Real Estate

Agent hits half a century milestone with LJ Hooker

LJ Hooker is celebrating the achievements of NSW real estate agent Michael Shay, who this month notched an incredible 50 years of service with Australia’s largest real estate network.

Mr Shay became the fourth agent in the company’s history to bring up the magical milestone, when he clocked on for duty at LJ Hooker Ballina last week.

“Just the other morning, my wife, Pauline, asked me if I thought that I would be in the real estate industry for so long - I said ‘no’ because back then I never thought that far ahead,” he said.

“But I’ll tell you one thing – I’ve enjoyed every minute of those 50 years.”

Mr Shay started out in real estate as a 20-yearold at John Deegan and Company in Lismore, in 1972. Later that year the business became he has been with the company ever since.

He took over the business at Ballina with colleague Dick Campbell in 1973 and the pair later opened Alstonville. He later sold his share in that business to concentrate on Ballina Lennox Head.

Mr Shay still on the job when his boss handed him a map of what was a much smaller Lismore.

“He told me to start on the eastern side and knock on every door in every street until you get to the western side of town, then go north to south,” he recalled.

“I had to ask these people I’d just met if they wanted to sell. Of course, I didn’t have a business card back in those days, so a lot of people rang Mr Deegan to make sure I was legit and wasn’t just canvasing the street! I must have done okay as we ended up with a few listings.”

For his golden jubilee, Mr Shay was presented with a giant cake, as well as a commemorative plaque and bottle of his favourite red wine. He was delighted by a surprise visit from his former colleague Paul Moore, now Network Performance Manager. He also received a congratulatory video call from LJ Hooker Chairman L Janusz Hooker.

“We congratulate Michael on his amazing achievement, he embodies the LJ Hooker family culture instilled by my grandfather,” Mr Hooker said.

“We appreciate his ongoing dedication and contribution to the brand, and from - what I’ve been told - he is only warming up.”

Mr Shay has seen a generation of changes, not just in the real estate, but the region he calls home. He remembers the now bustling Ballina as a ‘seaside village’ made sugar cane farmers.

When he began his journey in the 1970s, auctions were not a frequent event. In fact, to promote more sales through auctions, Mr Shay fondly recalls LJ Hooker running an ‘auction competition’, where the agent who held the most auctions won an overseas holiday to destinations such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

He would spends days in the car with potential buyers taking them to inspect properties, forming many new friendships. Now prospective purchasers look at property online before attending open homes.

“One of my most exciting days was when we released some land at Skennars Head and sold 42 lots on the morning of the release back in 1989,” Mr Shay said.

“It was just a grass paddock and they were selling for $47,500 to $150,000 - now those blocks with beautiful ocean views are worth $2m plus.”

Stephen Mutton, LJ Hooker Head of Network Performance Australia described Mr Shay as a true gentleman and an inspiration for many within the industry.

“Michael is incredibly well respected and offers a wealth of knowledge accumulated over his decades of hard work,” he said.

“He has sold thousands of properties and successfully marketed almost 40 subdivisions in a region that has undergone rapid change and it doesn’t look like he’s slowing down.”

Mr Shay has no plans for retirement, saying “if I did, I’d drive my wife mad!”. Regardless of when he calls it a day, another generation of Shay is on the way at LJ Hooker. His three sons Kent, Dean and Luke work alongside their dad at Ballina and Lennox Head.

“Well, we do call it the family brand, LJ Hooker,” Mr Shay said.

“It’s been that way since Adam was a boy and we think with the strength of the name and the brand, why wouldn’t you want to be part of it.”

25,000 social housing dwellings needed in budget

Australia’s chronic underinvestment in social and affordable housing is worsening the housing affordability crisis and aggravating the cost to other areas of the Budget, with at least 25,000 new social housing dwellings needed in this year’s budget, according to a position paper released by Everybody’s Home, the national campaign to end homelessness.

The Budget Position Paper includes previously unreleased modeling which shows underinvestment in social housing is causing foregone public sector cost offsets and private million per annum currently, rising to

These take the form of added costs addressing homelessness, mental health, domestic violence, alcohol/ substance abuse, but also reduced household spending and lower community wellbeing.

The submission also notes that constructing 25,000 social homes per year would generate an annual economic output of $12.9 billion, and create 15,700 jobs.

The paper makes the case for expanded social and affordable housing, to give people on low and modest incomes greater housing choice. In the 12 months to January 2022, the asking rent on a three-bedroom home increased by 13.5 per cent. The purchase price on the same property exploded by 20.2 per cent.

The effect on the rental market is also pronounced in the regions, where rents surged 12.1 per cent in the year to December 2021. By comparison, wage growth sat at 2.2 per cent.

It also notes the steep decline in federal funding for social and Indigenous housing.