🎙️ Real Estate Revamp | Dean O’Brien – Founder of O’Brien Real Estate
In this episode of Real Estate Revamp, Rex and Chanell sit down with Dean O’Brien, Founder and Co-Director of O’Brien Real Estate.
Dean shares his journey from entering real estate in 2001 to co-founding O’Brien Real Estate in 2010, growing it from a single office into one of Victoria’s most respected real estate networks, now spanning more than 40 offices across Melbourne and regional Victoria.
He dives into what it takes to build a strong culture at scale — covering leadership, recruiting and retaining top talent, training and mentoring teams, and staying true to core values while growing a high-performing brand.
Dean also opens up about his personal values, how he approaches tough decisions, the importance of long-term thinking, and why personal development and community involvement are central to his leadership style.
Whether you’re in real estate, business, or leadership, this episode offers practical insights and real-world lessons from one of Australia’s leading real estate founders.
🎧 Tune in to this episode of Real Estate Revamp.
Our special guest on this week’s Real Estate Renovators is Pat McConnachie, Managing Director of Ray White Ferntree Gully.
Pat has some great insights to share about how he’s developed the Ferntree Gully office to be the number one Ray White agency in Victoria for going on nine years.
He outlines how he approaches recruiting and retention, training and mentoring, and even how he helps his new team members with their personal budgeting!
He also tells Rex and Chanell about his own journey, his key values, how he makes tough decisions, and how he’s prioritised personal and professional growth.
You’ll soon appreciate what has made Pat not only a successful business owner but a respected and admired leader in the industry when you click Play on this episode of Real Estate Renovators.
Our special guest on this week’s Real Estate Renovators is mortgage broker Bernard Desmond, the founder, director and CEO of Blank Financial. He recently took home the Community Champion award at the 2025 Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) State Excellence Awards for Victoria and Tasmania. Bernard tells us how he found his passion in mortgage broking, why he sees broking as a still-undervalued service, and what he sees as the secrets to his success. He also explains how he builds relationships with agents, his unique approach to marketing himself and his service, and why he considers his role as one of finding solutions for people. Bernard’s enthusiasm and positivity is evident throughout this episode of Real Estate Renovators, so click Play right now to enjoy his chat with Rex and Chanell.
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Our special guest on this week’s Real Estate Renovators is Darren Krakowiak, founder of CRE Success.
Darren tells Rex and Chanell how he came to create CRE Success, why he focuses on commercial and not residential real estate, and how he helps his clients.
He shares some of his philosophy on growing a business and explains the sorts of tools and support that he provides to help commercial real estate principals to accelerate revenue growth.
Darren also talks about the community he’s building through his membership program.
It’s an extremely informative episode of Real Estate Renovators, so click Play right now to hear Darren’s insights.
Our special guest on this week’s Real Estate Renovators is Daniel Nik, co-founder of Logic Media.
Daniel shares his insights into using social media to grow your brand and reach more potential buyers and sellers.
He tells Rex and Chanell how he’s increased engagement for clients, what works well on social media, and what you should be aiming for when you do post.
If you’ve ever wondered whether it might be worth live-streaming an auction, wait until you hear what Daniel has to say!
If you’re not on all the social media platforms right now, we think you might change your mind after this episode of Real Estate Renovators, so click Play right now to get the good oil!
Our special guest on this week’s Real Estate Renovators is Tim Graham, General Manager of Hotspotting.
Tim explains how Hotspotting came to be, how it’s evolved to incorporate AI, and what it now offers. He also reveals what some current hot spots are (you’ll be more than surprised!) and why that’s the case.
Tim, Rex and Chanell discuss how to identify opportunities in the market, how different people view the landscape, the role of buyer’s agents, and how attitudes to both home ownership and property investment have changed over time.
It’s another enlightening episode of Real Estate Renovators, so click “play” right now!
Our special guest on this week’s Real Estate Renovators is Jason Colbey, Head of Franchise Partnerships for Tapi.
Tapi is a powerful software system that helps property managers manage maintenance, including the vital compliance aspect.
Jason talks passionately about why PMs are so valuable to every real estate business and how Tapi is designed to empower them to be far more efficient (and less stressed).
He tells Rex and Chanell that better managing maintenance at rental properties is just part of taking customer service to the next level.
He explains how Tapi works for tradies, as well as the benefits for landlords, and discusses the overall advances in technology designed specifically for the real estate industry.
This episode of Real Estate Renovators might prompt you to take your agency to the next level, so click “play” right now!
Our special guest on this week’s Real Estate Renovators is Bryce Holdaway from Empower Wealth Advisory.
Bryce has literally written the book on investing in property to fund your lifestyle after retirement.
He also has some brilliant ideas on how to build your brand so that people will come to you.
He tells Rex and Chanell where he sees misconceptions about wealth building, selecting the right properties to invest in, and understanding how much money you’ll need after you’ve stopped working.
And he has some advice for the younger generations to get their mindset around investing and creating wealth.
There’s an absolute wealth of information in this new episode of Real Estate Renovators, so click “play” right now!
Our special guest on this week’s Real Estate Renovators is Dexter Prack, CEO of the Ray White Judd White Group.
Dexter talks about his approach to real estate, leadership, running a business, nurturing staff, taking chances, what’s really valuable, and celebrating success.
He tells Rex and Chanell what he thinks has helped him succeed in the real estate business and explains why he chose to partner with Ray White in his new venture.
If you know Dex, you’ll know this will be an enjoyable and entertaining chat … and if you don’t know him yet, you’ll probably want to after watching … so click play right now for this latest episode of Real Estate Renovators.
Our special guests on this week’s Real Estate Renovators are Danny Han and Liam Carrington from VICPROP.
Danny talks about how he came to establish the business and his vision for VICPROP, its offices, and its team members.
