For family and the future – Oamaru's Team Meek

The beautiful Waitaki District and its seat of Oamaru is becoming a beacon in the south for Arizto’s green flag with the acquisition of the latest husband-wife team to join New Zealand’s fastest growing real estate company.

Following on from the great work done over the past year by Heather Burgher in helping establish the brand in North Otago, two colleagues from their former brand made the big switch in December in Cliff and Glenda Meek.

Multi-time award winners, Cliff Meek brings nearly 12 years experience to Arizto with wife Glenda having joined him in 2017.

They are true blue locals – Glenda an Oamaru native while Cliff was born in the nearby hinterland town of Clyde and then raised just over 50km south in the fellow coastal town of Palmerston.

Happily married for 39 years, in earlier times the Meeks’ lived for a few years in Australia, the former linesman worker Cliff expanding into the gold mines, while Glenda took on a role with Westpac Bank.

But however far the couple expanded their horizons, their future was always destined to come home.

"We came back to have the family, and [now] three grandchildren," said Glenda

"We’d worked pretty hard for three years and saved a bit of money, so we came back and bought our first home.

"We were ready to start a family and wanted to be closer to family in New Zealand.

"We’re an hour away from the lakes – the summer sports, water skiing and stuff – and two hours away from the ski fields for the winter.

"We’re sort of set in the middle of Dunedin and Christchurch, so if you want to go to the city it’s not far away.

"Queenstown’s only three hours away. Queenstown and Wanaka – we spend a bit of time over there.

"We have a lot of stuff going on; we have Otago Anniversary Weekend, this jazz festival that has got to be a really big attraction.

"In November they have this Victorian Heritage, because we’ve got a really good old part of town, and Steam Punk’s really big in the middle of the year – King’s Birthday Weekend.

"In January we had Netflix here, filming in the old part of town, that mini-series East of Eden, so the place was humming."

Having bought their first house debt-free, Cliff Meek found he enjoyed the work that goes into improving a home and making it an asset, which proved the leg-up to eventually enter the industry.

"I’ve always brought lots of properties – did them up and sold them – and we were starting to buy blocks of land and build new houses about then.

"I just got approached by the lady at Ray White, caught up with her, and she said 'do your ticket’ and away I went."

After a year in the profession came the first association with Burgher, who was office manager at the well-respected Southern Wide brand, whom Cliff would then join.

The market was on a steady incline by this point, in the years immediately before the 'Covid’ boom.

"There was a lot coming in from the North Island for quite some time," said Cliff.

"There’s a lot of people that go touring around the country.

"After they’ve been touring, some people realise they just want to have a change, and going around New Zealand they find Oamaru’s a good place to live.

"We sell a lot to them, and just [locals] moving around."

Within a few years, Glenda was ready to try her hand at the trade, although initially it was as her own salesperson rather than the Meeks team.

"I joined Cliff in 2017 after a 20 year stint as admin in a high school office.

"Waitaki Girls – so we’ve got good high schools down here.

"He was really busy at the time, and after 20 years in the job it was time for a change.

"So I thought, 'I’d like to sit the ticket and see if I can do it too’."

Both of them enjoyed their time with Burgher at Southern Wide, but then the dynamic changed in 2020 when the office was bought out by a national brand looking to expand more out of the North Island.

Again, they still thrived with their hard work ethic and loyal client base – picking up multiple awards or high placings for their region including Most Valuable Commercial, Client Service Champion, Milestones of $15m and then $25m sales, Top Listers and Top Sellers.

But the couple were not really satisfied with the processes they had to use - believing there had to be a fairer way to service home owners in the country areas, especially in the last few years as market conditions became tougher.

"We gave it four years, and then Arizto came along," said Glenda.

"Heather Burgher, she took the lead before us and she’s been doing really well, and she was trying to talk me into it."

While Cliff had a more cautious approach, the couple talked to not only Burgher but Arizto Otago’s Kimberley Rosenbrock, who was recognised as the brand’s 2023 Business Development Manager of the Year.

"I was sold [on switching], over a year ago," said Glenda.

"You got say the two percent [commission fees] really attracted us.

"The attraction’s having the two percent [commission], having the photographer, the floor plan, the video, having our signs put up for us."

Cliff Meek was soon all-in as well, feeling he could finally provide a better offering to their home owners due to Arizto having all their marketing services in-house with the upfront costs covered.

"That was probably the biggest part – I dislike vendor-paid advertising because I feel they pay enough as it is.

"This way I don’t have to worry and keep negotiating the [commission] fee or vendor paid advertising – it’s done.

"[Previously] I spent a lot of time...negotiating with people to get the [commission] fees how they wanted them, or as close as I could get.

"[Now] when they ring me up, they know exactly where we’re at, whereas before I was always doing deals. I believe it’s fair."

The couple have also into their rhythm as a team – Cliff the negotiator and Glenda the details, so she has quickly come to embrace Arizto’s cutting edge technology with App and Dashboard-based documentation.

Their support manager Margot Bernie provided plenty of assistance, and now the couple love that they have the control to prepare, and if necessary, edit agreements and offers in a timely fashion.

"If I’ve got my computer with me, and I can just hot spot it off my phone and change anything that needs it."

Their first three listings - on Macs Ridge overlooking the town, nearby Waitaki Bridge and South Oamaru, are all online, while they have more swiftly upcoming.

The couple are also investing in a marketing specialist to really help them get their business out there and educate North Otago people about how Arizto’s platform will be so much better than 'traditional’ agencies.

"Once I get my foot in the door, I’m right, but I’ve got to get my foot in the door," said Cliff.

"I say, 'why would you want to be stuck on $22,000 [commission] when I could do it for $15,000’?"

It shouldn’t take too long before plenty of home owners in the Waitaki will be agreeing.