Local not-for-profit real estate agency, HomeGround, has been nominated in the REIA Awards for Excellence 2022, proving you can be successful while also making a difference.
The agency is the ACT finalist in the Small Residential Agency of the Year category, while Business Development Manager Maria Edwards is vying to be named Business Development Manager of the Year.
“Our nominations feel fantastic. It’s always a team effort to grow a business and we’re well supported by Community Housing Canberra (CHC),” says Ms Edwards.
“It’s very exciting for us to be recognised at a national level as a finalist in these awards. We work really hard as a not-for-profit agency to increase awareness about affordable housing in the ACT.”
HomeGround was established almost three years ago, and Ms Edwards has been with the agency since day one.
She says she’s proud to have the brand recognised on a national level as awareness of their work isn’t as widespread as she’d like.
“We have great stories to tell about people we help across Canberra. We have both market rentals as well as affordable rentals, so we give landlord alternatives that they perhaps haven’t considered before,” says Ms Edwards.
“Having your property managed through us contributes to social change and ending homelessness. This nomination is proof that as a property management company, we’re doing a good job. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t have been recognised.”
One of HomeGround’s key policies is scrapping land tax for landlords who choose to invest through the affordable housing scheme, which Ms Edwards says no other licensed agency in Canberra offers.
Ms Edwards would like to say thank you to everyone who nominated them and for recognising the importance of social enterprise in the ACT.
“Canberra is a very giving community and are socially aware, so having the opportunity to represent the ACT at the awards is an honour,” she says.
REIA President, Hayden Groves, says the best of the best of Australian real estate will be celebrated on the night, and the awards will have a “new look” this year.
Mr Groves also says it’s encouraging to see 45 women finalists this year, an increase of 60 per cent from the year before.
“Drawn from the 2021 winners of State and Territory Real Estate Institutes Awards for Excellence, the REIA National Awards for Excellence are Australia’s only national, independently judged, and practitioner-led real estate award across Australia,” he says.
Twenty-one awards are on offer, and there were 107 entries received, which Mr Groves says was a significant increase on last year.
The REIA National Awards for Excellence will be hosted at Zinc at Federation Square in Melbourne on 7 April.
ACT REIA National Awards for Excellence 2022 Finalists
Achievement Award
Bianca Way, Home by Holly
Community Service Award
Sentia Real Estate
Innovation Award
Canberra Property Partners
Operational Support Award
Juliana Rocha, Maria Selleck Properties
Operational Leadership Award
The Property Collective
Marketer of the Year
Sally Strang, Home by Holly
Business Development Manager of the Year
Maria Edwards, HomeGround Real Estate Canberra
Buyers’ Agent of the Year
Clair Corby, Capital Buyers Agency
Residential Property Manager of the Year
Emily Larsen, Independent Property Group
Residential Property Management Team of the Year
The Property Collective
Small Residential Agency of the Year
HomeGround Real Estate Canberra
Large Residential Agency of the Year
Independent Property Group
Commercial Agency of the Year
Sentia Real Estate
Commercial Property Manager of the Year
Kadison News, Burgess Rawson
Commercial Salesperson of the Year
Guy Randell, Burgess Rawson
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