✂️ Strip your logo off your pitch. Can vendors tell it's you?

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

The listing presentation vendors actually want

New consumer research shows 46 per cent of vendors don't rank fees as the most important factor when choosing an agent, and 58 per cent say an agent's marketing plan was critical to winning their listing.

While many agents walk into a presentation ready to defend their fees, vendors are actually waiting to hear a strategy instead.

Diakrit Australia's Alexandra Warren has built a 10-minute audit that shows exactly where your current pitch falls short – before your next appraisal.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The logo test: strip your branding from your last proposal and see if a vendor could actually tell you apart from the two agents they saw the week before.
• The three-option rule: 57 per cent of vendors said they'd pay more for a marketing strategy promising a better result, so why are you still pitching just one package?
• The five-campaign check: pull your last five listings and see if they back up everything you just told that vendor – if not, you've got some explaining to do.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH @REALTY

Why winter is prime time to build your listing pipeline

While other agents go quiet over winter, the smart ones are working the phones and their database, quietly building the pipeline that pays off in spring. @realty backs that approach with CRM automation, lead drip campaigns, an in-house social media manager, and a performance coach to keep you consistent when it's easiest to coast. The agents topping the ladder in spring are usually the ones who never really stopped. Take a look at how @realty helps agents turn winter downtime into a spring listing pipeline.

Learn more →

FLASH BACK FRIDAY

Why facts, not flattery, win the pricing conversation

With CommBank now tipping flat national prices for 2026, Sydney and Melbourne going backwards and days on market stretching out, more campaigns are hitting the vendor-expectation wall. Which makes Ryan McCann's approach worth revisiting: nearly 30 years in, the First National Cleveland director says the agents who win aren't the ones who flatter – they're the ones who let the evidence do the talking.

DEPT OF FINANCE

46% of Australians blame rates for housing pain

Experian's new Spend Index shows a split forming between owners and renters – mortgage holders are cutting discretionary spending and leaning on credit, while renters are holding steadier even as rents climbed 8% this year. NAB's economist thinks that resilience in spending is unlikely to survive spring.

DEPT OF TECHNOLOGY

Why tech buyers are flocking to Europe's new luxury hubs

The tech and AI wealth boom isn't just inflating prices in US hubs - it's rewriting the rules of luxury real estate globally. Marbella's price per square metre has surged 74% in five years as the Costa del Sol pitches itself as Europe's next major tech hub. The influx of international tech money is creating a new gold rush for premium lifestyle properties, with names like Rafael Nadal and Giorgio Armani building branded mansions to meet the soaring demand.

HOW IT SOLD

80 enquiries, one $2.2m sale before auction

A three-bedroom Clayfield character home drew offers before its first open home, prompting Elisa McMahon to move fast. A local couple, merging two apartments into their first family home together, secured the $2.2 million property before auction day, following 80 enquiries in just 13 days.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

Agents across Australia and New Zealand are turning sales into stories. getailsa.com →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Scott Dolce joins Belle Property network as Academy Manager

Two decades across leasing, property management, BDM, sales and business ownership have given Scott Dolce a rare, ground-up view of the industry. He's stepped into the newly created Academy Manager, Trainer and Coach role at Belle Property, Hockingstuart and Acton | Belle Property, where he'll work with agents and business owners on the skills and discipline he says today's tougher market conditions demand.

Barry Plant Berwick raises $72,000 for Make-A-Wish Five agents, one trivia night, and a record for Make-A-Wish Australia: Barry Plant Berwick's sold-out fundraiser at Beaconsfield's Pink Hill Hotel pulled in $72,000, which the charity says is the biggest amount ever raised by a single community event. Director Hayley Taufa said the push was personal, sparked by colleague Candice Hill's nephew Logan and his own wish granted through the charity, and the office already has next year's event on the calendar.

Stone Real Estate acquires Central Coast rent roll, relocates Wyong office Wyong's Stone Real Estate office has moved into bigger premises, a sign of how quickly principal Abdullah Choudhari's Central Coast business is growing. The expansion follows Stone's acquisition of the rent roll from Brand Property The Entrance, built by the Lamont family over years of local service. The combined team now taps Stone's wider network across the region.

Harcourts Foundation backs Perth choir and Orange Sky fundraiser Kobe Rae, Harcourts' Head of Auctions, traded his usual listing day patter for a charity gavel this month, running the auction at Brisbane's Vanloads of Hope event and helping push the night's takings past $53,000 for homelessness charity Orange Sky. It's the kind of volunteer turn the Harcourts Foundation likes to back, alongside a fresh grant for Perth Harmony Chorus, the 40-year-old a cappella group also supported this round.

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AGENTS ON SOCIAL

Celebrating a closed listing for exactly 4.2 seconds before remembering your quota resets on Monday. 🎉😭 Seen an Agent On Social we should include? Let us know here

TRUE OR FALSE:

In Scotland, it is a long-standing tradition for homeowners to paint their front door yellow once they have completely paid off their mortgage.

And the answer is …

It's False. The tradition is actually to paint it red. In many Scottish communities, a vibrant red front door is a proud, public flex that the home is owned free and clear. It’s the traditional way to signal financial independence and tell the neighbourhood you've paid off your mortgage in full. So while the homeowners might officially be "out of the red" with the bank they're loving the colour out front. via NP Dodge Real Estate.