In regional Australia, real estate has its ebbs and flows just like it does in the capital cities. There are boom times and there are harder times — and the best agents know how to ride them all.
At the start of 2024, the market is falling into the “harder times” category, particularly in regional areas. There’s a lot more stock around, yet buyers are harder to come by. Agents need to work harder in building their pipeline, talking to prospects, and exploring opportunities at all stages of the funnel.
What does this hard work look like? To find out, we spoke to Andrew Crauford, from Elders Emms Mooney, NSW — a seasoned real estate agent who thrives in challenging market conditions. “I love these challenging times. When you get an offer, you’ve got to work really hard to secure it — it’s not a walk in the park,” he says.
Here, Andrew shares how he works more productively and efficiently than ever, with a little help from Realtair.
Andrew moved out to the Bathurst region about four years ago, bringing over a decade of metropolitan real estate experience with him. Drawing on his inner-city background, he now specialises in residential, commercial and lifestyle properties in the motorsport capital.
“I love the diversification out here — I sell brand new homes, 120-year-old homes, development sites and small acreage. The diversification of stock is fantastic, and it makes every day a real joy,” says Andrew.
This diverse stock also pulls in a diverse clientele. Andrew deals with locals looking for lifestyle changes, Sydneysiders looking to escape the urban sprawl, and the occasional international buyer, too.
Yet all these buyers have one thing in common. They’re all tech-savvy. “The reality is that today’s buyers and sellers have as much information in the palm of their hand as we do. We need to be very clear with our advice — demonstrating our abilities and skillsets, and showing how we bring value to our clients.”
And to do this, Andrew and his team lean heavily on their tech tools. Specifically, Realtair.
Right now, the Elders team is primarily using Realtair for prospecting with Price Updates.
“I’ve always maintained a half-hour every morning to give Price Updates to active listings. This year, I’m trying to get better at giving pipeline updates on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays — sending seven or eight updates on these days, and obviously more as required,” Andrew explains.
“The frequency of these updates depends on the communication with the client. As in, are they imminent, or are they six months away? Are they a year away, or are they 10 years away? I set up my updates and reminders accordingly, generally as a three-month cycle depending on their appetite.”
Andrew loves the fact that Realtair helps him start the conversation and keep the communication going — all in the background. “One of the things I love most about Price Updates is that any time a client opens a report, I get a ping saying, ‘Hey, Steve Smith has just opened your report on number two Smith Street.’ I then know to give Steve a call that afternoon when I’m driving around.”
It’s a much more targeted and effective way to reach out to prospects. Or, as Andrew says, “I’m fishing where there are more fish, rather than just throwing the line in hoping for a bite.”
Andrew is an experienced auctioneer. While he doesn’t call as many himself these days, he says auctions are in the DNA of the Emms Mooney business. So, usually, if an auction will help get the best result for a vendor, that’s what they’ll do.
But what happens when the auction rooms are booked out and the vendor’s impatient for a sale? This happened for Andrew recently, prompting his very first Timed Auction through Realtair.
The three-bedroom property in town had five offers within the space of about a week. While the vendor was willing to take one of the top offers, Andrew knew that a better result would be achieved through auction. The problem was, he couldn’t book one in.
“I needed a different approach. And I suddenly thought, ‘Hang on, Realtair has a Timed Auction process and I can do it next Tuesday if I want.” Which is exactly what he did. In under 10 minutes, Andrew had set up the auction and invited the five potential buyers, plus another person who’d shown interest, to register. All of them ended up bidding.
“On auction day, I sat in the boardroom with the vendor and we adjusted bidding increments as needed. The net result? We sold for $25,000 more than the highest offer. It was all done in a very transparent, clear and open way, and there was absolute certainty that it was the best result for the vendor,” he says.
“The whole process was very user-friendly. Everybody registered online through the platform, and all relevant documents were available as templates in the Realtair platform. It allowed us to run things easily and seamlessly — with a great result.
“I’m an auctioneer at heart. But what I’ve learned is that when the circumstances are right and if it’s the right thing to do for your client, then a Timed Auction is an amazing tool that works tremendously well.”
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