A year after opening their first LJ Hooker agency, real estate veterans Michael Dodemaide and Fayez Hourani are expanding their business unveiling another office within the iconic network.
The successful business partners have purchased and rebranded a small independent office, east of Perth’s CBD, as LJ Hooker Leederville. It will act as a branch office to LJ Hooker Kwinana which they took over 12 months ago.
While the offices are a distance apart and located in different markets, Mr Dodemaide said it was an exciting challenge to further expand the LJ Hooker brand in the Perth market.
It also returns them to an area they are familiar with as sales agents. Mr Dodemaide, who will be the principal of the new office, used to have an independent office 6km north of Perth. Mr Hourani, who is the licensee of both businesses, ran his own agency just 100m down the road from their new office.
“An opportunity came up to purchase a small independent office in the inner east which is a market we know well,” Mr Dodemaide said.
“While we have been very busy with our new Kwinana office it won’t take us long to reconnect with past clients in the area and build new relationships.
“Leederville is a thriving suburb of Perth with lots of apartments and cafes. It also resonates with investors and will enable us to further grow the property management side of the business.
General Manager of Network, Stephen Mutton congratulated Mr Dodemaide and Mr Hourani on the opening of their second LJ Hooker office within a year of joining the network.
“This is a natural expansion of their business and is an opportunity to take individual roles and run the offices as they see while bringing them back to an area that they know,” he said.
“The West Australian market is a high focus for LJ Hooker, we’ve had some great growth, especially with driving and assisting our existing network to expand. It has become a trend within the real estate industry for offices to open additional offices to serve more markets, so we are there to support them in such ventures.”
Mr Dodemaide and Mr Hourani first met 20 years ago when working for the Remark brand in Perth. Both went on to run their own independent operations but remained good friends. When the opportunity arose to buy LJ Hooker Kwinana, Mr Hourani knew they would make the perfect business partners.
“I enticed him, Mike, out of semi-retirement and we haven’t looked back - our skills just complement each other,” Mr Hourani said.
“The LJ Hooker network is a trusted national network, and we are excited to bring the brand to the Leederville market.
“When you work in real estate, a good part of your time revolves around prospecting and looking for your next listing. In the Kwinana area, there is only one other established office, and the rest are independents, which has been to our advantage. We have found that we are busy all the time and we also attract a lot of walk-in traffic and that has been due to the brand.”
Mr Dodemaide admits that, as a former independent operator, he was a little skeptical of working for a large real estate network but can now see the advantage of being part of a franchise group.
“As an independent, first off you have to sell the company because no one has heard of you – especially if you are not in the local area – and secondly, you have to sell yourself,” he said.
“Everyone knows who LJ Hooker is and it is well-trusted, so the only thing you have to prove is that you are the right person for the job.”
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