damage are paid from day one; there is only one excess for damage rather than one excess per room; and there is on excess for broken glass or lost key claims.

Mr L’Almont says Insurance Express is so confident about the new cover underwritten by Ansvar that it has a 30-day money back guarantee, providing no claim has been made during that period.

Harcourts New Zealand Property Management Business Operations Manager Carol Benny says the initial feedback on the unique new offering has been positive.

“Our property management team are delighted to have such fantastic cover available for their clients and the initial feedback and uptake from the landlords who the team has spoken to so far has been excellent.”

Mr Day says establishing the new office, which is located at 14 Weld St in part of the National Bank building, was a logical step for his company, Greymouth Enterprises Ltd, and a move that will benefit the area’s buyers and sellers along with the Harcourts Hokitika team.

“Having an office in the town provides us with another opportunity to expose the properties we’re marketing, which benefits both the sellers in Hokitika-Kaniere whose properties we have listed and the buyers who are looking for property in the area.  Setting up an office in Hokitika also ensures our clients have somewhere suitable to meet with our team to discuss their property needs.

“Meanwhile for us having a physical presence in town is obviously good for our profile and it also provides the Harcourts staff who specialise in this area with a permanent base to work from, rather than having to operate out of their cars primarily.”

Mr Day, an experienced realtor who acquired Harcourts’ Greymouth/Hokitika area franchise earlier this year, says he is excited about the potential of the new office.

“We’ve got an excellent team backed up by the Harcourts brand, systems and support so I’m confident we’ll be able to deliver top quality service and in doing so gain a strong market share in this market.”

As he explains, the small Harcourts Hokitika team will initially be focused on residential, lifestyle and rural property marketing and sales, but as it grows they may also get involved in other sectors of the market.

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Hayden Duncan has welcomed the establishment of a new Harcourts office in Hokitika.

“Richard has recognised the potential of a dedicated Harcourts office in Hokitika to better support the existing population and to cater to those interested in investing or moving into the area,” he says.

“I commend him on taking the initiative and wish the Harcourts Hokitika team every success.”

NAI Harcourts, the exclusive New Zealand/Australia member of the international NAI Global network, is a joint venture company formed by NAI Global, one of the world’s largest commercial real estate service providers, Harcourts International Limited and Brock Real Estate, Harcourts’ existing joint venture partner in South Australia.

It is also the brand under which Harcourts commercial property and business broking services will now be provided on both sides of the Tasman.

NAI Harcourts CEO Chris Nicholl, Harcourts New Zealand COO Jo Clifford and Harcourts New Zealand CEO Hayden Duncan

NAI Harcourts CEO Chris Nicholl says launching the naiharcourts.co.nz website and commencing the introduction of new marketing material in New Zealand this week are the first steps in a five year plan to establish NAI Harcourts in the top tier of Australasia’s commercial property service providers.

“With the support of NAI Global we will significantly expand Harcourts’ existing commercial real estate business over the next few years,” says Mr Nicholl, who has more than 20 years’ experience in the commercial property industry including senior international roles with both Jones Lang LaSalle and Colliers.

“Our initial focus is on working with the existing team to roll-out the new brand and establish the key NAI Harcourts systems and processes – initially in New Zealand and then in Australia,” he says.

“Then we’ll look to expand NAI Harcourts’ operation by building teams of commercial specialists in key metropolitan and regional centres and introducing industry-leading tools and training that will allow us to grow and operate at the highest level.

“Alongside this we plan to increase the range of services we offer sellers, buyers and tenants in this important sector of the property market.”

As Mr Nicholl explains, a strong advantage NAI Harcourts can offer is access to buyers, listings and market knowledge from throughout NAI Global’s network of approximately 5000 commercial real estate professionals in more than 50 countries worldwide.

“This ability to connect businesses and investors from around the globe to opportunities here and vice versa is obviously something that will be of great benefit to our clients,” he says.

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Hayden Duncan says the Australasian commercial property market offers significant opportunities, generating an estimated $1 billion in fees at present, and it is exciting to be involved in the introduction of a new entrant.

“Harcourts is the largest real estate group in New Zealand and the fastest growing in Australia with a strong presence in the residential, rural and lifestyle property sectors, and this exciting initiative will ensure we can achieve equally good levels of success in the commercial sector of the market too,” Mr Duncan says.

