Grant Stephens of the Sorrento/Benowa office on the Gold Coast was top consultant in October. He has become a business owner of this particular office and is hoping to continue his success this year.

Carmen Briggs of the Inner West won top consultant in November, achieving stellar results for the inner Brisbane area.

Jim Ryan of Coorparoo achieved the great honour of top consultant in December, blitzing sales in his area throughout the month.

Harcourts Queensland CEO Aaron Brooks said the awards ceremony was a grand display of the knowledge and years of experience Harcourts employees have.

“It was a fantastic Gold Coast success, with Grant achieving significant sales results for the month,” Mr Brooks said.

“What a pleasure it is to see members of the Harcourts family go from strength to strength.

“Grant recently became a business owner of the Sorrento/Benowa office, and is a testament to Harcourts’ level of professionalism and ethics,” Mr Brooks said.

Grant has worked in the local area for more than 10 years, so his local knowledge is invaluable to the many residents and investors in the greater Gold Coast region.

“It gives me great pleasure to be able to reward these high performers with the recognition they deserve for their achievements.

“We at Harcourts are incredibly proud of Grant’s achievements as well as the Brisbane winners, and will continue to watch their careers with excitement,” Mr Brooks said.

The new website was built using the very latest Web 2.0 tools, with large clear photos and easy-to-navigate functionality.

“The website displays open home and auction times, and also has social media options available, so visitors to the site can share their favourite property with their friends on Facebook, Digg, MySpace, Live, Reddit, Bebo, Delicious, LinkedIn, Blogger, Buzz Up! and more,” Mr Wills said.

According to Mr Wills, Harcourts’ new website (www.harcourts.com.au) also features a Community Page, with a newsroom, blog posts, and feeds to Harcourts’ YouTube Channel among other things.

“We’ve built an Office/People page that allows you to find any of our team across Australia. Google Maps make this experience easy,” Mr Wills said.

“Google Maps has definitely proven to be a successful addition to our online offering and in time we expect Google Base will be an increasingly popular tool too, particularly when it’s further integrated into the main Google search engine.”

For decades Harcourts has prided itself as an industry ground-breaker in real estate technology.

“We see our investment in real estate technology as imperative to provide the public and our team with the best tools possible to ensure their real estate experience is productive and successful.”

Harcourts is Australasia’s fastest growing real estate organisation, with offices in all states and the Northern Territory, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia and Singapore. Last year, it expanded its operations into Zambia, China, and South Africa., with a total of over 600 offices internationally. For decades Harcourts has prided itself as an industry ground-breaker in real estate technology.

Based in the Harcourts Glenview office operated by Monarch Real Estate, Mr Cosgrave has been in real estate for more than 16 years and won dozens of local, regional and national awards based on his sales success.

On Friday he was honoured by senior management from Harcourts International and Harcourts New Zealand along with members of the Harcourts Hamilton team at an event where he was presented with a special pin commemorating the $500 million in settled sales he has achieved in his career to date.

Shaun Cosgrave with (from left) Harcourts International Executive Director Paul Wright, Harcourts International Managing Director Mike Green and Harcourts New Zealand CEO Bryan Thomson.

Renowned as a hard-working, high-volume realtor, Mr Cosgrave was named Number One Sales Consultant in Harcourts’ inaugural international awards in 2007 and earlier this year was named Harcourts New Zealand’s Top Rural Sales Consultant for 2008/09, fifth overall in New Zealand and eighth internationally – just two years after switching from the residential to rural/lifestyle property market .

Mr Cosgrave says he is proud of his latest achievement, which reflects his love of the real estate industry and many years of hard work and good customer service.

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Bryan Thomson says Mr Cosgrave is an exceptional real estate professional.

“A name synonymous with real estate in the Waikato, Shaun is a highly skilled and experienced real estate professional who puts in an immense amount of time and effort on his clients’ behalf and consistently achieves phenomenal success.

“To have settled $500 million in property sales is an outstanding achievement which Shaun can be immensely proud of.”

Brian King, the General Manager of Harcourts Hamilton franchise Monarch Real Estate, says Mr Cosgrave has a legendary work ethic and thoroughly deserves all the accolades and success.

“To have achieved $500 million in settled sales is superb, particularly given the median price of houses in the Hamilton suburbs Shaun has focused on for most of his career.”

Established in Wellington in 1888 Harcourts is New Zealand’s largest real estate group with approximately 180 offices nationwide, around 1700 sales consultants (including approximately 130 rural and/or lifestyle specialists) and a growing property management team. In total Harcourts has more than 600 offices and 4000 property professionals in nine countries.

Jeremy Wilkinson, Harcourts Launceston’s Business Owner, was awarded, for the third year in a row, the REIT Residential Sales Person of the Year award for significant listing and sales achievements, commitment to quality customer service and reaching personal milestones and career goals.

From the same office, Megan Powell won the REIT Support Person of the Year award for displaying quality relationships with clients, together with her initiative when coordinating events and training, and providing corporate support to the CEO, BDM and Business Operations Manager for Tasmania. 

Neil Hawkins, a talented Sales Consultant at Harcourts Launceston, received the REIT Achievement Award of the Year award for his initiative and good understanding of office legislative standards and commitment to quality service, and professional and ethical standards in the industry.

Neil Hawkins, Megan Powell, Harcourts TAS CEO Tony Morrison, Jeremy Wilkinson

The awards were presented at the Wrest Point Casino in Hobart, where the 2009 REIT Annual Conference and Australasian Real Estate Institutes Auctioneering Championships were held.

 From a field of 16 auctioneers from throughout New Zealand and Australia, Phil McGoldrick, National Auction Manager  for the Harcourts Group in New Zealand was announced the winner of the 2009 Australasian Real Estate Institutes Auctioneer Championship on the same evening.

“It is so exciting to witness the success of Harcourts team members. They are provided with leading edge tools, systems and marketing opportunities, but then it is up to them to really carve their future in the industry by challenging themselves to be the best they can be. This is exactly what our  Harcourts representatives have done in Tasmania, and it was also  extraordinary  to have one of our champion New Zealand  auctioneers, Phil McGoldrick,  take away the  prestigious Australasian Auctioneer of the Year title on the same evening,” Managing Director of Harcourts International, Mike Green, said.

“The achievements of our team, not only in Tasmania, but right around New Zealand and Australia simply reflect the quality and professionalism of this organisation. I couldn’t be more proud of the entire Harcourts Group” he said.

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. Currently there are over 600 offices in Australia, New Zealand, China, South Africa, Singapore, Zambia, Indonesia and Fiji.

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.

 Harcourts is also the exclusive South Pacific member of Leading Real Estate companies of the world™. This is the world’s largest Real Estate network with over 5,500 offices and 160,000 sales consultants operating in 25 countries.