🛏️ A fourth bedroom for $2.44 million (same city, very different maths)

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

Why Highland hires for culture before sales figures

A lot of principals measure growth by headcount, and Highland founder David Highland calls it the wrong metric. His independent group has instead built a partnership structure with about 20 partners, open to people in sales, property management, finance, and senior operational roles. For your top performers, the old path of opening their own office is getting harder and more expensive. David's alternative lets them hold a stake and still spend their days listing and selling, not managing compliance and admin.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The culture-first hiring filter: What David checks before he looks at how many transactions a candidate does each year, and why he'd take culture over a top performer with the wrong attitude.
• The six-step sales ladder: The six steps from lead generation to partnership, and how Jaymie Kelly went from junior sales associate at 20 to group sales manager.
• The any-office pass: Seven offices, one policy, and younger agents who can pull up a desk in Cronulla or Double Bay beside established performers.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH EBM RENTCOVER

Risk management vs insurance: What's the difference?

"That's okay, I have insurance."

If an investor has ever said that to you, EBM RentCover's guide offers a better reply: insurance can help cover the financial hit after a storm, but it can't stop the storm damaging the roof.

Stopping problems before they start is the job of risk management – regular inspections, prompt maintenance, cleared gutters, trimmed trees, and good records (which, handily, can also support a claim if something does go wrong).

Read the full guide for an easy way to explain how the two work together, and see how EBM RentCover's Relationship Managers can help your agency.

Learn more →

DEPT OF DATA

What an extra bedroom really costs buyers

A fourth bedroom will set your buyers back $60,000 in Melbourne's Kings Park, or $2.44 million in Toorak. Same city, very different maths. Ray White's Atom Go Tian says units are steeper again, because the extra room often brings a full upgrade in amenities and lifestyle.

DEPT OF POLICY

Perth station precincts could get 20-storey apartments

If you have clients near Cottesloe, Morley, or Swanbourne stations, their block may have just become more interesting. A draft WA scheme would allow buildings of up to 20 storeys in each precinct's core, stepping down to medium density around the edges. Feedback closes 12 February 2027 – and the final controls will decide how much uplift each site really gets.

DEPT OF AI

Be the most interesting agent in the lounge room

Coach Claudio Encina has his agents send sellers a short questionnaire before the appointment. The price they're hoping for matters most ("we lose listings based on price"). At a live Transform session, he and Sam showed how AI turns that into buyer personas and an appointment pack for each home. Some agents he coaches have lifted their conversion rate from 60 per cent to 80.

PS. Transform XV starts Monday 16 November.Book your spot →

HOW IT SOLD

Six offers and a $1.19m street record

Daniel Grech's vendors had bought through him the year before, so they'd already seen his negotiation skills up close. Selling their five-bedroom home at 37 Mebbin Circuit, Woongarrah, he drew 12 buyers and six offers, then told the successful buyer there was competition and they could miss out. The result was $1.19 million after 34 days on market.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

How's your findability on AI? The agents who turn up have more content out there. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Jason and Kirsty Kemp join Century 21 Josie Smith & Co

A young family, and what Jason Kemp describes as a principal who puts family and team first, made the call easy for him and Kirsty Kemp – the Kemp Team has joined Century 21 Josie Smith & Co. Jason, selling Ipswich homes since 2020, leads, with Kirsty guiding clients through every step. Their arrival helps Josie Smith's CBD agency cover more of the wider Ipswich area.

Harcourts network auctions to raise funds for Orange Sky Summer auctions come with a good cause attached: from 25 January to 7 February 2027, $100 from every eligible Australian Harcourts sale goes to homelessness charity Orange Sky through the Harcourts Foundation. Head of Auctions Australia Kobe Rae says the Your Day campaign gives offices in Australia and New Zealand a coordinated event to get behind. Plus, how Jessica Melling's Mudgeeraba Halloween display raised $1,150 for Make-A-Wish.

Rowan Impey returns to Ray White after decade away Engadine, Heathcote, Yarrawarrah and Woronora Heights – that's the patch Rowan Impey has worked for more than 24 years, the past decade independently. Now he's back in the Ray White fold, joining directors Matt Debreczeni and Gavin Ottaway at Ray White Sutherland Shire, with sales assistant Georgia Land alongside as the agency keeps growing across Sydney's southern suburbs.

Simon Lord joins Jellis Craig Mornington Peninsula Decades of family holidays on the Mornington Peninsula have become a permanent address – and a new role – for Simon Lord. He joins Jellis Craig Mornington Peninsula as senior auctioneer and senior sales consultant, taking 40 years of experience to its Mount Martha, Rye and Sorrento offices. The agency says his point of difference is linking local properties with an established network of Melbourne buyers.

Property industry raises over $1 million for homelessness charity Couch surfing, sleeping in cars, and office overnighters added up – more than 400 people across 57 teams raised over $1 million for A Home for All Foundation's A Night Without Home. Metricon Homes topped the leaderboard with almost $60,000. Advisory Committee Chair and LJ Hooker CEO Christine Mikhael says the impact is what matters, and last year's funds are already housing family violence survivors.

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AGENTS ON SOCIAL

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TRUE OR FALSE:

There's a town in Queensland called 1770, and you can actually buy a house there. No time machine required.

And the answer is …

It's true! In May 1770, Lieutenant James Cook made his first Queensland landfall on this stretch of coast. The settlement that grew up there was called Round Hill. By the 1930s, Round Hill was popular enough to want its own identity. In 1936 it was formally named the Town of Seventeen Seventy, after the year Cook arrived. Imagine telling someone you've just sold a house in 1770. They might think you've broken a property market record that's been standing for 256 years. via State Library of Queensland.