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GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋 Good morning, and welcome to The Brief for Tuesday 13 October 2026. |
TRUE OR FALSE? A man who wrote to the United Nations in 1980 claiming he owned the Moon has been selling it off ever since – at about twenty-five dollars an acre. (Scroll to the bottom for the answer!) |
In today's edition of The Brief - Ever been seated next to the restaurant toilets? Harcourts Victoria CEO Adam Fiteni thinks what happens next is a masterclass in looking after vendors.
- Contract just fell over? Allie Coutts gave her sellers the honest version – and still came out with a five-star review.
- Oscar Piastri's dad has reportedly moved in near a garden worth $1 million to replace (yes, just the garden).
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TODAY'S FEATURE  What a bad restaurant table teaches agentsPicture two couples shown to the worst table in a busy restaurant, right by the toilets. The table doesn't change, but what the waiter says next decides whether they feel forgotten or looked after. Harcourts Victoria CEO Adam Fiteni brings that hospitality lens to real estate, and he says too many agents treat every phone call like a payday. His alternative starts with the buyers you've already met at open homes and the contacts already sitting in your database. |
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What you'll learn in the full article: - The bad-table rule: You can't change a vendor's tough circumstances, but you can change how they experience the sale, and Adam explains where that starts.
- The future-seller file: A buyer who spends months with you and then buys through another agency can still become your listing down the track.
- The 1,000-contact question: Before you add another 1,000 names to your database, Adam wants to know what you're doing for the 1,000 already in there.
Read the full article → |
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TOGETHER WITH KOLMEO  23 regulatory changes in six months: what property managers need on their radarPicture a renter's phone lighting up with a text from "Unverified" – that's what can happen if your agency's branded SMS sender ID isn't registered under the new rules (yes, even your text messages count). It's one of 23 legislative and regulatory changes Kolmeo's compliance platform Sentinel has picked up since launching in April. Nearly half relate to AML/CTF alone, and two more land in Victoria today: the next wave of rental reforms, and a VCAT rule that bond claims must be lodged with their evidence. Sentinel keeps watch across Australia and New Zealand, so compliance doesn't have to live in one person's head. Read the five changes your team should have on its radar. Learn more → |
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DEPT OF LENDING  Prices are softening, but qualifying incomes keep climbingThe income banks want to see is rising about eight times faster than wages, even with prices easing. Brisbane buyers now need $25,000 more in annual income than last year to afford a median house. Canstar's Josh Sale says borrowing power is shrinking faster than values are falling. At the median, it's mostly buyers with equity or parental help getting deals done. |
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DEPT OF PM  Falling prices won't fix the rental squeezeCheaper homes aren't turning into easier rentals, and Ray White's Nerida Conisbee can show you why. Capital city values slid 4.3% over the September quarter, but rents are still climbing as investors pull back after the May Budget. Her bigger worry is that today's dip makes tomorrow's housing shortage worse. |
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DEPT OF AI  Four AI prompts Samantha McLean has retiredA year ago, Sam was teaching agents a prompt to find buyer personas. Now she'd have you ask AI to build a tool you can reuse on every listing, and that shift runs through all four prompts she's retired. Her first Transform mission is a twist: one analogue habit a day (a printed book counts). |
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HOW IT SOLD  A fallen-through deal, a family's long-term planWhen the first contract on 14 Hepburn Street in Brisbane's Stafford Heights collapsed, Allie Coutts stayed upfront with anxious sellers rather than paper over the setback. That honesty earned a five-star review, and the 71 groups through the campaign included a local family who saw dual-occupancy potential for their adult children's future. Find out the story behind how it sold → Create the case studies AI likes. Third-party, fact-checked, indexed. getailsa.com → |
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CELEBRITY HOMES  $1m garden home lists in Piastri-linked Lysterfield estateF1 star Oscar Piastri's father has reportedly moved into Lysterfield's tightly held Carrington Estate, and a six-bedroom home there goes to auction on 24 October. The real star is the garden by Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist Scott Wynd, which the owners reckon would cost $1 million to replace. Yes, those sandstone walls are built from rock quarried on site. Read the full article → |
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MOVERS & SHAKERS  Home of the Century returns for season twoCentury 21's Home of the Century video podcast returns today for season two, focusing on the stories behind property deals rather than the listings themselves, hosted by Erin Holland and Darren Palmer. The series highlights how agents who listen to clients' deeper needs – not just property mechanics – create better outcomes, as shown through stories like Cheryl Allen's accessible housing journey with her Century 21 agent Noel Outerbridge, who travelled a nine-hour round trip to conduct open homes at her property.  Adele Naylor joins The Limitless Group at REMAX ResultsCannon Hill has been home to Adele Naylor for more than a decade (her kids go to school there), and now she's keen to give back to it as she joins The Limitless Group at REMAX Results. Having bought, sold and renovated property herself, she knows the decisions clients face, and principal Hayley Van de Ven says her approach aligns with the business's values. |
 What 8,000 valuations taught Jamie Mugavin about buying wellMore than 8,000 valuations is a fair bit of homework. After more than a decade as a certified practising valuer, Jamie Mugavin moved into buyer advocacy with Maymont Property in 2024, putting due diligence on price, planning, and risk ahead of the bidding. He now works Melbourne's inner to middle rings from Hawthorn → |
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Success doesn't rest on weekends!
Get top agent and agency moves every Sunday in Movers & Shakers. Subscribe now. |
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AGENTS ON SOCIAL Dad bought in 1987 and still thinks he knows the market better than the agent. Different market, Dad. Different century.🙄⏳ |
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TRUE OR FALSE: A man who wrote to the United Nations in 1980 claiming he owned the Moon has been selling it off ever since – at about twenty-five dollars an acre. And the answer is … True. Dennis Hope's letter never got a reply, so he started selling. Send US$24.99 to the Lunar Embassy and it will post you a certificate for one acre. Most space-law experts agree the deeds can't be anything but fraudulent. Off the plan, with a long settlement. via WHYY. |
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