Bronte Manuel has only been in the real estate business since 2008, but the 26-year-old has already mastered the art of auctioneering and plain talking.

"People say competition auctioneering is a lot different to real life auctions, but I guess the thing about entering competitions is you basically critique yourself on an annual or even a monthly basis,” says Manuel, who recently won the 2015 REISA Auctioneering Championship. “You’re put into some of the hardest positions you can possibly be in. To be a good auctioneer in general, you need to do competitions. It helps you have more control on a Saturday and Sunday because it’s training for dealing with a person’s prized possession.

Manuel worked as a personal trainer and massage therapist and was studying naturopathy before he entered real estate in Loxton, a Riverland community where there are 7,000 homes. Last year, he met Adelaide real estate luminary Anthony Toop when Toop judged the Golden Gavel competition run by the Society of Auctioneers and Appraisers.

Manuel said he knew that if he ever moved to the city, Toop&Toop is where he wanted to work as the firm was very big on auctions. “It just needed to be right because I didn’t want to move [to Adelaide] with any false promises, I would have been in a world of trouble,” he says.

He has been with Toop&Toop for almost 12 months. “I do a lot more auctions, I find myself doing up to four auctions on a Saturday for fellow agents and I love it because I can now take all of my properties to auction,” he says. “That didn’t work in the country because you didn’t have the buyer pool to take every property to auction. I just love it.”