Tools for your business

Make every result work harder online

Priority: Pilot Update, High – National

👓 1 minute read

The price and address of every sale or lease are already online. What prospective clients cannot see is the judgement, local knowledge and problem-solving that produced the result. 

A network trial is testing how a five-minute form can help staff turn that experience into searchable content across five channels.

Before we share the background, we’d first like to thank the entire FN Collie & Tierney team for agreeing to pilot the network’s inaugural AI First Content Strategy, and especially Becca Evans who is testing the process for all of us.

The AI First Content Strategy is designed to captures the decisions, hurdles and local knowledge behind each result – information that cannot be found in a standard sold or leased listing, and information that is vital to AI search visibility.

Sales agents and property managers complete a short JotForm after a settlement or new tenancy. Using a carefully engineered AI prompt, the information is then transformed into a website case study and ready-to-share content for Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Each story names the team member involved, helping demonstrate their judgement and local knowledge to prospective clients searching through Google or AI tools. It also prioritises key information in the first 30% of content - exactly where AI focuses.

The pilot aims to build individual digital authority while removing much of the time normally required to create useful local content. First National's goal is to scale the strategy up and offer it to all offices soon. 

Stay tuned for updates.

ChatGPT can finish more of the job

Priority: New capability – National

👓 1 minute read

Most agents use ChatGPT for individual tasks such as drafting an email, summarising information or improving a listing description. ChatGPT Work changes the starting point.

Rather than returning an answer and leaving you to complete the remaining steps, it can use approved files and connected applications, move through a multi-stage task and produce a finished document, spreadsheet, presentation or report for review.

For an agency, that could mean turning campaign data into a weekly vendor report, preparing a local market briefing, creating a meeting presentation or converting a compliance update into a staff checklist.

The opportunity is not simply better prompting. It is deciding which repeatable parts of your work can be delegated safely, what information ChatGPT should use and where human approval must remain.

👉 READ more about ChatGPT Work

What should your network take off your desk?

Priority: Member support – National

👓 1 minute read

Agency principals now face managing far more than sales, property management and marketing. Compliance, cybersecurity, fragmented technology, AI governance, recruitment and succession planning all compete for attention.

In a new Elite Agent feature, CEO David Edwards explains how First National’s cooperative model is intended to help members manage these pressures without taking control of their businesses.

David describes the balance as 70:30. Members retain authority over the 70 per cent shaped by their local market, team and business judgement. The National Support Office (NSO) provides direction and shared capability across the 30% where consistency, specialist knowledge and collective scale matter.

The article also explores integrated technology, new recruitment approaches, succession support and what the next generation of agency owners expects from a network.

👉 READ the full Elite Agent feature

Why saying yes to media pays off

Priority: Member brand exposure – National

👓  2 minute read

Five recent radio interviews delivered more than 37 minutes of editorial coverage across 2GB Sydney, ABC Sydney, 2ST, ABC Alice Springs and Canberra radio.

Network Communications & Corporate Affairs Manager Stewart Bunn, First National Daystar (Revesby, NSW) principal Michael Sleiman, First National Collective (Wellington, NZ) Salesperson William Yip, and First National Alice Springs Principal Eli Melky were invited to provide expert commentary on open-home surveillance, housing market conditions and disability accommodation.

Unlike advertising, these interviews placed First National spokespeople in independently produced conversations about issues already concerning buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants. The coverage connected the brand with practical advice, credible market knowledge and strong local insight across metropolitan and regional audiences.

There were tangible benefits too. First National and local office names received repeated mentions, 2GB’s presenter personally endorsed Michael’s expertise, and 2ST directed listeners to the First National website for further information.

The value continues after the broadcast. Interview excerpts can be shared through social media, newsletters, listing presentations and local prospecting, while every successful appearance strengthens relationships with journalists and increases the likelihood that First National members will be approached again.

For members, the message is simple: saying yes to a media opportunity when Stewart Bunn contacts you can turn the knowledge you use every day into public authority for you, your office and the network.

Listen to the interviews here:

2GB: Sydney’s real auction clearance rate, Michael Sleiman

ABC Alice Springs: The housing crisis in Alice Springs, Eli Melky

ABC Sydney: Say cheese, are you being recorded at open home inspections, Michael Sleiman

2CC Canberra Breakfast: Say cheese, are you being recorded at open home inspections, Stewart Bunn

2ST Southern Highlands: Say cheese, are you being recorded at open home inspections, Stewart Bunn

Advertise your next role free

Priority: New recruitment resource - High, Australia

👓 1 minute read

Recruiting can be expensive, particularly when a general job board may not reach people with real estate experience. Then there’s the annoyance of SEEK and Indeed’s problematic Employer Reviews board, which enables disgruntled former staff to take a swing at you, and there’s no right of reply for the employer.

Elite Agent Jobs now allows agencies to advertise standard employment listings to an audience of 45,000 monthly readers free of charge. Roles are presented to an industry audience that includes agents, property managers, leaders, marketers and other real estate professionals. 

Employers enter the position details online and can use an optional AI tool to help prepare the advertisement. Each listing is reviewed before publication and becomes searchable on the platform.

Paid upgrades are available for additional prominence, newsletter exposure or managed placement, but the standard listing remains free.

For offices recruiting now or developing a future talent pipeline, it provides another practical channel alongside referrals, social media and existing employment platforms.

👉 POST a role free with Elite Agent Jobs

Chris Hanley talks leadership in real estate

Priority: High, Australia & New Zealand

👓 39 minute watch

Who's actually teaching your people right now?

Most agencies say development matters. Very few have someone inside the business whose actual job is to make the people better. In a difficult market, that gap stops being theoretical and starts showing up in the numbers.

Chris Hanley OAM of First National Byron (NSW) and Fiona Blaney - founder of Real Plus - talk to Samantha McLean about what coaching actually is, who's doing it inside agencies, and why most people confuse information with technique. 

Property managers, Hermoine Gardiner has a message

Priority: Member benefit – National

👓 1 minute read

Asking prices vs sale prices: what the numbers really show

Priority: Member brand exposure – Australia/New Zealand

👓  2 minute read

A debate has opened up over New Zealand's housing market, with listing portal figures and completed sales telling very different stories.

Realestate.co.nz reports national asking prices have barely moved in three years – down just 3.2 per cent to an average of $849,362 in August 2026. Chief executive Sarah Wood describes a steadier market that has settled into a new equilibrium, with almost 45% more properties for sale than three years ago giving buyers far more choice.

William Yip of Team YIP at First National Collective in Wellington sees it differently. He argues asking prices reflect seller expectations, not what homes actually sell for – and on completed sales, he puts the national drop at close to 20% from the peak, and over 25% in Wellington. He links the extra listings to financial pressure and expects a turnaround once borrowing costs ease.

One point for local readers: Yip names Canterbury, Marlborough and parts of the South Island as areas that have held up better than most.

👉 READ the full article