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GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋 Good morning, and welcome to The Brief for Wednesday 30 September 2026. |
TRUE OR FALSE? The RBA can go and get fffff… stuffed. 😬 (Scroll to the bottom for the answer!) |
In today's edition of The Brief - Everyone's writing auctions off ahead of Victoria's reserve disclosure laws – Andy Reid tested the theory live in Carnegie, and the crowd didn't go anywhere.
- A fourth rate rise takes the cash rate to 4.60% just as spring listings ramp up – we've got the read on what it does to your buyers.
- Two years after walking away from Rightmove, REA Group is back shopping offshore – this time putting $409 million into Ireland’s biggest property portal business.
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TODAY'S FEATURE  Andy Reid says reserve disclosure could save auctionsVictoria's new property laws land on October 1, and the headline change is this: reserves must be disclosed at least seven days before auction or a deadline sale. Some agents have called it the end of auctions in Melbourne. Auctioneer and author Andy Reid has already tested the theory live – and one Carnegie result might change how you think about your next listing presentation. |
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What you'll learn in the full article: - The Carnegie number: what happened when one agent put "reserve in the quote" in the ad title, and why the crowd didn't drift off after the property blew past its range.
- The vendor trump card: why losing the mystery around "on the market" might not be the disaster owners fear, and what Andy says you need to change in your listing conversations first.
- The auctioneer's rewrite: how vendor bids, theatre and reading a room all need retooling when everyone already knows the ending – and why vendor bids now need to be more strategic.
Read the full article → |
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TOGETHER WITH BIZCOVER  When the sale price falls short of expectationsPicture the phone call every agent dreads: the sale lands under what the vendor was hoping for, and suddenly they're replaying every price conversation you had months ago – remembering it differently to how you do. That's the gap Professional Indemnity insurance and good written records are there for. A quick note after each price update, campaign change or offer discussion won't stop a vendor feeling disappointed, but it does give you both a shared reference point if they later question your advice. BizCover lets you compare PI quotes from a panel of Australian insurers – here's what to put in writing, and what your cover should do. Learn more → |
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DEPT OF ECONOMICS  Cash rate hits 4.60% in fourth 2026 riseFour rises this year and the cash rate now sits at 4.60%, the highest since October 2011 – right as spring listings ramp up. Borrowing capacity shrinks again, and Domain's Nicola Powell reckons Sydney and Melbourne's early stabilisation could stall. All eyes now turn to the Melbourne Cup Day meeting on 3 November. |
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DEPT OF M+A  REA Group buys into Ireland's top property portalTwo years after walking away from Rightmove, REA Group has landed a $409 million deal for 35 per cent of Distilled, the business behind Daft.ie and PropertyPal. Distilled turns over €72.4 million a year with double-digit growth, and chief executive Eamonn Fallon stays on to run it. REA chief executive Cameron McIntyre says the Irish market looks a lot like home – vendor-paid advertising and all. |
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DEPT OF DATA  Brisbane apartments jump 21.6% as Sydney stallsBrisbane units are the strongest performer of McGrath's 30 tracked east coast markets, up 21.6% annually, while new high-rise apartments in Sydney crawled just 1.3%. McGrath National Head of Research, Michelle Ciesielski, says that gap matters beyond bragging rights – if new apartment prices can't cover the cost of building them, developers simply won't start. |
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DEPT OF ACTION  Dom Thurbon's PM/ONE close on truth and follow-throughClosing PM/ONE 2026, speaker and author Dom Thurbon didn't ask delegates what they'd learned – he asked what they'd take accountability for. His session tied three threads together: having the honest conversation your team actually needs, helping people feel progress when the work is hard, and owning one change once you're back at your desk. "The truth is the truth, whether or not we acknowledge it," Dom said. Read the full article → |
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HOW IT SOLD  A bell tower apartment finds its buyer at $560,000Internal stairs put off plenty of inspectors at this heritage Wendouree apartment, even as its character drew day-trippers from across the region. Damian Larkin kept adjusting the guide and reporting back to vendors throughout the campaign, until a buyer from out of town saw the turnkey value and the property sold via private treaty for $560,000. Find out the story behind how it sold → Is your name invisible to AI? Start getting published. getailsa.com → |
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MOVERS & SHAKERS  Misal Patel and Khushi Shah to open Harcourts Para HillsTwo years ago, Misal Patel and Khushi Shah set out to build a business covering both sales and property management – since then, they've tripled their rent roll and built a solid local sales book. Misal brings more than 23 years in sales across India, New Zealand and Australia, while Khushi's background spans property development, investment and digital marketing. Now the South Australian pair are opening Harcourts Para Hills, bringing that full-service model into the network.  Ray White names its top performers across Australia and NZThree trophies in one night: that's the haul Rochelle Adgo brought home from Ray White's 2026 awards livestream presentation, topping the network's salesperson rankings across Australia and New Zealand. The Ray White Mitchelton agent also placed fourth for number of sales and took out the group's top Loan Market agent-to-broker referral award, capping a record year for the network. |
 Courtney Berry named Harcourts Victoria operations managerSales, property management, training, head office support – Courtney Berry has touched most corners of the business over the past decade, working across South East Victoria, inner Melbourne, the CBD and the Mornington Peninsula. She now steps into the Business Operations Manager role at Harcourts Victoria, covering for Bella Costikidis while she's on maternity leave. Courtney will support the state's offices and teams, drawing on her operations and training background to help smooth out processes and day-to-day work. Harcourts Victoria CEO Adam Fiteni says her breadth of experience across the industry made her a strong fit for the head office team. |
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AGENTS ON SOCIAL You're a real estate agent, so you must have a lot of friends? 🤷♀️😬 |
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TRUE OR FALSE: The RBA can go and get fffff… stuffed. 😬 And the answer is … Dearest reader, we're betting you are all thinking the same thing right now. But within our team yesterday, Mark genuinely called Sam's subscription-saving trick a 'banger', and it's saved our business almost $5k annually. Try this: download 12 months of bank transactions, strip out the account details and ask ChatGPT to find all your monthly and annual subscriptions. Then get it to help you cancel the ones you don't need. It's so good that it cancelled one of Sam's subscriptions where the company swore it couldn't find a record of her.
That's day-one stuff in Transform – 30 days of practical AI, starting tomorrow. And you might win a share of $5,000 in cash prizes, thanks to PropertyMe, while making your business more efficient. Lessgo??!! via Transform XIV. |
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