The expansion of Australian real estate powerhouse, Raine & Horne into the Fijian market has been boosted with the addition of Suva agent Linda Narayan.
The seasoned realtor is now based in Suva in the Central division, the country’s most active property market.
Narayan has spent the last 13 years in upmarket residential and commercial property sales, rentals, and management with Jokhan Realtors and says this newest foray has been a positive direction.
“After having spent thirteen years in the industry I was ready to spread my wings and take on bigger challenges,” she said.
“R&H presented to me an environment where I could utilize my knowledge and skills to grow in my career while bringing to them my experience and I am excited and honoured to be entrusted with this huge responsibility.”
The real estate agency officially launched in Fiji in mid-2017, amid a regional expansion across the Pacific, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East and noted to be Australia’s fastest growing network.
“At R&H, our sales persons, agents and staff in general are trained to Australian standards whilst keeping our local edge by our group
GM and internal trainer, Bill Russell. We had one training session in September this year and have another one planned for early 2018 and are still recruiting.
“We plan to have twice a year trainings and R&H invests a lot of dollars in getting the trainer to Fiji to conduct these.”
Narayan added that plans were underway to have a total of 12 staff members in Suva by the end of 2018, subject to increasing service demands.
With a wealth of experience making her fully equipped for the role of leading a major real estate brand in one of the Pacific’s capital cities, she also hopes that more women consider a career in this traditionally male-dominated industry.
“Women are making their mark in every male dominated industry and real estate is no different and yes we have seen an increasing number of women join the industry over the years. There are no cultural barriers as such and quite frankly I haven't faced any challenges based on my gender. As an agent or salesperson, you need to be fully informed about market movements, property prices based on all relevant factors, carry out correct appraisals, give sound advice to your clients to enable them to make correct and well informed decisions about their most prized possession - their home which has attached to it sentiments as well in most cases. In my experience my male counterparts and clients have been very supportive and have always looked to me for advice or assistance and vice versa and I never felt I was any lesser than them being a woman. I always ensured taking that extra step to keep myself updated so my clients would appreciate that.”
Her career as a real estate agent has also seen her contribute to training sessions with local universities and she anticipates tightened industry regulations to safeguard both agents and consumers.
“We have seen over the years a rise in illegal operators who engage in dodgy deals and who are tarnishing the good name of the industry. Now with the Real Estate Licensing Board in existence, anyone found guilty will be taken to task and we are hoping for more tougher laws on these unscrupulous dealers as current laws make the apprehension difficult.”