Blog / Time Management
Ilyse Elphick, Tell us a quick profile on your business
Assistant General Manager RAINE & HORNE DARWIN
The business has been operating since 2007. I’m one of the four shareholders.
We do property management, sales and development marketing in Darwin, Palmerston and some rural areas. We have 40 staff, 17 of which are in property management. The breakdown of genders is interesting; there are 32 women and only eight men! We’ve been second highest performing Raine & Horne office in Australia for the last two years in a row.
What are the special characteristics of your marketplace?
The Northern Territory is extremely diverse. People from all over the world come here to work on the defence base and gas and oil projects in the area. We work with people from every culture you could think of so it’s always a challenge to learn how each person likes to do business.
Our population is also very transient. Most people only stay for 6-12 months and only about 5% of our tenants are long term. We get an influx of people looking for a fresh start in January but by December most are breaking leases to move home. We try to keep our portfolios to around 120-130 per property manager because there is so much time spent on leasing in our area.
What attributes do you need to work in the Northern Territory?
You definitely need to be able to handle the tropical weather. Doing a condition report in a property with no air conditioning in 90% humidity and no rain is pretty tough! We also get inundated with maintenance jobs when the torrential rain hits. One of the biggest shocks for property managers that are new to the area is the speed of things. It will take several weeks to get a simple part for an air conditioner but you really just need to embrace it.
How did you get started in real estate and what are your career highlights?
At 17, I was failing my IT degree and needed a part time job. I started as a receptionist and have never looked back. I’ve done just about every admin job you could think of and worked my way up to Assistant General Manager. I became a director of a company at 26, then moved to this office in 2009 where I was invited to become a shareholder. After 16 years in the industry I finally won my first trophy with my name on it, from Robert Bevan’s Best Practice. That was a real highlight for me as admin roles don’t get as much recognition as other roles.
What are the best changes that you have made to the business?
The biggest change we’ve made over the last 18 months was the implementation of fileSMART. It’s had a really positive impact, especially with new managements as every record is electronic for that property. We’ve also implemented InspectRealEstate and Inspection Manager.
What is taking up most of your time at the moment?
Recruiting new staff! There are not enough property managers in the Northern Territory. Throughout the entire year there have been 8-9 vacancies for property management positions in the area. We’ve had to replace nine staff this year alone, seven of which have moved interstate. Recruiting and training of new staff is always a main focus, but that’s just the transient nature of Darwin.
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