I am not normally one to make too much fuss about being a finalist, especially before anyone has actually won anything. Still, this one felt worth pausing for.
In the same year that 4one4 celebrates its 20th birthday, our team has been named a finalist across seven categories at the 2026 REIT Awards for Excellence.
Seven. I did double-check.
Presented by the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania, the REIT Awards for Excellence shine a light on the professionals and agencies helping to lift the standard of real estate across Tasmania. This year, 4one4 has been recognised in:
- Large Residential Agency of the Year
- Residential Sales Team of the Year
- Residential Salesperson of the Year – Aaron Murray
- Residential Property Management Team of the Year
- Operational Leadership Award – Abbey Berry
- Innovation Award
- Marketing and Communications Award
What I like about this list is how much of the business it covers. There are the agents putting up the sold stickers, the property management team caring for more than 1,300 homes, the people building better systems behind the scenes, the creative crew telling our clients’ stories, and the leaders keeping all those moving parts heading in roughly the same direction.
It is a nice acknowledgment of how far the team has come.
From 414 Main Road to where we are today
When Mum and Dad, Robyn and Paul Berry, opened 4one4 Real Estate in 2006, it was a small family agency in Hobart’s northern suburbs. Even the name was proudly local: it came from our address at 414 Main Road, Glenorchy.
I joined the business in 2007, and Abbey came on board in 2010. At that point, none of us could have pictured what 4one4 would look like 20 years later.
Today, our team includes salespeople, property managers, administrators, marketers, photographers, videographers, editors, maintenance professionals, gardeners, and support staff here in Tasmania and offshore.
We have grown, but I have never wanted us to become a group of blue-suit-wearing corporate people.
Growth is only useful if 4one4 still feels like 4one4: local, down to earth, willing to have a laugh, and always looking for a better way to help people.
That is what makes this shortlist a good one for us. It does not point to one lucky campaign or one big month. It reaches across the business that our family and our team have gradually built over two decades.
Seven finalist honours, one connected team
The REIT Awards recognise excellence, best practice, and customer service across Tasmania’s real estate industry. Entries are assessed against detailed criteria by independent judging panels, and every finalist has to reach a required benchmark score.
In plain English: you have to show the work.
That suits us. Results matter, but we also know there is always plenty we can improve. The way you get there matters: the returned phone call, the honest conversation, the process somebody took the time to make easier, and the team member who steps in to help before they are asked.
Those are the things that keep properties moving and people looked after.
Large Residential Agency of the Year
The Large Residential Agency of the Year category is not simply a race to the biggest sales number. It looks at how an agency improves, develops its people, supports its clients, communicates, and turns good ideas into genuinely better ways of doing things.
When I look around 4one4 today, I see a lot of moving parts. But the idea connecting them is pretty simple: surround good local people with the support, tools and services they need to do their best work.
Great property marketing should sit close to the sales team. Maintenance support should make life easier for property managers, owners and renters. Smarter systems should give our people more time for real conversations, not less.
Being named a finalist for Large Residential Agency of the Year feels like recognition of the whole slightly unconventional 4one4 machine – and every person who keeps it humming.
Residential Sales Team of the Year
The sold sticker gets the photo. I know the real work starts long before it goes up.
There are pricing conversations, campaign decisions, early starts, late calls, buyer follow-up, negotiations and the occasional curveball that nobody saw coming. Then there is the team behind the team: preparing the property, creating the campaign, checking the details and keeping everything moving towards settlement.
During the 2025-26 financial year, our sales team recorded 326 sales from 344 listings and lifted its list-to-sell rate to 89.8%.
They are good numbers, although numbers never tell the whole story. The team earned them by giving honest advice, staying in the conversation and continuing to work when a campaign became difficult.
The Residential Sales Team of the Year finalist nod belongs to the agents out front and every person behind them helping turn a listing into a result.
Residential Salesperson of the Year – Aaron Murray
The sales-team recognition is joined by an individual finalist place for Aaron Murray.
Aaron has put together a strong year across Glenorchy and the surrounding suburbs. I see the work behind it: the preparation, the follow-up, the hours spent putting campaigns together and the willingness to keep going when a sale is not straightforward.
Like any individual result in real estate, there is a wider team around it. Even so, it is Aaron’s name on the finalist list, and it is good to see his effort recognised.
Well done, mate.
Residential Property Management Team of the Year
Property management does not often come with a sold sticker or a champagne photo. Most of its best work happens quietly, one problem solved at a time.
It is the urgent maintenance call handled calmly. The inspection completed carefully. The legislation understood properly. The update sent before somebody has to chase it.
Our property management team now cares for more than 1,300 properties across greater Hobart. That is more than 1,300 investments for owners, but it is also more than 1,300 places that somebody calls home. The team works hard to keep both sides of that equation in view.
