Boilover as ex-head hunter lands major industry award

Media release - 3^rd August, 2016

Former executive recruiter James Baker, Senior Sales Agent at Raine & Horne Palm Beach/Avalon, has crowned his stellar real estate career with victory last night in the competitive Top Salesperson (Dollar Value) category at the 2016 Raine & Horne National Awards.

The award event, held at the spectacular Hamilton Island Conference Centre, attracted more than 200 of Raine & Horne’s best and brightest from its national and international network of offices, with Mr Baker’s win proving one of the evening’s highlights.

“James joined Raine & Horne after a stellar career in Sydney and London, where he specialised in IT recruitment,” said Angus Raine, Executive Chairman of Raine & Horne.

“He has beaten hundreds of sales agents across Australia for this award and the win is testament to his IT background. James is renowned for ticking every box and nothing happens – whether it’s a client meeting, appraisal, listing or sale – without reference to a system or process.

“Underlining James’s burgeoning real estate career, he recently appointed his second executive assistant, which enables him to deliver seamless service to his clients.”

Mr Baker finished ahead of Dib Chidiac from Raine & Horne Concord and the 2015 winner in this category, Peter Diamantidis from Raine & Horne St Marys. Mr Diamantidis turned the tables by winning the Top Salesperson (Number of Sales) category. This was the Western Sydney agent’s second victory in this category following his win last year.

Other big winners on the night were Sydney real estate juggernaut Raine & Horne Double Bay-Bondi Beach and Adelaide’s Raine & Horne Semaphore, located in the South Australian capital’s north-west.

Raine & Horne Double Bay-Bondi Beach Co-Principal, Ric Serrao, won the Top Salesperson (Principal Dollar Value) category, with his colleagues Mark and Barry Goldman finishing in this category’s top 10.

Raine & Horne Double Bay-Bondi Beach continued its decade long domination of the office awards with wins in the dollar value and number of sales categories. The Eastern Suburbs firm scored first in the Top Office (Auction Listings) category, and also took out the Office Marketing Excellence award.

Mr Serrao finished behind Adelaide’s Kate Smith, Principal of Raine & Horne Semaphore, in the Top Salesperson (Principal Number of Sales) category, with the sales ace taking first place in the Top Salesperson (Auction Listing) category.

“Raine & Horne Double Bay-Bondi Beach operates in one of Australia’s most prestigious markets, however Ric, Barry, Mark and Martin Maskin, the firm’s fourth owner, never rest on their laurels and are always looking for a competitive edge,” said Mr Raine.

“Martin, Ric, Barry and Mark have developed a strong sales team, along with a well-oiled back office, which is the engine room of Raine & Horne Double Bay-Bondi Beach’s continuous success. They have fantastic administrators and marketing specialists, who support the sales team.”

Mr Raine singled out Mr Serrao, who started his real estate career in 1989, for special mention.

“Ric is constantly looking to evolve his operation and even took himself out of his business for a stint to learn all he could about how social media and the latest digital technologies can help him land more appraisals, listings and sales,” said Mr Raine.

“He put a team in place to help him while he got up to speed on the latest digital technologies and he was the first agent in the Raine & Horne network to stream an auction live through Facebook.”

Other big winners at the 2016 Raine & Horne National Awards included Raine & Horne Batemans Bay, which scored first place in the Top Coastal Office (Dollar Value) category. In the Top Rural Office (Dollar Value) category, Raine & Horne Goondiwindi beat Raine & Horne Rural Sydney into second place.

Raine & Horne Bathurst took the top gong in the Top Country Office (Dollar Value) category from Raine & Horne Southern Highlands and Raine & Horne Dubbo.

Another popular winner was Brett Hunter, Co-Principal of Raine & Horne Terrigal-Avoca Beach-Saratoga and Raine & Horne Commercial Erina, who was named this year’s winner of the Max Raine Award for Excellence.

“Brett is an appropriate winner of this award as he’s made every post a winner since switching to Raine & Horne a decade or so ago,” said Mr Raine.

“It’s also an apt win as my father Max Raine has taken a special interest in the progress of Brett’s business given he spends a fair amount of time based at Terrigal on the Central Coast.

“Under the Raine & Horne banner, Brett, along with his father Michael and brother Garth, have expanded their business interests and opened an office at Saratoga and a Raine & Horne Commercial office at Erina.

“They have also embraced the Raine & Horne brand and Brett has played a very proactive role in the brand, marketing and technology initiatives we’ve rolled out over the past decade and I look forward to working with him for many years to come.”

The 2016 Raine & Horne National Awards for Excellence winners include:

Top Salesperson (Dollar Value)

James Baker, Raine & Horne Palm Beach/Avalon

Top Salesperson (Number of Sales)

Peter Diamantidis, Raine & Horne St Marys

Top Salesperson (Auction Listings)

Ric Serrao, Raine & Horne Double Bay-Bondi Beach

Top Principal (Dollar Value)

Ric Serrao, Raine & Horne Double Bay-Bondi Beach

Top Principal (Number of Sales)

Kate Smith, Raine & Horne Semaphore

Max Raine Award for Excellence

Brett Hunter, Raine & Horne Terrigal-Avoca Beach-Saratoga and Raine & Horne Commercial Erina

Top Office (Dollar Value)

Raine & Horne Double Bay-Bondi Beach

Top Office (Number of Sales)

Raine & Horne Double Bay-Bondi Beach

Top Office (Auction Listings)

Raine & Horne Double Bay-Bondi Beach

Top Rural Office (Dollar Value)

Raine & Horne Goondiwindi

Top Country Office (Dollar Value)

Raine & Horne Bathurst

Top Coastal Office (Dollar Value)

Raine & Horne Batemans Bay

-ENDS-

For further media information please contact:

Angus Raine, Executive Chairman, Raine & Horne on 0409 920 697

Andrew Harrington, National Communications Manager, Raine & Horne on 02 9258 5400