"Real estate isn't just about property and transactions. The business is about people."
Harcourts Papakura real estate agent Tama Emery uses innovative ways to sell properties, including using Te Reo Māori, and tikanga Māori.
Emery, a born and bred Papakura native, has been selling real estate for only a year and believes Aotearoa, and the real estate industry are ready for Te Reo Māori and tikanga Māori.
He has made 17 sales worth $14.7 million to date not just in Papakura but all over Auckland. That said, Papakura is where his heart is.
"Being able to be back where I'm from and where I grew up and work with the families, and people of this community, that's awesome. That's the treats right there."
Emery uses innovative ways to sell his properties. One, in particular, caught the eye of many over social media.
Respecting tipuna
"The opportunity over at Margan Place, and just understanding the history of Redhill being our local pā site. So for me, bringing the video showcase was about understanding the past, paying homage, and respecting our tipuna."
Only 26% of Māori own homes and Tama is of the belief that his use of reo and tikanga is an advantage for those Māori seeking to buy or sell their homes.
"Being whakamā to bring reo and Maori into this industry but also into my life, and using that particular showcase not only as a way to highlight the whenua and the property itself, but to open up another means of using reo in real estate."
Glenis Shirley is the branch manager for Harcourts Papakura. She fully supports Emery and the style he brings.
"I love his style, it shows a true insight into who Tama is. He adapts every video to his vendor and the property, and the audience he wants to capture."
This descendant of Mataatua says there are few Māori in the real estate industry, and his hope is to open the doors of the industry to other Māori.
Wants to lift ownership
"There's a handful of us. Maybe 10 maximum in Auckland alone. Harcourts has 2000 plus agents in Auckland. So we are the minority, not just here in Auckland but also across the board."
He says In Auckland, there are e Maori owners definitely but a very small percentage in comparison to other ethnic groups.
He has worked with some Māori whanau to release rental assets (four-plus properties owned), homesteads and subsequently, build their asset base as well.
"There is a need for Māori to see Māori in this field and know that by way of tikanga and Te Ao Maori, mixed into a field we are not visualised in, that they will be looked after for their own and their family's desired success/outcome.
He says he has seen and experienced that the majority of Māori have had to entrust their whenua, kainga, property and ahua to unfamiliar faces "and processes that are not easily conveyed for our people to understand".
He aims to lift Maori home ownership and says that's why he created his framework of The Trusted Solution as a holistic approach to selling, buying and diversifying property. "The same way we look after our marae - provide thorough support to all needs and work directly with the people to achieve a desired outcome."
He says he has learnt that it's not necessarily changing law and policy that will support Māori people "but the way in which we can innovate, adapt and work alongside the lay of the land towards empowerment. Our people (and our whakapapa of life) are all of the above.
"In the long run, Parliament can make small changes that may or may not affect our ownership rates. The real mahi needed comes back to a tikanga approach, face-to-face support, that adapts at all times to our situations. Consistency and time is needed to increase our ownership rates."
