By Kathy Salter
Longstanding members of the real estate industry talk about their career journey and what REINSW membership means to them.
Bob Berry Real Estate
Selling real estate was not even on the horizon when Bob Berry first opened his stock and station agency in Dubbo in 1974. It was two years before the Livestock & Pastoral Company, as it was first called, ventured into the world of real estate when Bob was invited to work with a major Sydney project home builder as Dubbo started to expand. To reflect the more personal approach needed for selling homes, the agency was rebranded Bob Berry Real Estate – the name it carries to the present day.
In 1985, the agency moved to new commercial premises with a purpose-built auction room that allowed them to become the first local agency to conduct video-recorded multi-vendor auctions. Then, in 2004, they moved to their current premises on Dubbo’s Talbragar Street.
Bob Berry joined REINSW in 1980, shortly after the agency began specialising in real estate.
“The rules are always changing in our industry and we need an active voice representing our interests,” he said.
Bob has maintained a close involvement with REINSW throughout his career. In 1993, REINSW President John Nicoll asked him to join the Political Action Committee.
“I resisted him for weeks, and then I said I’d do it for a year,” he remembered. “Thirteen years later, I stepped down.”
In addition, Bob has served as Delegate at Large to the State Conference (1993-2006), Secretary of the Orana Division (1985-87), Chairman of the Orana Division (1988-90), Acting Chair of the Orana Division (2015-18) and has been a career-long member of the Orana Division. In 2000, he became the first country member to be awarded the prestigious REINSW Woodrow Weight Award.
In 1988, Bob tells how an REINSW survey showed that Dubbo had the lowest median house price of any regional city.
“Dubbo has changed, our industry has changed and REINSW has changed a great deal too. But agents will always need help with the big issues and that’s where they need the Institute.”
Bob Berry
Bob Berry Real Estate
Local REINSW members decided to capitalise on the survey with a promotion they called the ‘Dubbo Open for Inspection Weekend’. Busloads of Sydneysiders arrived to see the affordable lifestyle that Dubbo could offer, attracting national media attention.
“We had a massive crowd here and that was the start of a turnaround in housing demand and a significant decade in Dubbo’s development,” Bob said.
The local newspaper reported how Dubbo City Council was swamped with phone calls from Sydney families who wanted to move west. Among them was the Maas family who went onto become Maas Group Holdings (ASX), the biggest land developer in Dubbo.
Although still an active figure in the local real estate landscape, in 2016, Bob and his wife Margaret decided to sell the business to the current directors: Graeme Board (Director and Licensee in charge), Jane Donald (Bob and Margaret’s daughter), Shayna Chapman and Fiona Gibbs.
“Dubbo has changed, our industry has changed and REINSW has changed a great deal too,” Bob said. “But agents will always need help with the big issues and that’s where they need the Institute. Agents can’t only just look at their own business. They need representation and they need to consider the big picture.”
McLachlan Partners
McLachlan Partners on the Central Coast of New South Wales is just two years away from celebrating their 100-year anniversary. So much has changed over that time, both for the agency and life on the Central Coast, but some of the fundamentals have stayed the same. The McLachlan name for one, with Bruce McLachlan still Principal, a steadfast belief in the importance of community involvement, and membership of REINSW.
The oldest agency on the Central Coast, McLachlan Partners was founded in 1924 by Clyde and Doug McLachlan after they returned from the World War l trenches. The brothers quickly earned a reputation for honesty and advertised their ‘inspections by motorised vehicle’ with pride.
During the tough Depression years that followed, the brothers found work in Sydney to feed their families, but retained their real estate licence, returning to sell land on the weekends. The brothers were even forced to sell the car that had been such an early selling point, not replacing it until the 1950s.
Peter McLachlan, Bruce’s father, and his brother Ian were the next generation of McLachlans to run the agency, building premises on the site that McLachlan Partners still occupies today in Long Jetty.
1971 office
“We’ve always valued being able to rely on REINSW research and legal expertise, and the knowledge that someone is looking out for the industry interests.”
Bruce McLachlan
McLachlan Partners
Bruce recalls his father taking out a Lloyd’s of London insurance policy to underwrite a tagged fish contest, with thousands casting a line in the hope of landing the catch that would win them a block of land that would be worth millions today. With landowners listing their lots for the winner to pick from, the competition turned out to be a highly successful marketing tool, although Lloyds declined to underwrite it a second time.
After his father’s passing in 1980, Bruce took over a 50 per cent partnership in the agency, which he ran with his uncle Ian “without a single argument in 30 years.”
During this era, the agency’s involvement with REINSW grew along with the business. Ian McLachlan was the Chair of the Central Coast Division and, in 2015, Bruce was the winner of the John Greig OAM Community Service category at the REINSW Awards for Excellence, honouring the agency’s unswerving commitment to their local community.
Bruce and Ian McLachlan
Bruce recalls monthly REINSW dinners, mid-week training sessions and the camaraderie and cooperation between agents that came with membership. As well as Bruce being a lifetime career member, a Central Coast delegate and a Waratah member, the office has also been winners and finalists in numerous categories of the Awards for Excellence over the years.
“We need a collective body to voice the concerns of the industry and be our industry voice,” Bruce said. “We’ve always valued being able to rely on REINSW research and legal expertise, and the knowledge that someone is looking out for the industry’s interests.
“Having first-hand political experience in local government, I’ve seen how poor the decision-making process can be. I firmly believe that agents need to support REINSW. It’s no good complaining after the event if you haven’t supported your own industry body in their efforts to bring common sense and practicality to the table.”