First National Real Estate Byron Bay Review

I would like to thank Oliver for facilitating the sale of my home in Byron Bay. He worked tirelessly with professionalism and integrity to follow up prospective buyers in a challenging COVID marketplace. His diligence resulting in achieving an acceptable price in a very short period of time. I would have no hesitation in recommending Oliver. I would like to thank him for being so personable with such a high level of communication and commitment that created a trust that made the sale process as smooth and efficient as possible. Well done!

We loved Helene's friendly, responsive & professional approach, she made a difficult situation simple and casual. Communication was great and her honesty was most refreshing.

Nothing was too hard for Helene, we always felt like we were her number 1 priority. We would highly recommend Helene to anyone.

Tara s positive attitude and pleasant personality helped potential buyers to make offers and get the sale price we wanted

Jade was excellent in contacting and making sure that we were able to find the best available property for our family.

As a landlord I was very impressed by the professional, informative and courteous service I received from Jade Thomas. He understood what we were looking for and found a suitable tenant within a short period of time. I feel comfortable knowing that Jade is looking after our property. Kerry

Would highly recommend; Jade Thomas was wonderful to deal with from start to finish. Very authentic and has your needs at heart. Jade would go the extra mile to help you find the place that suits best. Couldn't recommend him enough.

We have had nothing but positive experiences with the team at First National Byron Bay. A special thank you to Jade Thomas for going above and beyond. Would highly recommend them to anyone! Thanks again

Always a STAR
My husband and I have known and worked with Su for many years. I don't even hesitate to contact her when we are selling and buying as I know the service will be excellent, she is honest in her approach and always kind and friendly. Over the last 15 years we have purchased 3 houses and sold 2 homes. I cannot recommend Su highly enough. Not just a real estate agent but a friend.

I had much confidence in Helene Adam's ability to sell the property for me. She used her excellent communication skills to clearly explain each step of the sales process which included providing feedback from each 'open house'. Helene explained the market trends which gave me much confidence in her ability and knowledge of the local area. She enthusiastically provided guidance, support and direction when the property didn't sell as fast as I anticipated.

Su was the true professional when it came to selling our property. It was a tricky time in the market with the unexpected presence of COVID-19 and the uncertainty amongst buyers. It is clear she has incredible experience in real estate and knew the exact steps to take in order for us to achieve the optimum result as sellers. In the future we will always be working with Su and her team and I highly recommend them to others.

It's clear when you meet Tara that she has extensive experience in the real estate industry.
It's clear when you meet Tara that she has extensive experience in the real estate industry. Her friendly & personal approach makes you feel like you are her only client. Tara keeps you up to date with amazing reports that show you all sorts of data about the interest in your property. Our experience with Tara & First National Byron Bay far exceeded our expectations.

They managed my investment property & was not happy with the result when tenants vacated. They had a pet on the premises that had done damage & the repairs where not completed. Have now taken my business elsewhere.

Friendly and professional knowledgeable of the area and supportive during the process of finding the right property . Thanks to all the staff at Byron Bay First National for all your help.

Consumate Professional

Paul focuses on matching the buyer with the property to ensure the negotiation is clean for both parties. This is a critical aspect as it is important the buyer is happy also at the end of the day. Does not bombard you with minutia, just the facts and gets the job done. Excellent agent that we would highly recommend.

We've always rented through First National in Byron Bay. They're super helpful, friendly and always looking out for you. Jade Thomas is a really genuine guy, which is refreshing in such a busy rental market. He went the extra mile for us, even doing FaceTime viewings when we were based overseas. I'd highly recommend Jade to anyone looking for a home in Byron.

Never have I had the pleasure of dealing with such a professional team. I have been in the industry a long time and it s so rare to find agents that conduct themselves in a professional yet friendly manner. Jade and Sophie get my recommendation as the best I ve dealt with. You are both are assets for First National Byron Bay.
Thank you.

