Author Archive

On behalf of the Ray White Group members, it is with sadness that we advise the sudden passing of Ian Knox (66 years) on Saturday evening 1^st October.

Ian Knox was perhaps one of the greatest contributors to the Bay of Island community through his work with the Kerikeri Retirement Village, for which he was awarded the Queens Service Medal in 1998. He was also a founding member of the Far North Justice of the Peace Association and served as the national president of the New Zealand Federation. He also contributed greatly to the Kerikeri RSA and had recently taken an active role in the Bay of Islands branch of Riding for the Disabled.

Ian purchased his real estate office in 1996 and became a member of Ray White in 1997, with offices in Kerikeri and Paihia. He was awarded a Fellowship of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand in 1995 and was also bestowed numerous personal, local and national awards for real estate sales within the Ray White Group. His contribution to Ray White extended to his role as the Northland Zone Chairperson for a period of 10 years and he was also a significant contributor to the change in the Real Estate Agents Act in 2009 and also to the implementation of the Ray White Group national policies and procedures in 2010.

Ian is survived by his wife Beren, who has an active role in the agency, together with his three daughters and four grandchildren. His funeral was held yesterday at the Kerikeri RSA, with several hundred people in attendance. A private cremation ceremony was held today.

The Ray White Group, in partnership with Allens, is proud to announce the opening of  Ray White Allens Bream Bay.  The office is located directly across the road from the waterfront on One Tree Point Road.

The coastal strip of One Tree Point, Marsden Point and Bream Bay have seen continued development over the past years that has provided growth for housing construction in the owner/occupier and holiday home sectors. The area has a mixture of pricing for established property, with an average sale price of $355,000.

The Ray White Bream Bay office has several exclusive listings currently available and these can be seen on the website rwbreambay.co.nz.

Co-director of Ray White Allens Bream Bay, Allan Sykes, said that the Bream Bay office will benefit from its rebrand to Ray White Allens, giving vendors a broader reach into the marketplace through wider exposure within the Ray White Group. “It is a wonderful area to live and we have Allan O’Shannessey and Tina Subritzky, who are both highly committed salespeople, in the local marketplace.”

To contact the new Ray White Allens Bream Bay Office please phone  09 433 0334.

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The Ray White Group is pleased to announce the joining of  Goode Leith Realty Limited trading as Allens in Whangarei, Bream Bay and Tutukaka Coast. This is one of the biggest independent networks in New Zealand to join the Ray White Group and will be known as Ray White Allens. For full details and a press release on the move of Allens to partner Ray White please click here.

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Tony McPherson

The Ray White Group wish to acknowledge the announcement of  Tony McPherson being elected to the position of director for the Real Estate Institute in Region 4 which covers the Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury and Westland zone. The appointment of Tony McPherson will add considerably to the direction of the Real Estate Institute. His longstanding knowledge, service and commitment to the industry is widely known and respected.

Tony McPherson has been part of the Ray White Group for over 10 years, when he initially joined the company from his Church Corner office in 1999 when the Ray White Group first began to gain a presence in the Christchurch market. Tony has continued to maintain a strong business model which includes sales and property management and today has a team of 42 together with a partnership within the business of seven known as Ray White Metro.

Tony’s recent experiences in  Christchurch will also prove valuable to members as they continue to rebuild throughChristchurch, with the real estate industry playing a pivotal role in the success of the rebuilding.

Tony McPherson can be contacted for Real Estate Institute matters for Region 4 at tony.mcpherson@raywhite.com.

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The Ray White Group this week held their annual business owners symposium in Queenstown, which was attended by over 110 of the company’s franchise owners.

The symposium focused on the development of the Ray White New Zealand strategy for the group. In more recent times the Group has gone through a considerable growth phase, with a new office joining the network every month over the past two years and this has accelerated in more recent times.  The symposium also covered the area of opportunity for the business owners, with presentations from John Wall of Talent 2 and Steve D’Souza, the owner of the Kalamazoo Group.

Another topical presentation included a debate between Greg Hornblow, General Manager of APN, and Brendon Skipper, head of Trade Me Property.  The use of marketing platforms remains the main driver of lead generation for property sales and the value of both online and offline marketing is seen to be important in the total marketing mix.

During the Symposium, New Zealand Chief Executive Carey Smith detailed the growth plans for the Ray White Group, which is aligned with the current activity the Group is undertaking. He announced the company had more members join and commit to the Ray White Group than ever before; with seven offices opening in the next four weeks, including Sunnynook, Mt Albert, Hamilton City, Matamata, Whangarei, Bream Bay and Tutakaka. He also said that there was considerable interest from five other markets in which the Group is looking to have presence.

The overall commitment of the Ray White Group to growing market share was expressed as the real estate industry continues to polarise. Ray White see that providing the very best technology and business services to its franchise owners as the cornerstone of its continued success.

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The Ray White Group saw a substantive lift in sales for the month of August in comparison to the August results 12 months ago. The total turnover for the Group was in excess of $355 million, with sales turnover being 29% up on this time 12 months ago. Other key performance indicators the Group measures include controlled listings Ray White members are appointed to. Last month it totalled 2,800 properties and this was 31% up on last month and corresponded also with the marketing that Ray White presented in the media, which was 67% up.

