The Ray White Group confirms that based on further information received over the past weekend, it has made a decision to remove itself from the receivership process.

Grant Thornton was appointed as receiver of Don Ha Real Estate Limited, a Ray White franchise, on March 17.

Ray White New Zealand CEO Carey Smith says, “Our original intention was to assist in the receivership process. However, more information has since come to light, and we are now of the opinion that our involvement would not be advisable. We have full confidence that the receiver can achieve the best possible result for all parties, and we support their appointment.”

ends

On behalf of Ray White:

Kate Alexander
Alexander Communications
09 524 4957/027 244 6094
kate@alexandercomms.co.nz

The Ray White Group confirms that it was advised on March 17 that a receiver had been appointed to Don Ha Real Estate Limited, a Ray White franchise.

Ray White New Zealand CEO Carey Smith says the receiver, Grant Thornton, has requested Ray White’s support in the receivership process. “Grant Thornton now controls every aspect of Don Ha Real Estate, including the management of the rent roll, the sales division, financial income and expenditure, and the compliance of the agency.

“We have met with the receiver, consulted our legal advisers and assessed the broader implications of the receivership action. We have reached an agreement with the receiver that we will fully support the process.

“Ray White will be involved in the day-to-day management and operation of Don Ha Real Estate, with the intention of putting the business into a position where the assets and goodwill can be sold to a third party. It is important that we achieve the best possible outcome for the business and for the people who have been affected by the receivership.”

Mr Smith says that while the receivership means that Don Ha is no longer part of the Ray White Group, there are many others involved with the agency, including salespeople, clients and suppliers, who need and deserve support. “We believe we can play a useful role to help those affected and achieve a resolution as expeditiously as possible.”
ends
About Ray White Group

The Ray White Group is a family-owned business which, since its formation in Australia in 1902, has been well regarded for its impeccable level of service, experienced and dedicated staff and commitment to training and support.

The Ray White Group provides a broad range of real estate and related property services. Ray White New Zealand has 136 offices trading approximately $4.71 billion annualised property sales.   
For further information, please contact:

Kate Alexander
Alexander Communications
+64 (0)27 244 6094
kate@alexandercomms.co.nz

Ray White Opens New Office in Golden Bay

One of New Zealand’s leading real estate agencies, the Ray White Group, is opening a new office in Golden Bay, to be headed by a 20-year resident of the area.

Billy Kerrisk says it’s the right time for a new real estate office, particularly given the introduction last November of new regulation governing the sector. Ms Kerrisk says New Zealand has been slow to reinvent the wheel to protect buyers and sellers, and she welcomes the change in law.

“The purpose of the Real Estate Agents Act 2008 is to promote and protect the interests of consumers, so it’s a great move to shift power from the REINZ to the Crown by creating an authority with real power to police the sector and ensure all parties operate and are treated fairly. It underlines our fiduciary requirements and will really up the level of service provided to customers – buyers and vendors alike deserve a great service from agents.”

The advanced systems afforded by membership of the Ray White Group means a new office gives an advantage to all involved in the Golden Bay property market, Ms Kerrisk says. “Certainly it could be daunting to start my own business, but the feedback I have been getting from locals is that competition is fantastic, and they welcome it.

“I won’t just be offering my type of personal service, but also access to the systems and intellectual property Ray White has. The use of technology is much more advanced than what currently exists here, which gives me more to offer the vendor.

“We can provide comprehensive market analysis – by being given more information, vendors can better make their own decisions and market their property more effectively. When you know what most people sell for compared with their asking price, and how long it takes them to sell, that helps you pitch your property at the right level and can save a lot of time and money.”

Ray White New Zealand General Manager Kyle Pitman says a Golden Bay office brings the number of Ray White offices in the upper South Island to seven, giving the company full coverage of the region and greater range than any of its competitors. Ray White now has 40 South Island offices, and 132 nationwide.