Liam explains what attracted him to join VICPROP and what he believes sets the VICPROP business model apart from the rest.
It’s a fascinating insight into a newer real estate company with a different approach and an ambition to change the way the industry has traditionally operated.
It might just change how you look at the business of real estate, so click play right now to watch this thought-provoking episode of Real Estate Renovators.
Our special guest on this week’s Real Estate Renovators is Adam Holster, Professional Services Banking Executive at NAB.
Adam tells Rex and Chanell how he and his team work with real estate businesses to ensure that any financial arrangements are exactly what that agency needs.
He discusses the valuation of rent rolls, how he thinks agencies should prepare for growth opportunities, and why planning for the future – not least succession planning – is so important.
It’s a conversation that every real estate business principal, partner, executive and board member should watch – and there’s plenty of insights for the rest of us, too – so click play right now for this informative episode of Real Estate Renovators.
Our special guest on this week’s Real Estate Renovators is the Professional Human, Andy Reid
The 2022 Australian Auctioneer of the Year has added the role of author to his multi-hyphenated resume, and shares some of the insights that led him to put pen to paper with his book, Success Curious.
Andy discusses a range of concepts and philosophies of life with Rex and Chanell, including how your values and purpose are interrelated, how we should work on incremental improvements rather than trying to achieve big goals, and how we should evaluate success.
It’s a fascinating chat with a unique individual that you need to watch right here right now on this episode of Real Estate Renovators.
Our special guest on this week’s Real Estate Renovators is the Director of Wingman Group, Nick Georges.
He tells Rex and Chanell how the Wingman Group is working to change the perception of outsourcing by delivering low-cost support for Australian and New Zealand companies.
As Nick explains, there are now hundreds of Australian businesses taking advantage of the services of more than 1000 professionals based in the Philippines.
Many of those are supporting real estate and property management professionals by taking care of a range of day-to-day tasks, freeing up the local staff to be more productive and have a better work-life balance.
Find out more about this game-changing concept by pressing play on this episode of Real Estate Renovators now!
Our special guest on this week’s Real Estate Renovators is Lucas Giannotti.
Lucas runs Development Agency, which specialises in project marketing.
He outlines how he came to focus on the off-the-plan sector, how he’s built the business, and what Development Agency does for its partners and clients.
He also tells Rex and Chanell how Development Agency has grown to also offer ongoing property management services for investors who buy properties off the plan.
Find out more about this lesser-known niche in the real estate industry in this episode of Real Estate Renovators by pressing play right now!
Our special guest on this week’s Real Estate Renovators is Anthony Webb.
Anthony’s involvement in the real estate business started when he was just six years old, accompanying his dad to auctions. Some years later, he helped build the family business to be hugely successful, with one of the largest rent rolls in Victoria.
With his experience in property management and sales, as well as being a qualified auctioneer, Anthony has a broad skillset and a unique insight into the real estate industry, both from the point of view of an independent office and now in the franchise space.
Now Head of Victoria and Tasmania for Belle Property and Hocking Stuart, Anthony is only a couple of years into this new chapter of his career.
He’s got plenty to share with Rex and Chanell in this latest episode of Real Estate Renovators, so press play now.
Our special guest on this week’s episode of Real Estate Renovators is one of Melbourne’s top fashion designers trusted by the best in the business Godwin Hili.
Godwin shares his personal story of how he followed his passion from very much non-design jobs to become the go-to tailor for the top performers in a range of industries, not least the real estate business.
He outlines how he helps his clients dress to impress and offers some tips on how to find your own style.
It’s a fascinating way to kick off Season 5 of Real Estate Renovators, so press play now.
Our special guest on this week’s episode of Real Estate Renovators is personal branding expert Mel Yu.
Mel explains the value of personal branding, why you should put some thought into establishing yours sooner rather than later, and how to build it effectively once you have set the foundations.
She tells Chanell and Rex that personal brands are already overtaking corporate branding because people want to relate to real humans and want to see what someone is all about before they trust them.
If you want to be motivated to step into the personal branding arena, just watch this latest episode of Real Estate Renovators right here, right now!
Our special guest on next week’s episode of Real Estate Renovators is Calvin Chan, Director of CHN Real Estate Group.
Calvin tells Rex and Chanell how he “accidentally” got into real estate, how he managed to achieve great success in a relatively short time, and why he and his partner, Jim Chen, decided to open their own business.
He outlines what he sees as the main points of difference of CHN and shares his vision for what he believes is possible in the near future, as well as the longer term.
You’ll be drawn to his confidence and understated ambition, so listen to this latest episode of Real Estate Renovators right here, right now!
We are BACK! Our special guest for this episode of RER is Simon Pintado from Buxton Bentleigh. Simon shares his thoughts on life in the real estate industry and gives us an insight into how he rose to be a director of a high-profile and successful office within 10 years of starting in the business. He tells Rex and Chanell how carefully he plans his time, how he works efficiently, and how he approaches his role as a leader within his own office and the broader industry. He’s definitely a young man going places, and we think you’ll be motivated and inspired by listening to him ... so clear your schedule for the next half an hour and click “play” on this episode of Real Estate Renovators right here, right now!
On this edition of Real Estate Renovators, Chanell flies solo in the host’s seat ... because Rex has “volunteered” to be this week’s guest. He answers some of the legal questions he gets asked most often, including: ➡ What's the right structure for setting up your own agency? ➡ What sort of partnership agreement should you have? ➡ Can you employ someone on a commission-only basis? ➡ How enforceable are non-competes? ➡ What can you do to protect your business? ➡ What are the advantages of growing your own rent roll versus acquisition? You won’t get better free legal advice ever, so catch this new episode of Real Estate Renovators right here, right now ...