Archive for the ‘ray white sales’ Category

The Ray White Group has celebrated their quarterly awards across New Zealand during the past two weeks.  Individual salespeople and offices are recognised in the category of business growth, sales turnover and marketing.   For a full list of award winning recipients please click here.

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The Ray White Group is proud to welcome the new franchise owners of Ray White Epsom, being Core Group Realty Limited with shareholders Margaret Simpson, Robin McDowall and Linda Galbraith.  The shareholders of Core Group Realty Limited have come together from varying real estate backgrounds and the combination and experience they bring is expected to reposition Ray White Epsom to a new level.

Margaret Simpson, licensee agent for Core Group Realty Limited, said that they are excited to take on the ownership of Ray White Epsom. “The experience of the leadership team will allow the business to focus on the marketing and selling of real estate throughout Epsom, Parnell and surrounding suburbs. Having Robin and Linda as shareholders and active salespeople will add a further dimension to our business.”

Robin McDowall has a highly experienced sales background throughout the inner eastern suburbs.  Linda Galbraith has been operating as a high profile salesperson for over 20 years, consistently achieving successful results in the high-end market.

Carey Smith, NZ Chief Executive, said he welcomed the new owners to the Group.  “Having Margaret, Robin and Linda as franchise owners with the Ray White Group will allow for further growth in sales throughout the Epsom, Parnell and surrounding suburbs.  Linda Galbraith in particular has a high profile in the high-end market and will add to the strengths that both Robin McDowall and Margaret Simpson bring to the leadership team of Ray White Epsom.”

The Ray White Epsom franchise was under the previous ownership of Pat and Mary Taylor, who will continue as Ray White members through the rental division.  The new ownership of the Ray White Epsom office takes place on 1^st June 2011.

The Ray White Group is pleased to announce the opening of Ray White Manukau City located on the corner of Great South Road and Te Irirangi Drive in high profile Westpac named building inManukau.  The office is under the Mountfort Group, with the leader of the office being Mark Te Whare. Mark continues to have a distinguished career in the real estate industry after spending five years in Brisbane with Ray White as a senior auctioneer and then joining Ray White New Zealand three years ago to undertake the role of National Chief Auctioneer. Mark has taken the step into business leadership through the Manukau franchise.  The team joining Mark are high profile performers including Adam Thomson, Garrick Smart, Levani Lum-On, Mandeep Gill, Chanelle Breeze and Gabriel Tuhoro.

Carey Smith, Ray White New Zealand Chief Executive, said he was thrilled to have Mark and the team on board in Manukau. “The Ray White Group is considered a market leader in South Auckland and the addition of Mark and his team joining the Group in Manukau will add to that presence.  I expect the business will be dynamic given the individuals involved and will also have an accent on auction marketing.”

The business will continue to grow in the foreseeable future, with additional services including property management, financial lending and utilities.

For further information on the Manukau franchise please see their local website.

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.

The Ray White Group is pleased to announce the opening of a new office in Napier (West Quay area).  The new office is located on Lever Street in Ahuriri directly opposite the Quay area.  This area is also home to other well established names and a growing number of restaurants and eateries.  The office is under the ownership of Phil Hogg and Virginia Wilson, who are high performing salespeople in their own right.  They have established the business on the basis of their own profile and this has already created a number of new listings for the office.

The Napier region is well known for its diversity of property from the areas of Napier, Taradale through to other regions of the Hawkes Bay including Havelock North and Hastings.  The diversification of property, particularly in Napier, takes in the waterfront through to residential housing as well as small lifestyle properties. The Napier area has a population of 60,000 people with just over 24,400 rateable properties.  The average sale price for the region for residential houses is $315,000 with approximately 80 sales on average occurring each month.

The new office has commenced trading and Phil Hogg commented that he believed the office location would be of benefit to clients and customers.  He said “We intend on having the office utilised as an auction venue and this should create good interest in the local prices for the area.”

Chief Executive of Ray White Real Estate, Carey Smith, said he was delighted to have Phil and Virginia on board.  “They will pave the way for new energy in the real estate market through the region and given their previous successful sales, this will stand them in good stead for their business ownership in Napier.”

The office can be contacted through the website www.rwwestquay.co.nz.

The April results for the Ray White Group showed a strong lift on the previous month’s sales and were consistent with the sales numbers for the same period in 2010.  The key indicator of turnover was similar in the majority of the zones; with Auckland showing consistent trading as did the Central and Lower North Island.  The Upper South Island showed an increase of 12% on March, with the Lower South Island seeing the highest lift with a 40% increase.  The Canterbury region showed an increase on last month however is still 35% down on the previous 12 months.  The Canterbury marketplace is showing good steps to recovery.

While there has been an increase in sales, there has been a slight decrease in the overall new listings that have come onto the market which has in turn resulted in days on market decreasing and prices holding and increasing in most of the markets.

The top office for the Ray White Group was Ponsonby who completed just on $19 million in sales.  They recorded their highest success rate for auctions at just over 85% in the last 12 month period.  Ray White Queenstown also had a strong month with $16.5 million in sales.  Back in Auckland, Ray White Ellerslie completed $11 million in traded sales and listed 41 properties through their office.  Throughout provincial New Zealand; Papamoa achieved $7.3 million in traded sales; Ray White Hamilton $6.9 million, with excellent sales results also coming from Ray White Palmerston North in the Lower North Island and in the Upper South Island Ray White Stoke.  In Canterbury, Ray White Metro and Ray White Rolleston also recorded strong sales.  Overall the Group listed 1,400 controlled properties for the month; down 7% on the previous month.

