By Melissa Keogh
While many regional youth leave their hometown to chase their dreams in the ‘big smoke’, for young Riverland local Kyle Hand, the country will always be home.
The 28-year-old property aficionado is behind Berri real estate agency Hand Property Co, a business helping to bring new energy to the industry and dispel old clichés.
“The way I do business is not all about the money,” he says.
“For me, it’s about helping people.”
From fruit blocks to Riverland businesses and homes, Kyle sells properties across the region including Renmark, Berri, Loxton, Barmera, Monash and Glossop.
Kyle Hand launched real estate agency Hand Property Co in 2015 and has been achieving success ever since.
His Berri-based real estate agency will celebrate its third birthday in March 2018 with the recruitment of more staff and a new, bigger location.
Kyle, who grew up in Loxton 250km from Adelaide, launched Hand Property Co in 2015 from his parents’ garage.
Despite growing up in a “tradie family”, once Kyle finished high school, he moved to Adelaide and became a door-to-door salesman.
“My mate said, ‘why don’t you give real estate a shot’,” he says.
“I worked for Raine and Horne for the first 12 months and Toop&Toop for three years.
“I enjoyed that but it was solely residential (properties) and I wanted to do commercial.
“So I worked at Century 21 Commercial on West Terrace in Adelaide, managing over 300 commercial properties.”
Despite laying the foundations of his career, Kyle still longed for fresh air and beautiful scenery, so he moved to the Fleurieu Peninsula before making the final trek home to the Riverland.
“But I knew that I wanted to have my own business even through school I knew that one day I’d end up working for myself,” he says.
“The day I finished unpacking my things off the last moving truck I started Hand Property Co from mum and dad’s garage.
“Now we’ve almost outgrown the office in Berri in 12 months and we’re looking at a bigger location.
“I have three full time staff and looking to recruit two more.”
The best part about being a real estate agent in the regions? Getting out and about in the SA countryside of course!
Kyle sells up to six properties a month but says he hopes to one day reach a point where he is selling at least 10 a month.
“I’ve picked up a lot of properties which have been up for sale for ages and I’ve sold them in a couple of weeks,” he says.
“I’ve got a lot of people relying on me to get the job done, especially when other agents have had a shot.”
The ambitious Loxton man attributes his success to work-life balance and a number of daily rituals such as memorising his life plan and meditating.
“I read my life plan twice daily,” he says.
Kyle plans to grow Hand Property Co and one day expand the business to have a presence in six locations across South Australia.
He says the Riverland is the perfect place to live.
“I want to see the area thrive and I want to share it with people who might never have considered it as an area to live,” Kyle says.
“The Riverland has a great lifestyle, it’s affordable, there’s a lot of work and we’re only two-and-a-half hours from Adelaide.”
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