I have just got back up from Adelaide where we attended the REIA 2010 National Awards for Excellence. I am very proud to say that the night was highly successful for us and we were awarded the REIA Medium Residential Agency for the Year award.
But as our team sat nervously waiting for our category to be read out and partaking in more than our fair share of the fantastic South Australian wine on offer, there was one thing that was really standing out above everything else for our table and in fact every table in the room.
It seemed that every individual award category was being taken out by a female. They were simply dominating everything that was read out.
Lets take a look at the individual awards taken out by the Women :
- May Dunlop from Dunlop & Wright – NT – Residential Salesperson of the Year
- Karen Seeto from Ray White Surfers Paradise – QLD – Commercial Salesperson of the Year
- Kathryn Massey from Michael Johnson & Co – WA – Property Manager of the Year
- Karli Dunham from Just Business Brokers – VIC – Business Broker of the Year
- Michelle Heffernan of Fitzpatricks Real Estate – NSW – Achievement Award
- Jo Tremaine from Place Estate Agents – QLD – Corporate Support Person of the Year
Well done ladies, those results ares simply outstanding.
and the results for the Men :
- Peter Apostolakos from CB Richard Ellis NSW – NSW -Commercial Property Managers of the Year
- Frank Valentic from Advantage Property Consulting – VIC – Buyer’s Agent of the Year
That’s 6 of the 8 awards going to the women. In fact both May and Karen were the only female finalists in their category. They were literally the roses amongst the thorns with Peter and Frank the only males seemingly holding back the female tide!
In contrast at the 2009 awards there was only 2 individual female winners in the Property Management and Corporate Support Person categories.
Watch out guys if the 2010 national awards are any indicator it seems this year the girls are going to be unstoppable!
The agency based winners on the night were :
- Independent Property Group – ACT – Large Residential Agency of the Year
- Nerang First National – QLD – Medium Residential Agency of the Year
- Sissons Estate Agents – QLD – Small Residential Agency of the Year
- CB Richard Ellis QLD – QLD – Commercial Agency of the Year
- Independent Property Group – ACT – Communications Award
- Colliers International NSW – Innovation Award
- Nelson Alexander – VIC – Community Service Award
and there were joint winners for the President’s Award
- Colin A Rooke from Dyson & Austen & Co – NSW
- Robyn Waters from Get Robyn – VIC
Congratulations to all the winners and finalists who were already winners at their respective state awards.
10 Comments
Leanne Pilkington
Congratulations Glenn – you and your team must be really proud of the recognition your office received!
Glenn Batten
Thanks Leanne.
The win was certainly fantastic and everyone concerned with any of the finalists or winners should be congratulated.. But the big story on the night and certainly the talk in the room was the nearly clean sweep by the ladies. Many people would suggest that it’s this recognition that is overdue! Next year it could be a clean sweep! 🙂
Pete Richards
Interesting post. It’s no secret that a lot of the market research indicates (very strongly) that women tend to be the dominant decision maker in any real estate transactions (buying or selling) on behalf of a partnership, married or de facto.
Kind of makes sense, therefore, that female real estate agents would connect with that audience, sometimes better than the guys!
Lisa
Congratulations! That just prove that what men can do we can do better. 🙂 No hurt feelings guys! Thanks for the inspiration. By the way, if you want to save thousands in buying or selling your property in Australia, then these real estate experts are what you’re looking for. Good luck!
Brett Clements
Just dominant in real estate? I think probably smarter across all the fields. Congratulations to you and your team Glenn.
Greg Vincent
Congratulations on winning the award Glenn. Huge achievement for you & your team. Well done. Cheers 🙂
I don’t profess to have the specific answers for why this is happening Glenn. I have a beautiful wife, 2 gorgeous teenage daughters, 3 sisters, 5 sister-in-laws, 11 nieces and a labrador (female) and I’m confused. lol 🙂
But I do know that women are brilliant at networking & are extremely intuitive. They seem to be able read the play about anything that’s happening. I walk out of a party & my wife will tell me everything that has happened & I was totally oblivious to any of it.
Being able to read the play is one of the most powerful tools that any real estate salesperson could ever hope for when dealing with buyers & sellers.
Also, women’s ability to get things done, stay organised, follow-up on tasks and multi-task is something that my wife & 2 daughters blow me away with daily.
I previously attended a Women in Real Estate function held by the REINSW and it was really interesting to see how many of the women felt about juggling family life & a real estate career. I think it’s fantastic to see that women are coming to the fore within the real estate industry.
I think it will go a long way towards making our industry more professional & hopefully more respected.
PS: I previously wrote about a niche that could exist within the real estate industry with regards to women in real estate.
http://www.business2.com.au/2010/01/should-ray-white-or-remax-consider-having-a-sex-change/
Peter Ricci
Lisa, thanks for the comments we welcome your feedback. Just be careful not to continue with irrelevant links promoting your company.
Regards Editor
Glenn Batten
Greg,
It sounds like you enjoy being surrounding by women 🙂
Greg Vincent
Glenn, I love them dearly, but I also cherish my quiet time and hanging out with the boys.
I’ve told my teenage daughters that I’ll be taking their boyfriends out to the footy, cricket, etc. After a bit of time the boyfriends will probably wonder if they are going out with my daughters or me. lol 🙂
To top it off my wife & 2 daughters are all black belts at karate so needless to say I’m reasonably well behaved.
With regards to the awards did you have to win a state award before preceding into the National awards? Once you’re nominated as a finalist do they have someone come out & check out the business, etc?
It’s got to be a huge shot in the arm for your salespeople & property managers when they can go out into your neighbourhood & say that your company is one of the best in the nation. I’m sure your PR person will be working on this over time.
Glenn Batten
Greg,
If it’s any consolation my daughter can kick my butt too… and she is nearly 4 🙂
As far as I am aware you can’t nominate directly to the Australian awards, you have to be nominated by your state REI after winning the state awards. So every finalist at the Australian awards are already significant winners.
Surprisingly the individual award finalists were pretty even with 24 men and 23 women although the ladies were were highly represented in Corporate Support Person, Achievement Award and Residential Property Manager which represented 16 of those 23 places.