One wise choice for your property
ONE AGENCY COUNTIES REALTY
Covering from South Auckland to Hamilton and beyond Welcome Mark Ball is a proud member of the One Agency family — a group of the industry’s leading professionals who have excelled in their field and chosen to operate their own business on their own terms. One Agency was founded on innovation and the need to revolutionise the Real Estate arena and it’s our clients who reap the rewards of our progressive vision and personal service.
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The Real Estate Company that’s leading a revolution
“We will treat your home as if it were our own and do everything we say we will do.” IAN CROFT, Managing Director
Australasia’s fastest growing real estate group have opened their doors to New Zealanders. With branches in Australia and rapidly growing throughout New Zealand, One Agency Counties are set to become One Agency’s greatest establishment yet! Based in Pukekohe and covering the entire Franklin region all the way down to and including Matamata/Tirau area, they are looking forward to servicing the local community and assisting clients in making their dreams a reality. With Ian Croft and Alana Nicholls at the helm, One Agency offers a wealth of knowledge and experience. Ian’s partner in the business is Rod Ketels and family interests. Rod will act as Chairman. lan Croft has been working within the real estate industry for the past decade, his hard work and dedication winning him many accolades. He is widely experienced with an intimate knowledge of the Franklin region and property sales, trends and fluctuations within the area. His understanding of the complexities of the negotiation process, his perseverance and his down to earth nature have been paramount to his success. His previous real estate achievements include: * Companywide Top Rural Agent 2007 through to 2015 * Top Salesperson Pukekohe office 2007/2008 * Companywide Top 25 Salesperson 2007/ 2008 * Companywide Rookie of the Year 2007/2008 They pride themselves on their community-focused approach. Working without the constraints of a franchise means clients are able to deal with the principals of the business. Decisions are able to be made readily with attention, hands-on care and an unrivalled level of service. A revolution in real estate, One Agency Counties will provide accurate appraisals, astute advice and deliver unparalleled results. If you are looking to buy or sell or are simply curious about your property’s potential, then look no further! One Agency Counties are dedicated to providing a fair commission structure that will ensure more money from the sale of your property stays in your pocket where it belongs. We pride ourselves on operating a real estate agency under the One Agency brand that is run by locals for locals, with revenue from local sales invested back into the local economy. A win/win situation for everyone. We will treat your home as if it were our own and do everything we say we will do. We will work hard to ensure your sale price is the best outcome and manage each property with the utmost due diligence and respect. Our agents are supported by a modern striking brand with personality that is easily recognised. Join us at One Agency Counties Realty ... We’re moving with the times.
IAN CROFT Managing Director One Agency Counties 5
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Introducing Mark Ball
Mark came into Real Estate with a big Waikato company after many years in the FMCG sale industry, where he honed his sales and business relationship skills, which has served him well in the real estate industry. Referrals have been the key to his sales so far, with the capture of some great prices. But the way the industry went about getting results, and the practice of routines now out of date, led him to search out another option in the way of a company to support. One Agency fitted that bill.
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Real estate is one of those businesses that has been untouched by change and in many ways is still doing things the way it has since Adam sold his last property. There was so many ways that did not sit so well with how I would like to be treated as a possible vendor that companies were doing so I figured “how can I do that if I don’t like it being done to me?” Begging for listings just did not seem the way to go about getting business. With One Agency it’s not just about our competitive commissions it is about you getting to know the agent and being comfortable to let them have your most valuable asset and sell it. After all it’s the agent you have taken on, not the company. One Agency would like to become a friend, someone you would refer on to others due to the trust and results we achieve.
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We only do “open homes” if it suits your sale and you; we are not there to use your property to get more business.
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Feature properties Sold by Mark Ball
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9 Wilson Street, Hamilton $639,000
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818 Old Te Aroha Rd, Matamata $1,330,000
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20 Catherine Crescent, Whitianga $444,000
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7 Tamapahore Blvd, Papamoa $920,000
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299 Thames Street, Morrinsville $665,000
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93 Tui Rd, Te Aroha $1,200,000
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Testimonials What my clients say
33 Hanna Street, Te Aroha
19 Hanna Street, Te Aroha
We would like to thank you for all your hard work in bringing us a buyer for our property, and then to help us find some temporary accommodation was “going that extra mile”. Your communication with us was super. We have and will continue to recommend you to anyone who is considering buying or selling a property. We wish you the very best for the future.
Mark Ball is very professional and friendly. Mark was always reachable when we needed him. Mark answered all our questions and enquiries and made our house purchasing hassle free. We will recommend him when we have the first opportunity.
M & L Keenan Te Aroha
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Sergio and Mami Te Aroha
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I can say this with conviction that Mark was professional ...
