Real estate agent profile - John McManus

John McManus is an elite real estate agent operating around the lower north shore in Sydney, and the principal director at LJ Hooker’s branch between Willoughby and Artarmon. He has recently been recognised as one of LJ Hooker’s top salespeople, awarded second place globally, thanks to his consistently sales efforts.

Having positioned himself as one of Australia’s top real estate agents, and an elite industry performer with an enviable reputation throughout the lower north shore, McManus has a number of insights into the property market and what makes a successful agent.

McManus has a team of professionals that maintain high standards of market intelligence and customer service, leading to a multitude of positive reviews from residents of the lower north shore for himself and his agency on Open Agent.

"We work very hard and our work ethic is second to none; there’s not too many people out there that work the number of man hours that we do. The mums and dads, the vendors in the area are pretty much our lifeline, so we look after them and go out of our way to make sure they are serviced properly, which is why the word of mouth in the area is quite strong,” said McManus.

McManus has numerous sales records to his name and continues to raise the benchmark in pursuit of the best result for his clients. Dedicated to achieving the best price and exceeding vendor expectations, he often surpasses street sales records in the areas he operates.

"There's a lot of street records but I've also broken numerous suburb records over time. I guess sales records for a suburb are also pretty important to people looking to sell in the area, so having a suburb record and setting a benchmark and a highest price for a particular type of property is a true achievement for the area, and in fact what that does is bring up the median for that area,” McManus explained.

A majority of the properties sold by McManus are in the lower north shore but he does also branch out into the surrounding suburbs. This gives him a certain level of insight and knowledge of the area in which he has lived for 26 years.

This knowledge and understanding of the local property market allows McManus to give his clients an unrivaled service which, according to his sale history, results in a success rate of over 90 percent.

Not only does this allow for the best results for McManus’s clients, but it also reflects the agency at which he is a principal director. The LJ Hooker branch in Willoughby and Artarmon is renowned for its professionalism and industry knowledge.

“We have a pretty high standard. I’m very big on compliance and making sure that the team do the right thing by the market, because we have a lot of repeat customers. If you burn your bridges with people you’ve sort of shot yourself in the foot,” McManus said.

“That’s not good for business in the long term. We make sure we cross the T’s and dot the I’s and make sure that the presentation never changes and our standards remain second to none.”

McManus explained that core to his work is not promising potential clients things he can’t deliver, and said it’s up to the client to then work out whether he is the right agent for them or not.

This reputation of professionalism, customer service and doing right by the market is important to McManus because of his own opinions on the housing market, in particular what creates and sustains a healthy market.

McManus believes there are a number of people within the real estate industry that “promise the world and deliver nothing”. often putting vendors and buyers at a disadvantage. Inconsiderate business practises like inflating prices or raising market expectations too high, McManus said, “tend to hurt the industry as a whole”.

While McManus enjoys the benefits of word of mouth marketing and a strong reputation in his area, the real estate principal also conveys the importance of having systems in place like OpenAgent that can connect potential clients and vendors with real estate agents like himself.

“I just think OpenAgent as a whole is a really good referring website for a vendor who’s not really sure about who to select. It helps them cull down the good agents from the not so good based on your perception. Again, trust the agents that you’re going to be dealing with,” said McManus.

Above all, the key to success, according to McManus, is “treating people more on a personal level rather than a business transaction”. Given the number of positive reviews McManus and his staff have received, it’s a hard point to argue.

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