Real Estate in Roto-Vegas

The Bay of Plenty was a fitting name when explorer James Cook bestowed it in 1769 to New Zealand's scenic peninsula along the northern coastline, and New Zealand's fastest growing real estate company very much still finds it most appropriate.

From the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east, while encompassing the ever-growing city of Tauranga on the coast and the iconic ‘spa town' of Rotorua just an hour's drive south, the region is also home to one of the largest per-capita Arizto teams.

Around 34 individual and two-person teams operate across Tauranga, to Mount Maunganui, Whakatane, Papamoa and Rotorua as well as the rural and lake areas.

Among them are some of the consistent top performers for the company nationally, and making every post a winner in Rotorua has been Kathryn McAlonan.

Recognised at Arizto's 2023 Christmas awards as tied second for the region in total sales, which was tied first for individual operators in Bay of Plenty as well as the Top 10 nationally, McAlonan had completed over a dozen successful transactions in less than her first calendar year with the company and at the time of writing has nearly doubled that figure in less than half that time.

McAlonan moved to Rotorua at the age of nine, flew the nest for tertiary education, returned for a few years, made a move to Gisborne then went off to experience the classic Kiwi OE in her early 20's – travelling all over Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa.

Having fallen into the insurance industry after tertiary study, she progressed to the position of Loss

Adjuster (investigation of insurance claims) while in London.

Never one to sit still, she returned to Gisborne, where the company she worked for gave her the opportunity to work in the city of Mackay, Queensland.

Still in her 20's, McAlonan was now running an office in Australia, where her knowledge led

her to working as a ‘fly-in, fly-out' Loss Adjuster for the Earthquake Commission in Christchurch growing to love the South Island city enough that she settled there for seven years.

Fast forward to 2018, now a mum, McAlonan felt the pull to come home to family in Rotorua and thus life changed and she found herself the co-owner of a small renovation company.

Having gained so much knowledge about property through ownership, insurance and renovation it seemed almost inevitable that a real estate career was calling.

"I had wanted to try real estate for years, a good friend had started and was loving it but I didn't have the confidence. Eventually a local agency manager convinced me to try," she said.

After 18 months with her original branch – the local who has always travelled her own path felt there had to be a better platform to get the best out of herself.

"I changed to Arizto for freedom - to be able to work from home, control my own hours, my own marketing, my own everything."