- One of the earliest and most consistent contributors to The Property Tribune, Wouter Jellema
- Wouter tells the story of his evening last week at the official launch of the media site
At 4:30 pm on Thursday, the 3rd of June, I left the office to go to the launch party of The Property Tribune. They had to postpone the event twice before, once because of roadworks and once because of a Covid-19 lockdown.
However, last Thursday, it was happening.
There was a lot of traffic as I headed down towards the CBD. As I entered Subiaco, most professionals were leaving the city, finishing the day and going home.
On the other end, 220 property, news, and marketing professionals still had business in Subiaco, and I was fortunate enough to find a parking spot about 10 metres away from the front entrance.
I took a quick video to share with my audience on LinkedIn about what I was up to and entered the event location, the new office location of Living Online, in the heart of Subiaco.
As soon as I entered the door, some of The Property Tribune writing team noticed me. They told me how impressed they were with the articles I share and how I endorse their online stories. They were very pleased with my engagement and support. It was a friendly and warm welcome, especially as I have been writing articles as a contributor for about four months and never had the opportunity to meet the reporters and the Managing Editor in person before.
After talking to the reporters, I got to chat with Andrew Friars, who shared his experiences from years ago as he travelled and did business in Europe. I was impressed by his journey, and so we connected via LinkedIn to stay in touch and share updates from time to time.
As I entered the busy centre of the event, I noticed Rod Ryan. Rod is the Business partner of Miguel de Freitas, my previous employer. It was pleasant to hear that after a turbulent year, the DFR group are doing well, and the commercial office is doing better each month.
After briefly chatting with Rod, I made my way towards the balcony. I was looking for fellow contributor and property manager Ashleigh Goodchild from Soco Realty. She is organising a book exchange, and I offered her to donate one of my business books from Stuart Zadel.
Ashleigh and I had met online via LinkedIn, and Ashleigh had introduced me to many professionals since we met, including The Property Tribune. On Thursday, she did not make an exception. She introduced me to Harry Bozin, Shannon Davies (two more contributors to The Property Tribune), and Marc Valentine.
We discussed some legal complications that agents, sellers or lessors might encounter when they do not have their certificate of title up to date and how legally complicated things might become if you ignore or procrastinate these issues long enough.
After that conversation, there were a few speeches from Evan Cunningham-Dunlop, the CEO and founder of Living Online and The Property Tribune, Charlie Gunningham, Managing Editor and the Mayor of Subiaco, Penny Taylor.
As I moved back to the centre of the room, I bumped into Mark Hay from Mark Hay Realty Group. We have known each other for many years now, and Mark has a wealth of experience as a real estate professional and can provide investment advice to his clients, adapting his advice to where his clients are and where they want to be in life. We spoke about the price rises for apartments, based on a recent article that he shared on LinkedIn.
Finally, towards the end of the event, I met other team members from Living Online and reporters of The Property Tribune.
I enjoyed the event, met new people, reconnected with old friends, met the reporters and team of The Property Tribune in person, and found a lead. It is exhilarating to be a contributor to The Property Tribune. I am curious about what the future will bring, and I am looking forward to sharing more stories and updates with our audience.
After my wife and I left, we went to enjoy pizza in one of the local places in Subiaco, Joe’s Wine & Dine, which was just around the corner. And with that, we finished a great night. The following days, my socials went through the roof as the aftermath of the event took place.
I hope everybody who attended enjoyed the event as much as I did and found lots of benefits.