“Through combining the quality and strength of the Harcourts organisation with NAI Global’s resources and their premier international commercial real estate network we have a powerful platform for NAI Harcourts to succeed and therefore some excellent opportunities for sales consultants and business owners interested in taking their career to the next level.

“Certainly the feedback we’ve had since the joint venture was announced earlier this year has been very positive. There is clearly an appetite for another major player in this space and from the enquiries we’ve had from both clients, potential clients and people interested in joining the team, we know the value of NAI Harcourts’ proposition has been recognised.”

ENDS

About NAI Global
NAI Global is the premier network of independent commercial real estate firms and one of the largest commercial real estate service providers worldwide. Based in Princeton, New Jersey and with 70 staff strategically positioned around the world, NAI Global manages a network of 5000 professionals and 325 offices in 55 countries throughout the world. NAI professionals work together with a global management team to help their clients strategically optimise their real estate assets, assisting NAI offices around the world to complete over $45 billion in transactions annually and manage over 200 million square feet of commercial space.

About Harcourts
Harcourts is the largest real estate group in New Zealand, the fastest growing in Australia and in total has more than 630 offices across nine countries. Currently in the process of entering the USA, Harcourts offers expertise in residential, commercial, rural and lifestyle property marketing and sales, business broking, urban projects and property management and in the last financial year exceed $20 billion in written sales. Harcourts is the exclusive Australasian and South Pacific representative of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World ™, the largest real estate network on earth consisting of 650 companies, 5,000 offices, and 150,000 sales consultants. Originally established in Wellington in 1888, Harcourts also has its own charitable foundation, The Harcourts Foundation, to provide support that helps, grows, and enriches our communities.

About Brock Real Estate
Brock Real Estate is the largest independently owned real estate company in South Australia. The company offers a full range of real estate services, including via its residential division Brock Harcourts, which has more than 40 offices across SA and the Northern Territory. Started with the aim of to providing the best one-stop-shop real estate company in the State, Brock Real Estate offers: commercial/industrial/ retail sales, leasing and asset management; corporate and advisory services; residential sales; project management; project marketing; land subdivisions and sales, rural sales, auctioneering and feasibility studies.

On New Zealand’s national day at World Expo in Shanghai, Harcourts has announced that it has secured the opportunity to showcase a selection of the country’s premier property in the New Zealand Pavilion at the mega-event.

The major marketing initiative, being organised by North Shore-based Harcourts’ franchise Cooper & Co but including listings from around Harcourts New Zealand, is focused on showcasing a range of residential, rural and commercial property and development projects directly to potential buyers in the world’s fastest growing economy.

Harcourts Cooper & Co Managing Director Martin Cooper says the August marketing mission includes presentations to more than 1000 invited high net worth individuals in China who have shown an interest in investing or living in New Zealand, with a website (www.shanghai2010.co.nz) and a special Harcourts Bluebook translated into Mandarin amongst the supporting material.

As he explains, through sources including successful Harcourts Albany Sales Consultant Matty Ma, Cooper & Co has access to hundreds of potential buyers in China who they have been invited to special functions they are organising next month at both the New Zealand Pavilion at Expo 2010 and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise’s Shanghai business centre New Zealand Central .

At these events the VIP guests will be educated about the advantages of investing in New Zealand and shown a range of premier properties being marketed by Harcourts, ranging from multi-million dollar Auckland homes to major developments from around the country.

“In total we hope to present to more than 1000 potential buyers, including many expat New Zealanders, and our mission also includes meetings with international business owners, financiers and development groups to build relationships and exchange information for future ventures,” says Mr Cooper, who will lead the Harcourts group of multi-lingual sales consultants along with translators, administration and IT staff.  “So, it’s going to be an action-packed time for our team that we’re confident will generate a significant amount of business.”

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Hayden Duncan says with China emerging as an economic powerhouse the exciting ‘Exposure Shanghai’ initiative will help put New Zealand property on the map for both wealthy ex-pat New Zealanders and Chinese looking for investment opportunities.