 “Golden Bay is another step to our increased market share through the region, which is very strong in a resurging market,” Mr Pitman says. “Golden Bay is the first new South Island office for 2010, and there are other opportunities throughout the South Island, which reflects the market’s confidence in the systems and technology support that Ray White is able to provide as the largest Australasian franchise.”

He says Ms Kerrisk’s heading-up of the new office is a coup for the company: “Billy’s enthusiasm and her desire to implement change in the Golden Bay market is really attractive to us – she brings a huge amount of energy and a forward-thinking attitude that will be of great value to buyers and sellers.”

ends

Ray White Undertakes Merger in Whitianga to Form Super-Sized Office

In a move that creates the biggest real estate team in Whitianga, Ray White has announced that its company Whitianga Realty is merging with AJ Innes Real Estate to form Ray White Whitianga from 1 April.

Andy Innes is principal of the new franchise, and says he chose to join the Ray White Group because of the agency’s strong local market share, and more simply, “because they gave us the most confidence and we felt they had the most potential of all agencies. And speaking to other people in the real estate arena, they had nothing but praise for the Ray White CEO.”

A 16-year veteran of real estate, Mr Innes knows both the industry and the company well, having worked for Ray White in Australia before founding his own agency in Whitianga six years ago.

He says the time is right to form a large agency – Ray White Whitianga will open with around 11 salespeople – with a strong national reputation and high-level support.

“Having run a stand-alone company, it became clear to me when the industry rules and regulations changed last November that affiliation with a strong, respected national agency was the way to go, and it was a matter of choosing the right one.

“I’ve always been a stickler for service, and what we achieve in amalgamating the two companies is establishing a large market share from the get-go. This means more listings, leading to more enquiries and thus more sales – getting better results and opportunities for buyers and sellers.

“Another big advantage of being part of the Ray White Group is having access to the best technology available in the industry, and an extremely high level of support in training and all areas of the business. After doing it all myself for six years, having these established systems to draw on will mean a step up in the level of service we can provide.”

Asked what Ray White Whitianga will bring to the local real estate market, Mr Innes says the company’s record speaks for itself. “When you see how the Ray White Group operates, it’s the story that if a company is being led well from the top, that sets the standard for all others.

“Presentation is a big part of that, and we have fully renovated the shop with separate offices for the rental division and a boardroom. We want to lift the bar for real estate service in Whitianga.”

Mr Innes says it remains a buyer’s market in the town, with potential purchasers dizzied by the choice available from variety of projects and developments.

The opportunities are the best he’s seen in his time in the area: “For people looking to invest in a beach town, there is no better time than now.”

 ends

About Ray White Group

The Ray White Group is a family-owned business which, since its formation in Australia in 1902, has been well regarded for its impeccable level of service, experienced and dedicated staff and commitment to training and support.

The Ray White Group provides a broad range of real estate and related property services. Ray White New Zealand has 132 offices trading approximately $4.6 billion annualised property sales.

I asked Rod Drury (Ceo of Xero Ltd) a question about Ceo bloggers this morning. He was speaking at the Lowndes Associates Business Intelligence Series breakfast session in association with the National Business Review and The Auckland Chamber of Commerce on the topic of  ”Emerging A Winner From The Recession.”

It’s a question that I have asked many executives and Ceo’s over the last 3 years and received varied responses - the usual good, bad and ugly rule applies.

I remarked that he has been a profilic blogger over many years and whether any of the current successes he and his company have had can be specifically ascribed to writing a regular blog about his thoughts about his industry , his company and his personal experiences? Rod was an extremely active blogger for over 5 years, 1626 posts, 3 companies, 3 children and 10 kilos (he says) and while he has moved now to an occassional post on Xero’s blog  and in some other mainstream media blogs, he absolutely believes that blogging has made a significant contribution to his personal and business succcess. He went further to say that he probably wouldn’t have been able to raise the capital he did unless he had that rich repository of his “back story” readily available for investors and interested parties to see his track record and credibility.

