Third time's the charm – Bev & Jason Waller in Rotorua

For Arizto's new husband and wife sales team in Rotorua, choosing family eventually always leads to good things.
Having joined New Zealand's fastest growing real estate brand at the start of the year, after nine and seven years experience respectively in property sales, Bev and Jason Waller are delighted they finally decided to make the switch to green.
The couple had spoken to now-CEO Daniel Budd twice previously about the move, once while with their original brand and then just over 14 months ago with another group, of which they were top of the sales charts in 11 of 13 months.
Bev Waller says they were talked out of it by the owner of their first brand initially, while the timing did not seem right the second time to make such a big adjustment due to a serious illness in their family.
"The third time, I rang Dan [Budd, Arizto CEO] and said, ‘do you still want us'?
"Jason and I were like, ‘why didn't we do this the first time, why did it take us so long to make the decision'?
"[With our last brand], there's no want to be better, but with Arizto in the first five weeks, we've listed 12 properties.
"We're six weeks in, and already I feel happy, and I've not said that for quite a long time.
"We've got the hunger back."
It was family loyalty that made the English-born couple and their family embrace Rotorua in the first place.
Teenage sweethearts, Bev and Jason married in their hometown of Leeds and were raising their three sons when she and the boys made their first trip to New Zealand to see her parents, who had moved to Rotorua for her father's employment.
Jason Waller did not travel due to work commitments as a plasterer as well as not being a comfortable flyer for such a long haul, but within roughly a year, the whole family was coming back.
"The recession had hit in 2008, things were very gloomy and quite depressing, so we just said, ‘bugger it, let's go'," says Bev.
"Jason obviously had to fly over, but he said, ‘it's a one-way ticket', so there was never any intention of going back.
"Best thing we've ever done, absolutely incredible.
"The kids are all settled and they're all adults now, and they're grateful that we did what we did, when we did it.
"They've got a very British accent like me, when they're with me, but when they're with their Kiwi friends and family, they sound Kiwi.
"We haven't left the country for 15 years – all family holidays have been within New Zealand.
"We didn't feel like we needed to [vacation overseas], we are central – having the lakes here, being only 45 minutes from the beach, you've got everything you need.
"Waihi was always a favourite when the kids were growing up, going to the beach over there.
"Tauranga is always a hub that we venture to when we want a good shopping day.
"Obviously Auckland, Queenstown is amazing."
The family also found themselves embraced by their community, especially as diehard soccer fans of Leeds United.
"When we moved to Rotorua, we moved to Ngongotaha, and Ngongotaha have a local football club, or soccer club."
The Waller's became the main club sponsors, while all three of their sons donned the playing strip, as they worked on charitable innovations to provide equipment and boots for young club members who may not be able to afford their own.
"They've got adult teams, but they go right down to toddlers, what they call the ‘little dribblers', so it's really cool putting into the community spots."
Now that their sons have grown up, the Waller's also contribute to the much-respected Big Brothers and Big Sisters programme – acting as adult support for disadvantage youth.
"We spend an hour with them a week at the local primary school.
"The kids' faces light up when we arrive – Jason usually bakes, his little brother loves baking and they're generally in the kitchen.
"Me and my little sister are usually doing arts and crafts, or just playing board games and things."
Easily defined as "people persons", Bev Waller first started on what would become the path to a successful industry career in 2009.
"I started quite quickly after moving here in property management, so that was real estate work.
"From that I moved into business development management, within property management, and we figured out that I was quite good at it.
"The business owner at that time, said, ‘have you thought about going into sales'?
"I got my licence in 2016, Jason got his licence two years later.
"He was a plasterer by trade, so he did 20 years as a plasterer in England, nine years in New Zealand
"He was sick of the dirt and the dust, but when I started two years prior, I never did an open home alone – Jason always used to come with me.
"We called him my host – he would welcome them and take the details, and then I was able to talk real estate.
"He got Rookie of the Year 2019, and from there we've won awards every year for the two companies we've worked for previously.
"We've got a winning formula, we work really well together, and we've got different strengths and weaknesses.
"I'm the organiser, Jason is the negotiator – he is able to get dollars out of people like I've never known,
"He's amazing at getting the best price for the vendor.
"The three bases that I see in real estate are communication, negotiation and marketing, and we've got those three, I think, nailed.
"We're very, very vendor focused - it's got to be right to the vendor.
"What they're doing is giving us their biggest asset, and trusting us with it, and we've got to be respectful of that."
What proved to be absolutely key to the Waller's is perceptions about Arizto not being a "hands-on" service company due to being based on digital documentation was incorrect, as was the notion that the company's fees are cheaper because it somehow offers a lesser sales product.
"It's been completely proved wrong.
"We're not discount agents, we charge a set fee, we're not discounting it.
"It's a fixed fee and it's out there, it's in the public."
The Waller's first sale under the brand was for an elderly couple to be able to move out of their lovely brick home in the suburb of Pukehangi into one of Rotorua's new retirement villages.
Bev Waller said she was interested to hear from the sales staff of the village that they previously recommended to potential residents to list their homes with more traditional agencies, but now that the couple had joined Arizto, they will also add them to the list of preferred options.
"People are just calling us. We do market ourselves – we've got different adverts in places and on the radio and things like that, so we're kind of top of mind."
And like other experienced salespeople to join – the couple just love the digital dashboard technology which puts them more in charge of the listing and its marketing.
Even those first successful sellers, who are in their 80's, where able to follow along with Arizto's simple online document signing.
"Half an hour later [the agency agreement] was back all signed. That as a first example was incredible.
"Week 1 we got an offer, we got it under contract.
"Absolutely life changing – I know I'm being dramatic when I'm saying that, but it absolutely is.
"It's just a breath of fresh air. Even getting a listing signed up, it takes five minutes for me to send the email, have them sign it and get it back to me.
"It's easy for us, it's easy for the vendor and it's easy for the buyer.
"Because people have seen how easy it is to do things, and they're still getting the personal contact from us.
"The systems that we're working with are incredible."
This is far more efficient than old method with long paper trails when negotiations prove delicate – Bev Waller recalling the ultimately unprofessional look of one of their sale and purchase agreements from their former brand after it had been through multiple changes between the Australian-based owners and buyers who were from outside Rotorua.
"The front page had been sent and then scanned so many times, and one time it came back emailed crooked.
"The front page was completely unreadable, and when we sent it to the lawyers as a contract, the lawyer rang me and she said, ‘Bev, what's going on'?'
"In the old companies, something as simple as a price change – you talk to your vendor about a price change, then you'd have to get a piece of paper, take it out to your vendor to get them to sign it, take it back to the office and give it to the admin, because you weren't allowed to do it yourself.
"You're the one with the real estate licence, but you couldn't be trusted to change the price on a property, and if it was after hours you'd have to wait until the next business day.
"[Now], price changes, putting a listing live – it's instantly there, it's instantly done.
"‘That's one of my favourite parts – that I've got control of doing it."
It's easy to see now why the Waller's are smiling again in their work – with Arizto having opened up a whole new frontier.
Is it finally time to make the switch? Contact Arizto today to discuss joining New Zealand's expanding and an exciting team!