Major growth and tumbling records for Ray White North Lakes

HAVING started his career in real estate in 2007, Darren Suhle always dreamed of owning his own business. Twelve years down the track, and the Ray White North Lakes Principal has seen records tumble, exponential growth and now manages over 1,000 properties.

“I actually began my career with Ray White and when I left, I always wanted to return to own my own business, simply because I love the brand and the corporate structure far surpassed anything I’d ever been exposed to in the real estate world,” Mr Suhle said.

“My wife Lisa and I were having meetings with Tony Warland (Ray White Queensland CEO) to see how we could make our dreams come true but we were struggling to have finances in place to make this a reality.

“The three of us devised a plan where Lisa and I could list and sell out of another Ray White office to enable us to open our own business in the future, with that subsequently paying off.

“The support we received from Tony and the Ray White Group throughout was outstanding.

“We were picking up properties in the North Lakes area and continuing to build our name in that region and it got to the point where we had four sales consultants working with us at the time the office opened.

“We opened our own office doors seven years ago in North Lakes, only a very small office to keep our overheads low, and we were able to get a listing on day one and we actually ended up listing 40 properties in our first month.”

As the business continued to grow, Mr and Mrs Suhle opened a second office in Mango Hill as they no longer had enough space in their North Lakes office, and from there the growth continued exponentially.

“What started out as just Lisa and I, has turned into a business where we have 26 in the team, and we're incredibly proud to see how far the team has come,” he said.

“A year after we opened the doors we moved into property management and we now manage more than 1,000 properties.

“This is a milestone we’ve always wanted to reach but we’ve now reset our goals and are wanting to kick on to bigger and better numbers.

“This year, we also broke the sales record for North Lakes, with 16 Kennedy Court (pictured below) selling for $1,550,000 before the property could make it to auction.”

For Mr and Mrs Suhle, the team was always something incredibly important to them, and they believed it was no longer working splitting their time between two offices.

“We enjoy every minute working with our team, they’re like family,” he said.

“The fact is we wouldn’t be anywhere near as successful without our fantastic team and we wanted to give them all our undivided attention.

“The office building on Discovery Drive was one I’d long admired and the opportunity became available to take the entire upper level and it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass on.

“We’re now all under one roof and we love being able to say good morning and goodbye every day to all the people who work so hard with us daily.

Ray White Queensland CEO Tony Warland said he was proud of how far Mr and Mrs Suhle had come and paid testament to the North Lakes team.

“What Darren and Lisa have been able to build in the space of just seven years is nothing short of remarkable,” Mr Warland said.

“The average property management rent roll is 350 properties, so passing the 1,000 mark is a real achievement.

“When you join that together with a suburb sales record, the incredible growth in their team and the impressive new North Lakes office, this is a real success story.

“It also proves what can be achieved when you have the right people in your team, and of course, the business flourishes from this in serving the needs of the real estate community.

“But the one thing that tops all of these achievements is, just like our own company, we’re so proud of this family business.”