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An inaugural awards night was held recently in Western Australia which highlighted the agents in the industry that have embraced new technologies.
Over 80 real estate professionals attended the Openn Negotiation Excellence Awards, which celebrated the best-performing agents and agencies that use Openn Negotiation.
Openn Negotiation is an online bidding platform that aims to improve transparency for both buyers and sellers and ultimately to help restore people’s trust in the industry.
Co-founder and managing director Peter Gibbons congratulated all finalists and winners as well as all the agents who have embraced technology and transparency when it comes to property.
“We developed Openn to ensure, with the fast-moving world of technology, agents remain central to the real estate sales industry well into the future, and the agents here are world leaders in making this a reality,” Mr Gibbons said.
The attendees also heard from the president of REIWA, Hayden Groves, who said that Openn Negotiation has a strong future in the real estate industry.
“It [Openn] tries to perfect the process of real estate transactions. They say nothing is perfect, but this is pretty close to perfect I reckon in terms of how it functions,” Mr Groves said.
The winner of the Openn Negotiation Agent of the Year award was Nick Wallace from LJ Hooker Applecross, with the award being based on the total average over measures including number of properties uploaded, percentage sold, days on market and other select criteria.
Mr Wallace also walked away with Openn Negotiation of the Year for his listing in Mount Pleasant, WA. He said that the platform had completely changed how he operates as an agent.
“It has made me a better agent and I am far more engaged with my buyers and my sellers throughout the process,” the agent said.
Mr Wallace said that he sees technology as an enabler and would continue to use the platform in his career.
“I love the auction strategy, but this [Openn Negotiation] is just 100 per cent better than that. It means we can get the best possible price for our sellers,” the agent said.
Agency of the Year went to Xceed Real Estate, whose agent Jonathan Marlow also walked away with the recognition for agent who had listed the most properties with Openn.
Mr Marlow said that it was nice to get recognition, particularly given that he had only been using the platform for a year.
“It has been a year where you are bringing in a brand-new strategy and somewhat pioneering it, so it’s nice to have that success with it,” Mr Marlow said.
Mr Marlow knew he was on to a winner once he met with Mr Gibbons from Openn Negotiation and knew he had to upskill himself.
“You see a lot of fads come and go and I don’t think this is a fad. I see this as the first genuine initiative I’ve seen in my 25 years,” Mr Marlow said.
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