“Based on our own experience and the statistics, Harcourts recognises that China is a key source of both new immigrants and investment and this multi-faceted campaign is a great response to those trends. It will benefit our clients by ensuring their properties are marketed to a significant group of potential buyers in China and help Harcourts build relationships for future initiatives too,” he says.

“With New Zealand having a strong presence at Expo 2010, which is expected to attract around 100 million people, and Harcourts’ access to literally hundreds of potential buyers in Shanghai this was a once-in-a-lifetime combination we had to capitalise on.”

Cooper & Co’s partners in this special initiative include Luxury Portfolio, Umoview, Open2view, ANZ, Austar Immigration Group and Graphic Detail.

Dunedin-based Harcourts Business Owner and Auctioneer Chris Kennedy won the senior competition ahead of North Shore-based Harcourts Branch Manager and Auctioneer Robert Tulp and 26 other competitors, while Christchurch-based Harcourts Sales Consultant and Auctioneer Daniel Coulson took out the novice competition ahead of North Shore-based Harcourts Sales Consultant and Auctioneer Richard Kerr and 12 other competitors.

The annual competitions were held in Auckland this week, with both Mr Kennedy and Mr Tulp earning the honour of going on to represent New Zealand in the Australasian Auctioneering Championships which are being held in Auckland on 14 – 15 September.

Mr Kennedy, who operates Harcourts offices in both Dunedin and Balclutha, says winning the competition is the highlight of his 18-year career in real estate to date.

“It’s been something I’ve been working towards for a number of years and something I feel incredibly proud to have achieved, especially given the size of the Dunedin market means I call considerably fewer auctions each year than many of the other competitors.”

Crediting hard work and the coaching of Harcourts’ Phil McGoldrick, the reigning Australasian champion, Mr Kennedy says during the competition he focused on being himself and getting the numbers right, without doing anything too flashy.

“The support I’ve received from within the Harcourts group in particular has been incredibly humbling and the impact it’s had on my profile and credibility as an auctioneer has been immediate,” he says.   “I’m absolutely blown-away and really looking forward to representing Harcourts and New Zealand later this year in the Australasian championship.”

Meanwhile, Mr Coulson from Christchurch-based Harcourts franchise Grenadier Real Estate, says winning the national novice competition has strengthened his resolve to focus on auctioneering full-time.

“I’ve been interested in auctioneering for some time and having gained experience as a real estate sales consultant in a company with a strong auction focus I’ve had the advantage of alongside that being able to train as an auctioneer with some of the best in the country. ”

“Winning this national industry competition, following my success in Harcourts’ novice auctioneers competition in May, is fantastic affirmation and I’ve definitely got my sights now firmly on pursuing this as a career.”

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Hayden Duncan says he is delighted Harcourts’ auctioneers have been judged to be the best of the best in New Zealand.

“This level of success in a national, industry-wide competition is a testament to the strong auction focus within Harcourts and the investment made in developing our auctioneers along with the hard work and talent of the highly-skilled Harcourts auctioneers involved.

“It certainly sends a strong message to the buying and selling public that if they want to achieve auction success Harcourts is the brand to deal with.”

Formerly operating independently, the company is now in the process of introducing Harcourts’ brand and wide range of world-class systems and products, in addition to sharing the news of their exciting step with both clients and suppliers.

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Hayden Duncan says he is thrilled to welcome Wairoa Property Limited’s owners Trevor and Margaret Lyall along with their team to the Harcourts group.

Margaret and Trevor Lyall of Harcourts Wairoa.

“It’s a great endorsement of what we have to offer that Trevor and Margaret have chosen to join Harcourts and exciting for us to have an office in Wairoa for the first time in our group’s 122-year history,” he says.

“We look forward to working with them to grow their business in Wairoa and surrounding areas.”

The Lyalls, who have been selling real estate since 1999 and had their own independent real estate company since 2007, say they are delighted to have joined the Harcourts group and look forward to the benefits that will result.

“Harcourts is the largest real estate group in New Zealand and has a growing international presence which offers many advantages to us and also to our clients, including being able to access unique international marketing opportunities available to members of the Harcourts group.

“In addition Harcourts has a powerful brand, an excellent culture and offers industry-leading technology and training, superb marketing products and an abundance of other tools and support – all of which will be hugely beneficial to our team and to our clients who will now experience ‘The Harcourts Way’.”