Another Ceo who blogs is Carey Smith , Ceo of Ray White who has a personal blog about leadership and all things related on his personal site (including promoting his book – Deliver -36 Life Stories on Leadership) , and has created a company blog to discuss meaningful events with loyal followers of Ray White, his staff, suppliers, media and the market in general. The blogging has created opportunities to share his story with all stakeholders in a personal, regular and meaningful way.

More and more Ceo’s, business owners and executives are now taking this out of the”too hard” box and beginning to think how they can use blogging to further their own personal and business goals. Many of our clients for example executives from Results.com , Switch Business and others have begun blogging in the last two years – with dramatic results.

What are the benefits of blogging for CEO’s?

• Blogging creates discipline for developing worthwhile ideas and content that will enrich your audience and add value to readers, who include staff, suppliers, clients, prospects, media and (yes) competitors.
• The idea written up in a post creates the perfect opportunity to have open dialogue about an idea and get  feedback – instantly.
• Especially if you are in the intellectual capital or service related business , it’s the perfect opportunity to merchandise your teams IP and case studies that create value and bring readers benefit. But don’t be fooled – even people who are product manaufacturers or distributors can be successful bloggers.
• Each post becomes a “syndication opportunity” for influential online news sites and blogs that can spread your ideas further afield and attact like minded people into the debate.
• The blog shows your personal and company milestones along the way and helps communicate your intent and “backstory” in a meaningful way.
• Blogging and your style and “voice” can be a source of differentiation from your competitors.
•  Your latest blog post can be shared by your “community” – at least the ones that find your latest idea interesting on Twitter, Linkedin.com and elsewhere on the bloggosphere.
• People who understand their business and industry in detail have a dramatic advantage when it comes to blogging- and when you can translate this into words in a blog- then its adds instant credibility if you have been at it for some time and have developed a following.
• The blog and its associated tags and posts are found easily on Google and all the other search engines – all working together to show your vision, intent and actions – all usefull when engaging with existing and potential clients.

So when executives tell me that they are too busy minding their business to do any of that nonsense, I usually tell them that blogging can be a very useful instrument for Ceo’s in business. The Ceo blogger can achieve more depth and engagement with all his or her stakeholders than someone who only practices management by walk-about (which is also a necessity !) Of course the Ceo who engages their team in the process and gets the team involved in posting has that one further advantage- multiplying the ideas and thoughts that attract other like minded people.

So I say to would be bloggers who are Ceo’s – carry on minding your business – and start a blog. Start small. Be authentic. be purposeful.

Yes, make a calendar entry for the first one, by the end of the quarter. (Lets be realistic now) Start a plan for what you would like to write about and give it a go.

Predictions about the future of the real estate market are as changeable as the statistics, but recent figures from the leading real estate group Ray White show that the Auckland market is tightening in favour of the seller. Figures for June and July 2009 for Ray White in the greater Auckland area show that the average number of days on market has dropped to 37.5 from 53 in January and February – a reflection of the reduced stock over winter and a growing pool of buyers.

The pressure is forcing would-be buyers to up the stakes: at the height of the property boom, in mid-2007, properties were selling for an average of just 2.1% below the listing price. As the slump began, buyers started to pick up relative bargains, with sales at an average of 8.3% below the listing price in August 2008. As the market has tightened, so too has the gap between sellers’ expectations and buyers’ hopes, with an average sale price of just 3.9% below the listed figure in July 2009.

The speed of turnover is reflected in the number of sales: the second quarter has seen a 25% rise in the number of properties sold in the up-to-$1 million range (4,781), compared with 3,815 in the first quarter.

All this is happening, says Ray White New Zealand CEO Carey Smith, against a backdrop of ‘self-cleansing’ in the real estate industry. “The recession has prompted a significant decline in both agents and offices, with a turnover of agents in the market of 52% in the year to February 2009. Times like these demand a rise in the quality of service and results for vendors and buyers.”

Ray White has responded to this demand with a new service, Ray White Concierge. The service, free to Ray White clients, takes care of all connections and disconnections of services, including telephone, internet, gas, electricity and pay TV. The service also offers help       s with home loans through Loan Market, and personal insurance with Sovereign.