I rented from First National when living in Byron Bay7 years ago. However I am still angry with you. If I had the knowledge then that I have now. i should have taken you to court. When moving out on my last day Micheal called me asking me to hurry up and get out as he had other tenants to move in. My day at the premises finishing at midnight however Micheal started calling me at 11am. I had an open house for tenants interested in renting the unit. Even against my consent a couple of weeks before leaving. And First National deceptively had already made a decision off the record to allow a lady renting from them to take on the house without considering any applicants. They wasted my time and the 50 other people who trampled through my house thinking they were in with a chance and filled out applications. I rented for 10 years from you and kept the premises immaculate and always paid my rent. Then I was pressured to hurrying up and get out with the continuous phone calls from Micheal on my last day. Calling me every hour saying how long will you be. I want even given till close of business. I stated if you want the house clean you need to let me do it. No that didnt matter Micheal wanted the house. After rushing to get things done and get out early for Micheal.
Micheal then moved in a professional floor person and got the floors polished and thought I wouldnt know. Even though I cleaned them. I was then charged for the cost.. No other cleaning was done. The lady took over the house the same day. I returned to the property and spoke to her and my neighbors. First National kept $700 of my bond for what nothing. The reply was oh well at least we didnt black list you. threatening and manipulative behaviour. What first Nationsl did was manipulative and illegal.
What I see here is the same pattern once a property manager gets a bad review they go out and ask tenants to give them 5 stars to cover thief mistakes. I have seen it all before.
oh my name is Jenny hansen and I Iived in Byrom probably 7 years ago however I am still bitter at how you lied and manipulated my situation shame on you Micheal if you still work there he knows he lied and was truly wrong in what he did. and I will never forgive you. extremely unproffesionsl. and even it is 7 years thank God for google reviews. I can now have my say. Unproffesionsl manipulative and lied

Tara was an absolutely fantastic agent from the moment we first engaged her to sell our property. She was upfront, honest, super reliable and very confident in selling our home. As first home sellers we were very unsure of how things went, she made everything clear and easy from the get go. We have now sold our home but Tara has continued to stay in touch and assist us further with moving. I think if your in the market for a real estate agent Tara is the one to go for. we ll miss talking to her once we move. I would recommend Tara above and beyond to sell your home- thank You for everything- can t wait to sell or buy again with you and the fantastic Byron bay first national team.

Professional Agent with compassion and understanding.
I have always steered away from real estate agents, but this time it was necessary. Su was referred to me by so many people it was hard to ignore. On our first meeting I knew straight away that Su was our woman. She listened to our fears and everything we had to say re the sale of our family home that we designed and built. A lot of emotions for us are tied up here and Su totally understood where we were coming from.
She acted professionally and efficiently and always made us feel understood.
Su sold our property promptly for the amount we anticipated, to the joy of both ourselves and the buyers.
I couldn t recommend Su highly enough.

Sale of our house was commenced with James, ended with Tara.
To say we were disappointed with the service we received is an understatement. At no time did we feel Tara was working for us as the vendor but for herself (commission based) and for the buyer (mortgage broker, securing work on his move to area).
1. James and Tara hard balling on a very low offer, regardless of achieving a good price for us, offer was not even in the range and their pricing of machinery is very questionable...no idea in fact..
2.Dealing with the prospective buyer, not conveying her strategy to us, then coming back at us "fait accompli" buyer has agreed to a price which was not in the range of price on property.
3.Months later presenting us with another offer saying," this will be the last offer from this prospective buyer"' which of course was under again. We resign ourselves to staying, commence additional improvements, back again with another offer which was barley over the low range, we accepted this offer...did not hear from Tara, had to call, ask for documentation of this days later. At no time did we feel that the agent was acting in our best interests which is what they get paid to do..forgot who was paying her, at no time was the agent in constant contact with us but always with buyer.
4. Tara assumes we moved out with our furniture 5 days before settlement, buyer told such by Tara, buyer would not settle as told was vacant possession, we had a bed in house, made for uncomfortable walk through and following settlement day. Buyer loved a cabinet of ours, assumed was to stay in house, wonder where he got that idea from, caused bad feeling between us and buyer, cabinet was not on contract which we had to point out to buyer.
5.Deposit was paid into our solicitors account, Tara saying that is not the way to do things as agent normally holds deposit, had the gall to ring our solicitor to ask if we made a mistake, if they could be paid their commission first on settlement.
6. Tara accepted a 5% deposit from buyer, never informed us of this, just told that is way it is to happen, we would of liked to of accessed this, told no as long settlement, more to the fact, if we accessed, full commission was not available to agent if no settlement.

