Cooper & Co Principal Officer and Managing Director Martin Cooper says the purchase of Realty Solutions Limited will see the two companies combining forces under the Harcourts brand.

Mr Cooper, who has purchased the company along with his business partners in Cooper & Co, explains the acquisition enables Harcourts to strengthen its position in the local market, achieve economies of scale and gain some excellent real estate professionals, including the founder of Realty Solutions Limited Robyn Coles.

“Robyn has extensive experience in the industry and is a real estate identity on the North Shore so we’re delighted she will be the manager of Harcourts Mairangi Bay and that she and her team, which includes 12 sales consultants and a professional property manager, will be joining us in delivering the Harcourts advantages to buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants on the North Shore.”

Both companies’ clients will also benefit from the deal, Mr Cooper says.

“For example by combining our sales teams we can offer buyers a greater number of listings and sellers a larger amount of buyers, while by merging our rent rolls we can offer potential tenants a wider range of rental properties and achieve efficiencies in our property management operation too.”

Mr Cooper says Robyn and her team are activity involved in supporting the community, something he is keen to see continue and grow.

“Both companies have a proud history of supporting the community and this is something Harcourts Cooper & Co wants to increase in the Mairangi Bay area now we have an office there, in fact we have just become a sponsor of the Mairangi Bay Art Society and the Campbell’s Bay Tennis Club in addition to our existing sponsorships of the North Harbour Rugby Referees and the Mairangi Bay Bowling Club.”

With the sale of Realty Solutions Limited becoming official yesterday, the existing office at 400 Beach Rd is now being rebranded to Harcourts along with all of the team’s promotional material and the Harcourts systems are in the process of being introduced.

Robyn Coles says the move to Harcourts is an exciting step for her and her team.

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Bryan Thomson says increasing the group’s nationwide residential property management portfolio to more than 11,000 is an excellent achievement by Harcourts’ professional property management team.

“Those involved have worked extremely hard to build up the total Harcourts rent roll in New Zealand and achieving this milestone is a credit to the growing team’s efforts in what is a very competitive specialist sector of the real estate industry,” he says.

“Clearly an increasing number of residential property investors are recognising the benefits of working with a trusted brand and using the services of Harcourts’ professional property management team, which as per Harcourts policy are all required to use trust accounts despite the fact they are no longer covered by the real estate agents legislation and therefore not legally required to do this.”    

Mr Thomson says the Harcourts group’s property management portfolio is one the largest in New Zealand, having increased significantly in each of the past three years, and he is confident it will continue to grow.

“Harcourts recognises the importance of being able to provide a seamless, full-range of property-related service to our clients hence the focus on complementing our core business with property management services, alongside offering mortgage and insurance broking assistance through Harcourts-owned Mortgage and Insurance Express.

“With a growing property management team with the skills, knowledge, experience, training and support required to succeed I’m confident Harcourts Property Management will continue to go from strength to strength.”

Harcourts National Property Management Operations Manager Carol Benny explains surpassing the goal of having 11,000 residential properties under Harcourts’ management has been achieved through various means including ‘organic’ growth in Harcourts franchises’ rent rolls and the acquisition of some competitors’ rent rolls.

Formerly part of another international real estate group, the company is now in the process of introducing the Harcourts brand and the group’s wide range of world-class systems and products and sharing the good news with their clients and suppliers.

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Bryan Thomson says he is thrilled to welcome Beachlands Real Estate’s owner Peter Brinkley and his team to the Harcourts group.

“It’s a great endorsement that Peter, who has a real estate career spanning more than 35 years, and his son Elliot, who manages the business, chose to join Harcourts and particularly exciting to have a permanent presence in that part of the country for the first time in our group’s 121-year history,” he says.

“We look forward to working with them to grow Harcourts’ brand awareness and market share in Beachlands and surrounding areas.”

Beachlands Real Estate Principal Officer Peter Brinkley and his son Elliot, who is the manager of the business, say they are delighted that they and their growing team have become part of the Harcourts group.

“Harcourts is the largest real estate group in New Zealand with a growing presence both here and internationally which offers many advantages to us and also to our clients,” the pair says.

“In addition Harcourts has a dynamic, positive culture and offers industry-leading technology, top-quality training and marketing products, with an abundance of other excellent resources and support available – all of  which will be hugely beneficial.”

