The real estate network is stepping up its Queensland expansion, with a new appointment focused on identifying franchise opportunities and building partnerships across the state.
YPA has appointed real estate growth executive Stephen Lea as franchise growth director, Queensland.
In his new role, Lea will focus on identifying growth opportunities and developing relationships with prospective franchise partners.
Lea said his initial focus would be on understanding the businesses and goals of potential franchise partners.
“Queensland is a very relationship-driven real estate market, and that’s something I’ve experienced throughout my career,” Lea said.
“My focus initially is going to be on getting out there, listening to business owners and understanding what they want their businesses to look like in the future.”
Rather than targeting a specific number of new offices, Lea said the priority would be developing the right partnerships.
“I’ve worked with a number of different models over the years, and one thing that doesn’t change is that sustainable growth comes down to people,” he said.
“For me, success won’t be measured by how quickly we can put YPA signs across Queensland. It will be whether we’re building strong businesses with good operators who are happy they made the decision to join us,” Lea said.
YPA franchise manager Kayla Ridolfi said Lea’s experience in franchise development and Queensland real estate would support the network’s growth plans.
“Stephen understands growth, but more importantly he understands that successful growth comes down to people and relationships,” Ridolfi said.
“He has worked across a number of different real estate models throughout his career and brings a great deal of experience to what we’re trying to achieve in Queensland.”
Lea has held senior roles with RE/MAX Australia, Coldwell Banker Australia, Queensland Sotheby’s International Realty, and McGrath Estate Agents, as well as earlier roles at realestate.com.au and Knight Frank.
He was also responsible for establishing eXp Realty’s Australian operations in 2019.
Ridolfi said the network wanted to focus on finding the right operators and markets rather than simply adding offices.
“We already have a presence in Queensland, but we believe there is a much bigger opportunity for YPA there.”
“We’re not looking to grow simply for the sake of adding offices. We want to find the right operators, in the right markets, who genuinely fit the network and can build successful businesses over the long term.”
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?Make Real Estate Business a preferred news source on Google.
