This is an initiative that gives recognition to promising businesspeople in the city under the age of 40 and it also helps to demonstrate the immense potential for success that Nelson Mandela Bay holds in its young business leaders.
Tony Clarke, Managing Director of the Rawson Property Group, has said that Murray's achievement and recognition is major as he was apparently nominated by a satisfied client and because numerous businessmen and business owners, many of them senior directors in large well known South African companies, were also nominated. In addition, said Clarke, Murray has only been in business on his own as a franchise owner for less than two years. After training for four years with the Rawson Property Group's Kuils River franchise in Cape Town, where he was mentored by Nolene Snyder, Murray set up this franchise on the 1 November 2012.
Since then he has grown the turnover to the point where he employs 15 agents and has at the latest estimate 68% of the market share in Port Elizabeth North, where his office is situated.
The franchise, in fact, covers the Northern Suburbs of Port Elizabeth, where, said Murray, homes are largely owned and occupied by previously disadvantaged people, many of whom now aspire to become home owners. The price range here, therefore, is R400,000 to R1 million, with the majority of buyers targeting the R600,000 to R800,000 bracket.
In March 2015, said Murray, he will be opening a second office in the upmarket Bay West Mall now under construction. This, he said, will enable him to expand into the Western Suburbs of Port Elizabeth where the price range for homes is from R700,000 to R2 million and upwards
In the territory which he currently serves, said Murray, his team is selling 15 to 18 homes per month. This bears witness to the effectiveness of on-going branding promotions, such as this franchise's breakfast braai flyer handouts held in strategic high profile areas of the city and their ongoing involvement with charity organisations such as the Greyvenstein Givers Gain Initiative which supports the Missionvale Care Centre. This franchise also works on behalf of Cheshire Homes, which looks after impaired and disabled individuals.
Asked what extras his franchise offers clients which have helped it to become so popular, Murray said that they take great care, firstly, to give accurate and professionally construed valuations and, secondly, they spend considerable time with clients trying to ensure that their bond applications succeed. As a result of this, over 90% of such applications from this franchise are successful.
In the new territory into which they will be moving next year, Murray has already secured a foothold because he sold a 140 ha land tract on the N2 at Colchester, which borders on the Addo Elephant Park and the Sundays River.
