Rental portfolio set to change hands

Property Brokers' Wanganui branch is in the process of buying the rental portfolio of fellow real estate business Coull Battell/The Professionals.

Property Brokers' Wanganui branch manager Philip Kubiak said he had made one part-time staff member full time and now had four full-time staff members to cope with property work.

"Property management divisions are good for cash flow, and we saw it as a good investment," he said.

Property Brokers is a real estate business that covers the full range of commercial, residential, rural and lifestyle sales, as well as taking care of rental arrangements.

It started in the lower North Island and now has 19 branches throughout New Zealand.

The owner is Tim Mordaunt and the business dates back to 1986.

It came to Wanganui when it bought the Ray White office in 2008. The Ray White named disappeared from the Wanganui real estate scene for a while, and then returned when Century 21 rebranded and took it on.

Property Brokers was now the biggest real estate agency in Wanganui, Mr Kubiak said. It has 27 staff working from its Victoria Ave office and may have to look for bigger premises.

As well as the rental staff of four, who are paid wages, there are 13 who sell houses, two who sell rural and lifestyle properties and two who sell commercial properties - all on commission.