Elaine Mills speaks to SCHWARTZWILLIAMS about the innovations she has introduced in her business, including employing virtual assistants in the Philippines to do the administration for her property managers.
Elaine Mills was the recipient of the Innovation Award at the recent REINT 2017 Awards for Professional Excellence.
Mills spoke to SCHWARTZWILLIAMS about her far-ranging innovations, including employing virtual assistants in the Philippines to do the administration for her property managers.
Mills manages properties in the Northern Territory that are so remote they don't have piped water.
How did you first get into real estate? Have you always worked in the field, or did you so something else previously?
My husband and I had two rental properties in suburbs of Darwin, in the Northern Territory, that were not being looked after the way I expected them to be, so I did the REINT Agent's Representative Course and commenced in 1999 as a property manager and achieved REINT Property Manager of the Year in the same year.
My work background since leaving school has been in administration in private enterprise and the NT government, from answering phones to managerial roles (in teams) of up to 10 people.
You have your own property management business, Elaine Mills Property Management. What made you decide to start your own business?
People in the Real Estate Industry had been telling me I should start my own property management business for years. The reason I started my own business in 2006 was to work with clients and have the ability to make decisions with them on the spot, about how to manage their investment.
I could also work from home and did so for 10 years.
Congratulations on winning the Innovation Award at the recent 2017 REINT Awards for Professional Excellence. Can you tell us about some of the innovations you have introduced in your business?
Some of the innovations we have introduced are:
Can you tell us about an interesting property you have worked with recently?
We have recently purchased a rent roll of 100 rural properties adding to our existing 100 rural properties. The interesting part is some of the newly acquired properties have no town water or bore water. There is one central watering point in the small townships where they are, and tenants cart their own water. Due to their location, water is too expensive to have piped to them and the blocks are too small to have a bore drilled.
Is real estate a good profession for work / life balance and equal opportunity?
Work/life balance depends on the individual and can be very hard to balance. You have to set expectations for your clients and yourself.
I believe real estate is an equal opportunity profession as you can work from an office or work from home. With the technology that is available, working hours have become very flexible.
If you could change one thing about the real estate industry, what would it be?
Have the training programme for agent's representatives the same throughout each state in Australia.
Where do you live now, and where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world?
I live on a rural property in Howard Springs, NT, with my husband and daughter. Where would I live in the world – somewhere where the weather is 25 degrees all year round.
Read more about Top End real estate:
REINT 2017 Awards for Professional Excellence recognise the Top End's best in real estate
A 60% surge in buyer enquiries points to a stronger Darwin property market