The continuing record low interest rates and the increased confidence in the marketplace are expected to deliver higher sales results in May. It is believed that sellers should have increased confidence in listing their properties for sale given the current market conditions.

This month we welcome new offices in Napier, Swanson and the 16th of May, Manukau.

At the Ray White 2010 Annual Awards held last night at the SkyCity Grand Hotel Lesley Hawes and Ruth Hawes were awarded individually equal Salesperson of the Year within the Ray White New Zealand Group.

Lesley Hawes began her real estate career in Wellington in the early 1990s, moving to Auckland with her family in 1995 to live and work in real estate in the Western Springs area of Auckland.  Every year since 1999 Lesley has been ranked in the top three salespeople in the group.

Ruth Hawes, after a successful 10 year career in nursing, decided to join her mother at their top performing office in Kingsland just over two years ago. She began working as an apprentice to her mother to gain the experience to stand her in good steed to take up a position as an individual salesperson.  It was in the latter part of 2009 when Ruth began to facilitate sales in her own right.

In presenting the award for the Salesperson of the Year, Carey Smith, NZ Chief Executive, said that Lesley and Ruth, individually and together, typify many of the values that are shared within Ray White.  “They are family, they have a love of real estate and specialise in the community they live in.  They have a unique blend of caring but also an efficiency of knowing how to have an outcome of a successful sale.”  Lesley Hawes, in accepting her award, recognised her team, including Ruth, her husband Chris and the balance of the staff at the Kingsland office.  She said her results would not be possible without such wonderful people that she has the ability to call on.  Ruth Hawes also spoke about family values and how working with families in assisting them buy and sell property was a wonderful career that she loved.  Being recognised with her mother individually, but collectively, was the highlight of her career.

The Ray White Group in New Zealand has 1,315 salespeople and has 136 offices trading $4.71 billion in property sales annually.

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Ray White New Zealand celebrated their 2010 annual awards last night at the SkyCity Grand Hotel, with just over 550 company members joining dignitaries and suppliers to celebrate our national award winners.

The evening opened with those in attendance observing one minute’s silence in remembrance of the victims of the Christchurch earthquake and the Pike River miners.

The Chairman of the Ray White Group, Brian White then spoke which covered the impact on the community and our members of recent tragedies in New Zealand and Australia. He spoke of how the company came together as a family and showed a spirit within our group that had never been seen before and the way in which our Canterbury members had offered support to our Queensland members’ only weeks prior to the 22nd February earthquake in Christchurch.  He talked about the commitment of our company, the growth in market share and how the property business continues to evolve and understanding the question of ‘Where To’ being an obsession within the company leadership.

Paul White, head of Ray White Rural, then spoke of the increasing presence the Ray White Group has across the rural sector in both New Zealand and Australia; saying that Ray White is recognised as the leading rural property sales business and how, in more recent times, the area of livestock sales has played a role in the overall rural business.

The awards cover administration, property management and residential property sales.  Members from throughout the Group from Kaitaia to Invercargill were represented.  There are 15 categories in which awards are recognised; with the major category being the Salesperson of the Year, which was awarded to Lesley Hawes and Ruth Hawes from the Kingsland office, who were individually equal first.

Another highlight of the awards is the CEO Cup which is presented by New Zealand Chief Executive Carey Smith.  This year Phil Horrobin of Ray White City Apartments received the CEO Cup award. In recognising Phil Horrobin, Carey Smith said that since he has known Phil as a company member over the last eight years, he has been involved in the city market and has grown a business from a new office to now being the recognised leader in city apartment sales.  The office sells one in four apartments and has recently merged its sales division to add Roebucks Realty and an additional location in the Britomart.  Carey went on to say that Phil Horrobin’s best years are still in front of him, but he had made such an impact on the company that he richly deserved the CEO Cup award.

For a full list of the Ray White award winners please click here.

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The Ray White Group has released its March White Paper written by Group Chairman, Brian White.  This monthly newsletter gives an insight into the current market conditions across New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia together with recent activity within the Group.  Please click here to read the latest White Paper.

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Ray White Raglan have successfully completed the highest priced property sale in the area on Wainui Road, Raglan over looking Manu Bay for a price of $1.8 mil. With stunning Ocean views the property was described as anexceptional and superbly crafted designer home with six bedrooms and three living areas situated on 873m² of prime real estate with stunning views.

The property was marketed by Dave and Julie Hanna for Auction with an extensive marketing program which included the Waikato Times, premium placement on trademe, local radio advertising and an e-brochure distributed to 850 clients on the office database. Dave Hanna described the sale as being special, he said that in marketing the property there was a lot of interest but given the price indications and the level of interest, finding the actual premium buyer came down to the Auction process and the focused marketing. Given that it was a record sale price in Raglan in today’s environment it made the sale even more important and shows the confidence that Raglan continues to attract from buyers.

The vendor of the property, said it was a fantastic result, they were pleased to be able to get a sale after having the property on the market with several agents previously. They went on to complement the Ray White Raglan team, for their unassuming determination and their ability to negotiate the highest price for us. Ray White Raglan is the market leader in the area, with a market share now of just over 60% the office has already marketed 28 Auctions so far this year, and have a high success rate.

For further information regarding thi8s sale please contact Dave Hanna at Raglan Real Estate Ltd, on 09 825 8669.

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