Having Pride in Palmy - Marisha doing the hard work for Arizto

Palmerston North prides itself on providing everything you need to succeed in your vocation, and it is doing the work which allows that boast.

Palman Qui Meruit Ferat (Latin for ‘let whoever earns the palm bear it') is the adopted motto for the city with the country's eighth largest urban area – and a vital connection in the lower central North Island for businesses and rural interests, connecting to the capital in Wellington and branching off to either the east or west coasts.

Entering her 27th year in real estate, strong performing Arizto agent Marisha Hes is ‘Palmy' born and raised, and finds it is the perfect market to suit New Zealand's fastest growing brand – joining in 2023.

REINZ statistics for April 2024 hold out that owner-occupiers remain the most active buyer group in the Manawatu-Whanganui region – locals who upscale or downscale depending on current circumstances and changing tastes.

In that regard, Palmerston North City remains the busiest of the seven districts in the region – 81 out of 242 April sales – with a steady median price in the low $600,000's.

So it's safe to say real estate agents who are successful will be the ones who maintain good relationships with past clients – yesterday's buyers becoming tomorrow's sellers – and Marisha has always valued good connections.

"I love the diversity with Palmerston North and how it's growing," she says.

"Hard working parents, that built their own homes, it has always interested me to be part of the community.

"I was raised to have a strong worth ethic and commitment to what you undertake.

"A lot of my business is repeat business now."

With nearly 20 sales to her name under Arizto and almost a dozen listings on the go – Marisha had spread her influence from the city suburbs like Hokowhitu to the outlying townships of Feilding, Ashhurst and Foxton.

"I sell from lifestyles in the one million plus to the rental properties at $400,000 plus.

"I've sold people into homes where they've been able to increase their equity to buy further on.

"With twenty-seven years experience, you get to know a lot of people and thankfully they like to continue to work with me."

The daughter of Polish immigrants, who endured considerable hardships in occupied Poland and Siberia during the Second World War, Marisha learnt from a young age that you can never give up if you want the work you do to be significant. 

"Tough times don't last, tough people do.

"I've worked through three recessions and I've had three booms."

Finishing school in Palmerston North, she entered sales, later joining a PR company in Australia that handled book launches, before getting into fashion store ownership.

Returning to her home town, and becoming a home owner at 25, she would raise three children and found that the real estate industry fit her skill set to a tee.

With her previous brand, she was recognised as being in the Top 5 of agents across Australasia. 

But even with the successes under the "corporate company" model, Marisha has always moved with the times in real estate.

In an industry with a high turnover of talent, she started in the era when marketing photos were taken on film and took over a week to get developed, and the scrawls of pen marks on Sale and Purchase Agreements when negotiations meant constant revision.

"The contracts were unrecognisable – the lawyers appreciate the clean contracts we have [now].

"The digital age is something we can't escape and we have to get used to.

"From ten years [ago] of paperwork, photo development taking days, we've come a long way."

It was looking for that better way that saw Marisha switch from her previous brand to a digital company that allowed her more hands-on control of her campaigns - with the ability to process listing agreements and sales contracts with clients in any location electronically, thereby cutting down considerable on overheads and offer a better value commissions.

"I'm thrilled to be part of the fantastic system with Arizto and thinking it's the future of real estate.

"I take my hat off to the originators of Arizto for forming one of the fastest growing agencies in New Zealand – it's understandable why, with some of the top agents moving over with the preference to digital formats.

 "With no-sale, no-fees, and complimentary marketing packages, it's a win-win for everyone.

 "I can work anywhere. If I'm visiting any of my family members, I can still get a contract completed successfully, yet we still have the diversity of hard copy."

When you're approaching three decades of experience in the profession, and still speak with such enthusiasm for adopting a new way of real estate, then it really is worth the listen.