Richardson & Wrench is expanding its presence in Sydney’s western growth corridor with the opening of a new office in Toongabbie that integrates the three pillars of real estate services all under one roof.
R&W Toongabbie will be co-located with long-established law firm Papantoniou Blake Lawyers, providing clients and customers with the option to access all their property and legal requirements from the transaction to beyond.
For Principal Chris Papantoniou, who is also the non-solicitor Director of Papantoniou Blake Lawyers, it is a critical element in his vision to create a fully integrated business with a whole of customer focus.
“There are three services critical to every property transaction from a vendor and buyer perspective,” says Papantoniou. “The real estate itself, legal and finance.
“My vision has long been to create a vertically integrated property business where we provide the customer with seamless delivery of everything they need to buy, sell and manage the property and also use it as a vehicle for building wealth. Customers are under no obligation to use all the services we have available but we believe that many will see the advantages of bundling all their requirements together.
“For most people, property is the foundation of their personal and family wealth and we aim to provide our clients with expert professional advice right across the property life cycle, to include estate planning, probate and tax minimisation.”
The Toongabbie office will actively operate across the suburbs of Toongabbie, Old Toongabbie, Pendle Hill and Girraween, offering real estate sales, property management, legal services, including conveyancing and tax and estate planning, and mortgage broking through R&W partner Shore Financial.
Richardson & Wrench Managing Director Andrew Cocks said the opening of the Toongabbie office recognised the increased demand for real estate services in one of Sydney’s fastest growing locations.
“This region is the fastest growing area in Australia with a population of 360,000 set to grow to 500,000 by 2036,” said Mr Cocks. “Toongabbie lies 6km from Blacktown and 8km from Parramatta and is in prime position to benefit from the growth in both these major centres.
“It has the great advantage of being relatively affordable, making it an attractive prospect for young families and also investors and developers eyeing opportunities to regenerate older housing stock.
“There is likely to be an increased level of real estate activity in the area as economic growth, increased population and jobs push up demand and opportunity.”
Mr Papantoniou says he opted to join the Richardson & Wrench network after an exhaustive review of all the major franchise groups.
“We liked the flexibility of the brand as well as the freedom to run the business according to our vision, within brand guidelines,” said Mr Papantoniou.
“I look at a lot of franchises agreements and nine out of 10 are skewed towards the franchisor. The Richardson & Wrench franchise agreement is very balanced and tells you the type of company they are.”
Mr Papantoniou will open the business with his long-time business associate, Dario Bietresato, at his side as head of sales while he focuses on his strength in property management.
Both have a resume of successful business start-ups in which they have grown small businesses into international companies.
Mr Papantoniou initially joined his father in food manufacturing, building the business into a thriving enterprise supplying major supermarkets, airlines and franchise retail outlets, and later diversifying into telemarketing, transport and marketing.
In 2013, he stepped into the law firm established by his mother Stella in 1992, assuming the role of non-solicitor Director, while also resuming his legal studies. It was here that he saw the opportunity to create an integrated business marrying the three pillars of every real estate transaction - property, law and finance. For many years he has managed his extended family’s substantial portfolio of investment properties.
Dario Bietresato also turned a small family food manufacturing enterprise into a category leader with a national and international distribution network. Along the way he’s also nurtured a number of smaller start-ups to success and more recently has been involved in real estate sales in the Toongabbie area.