Ashburton Courier: August 24, 2023

NEWS
60 Ashburton Courier, August 24, 2023
www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz
From Page 1
Realtor Paul Cunneenis
retiring but will remain fully
licenced so he can help outat
Property Brokers if required.
He hadnever had aset date
forhis retirement. Althoughhe
did start planning foranexit
aboutfive years agowhen ­asa
way to grow the company ­the
ownersofHastingsMcLeod
enteredafranchise agreement
with Property Brokers.
‘‘They were aNorthIslandwide
real estate group with
whomwehad avery strong
association via NZ Realtors, a
group of independentreal
estate companieswhich
includes the likes of Barfoot
and Thompson in the Auckland
region, Tommys around
Wellington,Lodge in the
Waikato plusnumerous others.
‘‘Wewerealready friends in
business,’’ he said.
He wasworking at Hastings
McLeod, which was founded by
the late Colin McLeod andJohn
Hastings in 1974,and bought
shares in thecompany with
others in 2002 following Colin’s
death.
‘‘HastingsMcLeodwas awellknown
trusted brand locally but
it didn’t mean anything in other
locations so it was difficult to
headthe national franchise
groups in settingup business
and attract high quality staff.
‘‘Wefranchised to Property
Brokers ... we ended up with 13
offices and about 100 staff.’’
‘‘PropertyBrokers were
really well­known in the North
Island with 30 offices, less wellknown
down here. Wewerethe
marketfor them to expand from
and they have done that with 30
offices in the South Island now.
We couldn’t havedone that, we
didn’t have the capital.’’
He hasworkedwithsome top
ruralrealtors such as Chris
Murdoch, Greg Jopsonand the
late­RodgerLetham.All have
beennationally recognised.
Cunneen’s plan five years ago
was to start moving awayfrom
an ownership, management,
sales person model.
‘‘It was too much anyway and
Ifound my timewas not my own
wearing so many hats alongside
running my ownvaluation
business.
‘‘I wasjustdoing toomuch. So
the last three yearsin
particular Ihavebeen outof
management, concentrating on
selling andthe valuation
business, (and have been) just
slowly figuring out what Iwant
to do.’’
Cunneen startedhiswork
career with the Rural Bank, a
government­owned bank to
Careerhighsandlows
andlows
Paul Cunneen.
support the agricultural
industry.
He landed arole in
Ashburtonand played rugby for
AshburtonTechnical, later
Collegiate, as flanker.
He playedmorethan 120
games for Mid Canterbury.
He was in the MidCanterbury
team to play theBritish and
Irish Lions in 1983.
Cunneenwas approached
after the game by LionRobert
Ackerman and invited to play
for his LondonWelsh Rugby
Football Clubside.
He took up theoffer andwas
contracted for twoseasons to
playinEngland.
He said he found his way into
real estate by accident.
‘‘I had just returned (to
Ashburton) after acouple of
years playing rugby overseas.
The RuralBankhadsaidthey
wouldhold my job.
‘‘WhenIcame back they
wantedmetoshift to Rangiora
but my fiancé (andlate­first
wifeMarene) lived in
Ashburton. Shiftingwas
unattractive.’’
He left the banking industry
and after afew months doing
odd jobs he was approached by
seasoned realtorsPhil
McGoldrick andColin McLeod.
By then McGoldrick was also a
partnerinthe firm.
It was 1984 andit was tough
going to start.
‘‘It was alot differenttowhat
Ithought. Iwas arural agent so
Idid farmsand lifestyleblocks
❛On the outside
looking in, in all parts
of real estate, it looks
likeasimple
business.Iwishit
was like that. There is
alotofresource that
goes in behindthe
scenes ... ❜
—PaulCunneen
and the farming scenewasn’t
going particularly wellatthat
stage.
‘‘Mid Canterbury wasinthe
midst of adrought andinterest
rates werereallyhigh. It seems
unbelievable now, butsome
were paying above20per cent
on amortgage.’’