The progressiveness of Ray White in the area of IT and customer usability has been in evidence for several years; the company was the first real-estate agency to list on TradeMe, in 2005, and each office has its own web presence.

“It remains an intensely competitive industry, and the quality of service and access to information is what sets agencies apart from one another,” Mr Smith says. “We have developed Ray White Concierge as part of our response to that competitiveness – after-sale service is extremely important and is an area where some agents fall down.”

ends

About Ray White Group

The Ray White Group is a family-owned business which, since its formation in Australia in 1902, has been well regarded for its impeccable level of service, experienced and dedicated staff and commitment to training and support.

With an annual sales turnover of more than $27 billion through 902 office internationally, the Ray White Group provides a broad range of real estate and related property services.

Ray White New Zealand has 129 offices trading $4.24 billion annualised property sales.

Tighter budgets, a fragmenting mainstream media, a global recession and an increasing number of organisations clamouring for media attention. All these factors have combined to create a “perfect storm” to make effective media relations more difficult than perhaps ever before.

Conferenz’s 7th Annual Media Relations Conference will help you ensure you get the maximum exposure and value for money on your media spend. With an agenda tailored specifically to ensure you can strive for measurable, metrics-based return on investment and maximum media penetration, this will prove to be an exciting event not to be missed! You’ll hear insights from some of the top communications practitioners and thought leaders in the country, including:

 AIG Life | BNZ | Powershop | Ray White Real Estate | McDonalds NZ | Senate Communications Counsel | Counties Manukau DHB | Media Monitors | Alexander Communications | NBR | Scoop Media | and many more!

Businesspeople regrouping in a changing environment are turning in growing numbers to a burgeoning industry – self-publishing. In a climate which demands reinvented methods of operation and communication, and an overall lower cost of doing business, PublishMe, New Zealand’s largest online self-publishing specialist, is finding its own business is growing exponentially.

The reasons are simple: cost, efficiency and access to clients’ key markets. The company utilizes state-of-the-art, high-tech digital machinery, employing a Swedish Océ book printer – the same equipment used in the major US and UK digital print houses, including Amazon.

In minimizing print and labour costs, the printer allows PublishMe to pass on the cost differences to clients. Among a number of efficiencies, the printer can print for hours without monitoring; prints both sides of a sheet simultaneously, making registration of pages perfect; prints at less than half the heat of traditional photocopiers, eliminating the quality problems seen in some digital books; and has robotic binding and cutting equipment.

Jane Beals, the founder and managing director of PublishMe, says the new technology makes anything possible. “We are essentially YouTube for those who wish to publish writing in any form. For us, the past year has been notable for the increased interest from businesspeople looking to do things differently, and people are picking up on the trend that publishing your own book gives credibility to what you do and supports client relationships.

“This has been a long-time trend in the US, where professionals use their own book as a giant business card. It is viewed as an asset, and consultants who write a book can frequently increase their hourly rates or charge-out fees as a result. And there are no quality issues, because as with any publication the market decides what is worth talking about, buying and retaining.”

A January 2009 Time magazine article on how the digital age is reshaping literature spotlighted Lisa Genova, a healthcare consultant who self-published her first novel in 2007 when she was unable to get an agent. A year later she received a $500,000 offer from Simon & Schuster, her novel was picked for the book clubs of Borders and Target, and last month it debuted at #5 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Aside from the difficulty of getting a contract with a traditional publishing house, which has its own financial pressures, many would-be authors find pitfalls in using older non-digital technology. These include a minimum print run, in a bid to make it large enough to be economic (and associated storage costs); the actual cost per item being higher than budgeted; and the inability to correct mistakes late in the process.
The company also produces workbooks for a number of clients, including the Practical Education Institute, one of New Zealand’s largest private training establishments. It has grown significantly through recognizing the value of professional, perfect-bound workbooks that can be adjusted at will. TOSHA, a national industrial training consultancy, prepares professional manuals for each course, specific to the needs of each customer.

