Archive for the ‘CEO comments’ Category

Ray White is proud to announce that their Group are to be members of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.  The total membership means that the Group will have an alignment with the Real Estate Institute that provides education platforms, workshops, seminars as well as potential compulsory potential development for the Group.

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand provide a platform for best practice standards with up to date and current legislation, with members being bound by codes of agency practice at all levels of membership.   In addition to this, the Real Estate Institute provide the most current sales data which ensures property owners are being given information that is the latest throughout the industry

Helen O’Sullivan, Chief Executive of the Real Estate Institute, said she was delighted to have Ray White become members of the Institute as a total group. “Ray White is a key industry player and to have their endorsement is confirmation of the direction we are heading for the greater industry.”

Carey Smith, Chief Executive of Ray White New Zealand, said he is pleased to confirm that all Ray White offices and salespeople will be members of the Institute for the ensuing year.  “We believe in the importance of a strong industry body and are pleased to support the Institute through the leadership of Chairperson Roseanne Meo and Chief Executive Helen O’Sullivan.”

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand has been a mark of quality for the industry for over 100 years.  There are more than 10,000 real estate salespeople in New Zealand and the Real Estate Institute provides services to all levels of the agency business.

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Nathan Buxton, who has been a consistent high performer with the Ray White Group, has opened a salesperson satellite office in Swanson under Buy West Realty Limited.

Nathan has always had a high client satisfaction rating. His honesty, enthusiasm, local insight and innovative marketing are the key to the reasons why he has decided to open a satellite office in Swanson.  Nathan said that having the satellite office in Swanson will allow him to focus his energy on the core trade area of Swanson and Bethells Beach.  “The premises will give a local identity to Ray White and that will in turn allow me to optimise sales results from the office.”

Carey Smith, Chief Executive of Ray White New Zealand, referred to Nathan opening the office with Buy West Realty as being a break through. “The commitment of an individual licensee salesperson has never been more evident than with Nathan’s decision to open this satellite office.  It demonstrates a high level of service orientation to the local market which is matched by Nathan’s enthusiasm and level of engagement.”

The office is run and licensed under Buy West Realty Limited as a member of Ray White.

After a very challenging six month period, the Prier Manson Group have restructured their business to now operate from their main office at Opawa.  After lengthy consideration, the Prier Manson Group brought their operation together in view of the short term position of the residential markets in the Eastern Suburbs area of Christchurch.  This has now combined the 19 strong sales force together as well as the property management team, who have a portfolio of 220 properties.

Along with the decision to restructure their business for the immediate term, Craig Prier and Rae Manson have further committed with Ray White to the Eastern Suburbs of Christchurch through the signing of a renewed agreement.

Craig Prier said “We are aware of the challenges that the Eastern Suburbs face but in saying that our strong community relationships have been built over many years in Sumner and Redcliffs and we are determined as a company to be a community business that assists property owners in our area.  While our move to Opawa is a short term outlook, we definitely will be making early moves back into Redcliffs and potentially Sumner when the timing is appropriate.”

The Prier Manson Group have a consistent market share of over 50% in the Eastern Suburbs of Christchurch and while sales numbers have dropped because of the recent devastation of the earthquakes, the market share for the Prier Manson Group has risen.  The property management portfolio is the largest in the Eastern Suburbs and co-owner Rae Manson said that their property management business is now back in growth mode.

Carey Smith, Chief Executive of Ray White New Zealand, said “Having Rae and Craig on our Ray White team is a strong sign of the Group’s continuing commitment to Christchurch.  Both Craig and Rae have long term associations in the Sumner, Redcliffs and Opawa areas and while they have experienced a change to their business model, it is remarkable how they have continued to grow their business against a backdrop of recent adversity. Craig Prier has been awarded my personal CEO Cup and the role that Craig continues to play within our Group is a credit to his personal standing in the industry.”

The Ray White Eastern Suburbs team are based at Opawa.  Their website is rwopawa.co.nz.

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Just over 150 members of Ray White North Shore attended a quarterly breakfast function held in Takapuna this morning.

