Involvement in the community goes far beyond “do-gooding” and charity work in resource driven towns like Port Hedland in Western Australia, according to top local real estate agencies.
“Community involvement is so important, we really feel like we owe the town,” Louise D’Addario, principal of Crawford Realty South Hedland said.
“It’s a small community and they have done a lot for us, especially starting the business from scratch.
“I would get asked by someone once a week to sponsor a team or support an event and I very rarely say no. In fact, I don’t think I have ever said no. We want to support the community, and help it grow, so we get involved in as much as we can.”
Port Hedland is an isolated, resource driven down, with the top agencies having a particularly strong focus on property management and the needs of their tenants, landlords and developers.
Brett Philp, the licensed manager of Jan Ford Real Estate Port Hedland, said his office is more specifically focused on helping local women in the community.
“There are two tiers to the town; you have the fly in, fly out miners and the permanent residents,” he explained. “We do a lot with the permanent residents. We are involved with Variety Children's Charity, The Royal Flying Doctor Service and the Hedland's Well Women's Centre.
“Jan’s focus of her business has been on women’s issues in the town because usually it is more focused on men because of all the miners.”
Morag Lowe, principal of First National Port Hedland, who has a huge 55 per cent of the market share in the area and over 700 residential properties under management, agreed community involvement in small towns is incredibly important.
“Most of my staff are involved at varying degrees with the community,” she said. “I have taken on the role of president of the Chamber of Commerce and Rick Hockey, our number one sales consultant, is the coach of the football club.”
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