💁 Buyers ask AI first, but they still want you to close

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

Why your listing data isn't landing anymore

Andy Reid has a theory about why your best scripts have gone quiet: you're handing owners information and calling it a reason. Stats on falling offers or rising stock levels aren't wrong, they're just being delivered as verdicts instead of clues. The fix isn't more data, it's a different kind of conversation entirely.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The what-if conversation: why walking owners through consequences beats reciting comparable sales, and the exact line that reframes "safe vs not safe" into risk vs risk.
• The gossipy neighbour play: a real prospecting story where four "not selling" appointments still handed an agent something more valuable than a listing.
• The betting woman question: one NLP-based tweak to a common referral script that gets reluctant contacts naming their neighbour instead of yours.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH HARCOURTS

Harcourts targets Sydney's Eastern Suburbs for growth

If you're running a patch like Maroubra, Randwick or Coogee, your local name is the whole business – which is exactly what Harcourts is betting on with its eastern suburbs push. Tina Ashton, the network's Chief Growth Officer, says the pitch to established operators isn't a rebrand, it's backup: appraisal tools, the REACH data platform, marketing and compliance support sitting behind the reputation you've already built.

The numbers are worth a look too – REACH-marketed properties have averaged $907,377 versus $896,301 without it, with a noticeably higher sale rate.

Curious what that support actually looks like on the ground? Take a look at the full story.

Learn more →

DEPT OF WEALTHY CLIENTS

Tropical resorts top Ray White's new luxury map

Byron Bay and Portsea just got demoted. Nerida Conisbee has split regional prestige property into seven precincts, and tropical resort markets like Port Douglas, Noosa and Hamilton Island have pulled clear of every other category over the past decade. Coastal commuter spots such as Mount Martha and Torquay have also crept ahead of the old-guard coastal favourites.

DEPT OF AI

Buyers ask AI first, still want you at the end

More than a third of Gen Z and Millennial buyers now turn to AI before anyone else when researching finances and property, Great Southern Bank's new report shows. But when it's time to sign off, 56% still want a human adviser and only 10% trust AI alone. The gap between browsing and deciding is where you come in.

DEPT OF LENDING

Zillow's rent reporting hints at a PM growth play

In July alone, Zillow reported 78,000 renters' on-time payments to credit bureaus – up 26% on last year. Nearly a third of US mortgage rejections came down to thin credit files, exactly the gap rent reporting closes. For principals building out property management, it's a reminder that today's tenant is tomorrow's buyer, if you nurture them early.

HOW IT SOLD

Honesty about repairs brought 40 groups in one weekend

A three-bedroom Urrbrae house needing TLC sold for $1,266,000 in six days after Brenton Milewski marketed the repair work upfront rather than hiding it. Five offers followed, with the top two buyers going unconditional to compete for the 803sqm block.

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

REMAX Australia's RMX26 conference draws close to 200 members

Sunshine Coast played host this year, with REMAX Australia's flagship conference pulling together close to 200 members for two days of market data, leadership panels and keynotes from Olympic cyclist Anna Meares OAM and Ultraman champion Richard Thompson. Managing Director Joel Davoren opened proceedings urging the room to stretch beyond their comfort zones, ahead of sessions from Mat Steinwede, D'Leanne Lewis and Cotality's Tim Lawless.

Jellis Craig Port Phillip adds prestige experience with Hamish Palmer-Hill appointment Melbourne's inner-south prestige market gets a new face at Jellis Craig Port Phillip, with Hamish Palmer-Hill joining as Sales Consultant. He brings more than eight years in real estate sales, most recently specialising in the inner-south premium segment, and a self-described strong connection to the Port Phillip area he now calls home turf. Director Simon Gowling says the appointment adds depth to a team already leaning into the area's high-end market.

Jack Gilchrist – building a real estate empire in South Gippsland Under the Area Specialist model since July 2022, Jack Gilchrist leads a three-person team in Korumburra that has never made a prospecting call, relying instead on referrals and reputation – a run he says has made him the area's top agent for six straight years. He keeps 98 per cent of his commission and leaves the admin, trust accounting and auditing to Area Specialist's back-office support.

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TRUE OR FALSE:

McDonald's makes its real money as a landlord, not as a burger chain. Its finance chief told Ray Kroc in the 1950s that the hamburgers were only there so the tenants could pay the rent.

And the answer is …

True. In 1956, Harry Sonneborn transformed McDonald's from a fast-food joint into a commercial property empire. By establishing Franchise Realty, he locked down prime sites and sub-leased them to franchisees at a massive markup. As Sonneborn famously put it: "We are not technically in the food business. We are in the real estate business." Today, those Golden Arches represent one of the highest-yielding rent rolls on the planet. via The Motley Fool.