The awards were supported by the Loan Market Group, with Chief Executive David Hart speaking about current interest rates, the availability of finance and the introduction of marketing support for our members to provide to potential sellers.

The first awards presented recognised top Loan Market referrals.  Other awards presented included individual sales turnover, business growth and auction and tender marketing; with office awards also categorised in sales turnover, business growth and marketing.

Carey Smith, Chief Executive of Ray White New Zealand, spoke on the new web presence of the Group and the pending release of individual websites that will be available for every Ray White member. He went on to say that the public awareness of property, and in particular agents, was predominantly first introduced to potential clients through the web. Individual sales agents having websites will be a credibility statement for the best in the industry.  He also congratulated the award winners in market conditions that are very much about ensuring that negotiations and marketing remained at the forefront of the sale process.

Other awards recognised were the first two Premier members on the North Shore for 2011.  Liz Parker and Helene Brownlee, who are both current Elite members, have achieved Premier status for 2011 in four months of trading. They were also recognised as the top salespeople on the North Shore together with Ann Emerson from Browns Bay.

Pictured here are the top salespeople who were recognised at the North Shore Quarterly Awards held at the Spencer on Byron.

Ray White New Zealand is pleased to announce the launch of their new version of their national website www.raywhite.co.nz.  The website represents the latest in integrated technology and property marketing.  Many of the features that are available within the website are industry firsts which will assist property sellers in ensuring that their property is displayed at its very best.

The front page of the site provides easy navigation throughout New Zealand and is broken up into regional areas. The search function is enabled through any word, sentence or property ID number and this includes Find an Agent.  The advanced search function is enabled through all divisions of properties for sale together with properties for rent by region, city and suburb. The number of bedrooms and also price will return a user-friendly search.

Please click to see our most viewed Property in the last 12 hours

Within the individual property display the site opens up to having a slide show or a gallery photo selection. The description of the property is linked with features and open homes, which can be added to the majority of electronic calendars.  Floor plans, video tours and location maps all sit within the individual property page; while one of the new areas that have been introduced for each property is community information which provides a summary of social and economic data for each area in comparison to a city and New Zealand.  This includes information about occupation, age distribution, household income and the number of residents per property. Another feature which are available for each property is local school zoning.  This is shown on a map where the property is located and then each school in green returns the user the zone of that school and also other schools located close to the property but however are not in zone.  This is a first for any real estate company to deliver such rich information for the user. In additional the site offers automatic real time translation in 51 different languages.

Keith Ashkettle, head of Ray White New Zealand technology, said “The site development has been in progress for close to 12 months and we have worked with property owners, salespeople and business owners to ensure that each of the stakeholders in our website are served with the greatest outcome to enhance the user experience on our site.”

Carey Smith, Chief Executive of Ray White New Zealand, commented that the Group has always had a strong emphasis on technology. “The delivery of the new national website together with our local websites is a demonstration of our commitment to online marketing.  The applications that we have within our website allow the user to build up a lot of information, not only about the property but also the community.  We understand that buying a property is one of the, if not the biggest, commitments that people make and also when they come to realise the sale of that property, that they also want to be giving the benefits of the area as well.”

The Ray White NZ national website currently has 14,400 properties available for sale or for rent.  The Group has recently enabled 136 local websites which are built on local community information. The national and local websites are enhanced by our Group’s online presence through Trade Me Property, realestate.co.nz and raywhite.com.

Ray White City Apartments have been the undisputed leader in the CBD residential field for three years.  They maintain a consistent market share of 25% to 30% in apartment sales and have just over 700 properties under management with Chas Wilson Rentals.

This week we are pleased to announce a significant merger which will further enhance the market share of Ray White City Apartments.  The long established agency of Roebucks has merged their sales division with Ray White City Apartments.  This will grow the overall sales team to 41 and increase the current listing portfolio of Ray White City Apartments.   Ray White City Apartments and Roebucks will continue to operate their property management businesses as they do today, with the only change in the property management being the branding.

The current premises of Roebucks will continue to be utilised by both companies, however it will be re-branded in the Ray White livery.