Being named a finalist for Residential Property Management Team of the Year is a good bit of recognition for a team that usually gets on with difficult work quietly.
Operational Leadership Award – Abbey Berry
I probably cannot write this without saying something about Abbey. She is my wife, my business partner, and someone who has been beside me through most of this 20-year story.
Anyone who knows Abbey will also know she probably does not love having a whole section of a blog written about her.
Bad luck, Abbey. You earned it.
Some of the most important leadership in a business happens away from the spotlight. It is the structure that removes confusion, the conversation that steadies a tough day, and the decision to improve something before it becomes a problem.
Abbey has helped guide 4one4 through a period of significant growth while keeping people, accountability and well-being in the picture. She does a lot of the work that allows everybody else to do their jobs well, and she rarely asks for the spotlight herself.
The Operational Leadership Award may be an individual category, but Abbey’s work can be felt right across the business. She deserves the recognition. I will avoid embarrassing her any further.
Innovation Award
4one4 began with Dad’s vision. Abbey and I came along later and added our own ideas, and trying different things has always been part of that.
Over the years we have built an early real estate iPhone app, experimented with QR codes and augmented reality before most people knew what to do with them, developed our own Media House, grown an offshore support team, and added dedicated maintenance and gardening divisions.
Some ideas worked well. A few were what I would politely call royal stuff-ups, and a few probably created more work than they saved. Dad gave me the freedom to try them anyway, and we learned something from most of them.
Our current automated lead and follow-up system connects digital campaigns with REX, Zapier, and GoList to create a structured 21-day follow-up sequence. But the technology is not the point. The point is responding faster, following up more consistently, and giving our people better opportunities to have useful conversations.
Being named a finalist for the Innovation Award is a nice acknowledgment of every curious person in the business who has ever said, “Surely there is a better way to do this?” – and then helped test the answer.
Marketing and Communications Award
I have never believed real estate marketing needs to sound like a bank brochure.
It should make people stop scrolling, absolutely. But then it needs to give them something worth stopping for: a home’s story told properly, useful information shared clearly, or a local perspective that actually sounds local.
From property campaigns and market updates to educational videos, blogs, social content and the work of 4one4 Media House, we have tried to make real estate clearer, more creative and a whole lot more human.
Media House began with one person and an idea. Today, it is a team of photographers, videographers, editors, and marketers working alongside our agents and property managers. It has been good to watch that team find its place and grow.
The Marketing and Communications Award finalist nod belongs to the creative crew behind the cameras and keyboards, along with every 4one4 person willing to share what they know, step in front of a lens, or try a different way of telling a property’s story.
A good moment to stop and look back
Twenty years is not a huge amount of time in the grand scheme of things, but a lot has happened.
4one4 has gone from Mum and Dad’s small family agency, named after its street address, to a business filled with good people who have built careers here, backed one another and brought plenty of their own ideas to the table.
We have grown, made mistakes, changed course more than once, and still have plenty we want to improve. The business is bigger and the technology is certainly better, but the basic idea has held up: work hard, look after people, remove a bit of stress where you can, and do not be frightened to try something different.
These seven finalist places are not proof that we have everything worked out. They are simply a welcome chance to stop for a minute and recognise the progress made by a lot of people.
The credit belongs to Paul and Robyn, who started the business; Abbey, who has helped carry it forward; every person who works here now, and everyone who has contributed along the way. It also belongs to our clients, suppliers, families, and the Tasmanian community that has backed us for two decades.
To the team: thank you. This is a nice bit of recognition for the work you do every day.
What happens next?
The 2026 REIT Awards for Excellence will be presented at a gala dinner at the Paranaple Convention Centre in Devonport on Saturday, 19 September 2026.
So we will put on the good clothes, head north and do our best to act normal while the winners in seven categories are announced.
Of course I will have my fingers crossed. But whatever happens on the night, seven finalist places across the business is a pretty good way to mark our 20th year.
Devonport, here we come.
If you have been part of the 4one4 story over the past 20 years, thank you. And if we are yet to meet, come and have a chat with our team. We are here for properties, and people – capes optional.
Frequently asked questions
What are the REIT Awards for Excellence?
The REIT Awards for Excellence are the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania’s annual industry awards. They recognise outstanding performance, best practice and customer service among Tasmanian real estate professionals and agencies.
How many 2026 REIT Awards categories is 4one4 a finalist in?
4one4 Property Co. is a finalist in seven categories: Large Residential Agency of the Year, Residential Sales Team of the Year, Residential Salesperson of the Year for Aaron Murray, Residential Property Management Team of the Year, Operational Leadership Award for Abbey Berry, Innovation Award, and Marketing and Communications Award.
When will the 2026 REIT Awards winners be announced?
The awards will be presented on Saturday, 19 September 2026, at the REIT Awards for Excellence gala dinner in Devonport, Tasmania.