All about the agent turning property over asap, them getting there parasitic money regardless of achieving the best for the vendor and in the price range specified.
This agency should stick to selling properties in Bryon Bay as Bryon Bay sells itself, name based, easy sell for them..
UPDATE...have the hide to offer us money to remove our review on their lack of service to which consisted of money for a NICE MEAL..Vendors normally are offered this on completion of sale anyway, was never offered on our completion of sale by Tara, never even received a phone call/email. Very unprofessional.
UPDATE 2..Friend of ours who did work for First National in rental maintenance received a call regarding a job that he had secured through another person employed at First National on there personal home threatening that if we didn't remove our review, he would not secure that work that he had secured already.
This is highly unprofessional behaviour from this realestate agency on all levels and shows the lengths they will stoop to remove a bad review to which this needs reporting..and will be reported..

Ethical, wise and consistent
Thanks to Helen's market knowledge and realistic approach my house attracted a dozen serious buyers within the first week and sold incredibly quickly. Helen handled the sale with integrity, consistency and sensitivity. I so appreciated her hard-working attention, wise counsel and clear thinking. An agent who prioritises ethics over puffery.

Jade is such a helpful and professional agent to work with. He listened to our needs and went the extra mile to help my partner and I out. Would definitely work with Jade again! :)

James has made our moving process a lot easier than I had anticipated by making property viewing, lease signing and key pick up a simple, no fuss procedure without the need for extra trips prior to our move (we are moving form sydney to Lismore/Byron)...for this we are especially grateful. We have not encountered this type of consideration when moving before and so are very relieved. We look forward to our new lives in Northern NSW!!

Our First impressions of Tara was that she was knowledgeable, professional and personal. Buying our house required some difficult negotiations as there were so many parties involved but Tara led us through each step and made the process as easy as possible. Once the sale was complete, Tara was happy to liase between the vendor and ourselves to gain access for measurements etc and did this without fuss or complication. The property on settlement was spotless and we could not be happier. We would recommend Tara and her team, especially Sally, who was also easy and professional to deal with.
Originally collected @RateMyAgent

Great people thank you in particular to Lee Grimes and Greg Price. Both hard working professional and friendly. Very happy.

Tara recently sold our property in Byron Bay.
We selected Tara to sell our property because we had previously had her as an agent and found her proactive and efficient. On this occasion we found her to be extremely 'on the ball', she completed all tasks quickly and efficiently and she was always available for our questions and concerns. The feedback we had from inspections and open houses was very thorough and helpful.
I would highly recommend Tara as a selling agent.

Jade Thomas well and truly went the extra mile for us relocating back to the area. My experience with real estate agents is generally pretty poor to say the least, so working with him was a breath of fresh air and far away the best experience we had dealing with multiple RE agents in Byron. Can honestly say I would "recommend to a friend" if the need arose, which says a lot!

