This week in our blog we chat to our Administration Manager, Marina Alberti. At just 24 she has achieved so many professional and personal goals, we couldn’t be prouder of her! We asked her to share some of her journey through Clark Real Estate and as well as talk to us about her (amazing) first property purchase, including her tips for young people on how to save for a first home.
What has your journey at Clark Real Estate entailed so far?
I joined the Clark team not long after finishing high school. I started as a weekend receptionist when we used to be open 7 days a week. This worked great for me because I was studying. On Saturdays, I would help the team with contracts but my Sundays were mostly just preparing letters/flyers for the next week & cleaning.
After doing for about 10 months, I was kicked out of home. I needed a place to live and a full-time job because I was too young to receive anything from Centrelink. I dropped out of university to join Clark full time as a junior sales assistant and within a few months had secured a room in a share house with 3 housemates.
While a full-time employee at Clark, I was trained in real estate photography which helped me secure a side-gig of taking photos for Airbnb’s. I have also obtained my real estate licence and done extra training in Xero, book keeping and payroll which have all helped me earn the title of administration manager.
I now oversee the administration department which includes both full time and casual staff. I manage the bills, accounts and payroll for the business as well as progress properties through the various stages of the contract process.
My achievements so far:
- Employee of the year 2017
- Employee of the quarter a few times (I can’t remember sorry)
- 2 Nominations for admin controller of the year with Pittard. I made it into the finalists both times
- My name on the 5 years of service plaque (I’m currently at 6 years)
- Digitising the sales process- We used to have paper checklists in every folder which are now action plans in our database that pop tasks into individual’s to-do lists
- Digitising the enquiry process- We used to record enquiries on clipboards
- Creating training resources for every aspect of the sales process and daily running of the office e.g., how to change the ink in the postage meter
- Implementing a tracking system for all of our mail delivery team
- Learned to process payroll so that we didn’t have to outsource this to an accountant
- Being able to fix most phone and computer problems without having to enlist the help of an IT company
- Improving the quality of our photos and saving employees time by engaging off-site photo editors
- I’m one of the offices first-aider’s and have completed fire warden training.
What makes you want to stay at Clark Real Estate?
I feel valued here. Even when I was still new and learning the ropes. My team respects me and create a pleasant environment to work in. I like that the business owners place a lot of trust in the team and mostly let us do whatever we want to get work done. We’ve got KPI’s to stick to, but apart from that, we are given quite a lot of freedom. I’m growing an avocado tree from a seed on the back deck, we’ve got a stove, two fridges, an air fryer, and heaps of cool kitchen gadgets.
You recently purchased your first property, congratulations! When did you decide to purchase a property?
Pretty much as soon as I found financial security, I knew I wanted to own my own place. Paying rent for the rest of my life isn’t attractive to me. That and I loathe carpet. I am currently ripping up the white carpets in my place.
What were some of the strategies you put in place to be able to help you achieve your goal?
As soon as I was kicked out of home, I created a budget spreadsheet where I recorded every expense and my average income. I have automatic payments set up on all my bills to avoid late fees and I used to get cash out every week to make sure I didn’t go over budget with groceries and fuel. Nowadays cash isn’t so tight, and I’m pretty good at sticking to my budget. I also made sure I was putting money into savings every month which I then invested in term deposits. Having a side-gig was great because my regular salary would be split up in the budget spreadsheet quite strictly so any money from the side-gig was allocated for fun stuff.
What are your tips for young people on how to save for a first home?
- Budget. Use a spreadsheet, app, envelope system, whatever. Just do it.
- Reduce your expenses. Share houses are your best friend. One of my biggest regular expenses was always rent. I made sure to choose cheaper places even if that meant having to share a bathroom with 3 other people, or parking my car on the street. I buy most of my things second hand to save even more money
- Be patient. It took years from having nothing to buying my own place.
Do you want to create a better future and be a part of a team that cares about what they do and each other? We collaborate as a team to achieve the best results for our clients, resulting in less stress, job security, more flexibility and higher earning potential. You are all you need to get started!
Contact us to learn more about haw you can get started with Clark Real Estate.
