Honours for Five-Star PRET Awards 2023

By Grantlee Kieza,

Industry Reporter Paul Shih is already organising the 2023 PRET Awards but concedes it will be very difficult to top this year’s extraordinary night at the Brisbane City Hall.

One of the great events in the Management Rights industry, the 2022 PRET Australia Awards Night on November 26 drew a packed audience of more than 700 to the gala red-carpet event with a “red and white theme”.

The event was organised by Mr Shih’s Professional Real Estate Training and he and his generous guests raised an extraordinary $142,715 for three charities: the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Trust, the Mater Foundation and the RBWH Foundation.

More than $30,000 worth of raffle prizes were also won on a memorable evening. The VIP guest list included Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Lady Mayoress Nina Schrinner, RBWH Foundation CEO Simone Garske, Mater Foundation Catherine House Project Director Greg McGahan, former Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, who acted as guest auctioneer, John-Paul Langbroek, the State Member for Surfers Paradise, and Edward Tao, the Director-General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brisbane.

Lord Mayor Schrinner told the audience he was delighted with the event and the work of PRET Australia CEO Mr Shih.

“Each year the PRET Australia Awards Dinner celebrates Brisbane’s high achievers in the real estate industry while also raising an incredible amount of money for important local causes,” Mr Schrinner said. “This year, the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Trust was chosen as the beneficiary, with an incredible $38,675 raised for the annual Christmas Appeal and frontline charities.

“Thank you to PRET CEO and Lord Mayor’s Charitable Trust Ambassador Paul Shih for not only supporting the Trust but also the Mater and RBWH Foundation.

“Thank you for your incredibly generous donation.” Cr Schrinner said whether it was seeing a child’s face light up because of a new toy or giving parents the certainty of a family feast, there was “something magical” about giving at this time of year. Mr Shih, an industry leader in management rights, and Honorary Chair of Australian Property Management Alliance, is one of the best-known property

trainers in the Brisbane Chinese community. He admits to having a great interest in property since a very young age, through his family’s passion for property investment. He has a master’s degree in project management, specialising in property and marketing, and joined PRET Australia founded by Ms Jade Harley as a qualifi ed trainer in 2010 for the Australian Chinese community and became CEO in 2020.

He said the PRET Awards were designed to celebrate and recognise the achievements of the PRET graduates and training partners in the property industry, and to show everyone (particularly owners and committ ees) the importance of onsite managers in a complex. Studies show that the work of an onsite manager leads to lower costs and greater resident satisfaction.

“Despite this there is minority of unit owners are making a lot of noise at the moment att acking our industry,” Mr Shih said, “but it gave me great pleasure in reading so many very positive testimonials from complex residents about how great these managers are.” The reason why some schemes can become toxic is oft en due to poor communication between the body corporate and the onsite manager which can sadly lead to a “bullying” culture. Mr Shih told the audience: “No onsite manager can focus on their job when the committ ees are trying to play politics and bully others.” He quoted some fascinating facts from a recent survey by the Queensland Unit Owners Association.

Cutting down the contract years is not the answer. It is just a naïve idea

It showed that:

• 75 percent of those surveyed in a toxic community were unhappy with their body corporate committ ees; • 76 percent believed the bodies corporate committ ees had relationship problems with the owners; • 72 percent believed body corporate committ ees have bad relationships with the onsite managers; • 76 percent of committ ees had no training whatsoever; and

• 60 percent of all surveyed have witnessed interpersonal confl icts including bullying.

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5 Star Onsite Manager Award Winners

