Sara Young has been in the Western Australian real estate industry for almost two decades. She is passionate about connecting people with their dream home and providing an exceptional service to both rental owners and tenants.
Sara is the Director of Franchising for Coronis WA and services the Northern Coastal suburbs from Hillarys to Yanchep.
She is REIWA Accredited in two specialty fields, Sales Representative and Property Management and sits on REIWAs Property Management Network. Sara also won Residential Property Manager of the Year at the REIWA Awards for Excellence in 2006, 2012 and 2016.
Outside of real estate, Sara is a proud grandparent to a newborn granddaughter and enjoys making the most of WAs enviable weather with walks along the beach, country drives and catching up for a bite to eat with friends.
The quick six with... Sara Young
1. How did you get into property management?
I moved back to Perth from the UK and was desperate to find work but got knock-back after knock-back. I looked in the job section of the newspaper and saw columns of adverts looking for property managers. I had no idea what a property manager did and had no qualifications but managed to get a job and have never looked back. I am lucky to have found a career that I absolutely love.
2. What do you enjoy most about your job?
I love people. In property management you deal with people from all walks of life. We deal with so many different emotions and circumstances. We deal with people at their highest and lowest points. We get to see the authentic side of people and we get to work with them to find positive outcomes to challenges. The other aspect I enjoy is my role as State Director for Coronis, where I get to help agency peers achieve their dreams of business ownership.
3. What is the most challenging part of your job?
In the current rental crisis, the hardest part of the job is declining applications from perfectly good tenants. Most properties are getting multiple applications. There simply is not enough stock on the market and we are seeing people desperate for rentals, with some facing homelessness.
4. What are you most proud of achieving in your role?
I am proud to have received the Property Manager of the Year at the REIWA Awards for Excellence on three occasions. But what I am most proud of is taking Coronis national, bringing the brand to WA and helping five like-minded professionals launch their own business. There is no greater feeling than watching others achieve success!
5. How have the last 12 months been for you on the ground?
2021 was an extraordinary year! COVID-19 created so many challenges for property managers. We had to constantly educate owners, tenants and ourselves. There were challenges in the first quarter with the moratorium on evictions and the inability to increase rents in line with the market. 2021 has seen many investors sell their rentals as a result. I used this as a business opportunity and introduced sales to my business too.
6. What is your best advice to tenants and investors for a successful tenancy?
The letting process is the most critical part of the tenancy process and choosing the right tenant is vital. If you are a lessor, invest in marketing. All my properties are advertised with a walk-through virtual reality tour and floorplans. This opens the market to applicants that may be interstate or are working FIFO. If you are thinking about buying an investment, ask an independent property manager for advice on rental yields.
My advice to tenants is to ask the property manager which application platform they want you to apply on and fill it in with as much detail as possible. If you are currently renting, ask your property manager to give you a REIWA Certificate of Tenancy and submit this with your application too.
