I started my real estate career with the Professionals brand and enjoyed the benefit of working with my then Principal, Brian Porra. Brian was old school and instilled the importance of customer service and diligence in all we do. He taught me to value the trust given by your seller in the real estate transaction. He also instilled the importance of listening to the needs of your clients – often stating, we have two ears and one mouth for a reason. I will always be grateful for the guidance he gave to a young, inexperienced salesman, struggling to come to terms with being “a real estate agent”. The penny dropped when he explained to me that the industry needs good people who are there to help people sell their home.

After several years, I had the opportunity to buy my own office and joined Brad Henderson in purchasing an Elders Franchise. Brad also had a wealth of real estate experience and much like Brian, he re-inforced the importance of the relationship between sellers and the respect that should always be given to buyers. He taught me the value of following processes and the importance of delivering on promises made. He was a stickler for paying attention to detail and our time together was very much valued by me.

Brad was considering retirement and when Don Wall from Four Walls came knocking to purchase our business, we made the decision to sell. I stayed with Don for four years, helping to establish one of Bundaberg’s largest real estate offices.

As Covid changed the world in 2020, the opportunity arose to make a sea change to Bargara and I took a position with Coastline Realty. Coastline Realty was foundered in 1993 and over the past 32 years has built a reputation of integrity and quality customer service.

I have now been selling residential real estate for nearly 20 years. I was a maths teacher for 27 years and combined both jobs for 16 years. Teaching was invaluable in improving my ability to communicate. Selling houses is a whole lot easier than selling the need to learn maths!

I’m still learning and changing as the pace of work life seems to get busier for us all. We’ve all had to cope with a lot of change in the past 20 years!! I know selling real estate is very much process driven but we must always remember, we are dealing with real people and real emotions. It is a true privilege to have the responsibility of selling a person’s home, more often than not, this is their major asset.