All our expectations for the sale were exceeded!!
We could not recommend Tara and her team at First National Byron enough .All our expectations for the sale were exceeded the whole process was executed professionally with ease and great communication. With a record sale time and great price it makes Tara the obvious choice for anyone looking for an agent to make the experience of buying or selling their home a stress free time knowing it s in the most capable hands . The best in the business

We engaged Su and Luke in conjunction with another agent after our property had not sold after a number of months. This immediately gave the campaign a shove and we had good numbers consistently coming to our open homes. Within 6 weeks we had an offer and one week later contracts were exchanged. We have found Su and Luke to be very professional in their approach and wouldn't hesitate to recommend Su and co. to any prospective vendors. A & M

Recent purchase
We have recently had the pleasure I buying a property where Luke was the selling agent.
His open and honest approach made the whole process very easy. He was very generous with his time and helped us out with any issues we had or thought we might encounter.
Buying a property can be very daunting, we were lucky we dealt with an agent such as Luke ,who really looked after both parties interests. Which is probably what makes the sale
Thank you

Oliver has been great to work with for the quick and efficient sale of our house (off market). Oliver was always available on phone/text/email and was able to ensure our sale went through seamlessly.

I've had the pleasure of dealing with Jade Thomas. Moving from Melbourne to Byron Bay he has helped me get into my first home in Byron . I called Jade a couple of months back and just reached out to him letting him know I was moving to the area. Since I made that phone call I have dealt with nothing but an absolute professional that loves his job and is actually really keen and interested to get you into a place to call home! First national and Jade I can't thank you enough for the 110% service you have given me! Absolute legends!

Su and Luke were very easy to deal with. They were professional but friendly. They kept us up to date with market interest. They are very knowledgeable of the Byron market. I highly recommend engaging Su whether you are buying or selling in the Byron area.

Jade is very professional, a strait up guy and quick response. Very helpfull!!

Helene Adams
Trust in Helene! She does what she says she is going to do. She is pro-active, assertive and discreet. She looks for the positives in any situation. She has integrity and a great sense of humour.

I have just had the most amazing experience dealing with a realestate agent !
Jade Thomas is a very professional, dedicated and lovely young man . The stress of moving house was lessened considerably thanks to his flawless work ethic and genuine care .
And I would also like to mention Sofie ... what a generous and caring soul . Thank you

You have left a sign on my front lawn. Corner of Bryce and Clifford Street Suffolk Park. Not a good look. Probs a good idea to not leave your rubbish lying around on the street

In a town where so many estate agents get away with minimal customer service as they know the properties will rent either way, Jade really went above and beyond for us and ensured our rentals search was an easy, enjoyable and always professional experience.
Thanks to him we secured an amazing rental and his communication both during and after has been top notch. He even bought us a welcome basket! Legend!!

Su is the most professional, personable, and genuine real estate agent we have ever dealt with. She knows the market, is a great negotiator and communicator and managed to get us an excellent outcome for our property. We recommend Su to anyone we know that is looking for an agent because she is honest, fair and extremely hard-working, as well as just being a genuine good person.

The team at First National have been a pleasure to deal with. They were incredibly efficient and professional and made the process of renting out our house an easy one. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

It gives us great pleasure to recommend Su Reynolds to any prospective sellers or buyers. We have bought-sold-bought & sold with Su over the past few years so are experienced in our recommendation. Su's ability to listen to the needs of both her vendor and purchaser makes buying and selling stress free. She offers practical advice and gives an exemplary personal service that equates to a high success rate. If there was another star on this rating she would easily have earned it ... so Su you get a 6 star rating from us. A sincere thank you for your professionalism and friendship that developed purely from our real estate dealings. Graeme & Julie Dawson

Having bought my Byron Bay property through the same agency back in 2005, I had Principal Su Reynolds sell my property in 2019. Even when it was off-market, she was able to get a serious interested buyer from her database which was tempting to accept, but she never pressured me into accepting the offer. In the end, I put the property officially on the market, and was rewarded with a higher offer. As this was a holiday rental house and I was living in Sydney, virtually all communication was either via early morning phone-calls or via email. Su was very prompt in terms of getting everything in action, and was particularly good in terms of answering inquiries and keeping me informed. Multiple requests for various matters were promptly attended to. She is obviously very experienced, knows the ins and outs, and will look after the vendor's interests at all times. She is very pleasant to deal with personally. She comes highly recommended, and I would not hesitate to have my return business should such an opportunity arise in the future.

