PHOTO: AREC 2024
The Expo Hall at AREC is always a hit with principals, agents, and property managers, and this year was no different.
Attendees were spoilt for choice, whether seeking cutting-edge solutions to streamline property management or fresh strategies to boost sales leads and listings.
Innovation was in full swing, networking was buzzing, and many exhibitor stands enticed visitors with treats like popcorn and cocktails, sparking engaging conversations about their products.
Here are our top picks, in no particular order, from the AREC24 Expo Hall.
Escapia
Escapia is a short-term rental management software platform for all-in-one management, covering everything from trust accounting to seamless integrations with all websites to secure bookings, including AirBNB, Stayz, Booking.com and more.
The platform also integrates with multiple partners who offer services for guests, owners, communications and website management.
At AREC 2024, attendees were particularly keen to find out more about Escapia’s 20 per cent-plus management commissions, competitive pricing structure, how it is powered by Expedia and has a seamless integration with Stayz.
For more information visit Escapia.
Realtair
Realtair enables real estate agents to manage the sales process end-to-end with ease, all from one location. The platform can save you 11 hours per listing by replacing multiple tools, from proposal builders to auction platforms, and track all of your listings on one dashboard.
Realtair integrates with Agentbox, REX, Vault, Pricefinder, Corelogic, REI, EAC and ADL.
This year at AREC, delegates were looking to discover how Realtair streamlines the selling process from prospecting through to settlement.
For more information visit Realtair
Red Rhubarb
Red Rhubarb helps real estate professionals transform simple transactions into lasting relationships – one stylish gift at a time.
From elegant packaging to lasting impressions, Red Rhubarb helps agents and agencies build relationships and boost referral numbers with customised corporate gifts that aim to elevate you above your competition.
At AREC 2024, attendees were particularly keen to find out more about Red Rhubarb’s tailored settlement gifts and custom settlement gift boxes.
For more information visit Red Rhubarb
Pony Rider
Pony Rider is an Australian, nature-led home, adventure and conscious lifestyle brand that aims to help businesses make conscious decisions by bringing sustainable, premium gifts to their clients.
At AREC 2024, Pony Rider intrigued conference attendees with their diverse array of settlement packages, featuring all sustainable products.
For more information visit Pony Rider
YepAI
YepAI provides digital humans for all types of websites, including property and property listing platforms. Digital humans are like a chatbot, but with a virtual human your clients can chat to.
Agencies can upload information about their listings and the digital human will then learn and explain the property to potential buyers, helping with customer service and lead capture.
At AREC24, agents were keen to find out whether one digital human can cater for multiple listings. And yes, you can have multiple agents on your website explaining multiple different listings.
YepAI integrates its digital humans with all basic web platforms including webflow, wix and wordpress. It is also looking at ways to integrate its lead management system with CRMs.
For more information visit YepAI
GILMOUR
GILMOUR provides coaching and training for real estate agents from Chris Gilmour. A seasoned professional and three-time REIQ Salesperson of the Year, Chris trains agents with his Accelr8 course.
At AREC24, agents were keen to discover more about the course, including the specific strategies Chris uses to elevate his career and that of the agents he trains. He also focuses on providing agents with the tools and support they need to grow their businesses and become market leaders.
Conference delegates visiting Chris’s stand in the expo hall were also keen to find out about how Chris, as an agent himself, could tap into first-hand, real life experiences in the training he provides.
For more information visit GILMOUR.
Hoole Marketing
Headline AREC24 speaker, Ryan Serhant, pushed the message that agents need to “brand and expand” to grow their business, and Hoole Marketing said it could help agents do exactly that. Hoole is a marketing agency specialising in the real estate industry. Hoole strategist, Melanie Hoole, works with clients to help them develop their core identity and stand out in the busy real estate market.
At AREC24, principals from all sectors, sales, property management and commercial, headed to the Hoole Marketing stand with one thing on their minds. They needed help finding the time or talent to run their brand marketing effectively. It always gets pushed to the bottom of their priority list.
For more information visit Hoole Marketing
TorFX
TorFX is one of the largest privately held foreign exchange specialist groups in the world. It works alongside property groups, agents, conveyancers and solicitors, helping their clients move money internationally for both residential and commercial property settlements.
In the AREC24 expo hall, attendees were keen to take a deep dive into how TorFX could save clients so much money on their international property settlements. The TorFX crew said against bank rates the savings can be in the tens of thousands of dollars.
For more information visit TorFX
HD&U
HD&U creates win-win outcomes for businesses and teams. Taking a ‘diagnostic’ approach to strategic business consulting, they assess your business and identify potential roadblocks to growth. They aim to give teams the greatest work experiences, foster high performance and deliver return on investment.
At AREC24, HD&U enjoyed dressing up in surgical gear to visually attract delegates to their stand. On a serious note, they shared with attendees their unique, university-supported, intervention programs that actually do achieve ROI and the greatest experiences of work for teams.
