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We sat down with Michael McCullagh, Managing Director of Ray White Commercial Queensland to chat about his 10 year career with the group, what his usual day looks like and his outlook for the greater commercial market in Queensland.
How does your usual day look?
Often when I read these things I feel guilty that I’m not a ‘morning person’ because everyone else seems to be up at 5am, going to the gym, etc. but that’s not naturally me. More often than not I am up for a walk, listening to an audiobook and clearing the mind for the day. I’m also happy to admit on these cold winter mornings I’m more likely to sit up and have a cuppa tea and watch the Today show while reading the papers - I’m not exactly sure when I became my father but here I am.
I tend to work at the other end of the clock and will often be on the laptop after dinner until 10 or 11pm as it’s when I find I get in the zone to do written work eg. submission or IM content, content articles…. Q&As for the marketing team etc.
How did you start your career in commercial real estate?
I started in residential sales at Ray White Stafford in 2010 and followed Alistair Macmillan when he opened the business at Wilston a couple of years later. After a few years I was approached by Peter Camphin, the Ray White QLD CEO at the time, to join the corporate team as a Business Development Executive working across the 180 franchises in QLD. It was a great experience and education working with so many different business owners.
But the itch to be in the field never left, and I returned to Ray White Wilston after a few years before Dan White approached me to lead the Ray White Commercial network. It was a fantastic opportunity to work directly with Dan and the White Family and to grow the commercial operations across 50 commercial businesses throughout Australia, New Zealand and Asia.
From there an opportunity presented itself in late 2019 to partner with Dan and the White Family in Ray White Commercial QLD as Managing Director. This business has been a cornerstone of the White Family group for decades and I’m inspired every day to take it to the next level.
What do you enjoy most about leading the team at Ray White Commercial QLD? What makes RWC different?
I think the entrepreneurial spirit that runs through this entire organisation and it starts with the White Family. The White’s are renowned for putting their people first and have been unwavering in their commitment to develop talent. It’s rare to have a family business last into the fourth generation and almost 120 years, let alone be going from strength to strength.
Knowing that our best days are still ahead of us is one of the most encouraging thoughts and we are relentless in our pursuit of continuous improvement. The whole team at RWCQ believes this and we are all pulling in the same direction.
What are the go-to property marketing methods that you use?
We constantly challenge ourselves not to be ‘cookie-cutter’ in approach and look at each asset with fresh eyes. This can be challenging because many of the traditional elements of a campaign are still the most effective. So we normally look at the likely price-point of the asset, the buyer profile, asset class etc and recommend the most comprehensive campaign that fits within the owner’s budget. We never know where our best buyer is going to come from and it’s far more expensive to undersell an asset than to over-market it.
We are still the largest advertiser in press advertising but we are doing more paid social media than ever before - there is no substitute for quality marketing.
Tell me about a unique success story?
It’s from years ago when I was selling residential and everyone said ‘You can’t run an auction on Christmas Eve’ but the auctioneer and I put on our Santa’s hats and stood in the front yard before maybe 3-4 bidders. Most of the neighbours were on holidays so there was just the 6 of us but we sold it under the hammer! Getting a hold of the solicitors was another story… but we got there still.. A good lesson in ignoring the naysayers.
What is your stance on auctions?
I think for agents that understand the process, it is the best way to transact real estate. It intensifies the process for all parties involved (including the agent) and sometimes that is not suitable but personally it is the first method of sale I think of and work backwards from there. Horses for courses though...
What’s the one thing you know now, that you wish you knew when you first started out?
In the great words from Dory in Finding Nemo, “Just keep swimming”
What is your outlook for the greater commercial market over the next 12 months?
We are seeing continued demand for investment stock with good tenant covenants and with interest rates at current levels and the volatility of other investment asset classes, I expect this to continue for the foreseeable future. No one wants to leave money in the bank at the moment, and if you’re borrowing it, it’s very cheap to do so. There is greater scrutiny on tenants and any risk will be priced accordingly but the return and opportunity for annuity style income will keep yields stable.
The leasing market will be more closely aligned with the economic recovery but there will be opportunities in this as well. The next 12 months will be more of an active investment market than a passive one.
Michael McCullagh
mmccullagh@raywhite.com
Phone number: +61 403 426 474