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79 Totara Drive, Hamilton
15 Korimako Ave, Hamilton
Thanks so much for all your help with listing and selling my property. I found your professionalism throughout very refreshing. I appreciated that you kept me informed and returned my phone call very quickly even though you were at a function. I honestly felt that you were working for me, and my property was not just another listing. All the best for your future and I will definitely recommend you to anyone that is thinking of listing or finding a property.
Buying a property in Hamilton is definitely a leap of faith for me. The brutal competition in Auckland has sent me there to try my luck in investing. Mark Ball, always returned my calls, very accommodating, frank and having that sense of compassion that goes beyond the sales and bottom line. I can say this with conviction that Mark was professional and I easily confided to him what I need. I definitely would recommend Mark whether you are a big time or just a small investor like me. You can’t go wrong.
A Wilson Hamilton
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Rey Gonzales Auckland
Dealing with Mark was a pleasure ... we would not hesitate to recommend Mark to anyone wishing to sell their property.
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My wife and I employed Mark Ball in his capacity as a Real Estate Agent, to sell our house in Te Aroha. Unfortunately, we were moving into winter at the time, and the market was extremely flat but Mark pulled out all the stops to effect a sale, including a large advertising sign with photos in front of the house, and extensive advertising both in the press and the internet. There was limited interested over the winter period, but as soon as the market picked up we had multiple inspections, which resulted in the sale of the property, and we were able to realise our asking price.
Dealing with Mark was a pleasure; he was always available to discuss matters relevant to the sales process, and at the time of handover went above and beyond the usual duties of an estate agent to help us with a few issues of our own making. We would not hesitate to recommend Mark to anyone wishing to sell their property in the Eastern Waikato, and we wish him all the best in his real estate career. James and Valerie Melling Te Aroha 11
My story Mark Ball
Hi, a moment of your time to share my life story so you can know that little bit more about me and even though it sounds like a cliché, why I am different to other agents out there. Please don’t hold it against me, I was born in the UK, what seems like a long time ago and after spending just nine years there, my family and I came out to explore the country that we heard about called New Zealand. I have only been back once and admit I rushed back to New Zealand for the peace and quiet and beauty that this country does hold. I have always been active sport wise, more with Football, some call it Soccer, mixed with a bit of cycling but still appreciate a session on the couch with a good movie. Life has thrown me a few curve balls with the loss of my son, and more recently my wife to cancer.
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Mark Ball: A proud grandfather
This has left me with the outlook on life where I appreciate every day and try not to stress about the small stuff. Life is short and I believe we need to enjoy the time we have, things can change so quickly and then it can be too later to wonder what if? But, hey, I am not going to get all philosophical on you, you will see I want to do well by you and help those that I can. You won’t see me in an intimidating suit. I want to be open, honest and work with you to get a win-win situation out of our dealings together. Thanks Mark
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Our Solution Value Based Real Estate
PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THE FASTBALLS, CURVEBALLS AND THE FOUL BALLS Unethical agents and the tricks and manipulations they employ to win your business are an all too common occurrence — which can significantly affect the profit you make. You may think that surely this isn’t a big problem in Hamilton until you look at how many agents are currently unemployed (ie. they don’t have a listing that will ensure a good chance of being paid). At the start of Oct-16 Hamilton had 350 agents, 96 without a single listing. That’s a 28% unemployment rate in the industry. The big companies operate a ‘bums on seats for market share’ model. The greatest motivator in this model is not greed as you might expect, it’s survival. Survival creates desperation which doesn’t lead anywhere good. Because of this, the agent’s desperation to earn money, feed their family, pay off their debt becomes the priority and the agents focus becomes more about the “sale” and less about optimising the value of your home and ensuring it sells for a premium. Not all “sales” are equal and whether you inadvertently give away potential profit you could have walked away with, comes down to the advice, quality and integrity of the agent you choose.
KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE MONEYBALL Be the CFO of your home — After all it is your largest asset! A chief financial officer (CFO) is primarily responsible for strategic and tactical matters as they relate to budget management and cost–benefit analysis. I know many sellers find the process of selling their home quite costly, they see high commissions and expensive marketing campaigns as just an accepted part of real estate. But does it need to be? Instead why not carry out a cost benefit analysis when making these decisions to really determine what return you are likely to have on these investments. Agent's commissions and marketing budgets should give you a return far greater than what they cost. So if you pay $25K in commission and $2K in marketing for a total of $27K you need to be certain the investment brings you a return greater than $27K. Otherwise this is just an expense not an investment. A CEO would also analyze the profit and loss statements. Their primary focus would be on net profits. The money that is left in YOUR pocket. One Agency Hamilton is the best LOW–cost HIGH–benefit solution. Seriously — we have a fixed rate success fee of $12,500 including GST and only recommend low cost high return internet /digital marketing campaigns. We have worked hard to cut the fat and unnecessary costs involved in real estate, the costs that offer zero benefit to the seller. We are also prepared to put our reputation on the line so if you would like a detailed cost benefit analysis with projected savings created for your home just email markball@oneagency.net.nz with the subject line "Moneyball Statement".
