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WITH more than 40 years of combined local knowledge, Steve Gruevski and John Metaxas, both of Ray White, have banded together.
The experienced duo are excited to launch their new business in Melbourne’s north-east suburb of Mernda.
Both Mr Gruevski and Mr Metaxas have been in the Ray White family for many years, and have also both spent time working in other agencies around the area.
For them, opening their new business under the Ray White brand was a given.
“For us, Ray White feels like home, and the opportunity to open our own office was one that we couldn’t let pass us by,” Mr Gruevski said.
The pair have built up a reputation for a high level of service in their respective areas, and they leapt at the opportunity to take the next step into business ownership.
“The idea actually came about at our Ray White Victoria awards night last year. What started as a pipedream eventuated into discussions, planning and ultimately the big step to establish our own business, and we couldn’t be happier,” Mr Metaxas said.
Mernda is 40 minutes north-east of Melbourne’s CBD. It’s a relatively young area, with the establishment of new residential estates in the past 10 years.
“There is a huge opportunity for us to penetrate this market even further than we already have, especially at a time when this area is set to really explode over the next few years,” Mr Gruevski said.
“There is a lot of construction work going on at the moment from residential subdivisions, to shopping malls. There are still so many leafy green spaces though, and we have easy access with the train line going into the city.”
The area is characterized by townhouses and bigger family homes, with the value steadily climbing year on year, and the main demographic young couples and families wanting to build a life in an area that has it all.
“We both live in the local area; it is a really wonderful place to have raised our families with great access to schools and universities,” Mr Metaxas said.
“We are surrounded by Mill Park, South Morang and the Plenty Road Corridor -it is the perfect hub for us to build our business in.”
True to the Ray White way, the new Mernda office will act almost exclusively as an auction business, a point of difference to the other agencies in the area who work mostly in private sales.
“We know auctions work; regardless of what happens in the marketplace, we will stick to this method which gets the best results for our clients,” Mr Gruevski said.
“We are both auctioneers ourselves and live and breathe auctions, so we are very excited about bringing that energy into our business.”
Not letting the COVID-19 pandemic knock their spirits, the team was already in the process of setting up online auctions, to ensure they can continue getting the best results possible for their clients.
“The great thing is that we are all very familiar with the Ray White systems and how everything works, so we are ready to hit the ground running to provide the best possible service to our customers,” Mr Metaxas said.
A true family business, John’s wife Helen Metaxas will run the operational side of the business, while their son Jacob will assist in the sales business, with more recruiting on the horizon.
“The main goal for our first 12 months is to really get a foothold in this area, become well known, achieve strong market share and growth in our new pocket and provide the best customer service in the market,”Mr Metaxas said.
The team has a strong focus on actively developing relationships in the area, and promoting themselves through digital marketing and just getting out and about to meet the community.
“We are thrilled to take this next step with such a fantastic group, for its training, support and corporate structure. No other brand can give this level of support, and it’s immeasurable to us as business owners,” Mr Gruevski said.
“Once we get in front of vendors, we are very confident that we can get their business and get them a fantastic result.”
Ray White Victoria Stephen Dullens warmly welcomed the team into their new office.
“We are incredibly proud that Steve, John and Helen are now operating as Ray White Mernda - what a real joint force,” Mr Dullens said.
“Both John and Steve are well established within our group and the Ray White community is always welcoming of energic, ambitious leaders - in fact, we are proud to have so many in the industry. I personally am very excited to see what they and their team will achieve for the Mernda community.”
“We look forward to supporting them as they continue to provide the best possible service to their customers.” Mr Dullens concluded.
