Real Estate: Home is Where the Heart Is

Tony Jenkins CEO of Harcourts Holmwood discusses their new purpose built real estate office on Ilam Road.

Nearly a month in the new building Tony, is it fair to say it has met expectations?

Absolutely! I am really delighted with the reaction by all the team as they settle into their new environment. I am even more thrilled by the comments of visitors who can see that this is all about creating a great place to do real estate business. I get real satisfaction out of seeing our team talking with their clients in one of our many meeting rooms and I just can’t wait to see the auction room in full swing. I know we will really be finished when I can sit down and have a coffee in the café at the front of our building.

You mentioned the auction room, can you tell us a little bit about it?

I am so proud of the fact that our weekly auctions are such a vital part of delivering outstanding results for our clients and I was determined to make our auction room state of the art. Having two brilliant auctioneers and a well-trained auction team in support, was an extra incentive to provide facilities that include online streaming capabilities. We wanted it to be an auction room where our sellers and buyers could know what was happening, where they could talk away from the crowd and where they could bid with confidence and I know it will do all of this brilliantly.

Your philosophy about real estate: tell us about it…

In some ways this building is a lot about what I think of real estate. I have always said the most important people in our company are the public that we serve everyday. With that in mind, I have worked with the team to create a truly client focused business. That means easy access, great facilities and a positive atmosphere where clients can meet with consultants to work together to achieve great outcomes. Upstairs we have built fabulous offices for our team because we really believe in looking after them. Our commitment to training, not just when they start their careers with us but on a continuous basis, is reflected in the specialist facilities we provide our in-house training manager. Downstairs we have our own marketing team delivering great print media and digital marketing.

You talk a lot about your team what are the opportunities for people to join Holmwood?

We are always happy to talk to anyone, whether they are an experienced consultant or just thinking about getting into real estate. We have opportunities in some of our offices and either I or one of our managers would love to talk to you about a future with Holmwood. We recently held a very successful career evening for professional women who wanted to know more about our industry and we will continue to hold a door open for those that want to talk about this amazing career.

Tell us Tony, what do you see in the future for Holmwood

I am incredibly proud of the Holmwood franchise and that makes me feel so positive towards the future. I am also aware, as I have said so many times before, our clients and customers are who we serve and they are what keeps us going and to be quite honest I don’t see that changing much. Although the building, our training and our team are really important, what matters most is our clients and customers and I will not negotiate on our service to them. Certainly we live in a digital world these days but houses are real and so too are relationships with people. I can’t see a time when talking to people face to face will be replaced. Technology is in every aspect of our new building and we use it to the full everyday but I keep on believing that service will always remain the cornerstone of Holmwood.

For further information please contact:
Tony Jenkins
Harcourts Holmwood CEO
027 432 2896
tony.jenkins@harcourts.co.nz