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By familiarising yourself with some of the fundamental mistakes that can be made when selecting an agent and educating yourself about some of the common misrepresentations that are made you can ensure you invest your money in the right agent which will ensure the best return on investment. Whatever you decide to do, educating the public about the curveballs, fastballs and foul balls agents can throw at you is a story that needs to be told, so for a detailed list just email markball@oneagency.net.nz with the subject line “Don’t Strike Out”.
PROTECT THE VALUE What is value? The dictionary defines it as: value 1. the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. Notice it is not fixed, it is not measured by the sale price of the house next door, how much was spent on it or what friends and family believe it is. In fact value is subjective and indeed in the eye of the beholder. This means it can be enhanced and optimized. For example, if value is described as "the usefulness of something" then what value or use do you think a retired couple would equate to a four bedroom do-up with a 1000sqm section, would it be more or less than a young family with three children who are looking for a first home they can add value to. The family would value it more - of course! Then what impact do you think selecting to do an auction would have on the value of the property. Quite a bit actually, when you consider most first home buyers are using their Kiwisaver or Homestart for the house deposit, both of which cannot be accessed quickly for an auction. Unfortunately this is an all too common occurrence and from our experience can cost sellers upwards of $30K just from one poor, ill informed or ill advised decision. Protecting the value of your home, means understanding the target market and optimising and enhancing it where possible, to appeal to those buyers most likely to pay a premium. Also ensuring any other decisions, like method of sale support those goals.
BRING IT HOME If you use a value based sales model and get the fundamentals right, the bases will be loaded in your favour and a targeted, well thought out marketing campaign is all you will need to bring it home. Marketing should be the last thing you cover off, as your budget will not be well spent and will not offer a good return on investment unless you have a clear strategy. Purchasing expensive print advertising, signs the size of a small car and paying to advertise in a company branded magazine are designed to profile the agency and the agent representing you. Have you noticed that the agent picture is often the same size or larger than the picture of the house? The internet has blown apart traditional real estate, real and genuine buyers are not looking for an agent to bring them to potential properties, they already know about them from their daily, weekly check-ins on trade me or realestate.co.nz. They also do not care what brand is on the sign outside. A blue sign, or a red and yellow sign is not going to attract different buyers than a black and orange sign. wWhat will attract buyers is a well thought out and scripted marketing campaign that connects with those buyers most likely to pay a premium for the property. Do that and get the fundamentals below right and you might just hit a home run: Protect the Moneyball — Keep your eye on the costs, evaluate any money you spend on the likely return it will bring you. Any unnecessary costs will eat in to the potential profit you hope to walk away with. Protect yourself from unnecessary risk — Don’t fall for gimmicks, common misconceptions and downright lies when selecting your agent. Protect the value in your home — Optimise and enhance the value, wherever possible. Have a clear target market in mind and appeal to them.
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For forty–one million, you built a playoff team ... You won the exact same number of games that the Yankees won, but the Yankees spent one point four million per win and you paid two hundred and sixty thousand. I know you've taken it in the teeth out there, but the first guy through the wall. It always gets bloody, always. It's the threat of not just the way of doing business, but in their minds it's threatening the game. But really what it's threatening is their livelihoods, it's threatening their jobs, it's threatening the way that they do things. And every time that happens, whether it's the government or a way of doing business or whatever it is, the people are holding the reins, have their hands on the switch. They go bat shit crazy. I mean, anybody who's not building a team right and rebuilding it using your model, they're dinosaurs.
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JOHN HENRY, ‘Moneyball’ Movie 2011
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One Agency Marketing elements
Because yiour property and your circumstances are unique, we pride ourselves on creating high-impact campaigns which are individually tailored and cost-effective. We give your property the very best chance of success using a combination of web, database and signage. Our focus is to ensure that every potential buyer is made aware of your property to create the most competitive environment possible. We also have a commitment to adopting the latest technology to the benefit of our clients.
A–Frame Our bold A–frame ‘Welcome’ signs direct people to our open homes.
Brochures Our professional brochures are distributed at open homes, around the community and in our offices. 16
Signage Our eye–catching signboards contain bold photographs and comprehensive information.
