🐂 Quitting real estate 5 times, 47 powder room takes, and the Dickens mansion

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

From eight-second bull rides to a real estate empire

Jesse Van Nek used to measure survival in eight-second bursts, riding 1,000-kilogram bulls across Australia and the United States. He quit real estate five times before it clicked. Now the Gympie broker-owner has taken home a national RE/MAX growth award, and he credits the same mental conditioning that kept him alive in the arena.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The detachment principle: why Jesse trains his team to stay emotionally removed from outcomes, and obsess over process instead.
• The belly-to-belly lesson: the mentorship moment that turned a "raspy little bull rider" away from transactional selling for good.
• The Gympie parallel: why Jesse says the region's median price right now is a rerun of history he's already watched play out once.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH EBM RENTCOVER

Why that small leak could cost your landlord's insurance claim

You know the drip you keep telling your landlord to sort "eventually"? EBM RentCover's latest reminder is worth sharing with every investor on your books: insurers can decline claims where the damage traces back to a maintenance issue the landlord knew about and sat on. That slow leak under the sink or the cracked roof tile might cost a few hundred dollars to fix today, but left alone it can turn into a thousands-dollar claim, and one that isn't covered. Have a read of EBM RentCover's full breakdown so you've got the talking points ready next time a landlord wants to put off a repair.

Learn more →

DEPT OF SALES

Five ways to turn prospecting procrastination into action

If prospecting keeps sliding to the bottom of your to-do list, Darren Krakowiak has a fix. His approach starts with the relationships you already have, then builds outward through warm introductions and a clearer picture of your ideal client. Small shifts, but they add up.

DEPT OF PLANNING

$146m to fast-track 18,900 Gold Coast homesites

Just 68 land lots were left for sale on the Gold Coast at the end of June, down from 92 three months earlier – and prices have followed, with land now averaging $1,752 per square metre. Queensland's government is stepping in with $146 million to fund roads, power and a sewage plant upgrade across Coomera, Pimpama and Robina, unlocking land for 18,900 future homes.

DEPT OF TAX

Foreign buyer approvals drop 22% after new rules

Foreign approvals for Australian residential property fell more than 22% to 5,284 last financial year, and that's before the real hit lands. Offshore buyers now account for just 0.5% of purchases nationwide, down from 0.8%, as tripled FIRB fees and a 30% capital gains tax bite. The purchase ban runs to 2029 – next year's figures will show the full effect.

Also… did you see

• Ray White recruits Alex Phillips (AFR | Paywall)

HOW IT SOLD

38 bids and a fixer-upper first home

A Mount Colah house needing cosmetic work drew five registered bidders and 38 bids under the hammer, with Nick Berman of McGrath Hornsby framing the renovation scope as a first-home buyer's entry point. A young family relocating from the upper North Shore secured the flat block, drawn by its walk to cafes, the station and school.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Stories like this build your online reputation long after the sold sticker comes down. Want yours told? getailsa.com →

CELEBRITY HOMES

Grade I-listed London mansion once home to Dickens lists

Hanover Terrace, the Regent's Park address that's counted Charles Dickens and Damien Hirst among its residents, has hit the market for £15 million (about $29.1 million AUD). The Nash-designed main house comes with a mews house out back – complete with a garage built specifically to fit a supercar. The garden alone, with its custom water features, is worth the click.

Read the full article →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Beba Ramic joins The Agency WA

Mosman Park has a familiar name under a new banner – Beba Ramic brings close to two decades of Perth residential experience, built largely on repeat clients and referrals, to The Agency WA. Her patch stays the same: Mosman Park and the surrounding suburbs, now backed by a new team.

Ray White Goulburn staffer to shave head for grandfather Six months into her role as a sales administration team member at Ray White Goulburn, Tamika Straney is already known around the office for more than her day job. On 23 October she'll shave her head for the Leukaemia Foundation's World's Greatest Shave, after learning earlier this year that her grandfather Robert, 80, has lived with chronic myeloid leukaemia for 15 years without telling the family. She's raised more than $6,000 of a $10,000 target so far, with colleagues and the local community backing her effort.

Geoff Grist joins Harcourts after 21 years in Mosman and Neutral Bay Four homes owned in Mosman, a business and an apartment in Neutral Bay, and 21 years spent opening a franchise, building a rent roll, then merging and selling a property management business – Geoff Grist knows the Lower North Shore from the inside out. He's now bringing that patch, and a Backpack Bed donated with every appraisal since 2004, to Harcourts.

OBrien network honours top performers at annual gala awards More than 350 directors and team members packed Melbourne's 1 Hotel for OBrien's annual Gala Awards, where Luke Magree of OBrien Frankston took Top Sales Agent after more than 150 sales and listings for the year. Michelle Stephens was named Top Selling Director with over 300 sales and listings, while Carrum Downs & Langwarrin claimed Number One Office on the back of 400-plus transactions.

Ripple Wu brings Box Hill team to Jellis Craig Box Hill has a new home base in the Jellis Craig network, with director Ripple Wu bringing her team and their property portfolio into the fold from 21 August. Ripple has featured in Australia's Top Women in Real Estate for several years running, and her arrival gives Jellis Craig Whitehorse a second office alongside its existing Blackburn base.

Gavin Rubinstein hits Elite status six weeks into the financial year Six weeks into the new financial year, and Gavin Rubinstein has already banked what most agents chase all year. The TRG founder is the first of Ray White's roughly 13,000 agents across Australia and New Zealand to hit Elite status for 2026/27, putting him on track for a 13th consecutive Chairman's Elite year, a run only five others in the network can match.

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AGENTS ON SOCIAL

Seen an Agent On Social we should include? Let us know here

TRUE OR FALSE:

The largest unreinforced concrete dome on earth was poured around 125 AD. Nothing built since has beaten it.

And the answer is …

True. The Pantheon's dome spans 43 metres and has held its shape for nearly 1,900 years with no steel in it anywhere. The Romans graded the mix as they went – heavy basalt down low, lighter stone above, then pumice at the crown, so light it floats on water. Modern concrete rusts from the inside once the steel starts going. Theirs just sits there. Ask your builder about that warranty 😉 via IET Engineering & Technology.