Totally above my expectations!

After months of searching for a home during a pandemic & rising property market, I had all but lost hope in agents & the process to find my dream home. Then along came Oliver & what would be THE home waiting for me to discover! I could never imagined how easy it could be which was due to Oliver's honest & open communication & caring approach that allowed me to let go & trust the process.
I would highly recommend Oliver to any prospective home buyers & sellers knowing you're in safe hands.

Jade was an awesome agent! Super reliable, honest and helpful. Was refreshing to find this kind of service still exists.

Su was fantastic at communicating all through the process. She was extremely supportive with any questions I had and alleviated any concerns wherever possible. Loved having Su sell my house :)

Professional, friendly, honest
We couldn't recommend Su Reynolds more highly. Su and her team were always available for us from the moment we listed through to the final settlement. Her experience and knowledge in negotiating the best deal for us was evident in us achieving the best possible price for our home.

Paul Prior Exceptional Professional Service
Paul worked closely with us for over a year marketing our property. He kept in touch twice weekly and conducted numerous open houses. We were aware that we had priced our property a bit above market, but there was no pressure from Paul to lower our prices to meet the market and make the sale. His commitment and hard work was 100%. In the end he was able to negotiate a price in excess of our reserve. We could not be happier with his service and would highly recommend Paul to anyone looking for highly personalised , professional service.

Jade is the most professional agent we ever deal with in Australia. 5 stars!

Su was remarkable to work with, we felt calm and clear throughout the process. I asked for her feedback pre sale and her instructions and direction was invaluable. She is a master of her craft and her understanding of the market is second to none. Add to that that we sold within 48 hours, exchanged with 5 days, at our asking prices. We couldn't be happier!

The team are fantastic. They ran all over town to find me a property and after months did so. Excellent work.

Jade was an absolute life saver. Moving is stressful but he definitely made it SO much easier for us.

We have now both rented & bought through Byron Bay First National, and the experience in both cases has been very pleasant. 10/10 would recommend.

Thank you to Su and Virginia for finding us incredible tenants for our property. We receive regular communication and follow up on any concerns and they genuinely have both the tenant and our interests at heart. We love our home and I know that whilst Su and the team are managing the property we are in safe and professional hands. We would highly recommend your property management services. Thanks again

I had an unfortunate experience with the receptionist who wasnt very friendly everytime I went in and told me numerous times that they didnt have something that I needed from a previous tenancy when all along they did. Whether she was just lazy I dont know but it didnt reflect well and I was very disappointed.

Jade is one of the best real estate agents I have ever dealt with. He genuinely cares about his clients, and is very proactive when it comes to finding you a property match. His attitude and customer service skills are excellent and I believe he goes that extra step that many wont. Highly recommended.

Jade Thomas was incredible to deal with. Moving from Sydney and experiencing the lack of customer service in the real estate sector had us really worried about finding a place to settle into before the work year started. Jade was professional, consistent with his communication and followed up on all occasions. He even went the extra mile to film a video of a house and privately upload it to YouTube for us to see it from Sydney. This guy is the good. I would highly recommend using Jade Thomas if you are looking to find the perfect rental.

Purchase of property in Federal
Paul has been a pleasure to deal with and has given the best support throughout the process of buying the property. Extemely helpful and also providing continued help to ensure the sale runs smoothly. I cant thank paul enough. Regards Nicky

Oliver and Helene of First National Real Estate Byron Bay have been outstandingly personable and professional since the day I met them both. We were extremely pleased with every step of our sale and achieved the price range we expected. We would highly recommend Oliver Aldridge and Helene Adams to any prospective client.

Sophie Moir, was the most fantastic, genuine and contactable Property Manager! There should be more Sophie's out there!