One Agency Myths and Legends MYTH: A larger agency, will achieve a larger price TRUTH: It is not the size of the agency that determines what the market is prepared to pay for your property. Other agencies may claim they have an extended reach with their superior buyer networks. However the truth is no one OWNS buyers. Buyers follow properties not the agent and the buyer network they claim to have were made redundant with the introduction of the internet LEGEND: One Agency Counties will market your property to ALL buyers through effective internet advertising not just the buyers in a single database MYTH: You get what you pay for TRUTH: Other agencies may state this with a little condescending shrug, implying that a company with a low rate or fixed rate success fee will not provide as much service or value than agencies charging a traditional sales commission. The truth is, they do not have a better argument to justify their commissions, so use phrases like this to make you second guess yourself and go against what is basic and economic sense. Put it to the test and ask them next time, what exactly am I getting for fee $$$ LEGEND: One Agency Counties provide exceptional value for money, which enables you to walk away with a greater net profit MYTH: A fixed rate success fee won't motivate the agent to truly get the best price for you? TRUTH: An agents motivation to get the best possible price for their client, sits in the core of their morals, beliefs and business ethics. Their ability to put their clients' needs ahead of their own agenda. It has nothing to do with the fee structure. Also, if you do the math - what may be an extra $20,000 for a vendor, only adds a few hundred dollars into the agents pocket in a traditional sales commission situation. A good agent will get you the best price regardless LEGEND: One Agency Counties is a family of real estate professionals, who exist to protect the interests of those we serve from real estate greed and the unethical behaviours of the industry MYTH: An agent with more listings', is more successful and will bring more buyers TRUTH: Listings are essentially unsold stock, so the number of listings an agent has is hardly a good measure of how successful they are. In comparison, an agent with few or zero advertised listings may have just sold six! The number of listings an agent has does not mean they will bring more buyers either. In fact, the buyers walking through the door of your property could be hijacked and sent over to another property, especially if it is similar to yours. LEGEND: One Agency Counties agents are dedicated to their clients, which means you will never see an agent with a team of minions surrounding them trying to service twenty clients at once. Instead we take on a select number of clients, so we can provide the focused, dedicated service they deserve MYTH: An agent that appraises my property for the highest value is the best agent TRUTH: Appraising a property for the highest value and actually bringing the value and placing it in your pocket are two very different things. Unfortunately, the desperation within the real estate industry has caused many agencies to adopt the principle of "Buying the Listing" - this essentially means, winning the business by over-valuing or promising a high range in order to ensure they are selected. Unfortunately these agents do not see any other value that they can bring to the table so resort to this practice. LEGEND: One Agency Counties agents will always tell you the truth, even if it is disappointing or not what you want to hear. Do not start your relationship with an agent based on misleading information as it is a slippery slope from there which leads to price reductions, disappointment and stress.
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One promise Personal guarantee
At One Agency Counties these are the values tattooed on our hearts ... We treat buyers and sellers as we would like to be treated. The way we sell a home will be the same way we’d sell our grandmother’s (and yes, we do love our grandmothers). We won’t do anything that doesn’t resonate with the core of our character. We won’t beg for business, annoy the public, or otherwise downgrade our profession to that of salespeople, telemarketers and order-takers. Our goal is not be one of many followers, but to lead. We ask better questions to get better answers. We aim to challenge the status quo in a way that is kind, generous, constructive, humorous, redemptive, and truth-full. If something about the industry is broken, we’ll find and then offer a good alternative. Our company mission is to adapt, improve and simplify in order to save time, money and resources for our clients. We market properties based on the concept in the movie “Moneyball”; we spend money in such a way to get as many of the right buyers in the door as possible, but we don’t care about stroking egos. For example; we’ll spend good money on photos and internet but zip on newspapers. The One Agency Counties person you hire to market your home, deals with every buyer; they know all the details. Our clients can relax knowing that their property promoter/home representative/sale ambassador will handle everything so that they can focus on moving. (Did we mention that we don’t like the label ‘salesperson’ or ‘real estate agent’ but haven’t found a good alternative yet?) Competition gets in the way of our client’s best interests. Our people share their buyer database with the whole team because we believe in abundance, not scarcity. We won’t spend precious time showing buyers other properties all over town. Sure, we’ll tell buyers all we know about our listings and we’ll follow up everyone who visits or asks about it, but buyers follow properties, not agents. As protectors, ultimately we work for the homeowners, not buyers. We won’t work with just anyone; This may sound harsh but working with anyone means that there’ll be some would-be sellers who aren’t serious about selling and will expect us to work for free and take up valuable time. Then our genuine sellers end up suffering, no thanks.
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Our Fee No surprises
One Agency Counties is up front about its success fee. There are no other hidden adminstration costs or set up fees. 3% for sales up to $400,000 2% for sales over $400,000
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COUNTIES REALTY
CONTACT INFORMATION One Agency Counties 13c Hall St Pukekohe, Auckland Telephone 09 8900002 Email markball@oneagency.net.nz Licensed Agent REAA 2008 ........................................................................... oneagencyglobal.com