🚪 He turned the vendor away. Would you?

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

Why this principal turns away vendors he can't connect with

Matt Micallef walked away from a listing on the morning of this interview. Not because the numbers didn't work, but because he didn't feel the "energy and synergy" was there. It's a call the Ray White TMG owner makes often, and it's part of an approach he credits for 43 per cent of his business now coming through referrals.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The middle number rule: why Matt's team refuses to chase either end of the vendor–buyer price gap, and what they focus on instead.
• The plan D habit: how mapping alternative strategies before auction day even starts changes what happens when strategy A falls over.
• The daily call trick: Matt's blunt advice for newer agents with only one or two listings – and why he says it "takes no skill" to do it.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH BUYERSAGENTS.COM.AU

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BuyersagentsOS launches Monday 14 September at a live event – buyers' agents who register get a seven-day free trial.

Learn more →

DEPT OF MARKETING

Why Will Gosse wants the property to be the star

Personal branding sells, but BresicWhitney CEO Will Gosse reckons it's the wrong thing to build a business around. He argues agencies chasing agent profiles are missing what customers actually want – strong property representation and a recognisable team behind it. Founder Shannan Whitney says the gap between individual agents and brand value is "getting wider and wider".

Read the full article →

DEPT OF ECONOMICS

The Sydney suburbs tipped to fall least

Even suburbs with under a month of housing stock are still forecast to fall – that's how much borrowing power has been squeezed. Shore Financial's latest report picks Hebersham, Milperra, Petersham, Lilyfield and Bondi Beach as the best performers in their price brackets over the next six months, though all are still tipped to lose value.

Theo Chambers says upsizers stand to gain most, with the discount on a bigger purchase often outweighing what they give up selling.

DEPT OF LENDING

Family help now behind 1.8m Australian homes

Three in ten Australian homeowners – 1.8 million people – had family money behind their purchase, mostly for deposit help, according to Finder's 2026 Home Loan Report.

Finder's Richard Whitten says that backing can cut years off the path to ownership, but he's urging clear terms upfront: "Is it a gift, a loan, or an ownership arrangement?"

Read the full article →

HOW IT SOLD

A repaint and new kitchen set a street record

Three targeted upgrades – a fresh kitchen, unified flooring and a full repaint – lifted buyer interest by 70 per cent on a 20-year-old Caboolture home. Narelle Cordaro fielded seven offers in seven days, selling for $980,000 to time-poor owner occupiers who wanted to move straight in.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Create the case studies AI likes. Third-party, fact-checked, indexed. getailsa.com →

Nobody warned us that getting a real estate license in 2026 required a minor in TikTok choreography. 💃

TRUE OR FALSE:

In medieval England, a 'copyhold' property got its name because tenants had to copy out the lord's rules by hand before they could move in.

And the answer is …

False. This one's more about paperwork than homework. When land changed hands, the lord's court wrote it in the official record and gave the tenant a copy. Hence 'copyhold': you held the copy. Essentially a lease agreement with worse handwriting. via Kresen Kernow – Glossary of Manorial Terms and Definitions.