Current market conditions remain in favour of the seller however more properties are coming onto the market as Spring is now upon us. There has also been a noticeable drop in the days on market for properties that have been actively listed and this in turn has brought small price increases to many areas, with some of the more sought after locations in the major centres of New Zealand showing strong increases. The influence of lower interest rates and the borrowing capacity percentages increasing continues to give buyers confidence to purchase and we would see this reflecting in a great number of sales over the next quarter.

Carey Smith, Chief Executive Ray White New Zealand, said “The results were encouraging and it is pleasing to see prices being maintained with a higher turnover of property being balanced however by lower properties available in the market. During the past two weeks there has been a noticeable increase in stock and this will lift sales numbers.”

He said within Ray White the top offices in the network continue to increase their market share and also their volume of listings presented to the market. The top five offices for Ray White New Zealand in August were Ray White Ponsonby, Ray White City Apartments, Ray White Howick, Ray White Auckland Commercial and Metro in Christchurch.

The Ray White Group are pleased to announce the replacement of the Goodwin Realty office located in Mt Albert to be opened within 14 days of that office being sold and settled to Bayleys Real Estate.

New franchise owners Martin Honey and Rohan Thompson have confirmed their location on Mt Albert Road to be part of the Video Ezy complex, which has one of the highest profiles in the area. The office takes 170 sq metres of space and will house 25 salespeople. The building is currently being re modeled for the pending arrival of the Ray White team.

Since the announcement by Goodwin Realty to sell out their business to Bayleys Real Estate, Ray White has welcomed several of Goodwin Realty staff to the new Ray White Mt Albert office. All of the following salespeople are remaining with Ray White Mt Albert Susan Woods-Markwick, Colin Nicholson, Susan Nicholson, Connie Wight, Eric Wu, Jackie McDermot, Rex Baddeley and Simon Lu. Other Goodwin Realty sales staff to remain with other Ray White offices include Heather Hannah, Diane Goer and Linda Breeze.

Carey Smith, Chief Executive of Ray White New Zealand, said that the sale of the Goodwin business was always going to unlock enormous opportunity for the Ray White Group.  He said he was delighted with the number of sales staff remaining with Ray White in total at this stage more than half of the Goodwin Realty active sales staff and we expect more to join in the coming week.

The new franchise owners, Martin Honey and Rohan Thompson, run one of our top 10 businesses in New Zealand and are both high performing salespeople and leaders in their own right. They have announced that high profile sales manager Lyn Beere will be managing the office.

Martin Honey said the Mt Albert venture is very exciting. He also said he started his business in the Mt Albert area and it’s great to be back with the Ray White name to continue to grow market share for the group.

The Ray White Mt Albert office is expected to open on 15^th September 2011.

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Lucia King-Smith is the 10 year old daughter of Bas Smith, one of the partner franchisees of Ray White Queenstown.  Lucia is a keen photographer and is amongst famous company in a national charity drive that is seeing her photo of Moke Lake being auctioned on Trade Me alongside celebrities Dave Dobbyn, Lucy Lawless, Mils Muliaina.

The fundraiser is called ‘Illuminate Our Place’ and is raising awareness about protecting the environment. Each photographer chose their own special place and Lucia said that Moke Lake was an area she grew up in and visits each year with her parents.

The painting is currently being auctioned on Trade Me and closes on 31^st August. Please click here to see the auction and for more information on the proceeds for the auction please go to Ecoya Illuminate

The Ray White Group is proud to announce the appointment of Graeme Fraser to the position of Auckland Business Performance Manager.

Graeme joins the corporate team at Ray White with over 30 years of senior management experience in the financial services and real estate industries. He has particular strengths in general management, sales, planning and business growth and performance.

Graeme Fraser

Graeme is currently the CEO of Premium Real Estate in Auckland.  Previous to that Graeme has spent time with Harveys as Regional Manager and also Harcourts.

Carey Smith, Chief Executive of Ray White New Zealand, said “Graeme’s appointment was a direct reflection of the growth of our Auckland business. The central Auckland area for the Ray White Group continues to gain market share and with Graeme’s background working in the high end of the property market with Premium, his skills and knowledge will assist Ray White to continue to grow market share.”

The role that Graeme will undertake includes the direct business relationship with franchise owners of Ray White in the central, northern and eastern zones of Auckland.

For further information on the Ray White leadership team, please click here.

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Ray White Online has undergone its third update of livery after now being an active website for the past two years.

Initially Ray White Online was built as an internal communication where members could access stories, updated information and events that our group was undertaking.  The site quickly developed into a broader communication platform which became public just over 18 months ago.  The site gives insights into our group with stories posted most days, with 250 posts attracting over 210,000 visitors since the site has been live to the public.  Other features include new offices, CEO comments, and Elite member details.  A lot of feedback is received in particular from the posts and CEO comments.

The site is enabled to be shared to Facebook and Twitter, giving each communication post a much broader audience.  The site has also recently enabled an area where the public can subscribe to direct updates and feeds at 9am each morning.

We encourage stories from both our members and the broader public and these can be forwarded to swatson@raywhite.com

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