Principal Officer of Roebucks, Brad Roebuck, said “The merger of our sales division with Ray White will ensure that the market share that Roebucks had successfully built up over the past three years is enhanced.”  He went on to say that “Roebucks have a strong integrated business and with that we have built have a database which when applied to the Ray White systems will maximise its outcome.  The property management of Roebucks will remain as an independent business providing the same personalised service but we will have the border reach of Ray White for our property management business.”

Phil Horrobin, co-owner of Ray White City Apartments, said that the merger was fantastic news. “We have strived to position our business as a market leader in the area of city apartments and having the Roebucks team join, along with a number of other successful salespeople who have recently joined, will give us that lift in market share and ultimately provide a stronger presence in the area of city apartments. The new Britomart based office will allow a further 12 salespeople to become part of our team and that will give us over 40 salespeople together with a strong property management base.”

Carey Smith, New Zealand Chief Executive of Ray White, said that Ray White has always had a strong presence in city apartments.   “The merger with Roebucks is significant and will allow further growth to take place in the sales area while giving property management a boost with the presence of the Roebucks portfolio.  Ray White City Apartments is one of the top offices for Ray White in sales and this growth will see them move to the top office in their core trade area.”

For further information in regards to the merger please contact Phil Horrobin on 021 924 300 or through their website www.rwcityapartments.co.nz

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The Ray white group in Canterbury has 21 offices and just over 350 members. Our company has a market share of 26% and completes 55 million worth of property transactions per month and in addition to this has 2300 properties under management for landlords.

Our members as have the wider community have been devastated by the earthquake that hit the region on the afternoon of Feb 22^nd. It came through with such force that in some areas 1 in 3 homes have been destroyed and in addition extensive damage has been caused to many businesses across the region. Our members need support. We have 23 at risk Ray White members who have had their homes completely destroyed and we have had scores of others who have had damage to their personal property. We’ve had 1 member who has had a related death which has occurred because of the earthquake.  We as a company have set up a direct donation fund for Ray White Canterbury members. This has been done for Ray White members nationally and internationally to directly support our at-risk Ray White Canterbury members.

It is important that we provide the best possible support to our Canterbury network and at this stage is financial.

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The Ray White Group would like to publicly acknowledge the business partners and suppliers who have openly supported our Canterbury members on request after the devastation of the September 4^th earthquake.  These companies have gone out of their way to provide our members a collective relief package that we believe will enable our offices and sales teams to continue to trade through this most difficult period.

Our relief package has been made possible through our direct business partners MyDesktop, Trade Me Property, Ray White Technology, Ray White Online, Google Mapping, Agreement Writer, IDI and Campaign Track. Other supplier businesses that are part of our relief package include Property Press, Terralink, Fuji Xerox, Vodafone and Telecom.  These partners provide essential services to the continuation of marketing property for sale on behalf of Ray White clients.

We thank all the above suppliers and ask that, where possible, we provide support to them in return.

More on the meeting in Canterbury and the release of Ray White Relief package can be seen in this weeks CEO comments.

Please see the Ray White NZ Company update looking at the results in August and upcoming outlook for September.

Celebrating their one year birthday, Ray White Taranaki, through owners Mark and Rachel Ferguson, have been acknowledged as the New Start Business of the Year for Ray White.  When Mark undertook his commitment to Ray White in Taranaki it was a new area for him.  Their ongoing support of Ronald McDonald House and the local food bank in Taranaki has been recognised by the way their business has become part of the community. 

The office completed 71 sales in its first 12 months and has a market share in their local trade area of 26%.   Mark Ferguson said “Being part of the Ray White Group enabled the business to quickly gain momentum and adding a superior service level helped in positioning the business as a market leader in the local trade area.”  He went on to say “The work in the community through charity auction events has been rewarding and is a case of making sure that our business gives back the best way it can.” 

Ray White CEO, Carey Smith, said “Mark and Rachel started their business with service in mind and they have continued to deliver with results that are unmatched for a business which is just over 12 months old.”  Mark has further plans to grow the agency but wants to ensure the Inglewood business is a clear market leader before growing further within Taranaki.   To see the website for Ray White Taranaki please click here. To read an Interview on the start success of Ray White Taranaki please click here