🎙️ 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!