For more information visit HD&U
Professionals Real Estate
Professionals Real Estate has been in business since 1976, operating as a non-franchise, pro-member network of more than 225 offices across Australia and New Zealand. Professionals provide real estate business owners and their staff access to the best marketing, training and support they need to be a successful agency.
The Professionals reported that AREC24 delegates were curious to see a major brand in the expo hall, but were keen to hear how business owners could benefit with the brand. Delegates also had the unique opportunity to speak to Professionals CEO Katherine Gonzalez-Cork and their national business development team in person, and discuss business opportunities around the country.
For more information visit Professionals Real Estate
Bytherules Conveyancing
Bytherules Conveyancing has been providing easy conveyancing services to agents, buyers, and sellers for more than 20 years. With more than 100,000 successful settlements in Queensland and NSW under their belt, the team knows that communication is the key to a successful settlement.
At AREC24, delegates were keen to find out more about the group’s bespoke conveyancing system, how it’s designed to keep them in the loop every step of the way and how 95 per cent of their work comes from referral partners.
Attendees were also interested in finding out how to connect with their local Bytherules conveyancer and how a free contract review works.
For more information visit Bytherules Conveyancing
Homes for Homes
Homes for Homes is a promise to help end homelessness. Every night 122,000 people in Australia sleep homeless, while a further 1.5 million live in serious housing stress. Homes for Homes is a simple promise that when a home sells, wherever that is, 0.1 per cent of the sale price will be donated to helping build homes for those in need.
Homes for Homes recognises that the issue is too big for any one person, business or government to solve alone, but together there is a community powered solution.
At AREC24 delegates were keen to hear about how Homes for Homes works, where the funding goes to how they can help.
For more information visit Homes for Homes
Paradise Interiors
Paradise Interiors specialises in styling homes for sale and understands the importance of making a great first impression when starting a sales campaign. Based on the Gold Coast, but with a business model that travels north to Brisbane and south to Byron bay, Paradise Interiors has its own warehouse, trucks, staff and sources all of its own furniture and styling items.
At AREC24, attendees were welcomed into the Paradise Interiors stand, which was opulently styled as a living room, so they could see the company at work, the services it offers and find out more about its success stories.
For more information visit Paradise Interiors
Bundl Gifting
Bundl Gifting travelled from Melbourne to attend the AREC24 Exhibition Hall with its corporate gift hampers. Specialising in real estate gifting, Bundl has no minimum order limits and minimal lead time requirements.
AREC24 delegates were particularly interested in settlement hampers, which come ready made, or agencies can create their own. Bundl said attendees were particularly interested in the unique products that make up the hampers, which include things like salt and pepper mills, table linen, glassware and more.
For more information visit Bundl Gifting
Property Mate
Property Mate is a property search platform that enables consumers to search for their perfect home by lifestyle options. Industry created, owned and driven, PropertyMate uses the latest UX and UI design, including the popular ‘swipe left, swipe right’ functionality, that enables users to search for properties by lifestyle elements such as living near a beach, or parks.
PropertyMate says the platform is swiftly gaining support from real estate agencies and agents, with delegates at AREC keen to find out about how it offers a new way to house hunt and close the gap between what agents do and the end user search experience.
For more information visit Property Mate
Universal Property Systems
Universal Property Systems, offers tailored virtual assistant services specifically designed for the real estate industry. Its areas of expertise include property management, sales, administration and marketing, lead generation, as well as finance. By employing skilled virtual assistants, UPS helps real estate businesses achieve operational efficiency and significant cost savings.
Delegates that ventured to the Expo Hall at AREC24, were keen to find out more about how Universal Property Systems could help them. In particular, they wanted to know more about how UPS could seamlessly integrate into existing business operations and ensure quality standards were maintained.
UPS said clients were particularly impressed with their rigorous training programs, which prepare their virtual assistants to handle a wide variety of tasks with proficiency and professionalism.
For more information visit Universal Property Systems
Open2view
Open2view offers a comprehensive range of products and services to provide a complete solution for real estate marketing. Their goal is to help agents achieve maximum results with every listing.
At AREC24 the Open2view team said delegates were immediately curious when they spotted their logo, but many were surprised to learn they had been in business for 25 years. Some delegates have worked with Open2view for more than a decade, while newcomers were keen to find out about their wide range of services, covering everything from photography, 3D home tours, interactive floor plans, signboards and more.
For more information visit Open2view
Managed
Managed is a property management software solution that automates payments and removes the need for a trust account. Built to address the pain points involved with processing rental payments, it also helps eliminate fraud. Managed integrates with Inspection express, Snug, FLK it over, connectnow and Detector Inspector.
At AREC24, attendees were particularly interested in discovering how automated payments worked without a trust account.
