Our Director & Sales Agent, Carolyn Wallis-Tomlins, was recently featured in The Hunter River Times. Read on for her Meet the Agent Q&A with the editor.
How do you start your day?
I usually start my day with a cup of tea and a walk around the garden.
How do you relax?
Real estate can be quite stressful, so I like to unwind by going for a walk every afternoon with my dog.
If you weren’t working in real estate, what would be the next dream job for you?
Something less stressful (laughs). I would probably go back on the land. My favourite job was running a dairy farm so I would happily go back to that as it was very rewarding.
Why did you choose this as a career?
It chose me! I had emigrated over from New Zealand with my husband and had zero experience in real estate. I saw an ad in the local paper for a real estate sales generator and thought “Why not? I’ll give that a go.” Then it all went from there, I worked my way up from a Sales Assistant through to selling on my own, then starting my own agency. Now we’ve just purchased a second agency, so it’s really been a full circle journey.
What is the most satisfying aspect of this career?
The most satisfying part is seeing the business grow. We started our agency in Kurri Kurri from scratch with only a few prospects to work off and a very small rent roll. It takes a lot of hard work to get your positioning and build your reputation up in the local area. We only had three staff members when we first opened, now we have two offices and 14 staff, so to me that it is very satisfying knowing that it’s all resulted from our consistent hard work and diligence.
What is the most challenging?
The most challenging part of real estate is the long hours. You’ve always got to be available for your clients, and these days people expect that they’ll be able to reach you after business hours and on weekends. You’re pretty much on call all the time.
What has been your favourite memory or experience with a client?
One of my recent favourite experiences has been helping a long-term client sell their home in Kurri and making $160,000 on the sale after just two years of ownership. To see a young couple get ahead and be the one who helped them is really satisfying.
Is there a number one mistake that sellers make that could easily be avoided?
Number one mistake would be not understanding the market. Some vendors have very high price expectations but aren’t aware that the market has cooled and that the post COVID price boom is no longer, especially now with interest rates continuing to rise.
What makes your agency tick?
Good staff. We’re always very careful with who we hire and make sure they are the right fit culturally. We also only hire people who are ethically minded and are hardworking and driven.
Source: https://hunterrivertimes.com.au/index.php/2023/03/12/issue-69-march-10-the-hunter-river-times/