Fantastic, efficient professional
Tara was an exceptional representative of our interests. She helped organise our tenants for open house inspections and photography. It was quick and hassle free. She was recommended to me by a close friend and I will be recommending her to friends in the future.

We have just sold our family home through First National Byron Bay and couldn t be happier. Our agent Su Reynolds customised a plan from the very beginning designed towards our house and its rural location. The communication was excellent throughout the whole process, we believe her knowledge and understanding achieved the result we were after. I would highly recommend her, and use her services again without hesitation.

Jade and the team were very helpful in securing my partner and I a place to rent in Byron Bay. The whole process was quick, easy, seamless and professional. Thanks Jade and the First National team!

Fantastic service! Great to have an agent in Byron who looks after both the owner and the tenant so well. Thank you!!!

great agent
Tara was great to work with, good clear communication, very professional.

I have worked with Oliver twice now to sell our properties and I can t recommend him highly enough. Oliver has a personable demeanour and is a highly professional agent who works hard for his vendor. He was clear and honest in all of his communications and achieved an incredible price when selling our home. Oliver is impeccably presented and with his thorough local realestate knowledge he stood out from other prospective agents. I would not hesitate to engage Oliver in any realestate dealings in the future.

Fantastic Experience
The whole experience was East. It s flowed from beginning to end. No fuss. No drama. No frustration. Plus we sold it off market, which was my preference and we achieved the financial result I d hoped for. Win win win.

Sunrise Boulevard is a beautiful location and the neighbours are lovely. However are landlord Jade was an unpleasant person to deal with and the property was a nightmare. When we first moved in we were told that laundry and wifi were included in the building. The whole time we were there the wifi never worked. We both have our own businesses and had to be on our laptops quite often. It got to the point where we wanted to sign up with Optus and have our own line. Unfortunately, where the location is, its referred to as a "blackout area" and it took us three months dealing with Optus and our landlord to discover it was actually impossible to get wifi hooked up in that particular area. If we were told this from the beginning we wouldn't have signed a year lease. We ended up hot spotting off our phones for the duration of our stay which was about $5 a day.

As for the laundry machine they offered it was rarely working and therefore we had to cab to and from town to be able to do our washing. When we had made these complaints nothing was ever dealt with. In the end, they informed us that it was a privilege to be able to use it and not in our contract. My partner and I were one of the longest-running tenants. Never had any complaints and we kept to ourselves. When we decided it was time to move we hired two professional cleaners that cost $250 to do our bond clean. Two weeks later when they had come to do a final inspection and we had already left to go back to Canada we were informed that it wasn't to their standards and they would be taking $900 from our damage deposit. We felt completely ripped off and honestly, that had left such a bad taste in our mouth that we decided to reach out here. After talking with a few of our neighbours that had left shortly after moving in they had the same experience when they left. Majority of their damage deposit being taken for such small things, here is just a quick sample. These small things do not add up to $900. Even after paying professional bond cleaners.

Some dirt on skirting boards and in corners of room.
Tear in paint on wall in the study area.
3 x holes in the wall from TV mount.
2 x minor dents below the left-hand side window.
Tops of window frames are not clean.
Blinds are not clean.
Window tracks are not clean.

As for the place itself you pay 1800 a month+ utilities. We should have looked around Byron more because in the summer these little tin roof homes are so excruciating hot that you can't even be inside. The trash is close to the right side of the units that and all year round you can smell it from your property. This is a warning to anyone that is looking at these properties. Please don't make the same mistake we did. We were one of the longest-running tenants in these units and it did damper our stay in Byron. We had no help from our landlord when it was needed and they ended up being crooks at the end.

From first inspection to finalising our dream rental property in byron bay, Jade helped us through. Always 100% on point with communication and tying up any loose ends. Enthusiastic, positive and professional work ethic. Thanks again Jade

Charming agents who made the usually stressful rental / leasing transition smooth sailing. Highly recommended.