Monica Xu: Allura, Oxley Chase, Whitewood Place, Belmont Villas George Lu: Allura, Oxley Chase, Whitewood Place, Belmont Villas Vinh Le: Ansonia & Saratoga Apartments Melissa Lin: Brentford Outlook Kwan Yang: Carindale Views Rebecca Huang: Chancellor Executive Apartments Tia Vutilolo: Chancellor Lakeside Apartments Trevor Leung: Desert Ash Grove, Ningi Carl Wu: Freshwater Creek Tracy Liu: Garden City Domain Rui Jiang: Garden City Domain Ning Zhang: Infinity Heathwood Jill Chung: Jacksonrise Complex Vincent Ko: Mari Court Resort Jack Tsai: Mari Court Resort Sierra Wu: Mari Court Resort Yun Bai: Oaks Charlotte Towers Alice Cai: Parkvista Wensheng Luo: Parkvista Linley Xu: Quartz, Amore, Aqua’ta Julie Wang: River Park Central Brenda Fan: Riverstone & Lumira Apartments Jacky Lo: Riviera II Southbank Apartments Johnson Shih: Richlands Outlook II Steven Shih: Richlands Rise Tran Vicky Phu: Royal Albert Hotel Ella Xu: SeaScape Louis Hou: Sunnybreeze Views Jack Chuang: Sydney on Sydney Mandy Gao: The Terrace on Gregory Tom Wang: The Terrace on Gregory Mandy Li: Willow Apartments Kevin Li: Evoke McDowall 31

The survey clearly shows there are problems with bodies corporate. Mr Shih points out: “It is not the onsite managers that bully owners and body corporate committees.”

How do we prevent disharmony in schemes?

“The answer is simple,” Mr shih said, “by creating positive relationships between owners and onsite managers like those award-winning complexes. “It is just like a boss mistreating employees, abusing them, harassing them, bullying them, how do you expect the worker to do a great job? “Cutting down the contract years is not the answer. It is just a naïve idea that will create more problems with an imbalance of power. Only encouragement, appreciation, and the use of topups as incentives will give onsite managers job satisfaction and motivation to do a better job.” Awards were presented to rising stars in the Property Sales industry and the top agents, but the first category was the Onsite Manager Awards, proudly sponsored by Resort News, and presented by our editor Mandy Clarke. This Five-Star Award was to recognise any onsite manager achieving five stars. Onsite managers earned their First Star of Professionalism by joining professional bodies such as ARAMA or APMA or doing continuous professional development with ABMA or PRET Australia. The Second Star of Caretaking Service came if their body corporate committee was willing to give a letter of recommendation for their caretaking work. A Third Star for Letting Service was awarded if they had testimonials from their landlords and tenants.

The Fourth Star for Residents Relations was awarded if they received references from residents in their complex. The final Fifth Star of Social Responsibility came if they have supported PRET selected charities in the past twelve months. One of the award winners, Alice Cai, from the Parkvista townhouses at Thornlands, told Resort News: “It’s really great to be recognised with these awards. Normally onsite managers are viewed as being behind the scenes, and not many people recognise what we do, some think we are servants.” One of the owners at Parkvista, Nathan Carney, certainly did not think that.

“Alice and her team managed my property for approximately three years and then recently assisted with the sale,” Mr Carney said. “During this period Alice was very diligent at responding to and att ending to any matt er relating to the management of the property and made the experience very enjoyable for myself and my wife as her clients. “I have the utmost trust and confi dence in Alice’s ability to manage our properties and would have no hesitation in recommending her services to anybody requiring a property manager or assistance with selling their property.” Tenant Leanne Szathmary said she “strongly recommend the Professional Property Managers” Alice and Wensheng Luo “as they are super organised and have a beautiful complex that refl ects all their hard work.

I really enjoy living in the Parkvista Townhouse Complex and hope to be a long-term tenant.” Another Five-Star winner Kwan Yang manages 300 townhouses across the four complexes that make up, Carindale Views at Carina.

He said the PRET Awards were “a great night” and that he was “very proud to receive the award.”

“The most important thing,” he said, “is that the public recognise the work of onsite managers and that we are doing a good job. Thanks to all the people who support us.” Adam Stiles, the chairperson of the Carindale Views body corporate committ ee, wrote a reference expressing his “gratitude and appreciation for Kwan”. “Kwan is incredibly diligent and proactive, and really cares about the outcomes for the residents at Carindale Views,” Mr Stiles said. Some examples of this in just the last couple of months: “Kwan got word of some wall cracking from ground movement from one owner. He went around to not only that property but the townhouses nearby and asked to inspect them all to see if anyone else was having an issue, even though only one person reported it. “While on this inspection inside my own home, he noticed the fence in my courtyard had a sag and I had a quote in my inbox that aft ernoon with pre-approval to jointly fi x it. 34

