MAFS groom Ivan Sarakula joins ailing real estate shop The Agency
With a $12 million Macquarie bank debt and shares selling for just four cents, glamour real estate shop The Agency looked to be ailing. But Annette Sharp reveals it recently announced a surprising new addition to the rock star team — a MAFS groom.
Confidential
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Three years is a long time in business in Sydney real estate.
Just ask former real estate guru John McGrath.
Or, for that matter, a group of rebel estate agents who jumped ship from McGrath in 2017 — convinced the sun was setting fast on McGrath — to set up their own glamour shop, The Agency.
Back in 2017, real estate writers excitedly trumpeted the arrival of the new partnership which opened its doors in Bondi Beach with 17 high-profile agents on the books.
Headed up by ex-McGrath agents Matt Lahood and Steven Chen, as well as former McGrath executives Maria Carlino and Thomas McGlynn, The Agency’s selling point was higher commissions, agents being able to work more independently from cafes, and a “cloud” backroom force that would manage the unsexy business elements — branding, marketing, training, administration, compliance and technical — to allow the selling agents to be the rock stars they were born to be.
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In an industry and market in which there has always been ample greed and inflated self-opinion to go around, it was sure to be a hit in Sydney. Right?
Ah, well maybe not.
The Agency offered agents a starting split of 75:25 on commissions (75 per cent to the agent/25 per cent to the company) rather than the traditional 50:50 split agents banked in old-style franchises.
With time that split would rise to 80:20 and 85:15, it was promised.
It was designed to tempt Sydney’s biggest agents to come on board and very soon they did, with Ben Collier and Shad Hassen, both stars from McGrath, joining as partners.
Within six months, a further 23 agents would join the operation, bringing with them 3700 properties. This year, the business spruiked having 278 agents on its books.
The model was the concept of Perth-based PR operator Paul Niardone and mortgage broker John Kolenda.
But after struggling along for 18 months getting the business established, by mid-2019 it was apparent The Agency was in trouble.
After recording a loss of $3.1 million in 2018, in 2019 it undertook a capital raising, with boutique investor Magnolia Capital — owned by intriguing 28-year-old Mitchell Atkins — sweeping in and offering the company a lifeline on a $12 million Macquarie debt. That coincided with the release of 200 million new shares in the company.
Yet despite the 2019 raising and further investment, on Friday The Agency’s share price was down to 4c from a high of 27c in November 2018.
Kolenda left the business in December, saying he had other commitments requiring his attention.
“The Agency has grown significantly over a short period and is clearly on track to become one of the largest real estate businesses in Australia,” he told real estate site Property Observer.
“As a committed shareholder I will continue to follow and support this growth.”
Last week came the news Atkins, too, has exited the company.
That news coincided with the announcement that the business has been given another extension, this time for five months, on its $12 million Macquarie bank debt.
On Friday the business announced the issue of another 25 million shares at 4c each.
With the clock now ticking on the debt, there was one recent bright spot for the company, with it announcing the arrival of yet another new agent.
“A very warm welcome to Ivan Sarakula! With amazing energy and drive, Ivan is a record-breaking real estate agent based out of the Sutherland Shire …” The Agency said in its newsletter.
“We are thrilled to have Ivan on the team. He is extremely focused and passionate. (He) brings a unique background to The Agency, including time on reality television.”
Former prestige motor mechanic Sarakula was most recently on Nine’s Married At First Sight where he was partnered with Aleks Markovic, with whom he split in February.
A true rock star.
Just the tonic for an ailing real estate agency.
Originally published as MAFS groom Ivan Sarakula joins ailing real estate shop The Agency