JOHNSTON DIXON Quality Property

JOHNSTON DIXON Quality Property ‘Greatness is not determined by size, but by greatness’ From relatively humble suburban beginnings in 1987, JOHNSTON DIXON Quality Property has evolved into one of the country’s leading real estate agencies.  Under the stewardship of enigmatic CEO John Johnston and driven by the legendary sales ability of Director Josephine Johnston-Rowell, JOHNSTON DIXON Quality Property has become a formidable force in the residential property marketplace.  From its centrally located offices and using its revolutionary ‘suitability based’ method of selling, over the last decade the company has sold more multi-million dollar property and set more record high prices than any other Brisbane based real estate organisation past or present, large or small, independent or franchise. These include the two highest prices paid at auction for any Brisbane home (both over $7million); the highest auction price paid for a riverfront home (over $7million); the highest price paid for an acreage home ($6.7million) and most recently, the highest auction price paid for a Brisbane apartment ($5.65million).  Its ascendancy has been no less compelling on the property leasing front where the JOHNSTON DIXON Quality Property Management team lead by Kristy Lord, has posted exceptional annual growth and established a ‘rent-roll’ with the highest average rental income anywhere in South-East Queensland. Key to the company’s enduring success has been its commitment to stay independent, very aware of the fact that excellence can’t be franchised and just how vital to success an integrated force operating from a core central location really is in a people-focused industry such as real estate. The company also knows that ‘to be the best, you have to be the best’, and there are no shortcuts. To have the best brand, best advertisements, copywriting, signage, product, processes and people requires incredible, constant commitment and investment.  Like all genuinely great success, JOHNSTON DIXON Quality Property’s, has been hard won. Equally hard won is its reputation as a ‘real estate safe harbour’, a title rather intriguingly earned despite the company itself never having been one to ‘play it safe’. JOHNSTON DIXON Quality Property’s acclaimed MOVE magazine, distributed digitally and in hard copy in the tens of thousands around both Brisbane and the world is a prime example of what is possible when convention is greatly challenged. What started life as a black and white flyer in the early 1990s, is today Australia’s premier property portfolio. Equally bold has been the company’s embrace of the ‘high tech, high touch’ revolution, a fast moving train it knew it had to be on, where its classic website and integrated ‘Client Match’ software have proven ground-breaking market innovations. While vision, commitment, innovation, integrity and technology are important, ultimately real estate is about people doing business with people. That will never change and is where JOHNSTON DIXON Quality Property truly shines; in its dealings with clients, where the genuine character, class and commitment of its people are both a clear point of difference and an indomitable force in the marketplace.  Management John Johnston - CEO  John Johnston has been a key player in the residential real estate market for decades and is as passionate about property today as he was at age 20 struggling to save the required 10% deposit for his first home and to service a home loan at 18% interest, a modest but very rewarding early foray into the market that forever changed his destiny. Now in his third decade of continuous direct professional involvement in property and his second at the helm of his own real estate agency, John has earned a formidable ‘below the radar’ reputation for his commitment, focus, energy, purpose and creative flair. His experience riding the many highs and occasional lows of the market, his past career in naval intelligence, extensive world travels, command of several languages, lucid grasp of macro-economics and keen interest in world affairs have all helped shape his profound market insight, as well as provide him with a quite uncanny ability to ‘pick the market’. John is best known however for his ability as a front line sales negotiator, a skill honed through more than a billion dollars of personal and company sales and from being one of Australia’s most accomplished auctioneers, where John is famed for his quick wit, ability to keep his head, and to think on his feet in highly charged, highly priced environments.  His very first auction set a new multi-million dollar Brisbane suburb price record and there have been countless since. Working exclusively for his own company, over the last decade John has successfully called more million dollar property auctions than any other Queensland auctioneer. He presently holds simultaneous records for the highest auction sale prices across all three residential categories; houses, apartments and vacant land. Josephine Johnston-Rowell – Director Josephine Johnston-Rowell is one of the country’s truly great property agents. Her track record selling Brisbane’s finest quality residential property is the stuff of legend.  Affectionately known as the ‘River Queen’ from her near two decade domination of the river market and authorship of Brisbane’s definitive RIVER REPORT, Josephine has more multi-million dollar sales to her credit, both on and off the river, than any other agent. Meeting Josephine, you may hardly know that she is the doyenne of top end property. She is one of the most unassuming people you may ever meet. In a rare radio interview she gave recently the announcer couldn’t help but observe ‘you are nothing like what I imagined one of Australia’s most successful agents would be. You seem entirely normal’.  Josephine is disarmingly normal (though manically competitive). She is also refreshingly genuine, honest, caring, and possessive of an incredibly rare sense of commitment and responsibility to her clients, whose interests and privacy she goes to great lengths to protect. Despite all that, or because of all that, she genuinely succeeds like no other.  In a career as the only individual Brisbane agent to truly push the $1billion sales mark, Josephine has sold more than three times more riverfront property than the next best, sold more than $25million worth of real estate in a month, sold more than $10million worth of property in a day, and holds a record number of suburb price records.  Making one-third of her sales off-market, Josephine’s incomparable sales legacy includes all three of Brisbane’s highest priced auction sales, and more $5million+ sales than all other agents combined (many post-GFC). Incredibly in 2012 she sold all of the top four highest selling properties sold by agents in Brisbane (two houses and two apartments). Totally unique in her selling style, ethical and committed, Josephine is an incredibly humble, even reluctant star who works just as hard in fostering a successful and rewarding family life at home on her beloved river as she does in her stellar career.  Kristy Lord – Leasing Department Head Just what it is that makes Kristy Lord so incredibly successful may not initially be easily definable, but what is clear is that she is incredibly driven, is a consummate professional, and provides a quality of service that is simply beyond compare. More than being the leasing dynamo that she is, Kristy is the ultimate go-to person, possessing that most rare quality of not just getting more things done than most, but more effectively, in less time and with less fuss.  Kristy is today well into her second decade as a leading light of the management industry. Her stellar career has been acknowledged widely but none more so than when honoured with the coveted Australian Property Manager of the Year Award in 2009.   Kristy and her highly trained, hand-picked team of portfolio managers form a close knit, high powered group, who work in very closely with the company’s flagship sales division to take a management portfolio that already boasts the highest average rent anywhere in South-East Queensland to even greater and more rewarding heights.