Cunneen, then aged26, had a
steep learning curve and, at
times, questioned his career
decision.
‘‘Colin,Johnand Philwere
greatbosses. They were really
skilledatwhattheydid, and
really supportive.’’
He also credits colleague
Ralph Bassett, who was
formerly in insurance,for his
guidance.
‘‘Hequietlysteeredmeinthe
rightdirection. Ralph was
really,really good at
prospecting side of things
because being an insurance
agent he had done lots of it.’’
There were aroundeight
realtors at the firm to start.
While the urban sales team was
growing, the rural team of two
wasthenhit by the illnessof
Alister Blue, which saw
Cunneen as the only rural agent
in thefirm for quite sometime.
‘‘It was abit of an oddity in
those days because the stock
firmsgenerally sold the farms.
‘‘Therewas myself, and
Gordon McGregor juniorwho
werethe only independents.’’
In the firstthreeyears
Cunneen was in realestate, only
11 farmsweresold in the district;
just onewas his,althoughhedid
sell lifestyle blocks.
‘‘The same period thenext year
Iwas probably selling close to 60
to 70per cent of everythingthat
sold,intermsoffarms as we as a
firmincreased our presenceand
the hardtimes saw farmers
becomeless enamouredwith
stockfirms.
‘‘Likewise there were a
number of stock and grainagents
who left the larger firms and
startedtheir own businesses
doingexceptionally well .’’
He said it wasn’t easyfor
farmers.
Times were tough, interest
rateswere high and therewas no
rain.
Thecounty wasn’t as irrigated
as it is now, he said.
‘‘Irrigation wasstillgrowing,
and predominantly border­dyked
with somespray irrigatedfarms
from groundwater in areas
outside the Community
Irrigation Schemes.
‘‘That sort of changed the
countybut it also increased the
debt.
‘‘Then when productprices
dippedand interest rates got up
around sort of 15 to 20 percent it
really tested some, particularly
people who hadrecently
developedand had borrowed the
money to do it.’’
The Government had
promoted irrigationthrough
MAFwith fielddaysand
subsidies to encourage peopleto
irrigate.
He saidsomeold family farms
whohad opted to develop were
affected and put on the market,
but there were also somewho
throughage and stage of theirlife
chosetosell.
‘‘Farm succession was harder
because of the high interest rates.
It wasn’t always practicalor
attractive for their family
memberstotake over,’’ he said.
Nowadays the markets are alot
different.
‘‘Most placesinMid
Canterbury are reallydeveloped
to their currentpotential, or
close to it.
‘‘Weare seeing alot more
corporate farming.’’
Familysuccession has also
changed.
‘‘There’s anumberoffamilies
around the districtwhichhave
grown exponentially over thelast
20 years in termsoftheir farm
holdings, and where their
children wanttogofarming, have
triedtoaccommodate that.’’
Farm salesgoincycles,he
said.
‘‘Thingschange with
economics... nothing canever be
taken as agiven.’’
Cunneen saidthereare two
sides to being agoodreal estate
agent ­finding the listings
through buildingrelationships
with people,and thenmarketing,
negotiation andbringingthe deal
together. He is extremely
thankful for that supportboth
personally and professionally.
‘‘On the outsidelookingin, in
all parts of real estate, it looks
likeasimple business. Iwish it
waslike that.There is alot of
resource that goesinbehind the
scenes,particularly with the
consents required to farm,
alongsidefarmenvironmental
information.Alot more
information is required to puta
transaction together.
‘‘You’ve got to really
understand what makes the farm
click.’’
Overall he said he had loved
his career, with everyday being
different andnever knowing
what each daymight bring.
It was ‘‘a bit likegoingtothe
races everyday’’,hesaid.
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ContactJann Thompson 03 308 7664 jann.thompson@ashburtoncourier.co.nz