Rising Star Awards Winners

Hazal Wang QC Realty

Yumei Magon Matrix Global Brisbane

Rick Chen Ray White Sunnybank Hills

Vanessa Pope Belle Property Hope Island

Daniel Zhang Brisvegas Property Group

PRET Australia

Awards Night 2022

ResortBrokers® Jessie Shi, Glenn Millar and Tim Crooks recently attended the 2022 PRET Awards Night at Brisbane City Hall along with over seven hundred real estate and property management industry leaders. ResortBrokers are proud to be a gold sponsor of this charity dinner event and congratulate Jessie and Glenn who were shortlisted

“I found a stray dog racing around. Kwan immediately took it off my hands and found the owner, then reported back so I wouldn’t worry and even gave me helpful tips on how a stray dog can lead you back to its owner if you put it on a leash, which I can use in future scenarios.

“I am potentially renting out our property in the near future and without asking, Kwan offered me a great deal to look after the rental side of things which really set my mind at ease. “Even when driving through the complex, Kwan will always smile and wave when he sees you and is always working hard around the place. This makes a big difference as an owner, knowing that your property and community are in safe hands.” Vinh Le won a Five-Star award for his work with the 167 units he manages at two buildings, the Ansonia & Saratoga Apartments in Teneriffe. “The properties are inside old wool stores so there are always a lot of maintenance issues,” Mr Le said.

“The PRET awards are so important for managers to display the work that we do. “Some of the owners and committees don’t understand our work, so with these awards, we show what we have done at our complexes. Being an onsite manager is a big commitment for us and an important job, but unfortunately, a lot of owners think managers are just sitting in the office.” That’s not the view of Angela Jeppesen, who has owned a property in Ansonia since 2008. Vinh Le and Peggy Chen took over the management in July 2018, and since then Angela has been both owner/ occupier and landlady under their management. “Nothing has ever been too much trouble for them,” Angela said. “Their service was seamless. My apartment was never unrented. I rented it fully furnished. On my return, I was incredibly pleasantly surprised to find the apartment and furniture in great condition with barely even minimal wear and tear. This speaks to the care and effort they put in to ensure quality tenants. “At one instance flooding from the upstairs apartment damaged my kitchen floor requiring replacement. Vinh managed all aspects of the replacement without issue while keeping me well informed.

Top Agent Awards Winners

Claire Dai Kollosche

Eric Li Ray White, Sunnybank Hills Sally O’Neill Belle Property Hope Island Leo Liu NGU Real Estate

“They had made it so simple from my end that I had forgotten that it happened until Vinh reminded me on my return to living in the apartment. I intend to re-let my apartment next year and will continue to do that through Vinh and Peggy. Noting that prior to their tenure I opted to let through a third party rather than utilise the onsite managers at the time.” Jack Chuang runs the Sydney On Sydney complex of 67 apartments near New Farm Park. He says the PRET Awards do much to promote a strong relationship between managers and owners by highlighting the vital role of onsite managers and the benefits they bring to their buildings. Jack organises Christmas parties and a community garden at his building to promote meaningful engagement with residents and donates to local school projects to promote a sense of community. Resident Margaret Allison said she has known Jack for approximately eight years, ever since he commenced duty as the onsite manager. “I can attest to Jack’s work, both as a resident owner and a previous body corporate committee member,” Ms Allison said.

He was only too willing to help in practical ways, she said, and quick to respond to maintenance requests. “Jack has always worked hard to generate community spirit among the owners and residents of the complex,” she said. “He always arranges a Christmas get together, and makes the whole place feel bright and Christmassy with lights and decorations. He recently organised a small working bee to help re-establish the complex’s popular herb garden. “Jack is responsive to requests from the body corporate and has worked cooperatively with the committee to achieve great outcomes for the complex, keeping value for money in mind. “He is also responsive to the more difficult side of the caretaker role in dealing with noise and nuisance complaints, and animal management issues. “To sum up, Jack always ‘goes the extra mile’ to help residents, and his hard work and cheerful attitude help to make Sydney on Sydney a great place to live.”