Archive for July, 2009

John Pope started in the Real Estate industry 20 years ago, as at the 13th of July.  He started in the Tauranga office of Matthewson Real Estate Ltd, and has worked there ever since, only changing over to the current Matthewson Real Estate Ltd Company at Bayfair, under the Branch Manager of Steve Fagan, when that office opened in October 2008. He is a foundation member of Ray White, and has won numerous national awards over this time. One that does stick in his memory is winning a week on Brian White’s boat, sailing around the Whitsunday Islands off the coast of Australia as a prize for the most sales in the country. John recently shouted a lovely morning tea in the Bayfair office to celebrate his 20 years with Ray White.

The team at Ray White Whakatane held a fund-raising event at Cinema 5 recently to raise money for Ronald McDonald House Auckland. Local businesses literally came to the party with pre-movie nibbles supplied by McDonalds, New World and Dominos. Over 90 people attended showing community spirit is alive and kicking in Whakatane with a number of people turning up to show their support for RMHA by coming along to mix n’ mingle and watch the latest comedy released “The Hangover”. Over 35 prizes were donated by local businesses for the lucky draws taking place before the movie.  The feature prize was a two night accommodation package donated by City Life Hotel, Auckland offering an executive room with breakfasts and beverage vouchers with a value of $498. We were greatly assisted with our coverage for the event by our local newspaper ‘The Beacon’ and radio station 1XX donating advertising and air time. The end result was a fantastic night out with everybody attending finding out a bit more about RMHA and $1,250.10 being raised and donated to Ronald McDonald House Auckland. The night could not have been possible without support of generous sponsorship and attendance by everybody coming out on a very cold winter night.      

Ray White New Zealand are pleased to announce that a new franchise office has now opened in the Taranaki region. 

The Ray White Taranaki office will be under the guidance of well known real estate identity, Mark Ferguson, as principal officer together with his partner Rachel Culpan and the sales team.  Mark has built his real estate career over the past 15 years with management positions held with Ray White and also Harcourts.  In addition to that, Mark has been a successful franchisee of a multi-office operation in the Taranaki district. 

The Taranaki area is home to a population of 107,000. The average sale price for property in New Plymouth was $328,000 with 203 property sales being transacted last month.  There is a mixture of properties, mainly owner occupied, however there is an increasing investment market as Taranaki has a high level of tourism and also self developed industries such as oil and dairy farming.  The region relies on its natural and physical resources for its social and economic well-being. Over 2100 dairy herds operate in the region and produce almost 20% of New Zealand’s total milk solids. Sheep and beef farming is largely confined to the hill country along with exotic forest plantations and indigenous forest cover. Oil and gas reserves, including Kapuni and the larger Offshore Maui gas field, and the associated processing, distribution and export of hydrocarbons also contribute to the regional economy.

For the Ray White group this is the 130th office in New Zealand and it gives us great pleasure to be able to announce this new office in Taranaki.  It comes shortly after the opening of our new Paraparaumu office on the Kapiti Coast.  The group continues to extend and grow its marketshare in New Zealand with recent results showing that Ray White now sells 1 in 5 properties across Auckland and Canterbury which is a record for our company.

Mark and his team carefully considered their choice of brand to commence their new agency and saw Ray White as a leader, not only in brand recognition but also in the services that the franchise offers by way of technology and marketing.  This in turn enables vendors to list their property with confidence that the group’s marketing position enables buyers to view property right across the international network of Ray White.

To view Taranaki Property for Sale or to talk to a Ray White Real Estate Agent, visit Ray White New Zealand .