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Craig Pontey and Michael Finger have secured the services of a former network man for their recently established McGrath Double Bay office.
James Ledgerwood brings his sales associate Ben Fraser to the McGrath Double Bay outfit, with co-principal Mr Pontey stating that they are “exceptionally pleased to have their professionalism, energy and skill levels under our roof”.
“Since we joined McGrath late last year, we are in the process of building our team, and we have been very considered in our recruitment process,” Mr Pontey continued.
“To have James and Ben as our first major appointments sets the tone for us at McGrath Double Bay with respect to who we want to attract to join us.”
It’s a return to the network for Mr Ledgerwood, who’s had a 13-year friendship with McGrath managing director and chief executive John McGrath.
Having worked with the group from 2011 to 2017 while he lived on the Gold Coast, Mr Ledgerwood said: “His mentoring has allowed the pathway for my own growth and development.
“His door has always been open to me, despite my working for other agencies in the past few years.”
According to him, he’s “thrilled to return”.
“I’ve always valued the McGrath brand, and now have this exciting opportunity to work with Craig and Michael to service our clients — both vendors and buyers, as ultimately they need to be our focus,” Mr Ledgerwood said.
Mr McGrath himself believes the returning recruit “has what it takes to be one of Australia’s leading agents”.
“Under the experienced guidance of Craig and Michael, he should flourish over the next decade,” he stated.
“I’m personally very excited to welcome James back to McGrath.”
Mr Pontey acknowledges the way that Mr Ledgerwood has “established himself” since his return to the Sydney eastern suburbs market.
“Over time [he] has achieved excellent outcomes for his clients, whereby customer service has long been his focus. This has been reflected by some excellent sales that include setting the Bondi apartment record in November 2022 when he achieved $8.4 million for the Kew Penthouse at 14/334 Bondi Road, Bondi,” Mr Pontey said.
Under the leadership of his co-principals, Mr Ledgerwood is set to continue his focus on the prestige market across Sydney’s eastern suburbs across both the beachside markets to Bellevue Hill and Vaucluse.
He sees 2023 as “an interesting year for both buyers and vendors”.
“We are now well and truly in a totally different set of economic factors to the past two to three years with changing sentiment both in Australia and internationally,” Mr Ledgerwood said.
But, despite those headwinds at play, the agent acknowledges that the top-end luxury market “has seen almost no downturn”.
“If anything, it is the strongest we have ever seen it. This is demonstrated by the number of record sales transacted in the last quarter of 2022. I expect this trend to continue at the top end throughout 2023,” he concluded.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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