As the pair explains, the new Harcourts Wairoa office, which is located at 132 Marine Parade, is the base for a team of four which offers both real estate marketing and sales expertise along with professional property management services.

“We’ve established an excellent reputation in Wairoa and the Mahia Peninsula and as part of the Harcourts group we look forward to taking our business to the next level,” they say.

Mr Valintine has more than 17 years’ experience in the property industry, encompassing all aspects of real estate including valuation, sales, marketing, auctioneering and management.

Most recently at the helm of Bayleys’ Counties operation, he was previously regional manager of Bayleys Taranaki and before that spent 13 years in Bayleys Realty Group’s head office in various roles including as Bayleys’ senior national auctioneer.   Prior to joining the real estate industry, Mr Valintine had a distinguished career within Turners, including as a top auctioneer.

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Hayden Duncan says he is delighted to have been able to appoint Mr Valintine to this important role, following the resignation of reigning Australasian Auctioneering Champion Phil McGoldrick, who is now focusing full-time on auctioneering for Harcourts in Canterbury.

“During his career Richard has gained considerable experience calling auctions, guiding hundreds of salespeople and sellers through the auction process and training and coaching new and experienced auctioneers – so he has exactly the kind of background we were looking for.

“In addition, he has broader real estate management experience and an exemplary reputation in the industry and wider community, including through having donated hundreds of hours of his time supplying his auctioneering skills to charity and community fund raising events.

“Given all of this, we know he will be an excellent addition to the Harcourts New Zealand senior management team which he join on 26 July, taking on responsibility for the professional development of Harcourts’ auctioneers and training Harcourts sales consultants in the auction process, with a special focus on growing our auction business in Auckland.”

Mr Valintine says he is excited about joining Harcourts and his new role, which is based in the Harcourts New Zealand head office in Newmarket, Auckland.

“Harcourts is the country’s largest real estate group and a growing force internationally, with industry-leading systems, training, tools and support, a powerful brand and a great culture and team of people.

“When coupled with their belief and commitment to the auction process, their proven auctioneering success, ambitious plans for the future and the challenges of the national auction manager role, it was opportunity I couldn’t resist,” he says.

Former Harcourts National Auction Manager Phil McGoldrick has welcomed the appointment of Mr Valintine.

“I have known Richard professionally for several years and his recruitment by Harcourts is a real coup,” he says.

“Richard will be able to give the role the full-time justice it needs and he is also strategically placed in Auckland to focus on the boundless growth opportunities for Harcourts in this area. I look forward to assisting him in the ongoing development of our group’s strong auction culture and in continuing to build Harcourts’ track record for auctioneering success.”

The trio – David Selig, Leith Gunn and Jonathan Selig – say they have established the new office, which is located at 89 Queens Drive, to ensure property investors and tenants in Lower Hutt can also benefit from the professional Harcourts property management services their team has been successfully providing from their Wainuiomata office for 10 years.

The team from the new Lower Hutt Harcourts property management office, from left, Jonathan Selig, Kate Shiels-Reddin, Melissa Su’a and Felicity Cherry.

“After a decade of success in the Wainuiomata area we wanted to build on that and be able to provide specialist Harcourts’ property management services to a wider client base.

“So, in addition to continuing to provide property management services from our existing branch we made the strategic decision to open an office in the Lower Hutt CBD with the support of the local Harcourts franchise, Team Hutt Valley Ltd, which will continue to remain exclusively focused on sales,” they say.

“Our new office is ideally positioned in Lower Hutt for us to compete, providing excellent exposure for Harcourts and the properties we’re marketing for rent, and with an excellent team based there we’re confident it will be a success.”

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Hayden Duncan has welcomed the establishment of the new Harcourts property management office in Lower Hutt.

“It’s great to see one of our experienced Harcourts’ property management providers expanding and together with the existing Harcourts sales office ensuring we can deliver all of the property-related services clients in the Lower Hutt area need.

“Given Channel Realty Ltd’s track record of success with both sales and property management in Wainuiomata I’m confident that their newly formed property management business, Channel Rentals Ltd, will be equally well received in the Lower Hutt market.”