Everything has changed, and yet nothing has!

Conference in Australia and New Zealand is over for another year, and, I know I say this every year, but these would have to be the best yet.  Despite the current challenging economic climate, we still had over 500 delegates attend in Adelaide and over 700 join us in New Zealand. This alone shows me the commitment of our people to their clients, their own professional development and this Group.

As we always do at Conference, we looked back on the year and at Harcourts’ growth on an international scale. The group has grown internationally by nearly 40% in the last 12 months, and finished 2008 with 609 offices; having over the last year established significant joint ventures with Homenet in South Africa and Dougmal in New South Wales.

The Global Financial Crisis provided us with a unique opportunity at Conference to discuss what it is that clients really look for and how that’s changed. A survey we carried out earlier this month asked 30,000 people about their interaction with the real estate industry. The survey found that the number one thing our clients want is honesty. By always doing what we say we will and simply telling the truth, Harcourts will become even more successful by being recognised as an organisation that operates with a culture of integrity. The survey also highlighted communication as critical and the internet as the most preferred source of information.

Everything has changed, and yet nothing has! Simply do what we say we will, tell the truth and communicate constantly!

The Harcourts Foundation – an exciting update!

I have personally always been a firm believer in the philosophy that what you sow is what you reap, and the real joy of the success that you create is the opportunity to share it.

Many of us within the Harcourts family felt the same, and this is the reason The Harcourts Foundation was set up in August last year.

Much to my delight, the team across Australia and New Zealand responded with real enthusiasm and, thanks to their hard work and involvement through various fundraising activities, we have now managed to raise over $230,000 in donations.

And now, just two months after $71k was donated to the Red Cross Victorian Bush Fire Appeal, an additional 19 applications from charities and organisations around Australia & New Zealand have been approved to a combined total of $68,340. A whole range of organisations and charities will benefit from the helping hand of their local Harcourts team, including mentor youth volunteer programmes, a volunteer fire brigade, pre-school educators, Cancer Council, Autism Association, hospitals, Crime Stoppers, hospice care and breast cancer foundations. 

The Harcourts Foundation has already become a fundamental and significant part of what the name ‘Harcourts’ stands for, creating a very special legacy.

Harcourts 1 Technology Launched in China

More exciting news from China!

Harcourts China has just launched the organisation’s new cutting edge IT operating system, resulting in a transformation of their  real estate business, according to Harcourts’ International Franchise Development Manager Aaron Hodson.

 After 3 years of research and development, and six months of testing, the new system, “Harcourts One” that runs entirely  on-line and uses the very latest Microsoft technology platform .net 3.5 and web 2.0 tools, has been officially released.

Following a successful launch in Australia this year, one of Harcourts’ key IT experts spent the last two weeks training the Chinese technology team in Shanghai on its benefits and helped with the implementation into their business.

According to Harcourts International’s China business partner, billionaire developer Ding Furu, the system would transform the way his people conduct their real estate practices.

“The new operating system will greatly enhance our business and help drive us to achieve our goal of being the largest franchise real estate group in China within the next five years,” he said.

Mr Hodson said that the Harcourts One system contains an application that has allowed the translation of Harcourts One into Chinese.

The system includes completely integrated property listing, contact and task management, email marketing, SMS and intranet systems and enables real time financial reporting and property feeds to the Harcourts property websites.

Harcourts is Australasia’s fastest growing real estate organisation, with offices in all states and the Northern Territory, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia and Singapore. Last year, it expanded its operations into Zambia, China, and South Africa., with a total of over 600 offices internationally. For decades Harcourts has prided itself as an industry ground-breaker in real estate technology. 

An additional three Harcourts office will open this month in Shanghai on the back of the Harcourts One launch.

South Africa JV Gaining Momentum

Our JV with Homenet in South Africa is proving a huge success. See the latest release from Aaron Hodson below. 

Following Harcourts’ “most significant step since its establishment in Australia in 1997” namely its entry into South Africa in  June last year, since Harcourts commenced rebranding the organisation in April this year they have  grown on average by one office every three days.

