KEY POINTS:
Shaun Cosgrave of Harcourts in Hamilton has been named the agency's top sales consultant for the central region, after having won Harcourts' national award for three years running.
This is the fourth year in a row Cosgrave has taken the regional award and Brian King, licensee of the Glenview agency in Hamilton, says Cosgrave could win the agency's Australasian award this month.
But Associate Justice Minister Clayton Cosgrove criticised Harcourts for the award, saying the agent had drawn a warning from the Commerce Commission last year.
Harcourts described Cosgrave as "outstanding" and said he had a stellar career, having worked for more than a decade in real estate.
For the past three years, Cosgrave has been Harcourts' number one New Zealand sales consultant. He has also been named six times the Real Estate Institute's supreme winner of the salesperson of the year for the central region, which includes the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Gisborne.
Cosgrave said yesterday that he had begun selling real estate in the south of England "because I was bored." Within six months of joining agency Black Horse in England, he had become the top agent in the south-west of the country.
Cosgrave, 46, said he had sold 458 properties in the Hamilton region in the year to March.
"I've sold properties across the range, the cheapest being a section sold for $135,000 to the most expensive house for more than $1 million."
In the 12 years he has been working in the industry, he had sold properties worth more than $425 million.
Cosgrave, who speaks with a distinctively British accent, said his New Zealand-born father brought the family back here from England when Cosgrave was 16 and his first job was working in a Te Kauwhata bakery.
Cosgrave initially worked at a glass business, then spent 15 years with a furniture and appliance retailer.
Cosgrave said King had encouraged him to enter the real estate sector.
"I'd bought a few properties off him and he said I should be doing real estate, so I was in England for about 12 months, had got bored and started selling houses," Cosgrave said.
After returning to Hamilton, he joined Harcourts, then moved to Century 21's office. Six years ago, he returned to Harcourts.
He said the high point in his career had been finding a suitable place for a woman who had to sell a house to pay a son's debts.
He found her "a decent two-bedroom place" for $105,000 and said he was particularly satisfied with this deal.
A Commerce Commission warning over the sale of one Hamilton property was not a low point, he said.
"But I don't think we liked the publicity we got. We didn't think it was fair because I didn't think we had done anything wrong," Cosgrave said.
Caitlin and John Ottaway had bought a Hamilton house after reading an advertisement describing a bungalow in Horne St as being "out of the hustle and bustle". They complained after discovering plans for a large apartment complex next door.
But Cosgrave said yesterday that only a two-level eight-unit block had been built because proposals for a much larger complex had not been allowed. The development was not as bad as expected, he said and the back deck of the bungalow was still a peaceful place.
"I believe that if you sat on the deck of that property, you will still be out of the hustle and bustle," he said.
Last year, commission fair trading director Deb Battell said Cosgrave had known about the development before he listed the bungalow but failed to disclose this fact.
The advertisement was a clear breach of the Fair Trading Act, she said.
Caitlin Ottaway said yesterday that she wanted the institute to refer Cosgrave to the licensing board and could not understand why Harcourts would give him any awards.
She said they had lost $35,000, the house was now overshadowed by the block where there were 10 studio units and the back deck of her former house was far from peaceful or tranquil.
Cosgrove questioned why Harcourts would give Cosgrave the award.
"I'm stunned by this. My heart goes out to the Ottaways. I wonder if Mr Cosgrave will spare them a thought. This brings all good real estate agents into disrepute. There will be agents hearing this, cringing," he said.
He questioned why the institute had not referred the matter to its licensing board. This month a package of proposed reforms would be out, which would bring a radical change to the sector, he said.
He called for Cosgrave to pay the Ottaways $35,000, estimating the agent had made millions of dollars selling real estate and could spare the small amount of money as compensation.
"This proves how disconnected the leadership in this sector are and it also brings into disrepute every good professional real estate agent who acts appropriately and professionally," Cosgrove said.
Industry overhaul
* A "radical" Government real estate reform package from Associate Justice Minister Clayton Cosgrove out later this month could:
* Change training requirements for real estate agents and salespeople.
* Examine whether institute membership should be compulsory.
* Propose an overhaul of the complaints and disciplinary system.
* Put forward a new licensing system, independent of the industry.
* Establish an industry ombudsman, like the banking sector.
