Harcourts auctioneer wins NZ novice champs

Harcourts auctioneer wins NZ novice champs

10 July 2009 – Up and coming Harcourts auctioneer Andrew Burden this week showed he’s got what it takes to achieve success by winning the Novice Auctioneers Competition at the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) National Real Estate Auctioneers Championship.

The 28-year-old Harcourts Northcote-based Sales Consultant, who in May won Harcourts New Zealand’s Most Promising Auctioneer of the Year title after taking out the group’s own Novice Auctioneers Competition, only recently completed Harcourts’ novice auctioneers training and is yet to call a real auction.

Mr Burden says he is “stoked” to have won the national novice competition, which is restricted to real estate professionals who have called less than 10 property auctions, and excited about commencing his auctioneering career in the near future.

“I was absolutely stoked to win, as aside from doing a few practice calls and participating in the Harcourts competition I’ve had no other auctioneering experience,” he says. “It’s a real boost to my confidence and will definitely help me when I start promoting myself as an auctioneer.”

Mr Burden, who is planning to begin marketing his auctioneering services after doing another Harcourts auctioneers training course next month, says he is lucky to be able to watch and learn from some of New Zealand’s best auctioneers including Harcourts’ Phil McGoldrick and Andrew North, who were both finalists in the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) National Real Estate Auctioneers Championship.

“To be trained by Harcourts National Auction Manager Phil McGoldrick, who later this year will be representing New Zealand in the Australasian championships for the fourth year in a row, and to be able to watch and get advice from top-class Harcourts auctioneers on the North Shore like Kerry Greenhalgh and Robert Tulp is definitely a major advantage.”

Harcourts New Zealand CEO Bryan Thomson says Mr Burden has a promising auctioneering career ahead of him.

“As he proved in two tough competitions now he’s got natural talent coupled with sound auctioneering skills and good knowledge of the auction contract, so I think he’s got a bright future ahead of him.

“With further training and some experience in the field I’m confident he’s going to prove to be a very successful Harcourts auctioneer.”

In a statement issued by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand the competition’s Chief Judge Ross Foreman said Mr Burden showed skills which belied his inexperience.

“Andrew has a marketing background and while he has only been in the real estate industry for two years, clearly has an affinity with the profession.”

ENDS