According to Harcourts’ International Franchise Development Manager, Aaron Hodson, Harcourts South Africa is currently rated as having the best value proposition in the South African real estate industry, as demonstrated by the group’s record growth and business owners’ satisfaction of their  world class  operating systems and brand.

“Harcourts South Africa is well on its way to achieving its goal of being the largest real estate group in South Africa, with 250 offices being the target in the next three years,” he said.

Harcourts South Africa’s CEO, Martin Schultheiss, believes the key to their outstanding success in such a tough local market has been due to the strength of the international brand, technology platform, fully automated marketing system, the Harcourts Academy, the Harcourts values and the way they conduct their business practices.

 “However, I would say mainly it’s the sense of belonging to a community of positive people who have a wonderful culture and truly care about the success of their people,” he said.

Harcourts South Africa is the result of a joint venture between Harcourts International and the high profile Homenet Group, headed by CEO Mr Schultheiss.

 At the start point of the joint venture in June last year, Homenet was one of the top five real estate organisations in South Africa with over 130 offices throughout the Republic.

 Homenet joined Harcourts as an organisation that embraces change and is committed to providing its offices with relevant marketing and management support, enabling them to compete within the ever changing and competitive real estate market, while providing exceptional and effective service to their clients.

“In order to continue to offer our clients world class service, we saw the need for our organisation to join with Harcourts, a world leader in technology, marketing, tools and systems, as the next step forward. Now we are able to offer our clients international exposure for their property, and our team the very latest in international real estate training and systems,” Mr Schultheiss said.

The response by the industry has been enormous, with the interest among local offices and Real Estate professionals to join Harcourts overwhelming.

Harcourts Expanding to India

An exciting press release this week about our expansion into India.

Harcourts International has been invited by one of India’s largest real estate groups to view their operations in Bangalore, according to Harcourts’ International Franchise Development Manager Aaron Hodson.

 Mr Hodson said that he and Harcourts International Executive Director, Paul Wright, would be visiting the organisation from 14th to the 17th of June and then they planned to head to the city of Hyderabad for four days to meet with both franchise groups and independent real estate organisations who had shown interest in the Harcourts franchise model.

Mr Hodson said that entering the Indian market was a natural progression of growth for Harcourts, given it is one of the top three fastest growing economies in the world with the second largest population.

“The opportunity to enter India is a truly exciting step for the Harcourts brand, continuing our strong international growth and goal of being one of the world’s leading real estate franchise groups,” Mr Hodson said.

 “We will spend our time in India conducting market research and investigating the best way to enter the Indian market, ensuring we have the right partner.”

According to Mr Hodson, Harcourts had received great interest to join from Indian real estate organisations, as well as several high profile Indian Universities and business schools across India keen to become affiliated with The Harcourts Academy, Harcourts’ real estate sales and management training division.

 “We are currently reviewing several applications for various different types of Master Licences for the Harcourts brand in several states across India,” Mr Hodson said.

 Mr Hodson said that his plan is to have a suitable partner identified and a master licence agreement signed and completed in India by the end of the year.

Boosted First Home Owners Grant

I must admit, the other details of the Australian Federal Budget have faded into obscurity and virtually forgotten about – it’s the announcement that the boosted First Home Owners Grant (FHOG) will be extended for a further six months that all of us in the industry were waiting with bated breath to hear.

I am personally relieved that the Government has acknowledged the effect the boosted FHOG has had on the real estate industry and those associated with it. Activity in the first home owner’s price range results in a flow-on effect to the other price ranges too. And of course, it is not only the property/real estate industry that is stimulated, but all those associated with it, including conveyancers, solicitors, financiers, valuers, and trades people.

Since the boosted FHOG was announced last year, I have received reports from our people right across Australia about the enormous effect it has had on their business and how it has enabled so many Australians to make their dream of owning a home a reality.

While clearly these are challenging economic times, the budget for me had a very good balance of stimulus and measures aimed at controlling spending as well as maximising the effect of that spending.