Canberra property powerhouse Luton Properties is celebrating 20 years in the real estate business.
“I’m very proud of it,” says founder and director, Richard Luton, of his eponymous brand. “Our brand makes it easier for people to sell their homes”.
Luton Properties burst onto the scene in 1999 as Richard Luton Properties, when Luton took a risk, leaving his job with Peter Blackshaw where he’d sold over 500 homes, to start his own agency. The company rebranded to Luton Properties in 2009.
“I had three daughters, we thought … ‘how are we going to get them jobs?’ Let’s start with our own real estate agency, a boutique agency in Manuka.
“Everybody said we were ridiculous when there’s already 13 other real estate agencies here; but we did it, and we grew and grew and within a year we’d opened an office in Dickson. The next year we opened an office in Tuggeranong, then Weston Creek. Now we’ve got nine offices; we’ve just opened one up recently in Braidwood as well, that’s only in the last six months.”
He says the Luton brand has gone from strength to strength, with particular success in recent times, securing more market share than any other agency in the ACT. The brand continues to expand, with plans for further growth over the Canberra region and Southern NSW.
“We’ve had more listings uploaded [to All Homes] in the last three years than any other agency in Canberra, as far as residential homes … which is around 15% market share.
“We need to stay there; we need to keep ahead of the innovation and we need to keep providing exceptional service. I’m a big believer in communication, not only with my team members but with buyers and sellers as well,” Luton says.
Luton says the success of the brand comes down to the dedicated team working in Luton offices across Canberra, who are like “a family” who “all work together really well”.
“I’m not a negative person, I hate negativity … I want everybody to be positive; I suppose that’s part of the business’s difference.
“I suppose I consider myself as a work colleague rather than the owner, I work with everybody … I’ve got a strong management team and co-directors in place, as well.
“I’ve got a great team working with me, and they also need the credit,” he says.
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