For more information visit Managed
@realty
When agents join @realty they step into a world of support, high commission structure and cutting-edge technology. The brand aims to arm agents with the ultimate competitive advantage in every market they sell in.
Delegates in the AREC24 Expo Hall were intrigued by @realty’s three unique branding options; national brand, co-brand or their own brand. They also wanted to discuss @realty’s operational structure and the support offered to agents joining the brand.
For more information visit @realty
Brumby Sunstate
Proudly Australian owned since 1984, Brumby Sunstate is the leading wholesaler of books into the Australian market. They supply a large variety of books into all states and territories, including bestselling children’s books, beautiful style and design books, and gift books.
This was the first year Brumby Sunstate exhibited at AREC as an alternative gifting solution for settlement gifts, anniversary gifts, or internal gifts for staff recognition, home styling and gift packs.
For more information visit Brumby Sunstate
Vrbo/Stayz
Vrbo is a short-term (holiday) rental platform that puts properties in front of travellers all around the world to be booked via its suite of traveller websites including Stayz, Bookabach (NZ), Expedia (global) and many others.
Delegates visiting the Expo Hall were keen to find out more about how Vrbo could provide an opportunity to fill in tenancy gaps for investors and the revenue opportunities from short-term versus long-term rentals.
Another topic of interest was how by joining TAAP, Vrbo’s travel agent program, you could book holiday rentals for your clients who need a place to stay while their property is finishing, and you get a commission!
For more information visit Vrbo/Stayz
Meson Agency
Meson Agency is a leading Australian onshore call centre that takes care of everything from cold database development, just listed calls, just sold calls and database nurturing calls. The agency can integrate with all major real estate CRM systems and calendar booking systems.
In the AREC24 Expo Hall, delegates were interested in finding out how Meson Agency could help them build their database using cold data and nurturing their existing database to generate more opportunities, as well as ensuring they don’t lose listings to competitors.
Other top discussion points included how the agency could help at an office or corporate level given their custom processes, scripts and integrations.
For more information visit Meson Agency
Real Plus
Real Plus is a one stop property management solution for trust accounting, administration , PM education, training, CPD, and membership. Real Plus Chief Executive Officer Fiona Blayney is the brains behind the PM speakers at AREC, while trainer Samantha Xerri took to the stage with Elite Agent Managing Editor Samantha McLean to present on AI.
And it was AI that was a hot topic of discussion at the Real Plus stand at AREC24, with delegates looking for support in the quickly evolving landscape. PMs were also keen to seek advice about legislation, as well as managing landlords’ and tenants’ socio-economic challenges given the cost of living crisis.
For more information visit Real Plus
RentPay
RentPay facilitates rent payment between renters and agents, while simultaneously offering tenants flexibility on how they pay, including credit card, direct debit, BPay, PayID, AliPay, WeChat Pay or UnionPay. It also offers cash backs and rewards. For agents, RentPay offers certainty, accuracy and simplicity in reconciling and receipting rent, utility and bond payments.
At AREC24, agents were interested in finding out more about RentPay’s flexible payment options and how tenants could earn cash rewards that can go towards paying their rent.For more information visit RentPay
THEODORE
THEODORE is an Australian born, made-to-measure menswear brand. With a hybrid use of THEODORE’S state-of-the-art AI pocket tailor technology and its professional tailors, the company provides a perfect fit guarantee and a world class experience of curating agents’ ideal wardrobe pieces.
AREC24 attendees were intrigued by THEODORE’S pocket tailor app and how it works to create the perfect fit without having to go in person to be measured. Agents were also interested in how the garments could be customised, including lining, monograms and finer details.For more information visit THEODORE.
Domain Group
Domain Group is a leading property technology and services marketplace that is home to one of the largest portfolios of property brands in Australia. Domain’s purpose is to inspire confidence in life’s property decisions.
Domain offers a suite of products and solutions, to make every stage of the property journey, renting, buying, selling, investing, financing and insuring, easier and more connected for its agents and consumers.
In the Expo Hall this year, AREC24 delegates were interested in finding out more about Domain’s 2025 strategy, along with the launch of reinvigorated products next month.
Other top discussion points included Domain’s agent solutions, particularly RealTime Agent, Engage and a revitalised Pricefinder and the auto-valuation tool.For more information visit Domain Group.
Local Agent Finder
Local Agent Finder connects agents with thousands of highly qualified property owners every month, with the majority ready to list immediately. Local Agent Finder’s technology enables agents to instantly respond to leads on the go via its LAF Agents App. This gives agents the best chance to win more listings and grow their business.
LAF’s pay-on-success model means agents only pay a fee if they successfully sell or manage a property.
At AREC24, LAF said key discussion points with agents included how to win leads and grow their market share with the platform. They also said the best tip to come from their winning agents is around speed of service, with quick communication on leads seeing results.For more information visit Local Agent Finder
SOURCE: ELITE AGENT