 |
GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋 (Well, good morning to everyone apart from the Scottish rental tribunal) |
TRUE OR FALSE? Before Silicon Valley became the world's tech capital, the Santa Clara Valley was known as the 'Valley of Heart's Delight' for its vast fruit orchards. (Scroll to the bottom for the answer!) |
In today's edition of The Brief - Ray White Commercial's James Linacre reckons the best agents work for free – sometimes for years – and he's got the deal flow to prove it.
- The HIA says the SMSF borrowing ban could sink 2,415 signed home contracts, and it wants Treasury to show its working.
- One Brisbane apartment, three sales, and a $1.4 million uplift in four years – how Nik Seirlis did it without ever going to market.
|
|
|
 |
TODAY'S FEATURE  Why the best commercial agents work for free firstForget the campaign countdown. Ray White Commercial CEO James Linacre says the agents who thrive in commercial property are the ones willing to be someone's agent for free, sometimes for years, before a single deal materialises. His own path, from apartment leasing to government land acquisitions and back, shaped a theory about relationships that residential agents rarely get to test. |
|
 |
What you'll learn in the full article: - The free-agent principle: why James tells agents to work a relationship for nothing until the client actually needs them, and how that pays off later.
- The private investor sweet spot: the deal bracket most agents overlook, and why Ray White Commercial runs one in four on-market campaigns in Australia through it.
- The client-side detour: what two years inside government property acquisitions taught James about what clients actually want, and why he'd recommend the swap to certain agents.
Read the full article → |
|
TOGETHER WITH ELITE AGENT Looking for real estate talent? Generic job boards are likely to put your role next to hospitality and retail listings, then bury you in applicants who've never sold a house or run a portfolio. Elite Agent Jobs is the industry's own board. Post your role for free, and it lands in front of real estate professionals who already read Elite Agent on our jobs website and on eliteagent.com. Boost for extra reach. Learn more → |
|
 |
DEPT OF DISPUTES  Landlords wait a year to evict as Scottish tribunal bucklesThis one started as a quick overseas curiosity: Scottish landlords waiting up to a year to get an eviction case heard. Cut and dried, we thought – file under "glad that's not us". Then down the rabbit hole and the more we looked at how Scotland got there – no-grounds evictions abolished, every ground made discretionary, a tribunal that never got the capacity to match – the more familiar the ingredients looked. So we asked some PMs what they are actually seeing at the tribunals right now, and the answers turned a simple "look at Scotland" story into something closer to a cautionary tale.
One NSW agency has watched 117 rentals leave its books in a year. Members are opening hearings with "I only have 10 minutes". And Victoria's official all-clear doesn't match what people on the ground describe. It's a longer read than usual, but if you manage rentals – or manage the people who do – it's worth your time. |
|
DEPT OF LENDING  HIA says 2,415 home contracts face cancellationNew SMSF borrowing restrictions could see two-thirds of the 3,613 signed home building contracts using this finance cancelled, according to a builder survey from the HIA. Chief economist Tim Reardon says the legislation passed without a cost-benefit analysis and wants Treasury to apply the same scrutiny used on negative gearing changes. Tim also flagged a $450 million-plus hit to state stamp duty and GST revenue. |
|
 |
DEPT OF HNWI  US and Gulf buyers fill London's non-dom gapUltra-prime London sales jumped 26 per cent in the first half of 2026, with buyers from the US and the Gulf now behind 55 per cent of all £15 million-plus deals. Americans alone doubled their share to 30 per cent, chasing what Beauchamp Estates calls genuine value after the exodus of non-dom residents. Gulf inquiries are up 15 per cent too – a trend worth watching if you're courting the same pools of overseas wealth here. |
|
HOW IT SOLD  One apartment, three sales, two decades of recordsA private approach to past clients delivered a $4.5 million result for this Riparian Plaza apartment – a $1.4 million uplift on the $3.1 million paid just four years earlier. Nik Seirlis secured an unconditional offer with a 19-day settlement, setting a new per-square-metre record for the building. 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  Madonna and Guy Ritchie's old mews hits rental marketThe South Kensington mews house Madonna and Guy Ritchie once called home is up for rent at £2,075 a week – and it's got serious film credentials. Guy reportedly designed the kitchen himself, then used the house as Daniel Craig's flat in Layer Cake, the role that led to his Bond casting. Yes, the pub across the street is in the film too. Read the full article → |
|
 |
AGENTS ON SOCIAL Seriously though, was all of this in the fine print?! 🤦🏻♀️😬 |
|
|
TRUE OR FALSE: Before Silicon Valley became the world's tech capital, the Santa Clara Valley was known as the 'Valley of Heart's Delight' for its vast fruit orchards. And the answer is … True. Before microchips replaced apricots, the Santa Clara Valley was blanketed in fruit orchards – cherries, prunes, pears – and proudly marketed as the 'Valley of Heart's Delight'. By the mid-20th century, Stanford University's encouragement of local tech startups (hello, Hewlett-Packard) helped sweep away the orchards within a generation, transforming some of the world's most productive farmland into some of the world's most expensive real estate. From stone fruit to Silicon – the ultimate highest-and-best-use argument. via ResearchGate – From Orchards to Innovation: The Historical Evolution of Silicon Valley. |
|
|