As the pair explains, the new Harcourts Beachlands office, which is located on a high-profile corner at 36 Wakelin Rd, is the base for a successful, growing team that includes award-winning residential sales consultants and a vastly experienced property manager.

“Operating for more than 30 years, Beachlands Real Estate Ltd, has established an excellent reputation in Beachlands, Maraetai and other nearby areas and we look forward to taking our business to the next level as part of the Harcourts group.”

Established and successful Royal-Oak-based real estate company RPA Ltd has joined Harcourts, New Zealand’s largest real estate group, yesterday making the move official by rebranding their office.

Formerly operating independently as Ryan Property Agents and Ryan Commercial, the company is now in the process of introducing the Harcourts brand and its comprehensive range of world-class business, marketing and technology systems and products to its commercial, business broking and residential team.

Co-owners Jackie Ryan, Matt Ryan and Liz Wyllie say they are delighted that they and their growing team have become part of the Harcourts group.

“Harcourts is a New Zealand-owned company, it has the largest national real estate network and a growing global presence, and of all the major franchise groups we believe their brand best portrays the honest, hardworking  image we ourselves have strived to achieve,” Mr Ryan says.  “In addition Harcourts has industry-leading technology, top-quality training and marketing products and an abundance of other excellent resources and support available – all advantages that will be of huge benefit to our team and our clients.”

Business owners, from left, Liz Wyllie, Matt Ryan and Jackie Ryan.

As Mr Ryan explains, the new Harcourts Royal Oak office boasts an experienced and growing team that is involved in commercial and industrial sales and leasing, business sales and commercial property management along with residential sales, leasing and property management.

“Operating for more than 17 years, the company originally started out in residential property sales but then moved in to the commercial property sector, which is an area we have been both heavily focused on and successful in over recent years,” he says.   “Now, in addition to wanting to continue to grow our commercial property and business broking marketshare, we also plan to reassert ourselves in the residential property market, especially in the area of auction marketing in which we have been an award-winning office.”

Mr Ryan says the Harcourts brand and the group’s supporting systems and resources will be particularly beneficial to their company in the residential arena. “In fact, joining Harcourts has already aided us in recruiting two top performing residential sales consultants in our area.”

Mr Ryan says the company has ambitious plans and is keen to build both its residential and commercial teams in order to help them achieve their goals.

Meanwhile Harcourts New Zealand CEO Bryan Thomson says he is thrilled to welcome Jackie, Matt, Liz and their team to the Harcourts group.

“It’s a great endorsement of Harcourts that they chose to join us and become Harcourts franchise owners and exciting to have such a successful company with a strong team of sales consultants, business brokers and property managers in our group now.

“We look forward to working with them to grow Harcourts’ presence and market share in their area of Auckland.”

Located at 758 Manukau Rd, opposite Royal Oak Mall, the new Harcourts Royal Oak office is one of the largest in the area and offers in-house auction rooms and ample car parking.

In addition to serving the Auckland and central-suburbs commercially, the residential sales and property management team works across Royal Oak, Onehunga, One Tree Hill, Greenlane, Hillsborough and Mangere Bridge.   

Business Owner Tony Jenkins says the recent acquisition has further strengthened Harcourts Gore’s position in property management in the local market.

“We already had a substantial portfolio of rental properties under Harcourts management, but as of the end of November when the changeover became effective we are now by far the biggest provider of property management services in Gore.”
 
Mr Jenkins says he is thrilled that the local First National directors, Tony and Julie Jenkinson, selected Harcourts Gore to assure the ongoing care and management of their clients’ properties and in turn their tenants.

“Tony and Julie are well respected local people with a strong reputation in the real estate industry and community who having decided to retire from full-time business they selected W. Thompson & Co to takeover their property management business.  We’re a local business too and pride ourselves on the professional management of investment properties.”

Mr Jenkins says landlords and tenants were advised in advance that W. Thompson & Co, which operates offices in both Gore and Invercargill, was to become the managing agent of the First National rent roll.

“Our focus is on maintaining continuity of service and aside from a few subtle changes in process and procedures landlords and tenants will not be affected,  however to ensure everything goes smoothly Tony is personally assisting us during the transition phase and for a period afterwards.”

Mr Jenkins says in addition to boosting Harcourts Gore’s property management operation the recent acquisition has benefits for clients too.

