Agent's year of awards

Whangarei real estate company director Maggie Dixon has been honoured as a transtasman star at the 12th annual Australasian Real Estate Agency Best Practice Awards dinner, capping a year of high achievement.
Ms Dixon was presented with the supreme award for best practice at the awards dinner in Melbourne this week.
This comes just a few months after Maggie Dixon Real Estate won the 2010 Real Estate Institute of New Zealand award for Best Residential Real Estate Agency - which in turn was hard on the heels of becoming the first real estate company in the North Island to be accredited for meeting international best practice levels.
The Australasian accolade is presented to an agency principal whose career has been distinguished by consistently successful practice; commitment to the long-term interests of the business' employees; customer service; and service to the industry and to the local community.
Ms Dixon founded Maggie Dixon Real Estate about eight years ago with her husband, Graham Lester, who is managing director. The firm now employs about 20 people.
Mr Lester also took the 2010 BDH Cup, awarded to someone from the top-performing 10 per cent of agencies throughout Australia and New Zealand.