“The great advantage of this technology is cost, efficiency and access,” Mrs Beals says. “Authors know the exact cost in advance, and can do a first print run of any size they choose – they can treat it as a trial run, if they wish, and then print a modified second edition based on feedback. They can avoid additional cost from storing bulk print runs or wastage from unsold or out-dated books.”

A client who appreciates this flexibility is Dr Tom Mulholland, the GP and founder of Healthy Thinking Institute. He says, “Writing a book not only makes you an authority, it gives you a return on investment, active and passive revenue, and opens doors and opportunities you did not know existed. I started with the PublishMe team and my books are now in 12 countries and tens of thousands of homes and businesses.”

One of the newest in the stable is Ray White New Zealand CEO Carey Smith, who says a number of factors influenced his decision to self-publish a book on leadership. “I had the idea for Deliver for a long time, and as the recipient of many business-related books I understand their worth. They carry a high perceived value but a low cost, and people tend to read and keep them where they don’t a flyer or pamphlet.

“As a chief executive, I want to build a brand and communicate what I’ve learned throughout my career, and publishing a book through PublishMe was a straightforward and cost-effective way of doing this.”

In addition to its print services, PublishMe offers assistance at every stage of the publishing processincluding marketing the book.
ends
For more information:

Jane Beals
Managing Director
PublishMe
+64 (0)27 203 7681
jane@zenithpublishing.co.nz 

Dwayne Alexander
Alexander Communications
+64 (0)9 522 5541
+64 (0)21 324463
dwayne@alexanderonlinepr.co.nz

 
About PublishMe

PublishMe was created in 2007 by Jane and Graeme Beals, who established Zenith Publishing Group in New Plymouth 17 years ago. They identified self-publishing as a growth area due to the effect of digital technology and the internet on traditional printing methods.

From planning through to printing, sales and distribution, on a national and international scale, PublishMe has a talented support network in place to assist every New Zealander who has a story to tell.

We interviewed Carey Smith for our “Inspired People” Blog on www.nzherald.co.nz about 12 months ago. In this interview he mentioned how he had planned to write a book.

So many people do. But Carey delivered on his promise. We feel proud to have been part of the team that helped to make it happen.

• We encouraged Carey to create a web 2.0 social networking & sharing enabled site
• We linked him up with another client of ours www.publishme.co.nz who helped him create and publish the book.
• We worked with his great web team – Big Fish Marketing - to assist him in creating a site that would display his media links and enable people to read up great testimonials and download chapters
• We syndicated some of his content onto mainstream online media to generate some hype
• We shared our enthusiasm for his book and the content on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin
• We networked him into Unlimited, (the mag), NZ Business, NZ Marketing , ASB Business Breakfast TV and also press and mentions on radio and other online sites.
• We have bought some of his great books and plan to share them amoung our other clients – the people who can benefit – leaders.
• It was a great project to work on from beginning to middle. The end is no where in site as his books are now selling on www.publishme, www.trademe.co.nz, www.nile.co.nz  and a host of other sites.
• We are encouraging him to write again.

About Carey Smith

The basis of many of my achievements has been an annual letter that I write to myself. The book Deliver is part of one of those promises, and I have had great enjoyment in bringing it together. I hope that it becomes something that I can continue to build on.

At a Glance

• Chief Executive of Ray White New Zealand. Ray White New Zealand has more than 125 offices nationwide, transacting approximately $5 billion worth of property sales per annum.
• Chief Executive of The Loan Market New Zealand. The Loan Market New Zealand has 38 brokers facilitating $600 million in loans per annum.
• Entered the Real Estate Industry at the age of 17 and joined Ray White Group in Australia in 1990 as an Auctioneer and Development Associate
• Assisted in the changeover and conversion of United Realty to Ray White Zealand, which I have led for the past 10 years
• Currently involved in the international expansion of Ray White
• Inaugural recipient of the Chairman’s Cup 1996 and White Family Trophy 2005.
  Author of the book Deliver.
• Ex-Rugby League player and current referee.
• Proud, family oriented Father