“Obviously we now have a much wider range of rental properties to offer tenants, while the owners of the properties we are now managing will benefit from the flow-on effects of the experienced Harcourts property management team having access to the leading-systems, support and training available through Harcourts, which is New Zealand’s largest real estate group.”

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Bryan Thomson says ones of Harcourts objectives is to provide a seamless, full range of property-related services to clients and he is delighted even more people will now benefit from this in Gore.

“The fact that Harcourts franchise W. Thompson & Co was chosen to takeover the former First National rent roll is a credit to Tony and the Harcourts Gore office, particularly the property management team of Russell and Marie Dickie, and I wish them every success for the future,” he says.

 Rental Property Focus Dec 09

The dedicated Harcourts property management office, operated by the newly formed joint venture company Monarch Realty Ltd, is located in Hamilton’s central business district at 851 Victoria Street and will initially focus on residential property management.

Mr King and Mr Singh, who own Monarch Real Estate Ltd which operates five Harcourts offices in the city, say they are excited about the new joint venture property management operation.

“It’s great to be able to partner with Andrew and Melanie to expand the package of services available through the Harcourts Hamilton group to include property management in addition to professional residential, commercial, lifestyle and rural property sales and marketing services,” the pair says.  

“We’re really excited about combining our skills, experience and resources with their enthusiasm and property management expertise to meet the needs of investors and tenants in Hamilton and carve out a strong market share in this specialist field.” 

Co-owners (from left): Brian King, Melanie Rouse, Andrew Yeoman and Davinder Singh

Mr Yeoman, who is also an experienced and active property developer, says he is delighted to have partnered with Mr King and Mr Singh and to have joined the Harcourts group.

“I’ve been involved in property management for many years now, originally managing my own properties before Melanie joined me to manage properties in some developments I’d done and to work for some other clients too. While we had a successful and growing business, Status Property Management, we realised that we needed to partner with a big brand in order to step it up to the next level so I approached Brian at Harcourts because Harcourts is a great brand and I’ve known Brian for some time and always really admired what he’s achieved with his business partner Davinder. 

“By working with them and their team and by accessing the excellent systems and support available through Harcourts we’re confident we’ll be able to achieve the success and growth we want,” he says.

Mr Yeoman says the initial focus is to grow Harcourts Hamilton Property Management’s residential property management portfolio and therefore its team, and in future to look at expanding into managing commercial properties.

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Bryan Thomson says the new joint venture is aligned with the group’s objective of ensuring Harcourts provide a seamless, full range of services to clients.

“The ability for our clients to access all the property-related services they need is a massive advantage we can offer, so I whole-heartedly support this move and I am confident that with the calibre of those involved this property management joint venture will be a great success.”

A New Zealander whose career has included a number of years in Harcourts’ Dunedin office, Ms Forsyth is highly-respected within the international real estate industry having provided training, coaching and technology to clients throughout New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and South Africa while with the Real Training Team in recent years.

Mr Green says Ms Forsyth brings superb knowledge, skills and experience to the newly-created Harcourts International management role, which has responsibility for driving Harcourts’ property management divisions in New Zealand and Australia along with the Mortgage Express and Insurance Express brokerages in New Zealand and Harcourts Financial Services and Strand Conveyancing in Australia.

Based in Sydney, her focus is to ensure each specialist division provides a streamlined, professional and expert service to Harcourts clients, Mr Green says.

“Increasingly our clients are looking for more convenience and greater value in the real estate transaction, so this role is a pivotal one in terms of ensuring the Harcourts group delivers what people want and achieving our goal of being the number choice in real estate.”
 
Mr Green says Ms Forsyth’s 10 years spent leading a team of over 20 commission-only agents into the world of client benefit systems will be invaluable in her new role.

“Julianna has a wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise within the real estate industry and having chosen Harcourts International as the organisation to continue her successful career with she will be an outstanding new member of the Harcourts team.”

Harcourts is New Zealand’s largest and Australia’s fastest growing real estate group.  Founded in New Zealand in 1888, the operation expanded into Australia in 1997 and now has more than 600 offices in nine countries.   Harcourts is also the exclusive South Pacific member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World™ – the world’s largest real estate network with more than 5000 offices and 150,000 sales associates in 35 countries.

Mr Green says Harcourts has four key factors which have contributed greatly to its ongoing success – the strength of the Harcourts brand, superior business and information systems, proven marketing tools and strategies plus incredibly talented, skilled and committed people.