Burleigh's Small Village In Big City Charm Enchants After 18 years as an independent real estate agency in Burleigh Heads, Scott Boniwell has this week re-badged to become Ray White Burleigh Heads. An intrinsic part of the local community fabric, Mr Boniwell has been selling property in and around Burleigh for 27 of the 31 years that he has been a resident. He is a keen supporter and sponsor of Burleigh Australian Rules Football Club, Burleigh Heads Bowls Club and local Surf Clubs. In addition to the appeal of the boutique strip shopping and alfresco dining that goes with the village atmosphere, Burleigh’s unique geographic position on one of only two hills on the Gold Coast and renowned surfing point, he believes sets the location apart as either a residential or investment proposition. Diversity of property types and budgets from beach front units in the early 400,000 bracket through to property valued at several million dollars also ensures appeal to a broad mix of people.
During this impressive innings, he believes that Burleigh has not only managed to retain its village appeal, but those qualities are strengthening as the tides return to the days of old. “We’re seeing a return to village values as people are looking for an escape from hustle and bustle with the bonus of access to all of the bigger city amenities,” Mr Boniwell says.
“Burleigh is a small village in a city - we offer a different lifestyle to Mermaid Beach or Broadbeach.” “In it’s own unique way, Burleigh is to the Gold Coast, what Carlton is to Melbourne,” he contests.
Houses on the hill of Burleigh Heads facing north is a unique aspect on the Gold Coast, shared only with Currumbin.
Commenting on what prompted the decision to become part of the Ray White family, “I believe that technology now and in the future of real estate is paramount as is credibility and brand recognition -and Ray White as one of the biggest names around the country, certainly has all bases covered.”
“I wanted to be able to provide vendors with exposure to Ray White’s huge database of 3 million prospective buyers throughout Australasia’s network of 1000offices and 1,000 members,” and this will be of particular benefit for vendors with a unique property, he says.
“Being a part of Ray White now means I can access a lot of avenues that I couldn’t tap into as an independent agent. The back up support from Ray White flows onto the vendors –we can give better service, better market reach and more competitive marketing packages.”
“People want access to the best possible marketing they can get – to be able to give them that I believe I needed the backing of a large brand.”
Despite the brand change, Mr Boniwell’s loyal staff of many years will stay on board with a continued focus on both residential sales and property management.