Raine & Horne Newtown’s property management specialist Adam Freitas has continued his award-winning ways by scoring two major gongs in the prestigious Real Estate Business (REB) 2020 Awards announced via a virtual ceremony held on Thursday 25 June, 2020.

The REB Awards is the benchmark for excellence in real estate. Since 2013, it has celebrated the best of the best in real estate sales and property management and is the most coveted award for Australia’s property managers, agents, networks, and innovators.

Mr Freitas was named the recipient of the REB 2020 Business Development Manager of the Year – Property Management award, which he also won in 2018. In addition, Mr Freitas also won REB’s 2020 Award for Excellence. 

Raine & Horne Newtown Co-Principal, Gerard Hill, said the double recognition for Mr Freitas is a major career milestone. “Adam has form in the Business Development Manager of the Year – Property Management category with wins in 2020, 2018 and a semi-final finish in 2019.

“However, the Award for Excellence is presented to our industry’s best of the best based on the highest scoring submission received across all REB’s 17 individual categories covering principals, sales agents, property managers, innovators, operations managers and more. 

“The Award for Excellence is like the real estate industry’s Gold Logie, which is a major achievement for Adam.”

Results driven and highly professional

Apart from being “awesome”, Mr Hill described his property management whiz as, “very diligent with his research and marketing methodologies, his innovation and thorough focus on meeting his client’s expectations.”

To illustrate Mr Freitas’s client focus, the award-winning BDM was able to secure 30 additional apartments in a brand-new development in Glebe after a competitor had failed to secure enough tenants. 

Mr Hill explains, “A client commissioned us with leasing five penthouses accommodating the top floor of a new building in Glebe. The remaining 30 apartments were available for rent with a competitor. 

“Adam had every single penthouse styled, photographed and had virtual tours completed rapidly and we ended up leasing our whole top floor by the time the other agent had leased just two out of 30.

“The landlord has now given us another floor to work on, thanks to Adam, who is very dedicated to his job and driven to succeed. He also thoroughly knows how a property management business works.”

Acknowledging his peers

Mr Freitas, who started with Raine & Horne Newtown in 2014 after working in property management with another business is immensely humbled by the award he has won from a heavily contested field, which included Gwen Levesque, from Raine & Horne Gawler in South Australia.

“I am sure all the finalists, including Gwen, could have won this award. It’s simply hard work, dedication and persistence that got me over the line,” the BDM said.

“Winning these awards is recognition of the effort and the hard work that I’ve put in and just reassures me that I’m on the right track. But to take out the award again and to win the support of my peers is quite special.”

Award winning ways translates to business success

The REB Awards have not been the only chance for Raine & Horne Newtown to shine. In 2018 and 2019, the firm scored repeat victories in REB’s Property Management Business of the Year category, as well as taking out the 2019 Real Estate Institute of NSW’s Property Management Business of the Year. In April 2020, Raine & Horne Newtown was named by the Real Estate Institute of Australia as its Property Management team of the year.

“We are winning awards because we’re progressive, forward-thinking and open to doing things differently,” notes Mr Hill. 

“For example, we were very, very quick to jump on to virtual tours when social distancing restrictions were enacted in April because we had tested the technology in 2019. 

“So, when COVID-19 hit, we just spun off more virtual tours. Also, during the COVID crisis, we repurposed some of our sales team to work in our leasing team and as a result, we achieved a year-on-year increase in new leases for June 2019 to June 2020 of 82%.

“In May we increased our rent roll by 45% more leases, and in April it was 40% in the middle of the COVID crisis. We achieved these results because we just split our teams and we ran remotely. 

Working remotely too is something Raine & Horne Newtown trialled in secret with one of its property managers in 2019. Mr Hill recalls, “We just got our learnings out of it - what worked and what our team needed to work. 

“At that point, we had our IT people already go when COVID-19 hit. I just went, “Okay, turn it on.” And 24 hours later we had half our team working remotely.”

If you would like to discuss the market conditions in Newtown and surrounding suburbs, in more detail or your real estate situation, please call Raine & Horne Newtown on 8596 3555