One of the founders of the Ray White franchise in Western Australia, Spiro Mallis, is leaving the franchise and setting up his own boutique agency, Mallison Partners.
Mr Mallis said he wanted more autonomy than was provided by an eastern states-based franchise, and that making decisions locally would allow for better customer service.
“We plan to aggressively expand throughout the metropolitan area by recruiting new staff, signing up smaller agencies and by sharing a successful property management systems with future associates,” he said.
“The eastern states franchise model is really one-size-fits-all, and the nature of real estate agencies has fundamentally shifted – services need to be tailored to each customer.
“We don’t just help someone buy or sell a house, we make sure all their needs are met, from providing finance advice right through to settlement to ensure their real estate experience is a happy one.”
The evolution of the Internet as a consumer research tool in relation to real estate has fundamentally changed the way people go about buying and selling real estate, according to Mr Mallis.
Mallison Partners opened its doors at the beginning of the new financial year at the former Ray White offices in Leeming and Willetton, where Mr Mallis was a director.
Real estate agents were generally moving away from large franchise groups in toward more boutique style agencies in order to take more control of their businesses, Mr Mallis said.
“The boutique real estate market is really holding its own in Western Australia – the market is moving away from a collective mentality,” he told WA Business News.
Despite market slowdowns in other states, Mr Mallis said he expected the local property market to remain buoyant in the foreseeable future, with Perth’s median house price having an average annual growth rate of 12.2 per cent over five years to March 2005.
“WA is the jewel in the crown of Australia’s property market, and with new immigration policies in place to tackle the nation’s skills shortage, we envisage that more people will be gravitating west in search of properties,” he said.
