CHRIS CURTIS, BA LLB, AAPI Certified Property Practitioner, Principal
Our managing director and licensee in charge, Chris Curtis is an Australian lawyer with over three decades Australia wide experience as a buyer, seller and developer of residential, commercial, investment and hospitality properties including Australia’s biggest Gay nightclub, the iconic ARQ Sydney. A full-time, exclusive buyers’ agent since 2007 and an Associate of the Australian Property Institute and Certified Property Practitioner, he has consistently been setting new standards in helping buyers realise their property aspirations.
Between April 2013 and September 2017, Chris was a member of the Committee of the REINSW Buyers’ Agents Chapter. In addition to having substantial input into the Institute’s ongoing efforts to have the real estate industry recognised as a profession, he was instrumental in the drafting of two standard form agreements. One of those agreements was the 2014 edition of the NSW contract for the sale and purchase of land which and largely because of arguments devised by Chris, was the first edition to recognise the existence and role of buyers’ agents. It is now an established part of the industry.
Prior to establishing Curtis Associates, Chris practised for more than 16 years as a barrister in high-level property, commercial, finance and building law. Throughout that period, he bought, sold and developed a variety of residential and commercial properties. Chris left the law to become a senior executive of Macquarie Bank where he led a team responsible for conceiving and developing Australian real estate based projects ranging from car washes to retirement villages as well as private residence clubs underpinned by prestigious residential real estate around Australia.
He later became the Sydney representative for a Melbourne based firm of buyers’ advocates and property consultants credited with being the first buyers’ agency in Australia.
Chris, therefore, knows all about the so-called “tricks” used against buyers in the property market. As a highly experienced negotiator and auction bidder whose advocacy skills were honed in the tenacious world of litigation, he knows how to put you in the winning position as he has done for so many previous clients over the years.
He combines the vision and lateral thinking of a successful property buyer and developer with the analytical skills of an investment banker and senior lawyer.
No other buyers’ agent or buyers’ advocate in Australia has these credentials.
ANNA SHOLKOFF, MBA, Bachelor of Property Valuation, BE – Research Analyst
Anna Sholkoff is the holder of a Bachelor of Property Valuation; earning from the conferring body its Managing Director’s Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement as a result of having recorded the highest overall result in that degree for 2019.
Also awarded a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Economics, Anna has over 15 years experience in finance and administration including overseas as a real estate development analyst and economist.
In conjunction with Chris, Anna, who excels at meeting research deadlines under pressure without compromising her attention to detail, produces our Due Diligence Reports which have been described by clients at the very highest end of the buyer spectrum as “absolutely terrific.”
TURNER GRAVES, AAPI Certified Practising Valuer, Graduate Diploma in Property Development, BA - Database Management
Prior to being employed by us, Turner was the Due Diligence Team Leader with top tier law firm, Allens Arthur Robinson.
In that role, he project managed and acted on some of the biggest due diligence assignments in Australian corporate history, including the Queensland Rail IPO, numerous Rio Tinto data rooms as part of the failed BHPB takeover bid, the sale of Aviva Insurance Group to National Australia Bank, the merger of St George Bank with Westpac and the sale of various energy assets by Queensland Treasury.
Pursuing a passion for property, especially of the energy efficient and sustainable type, he is now an AAPI, Certified Practising Valuer.
We are privileged to have Turner as a team member who brings world class data management skills to the ongoing growth, maintenance and management of the residential, commercial and industrial property databases we have built over many years. Those databases now comprise several thousands of contacts through which we find so many off market and pre market properties for our clients.
Every buyers’ agent claims to have a network of contacts. Sure, but how many employ someone to maintain those networks on a daily basis? Turner is our answer to that question.
CHARLES SANCHEZ, Diploma in Leadership and Management
Currently studying for his Bachelor of Property Valuation, Charles works in conjunction with Chris, Turner and Anna in preparing our due diligence reports and designing property searches.
Committed to excellence in all that he does, in addition to excelling at Curtis Associates and in his valuation studies, Charles is the NSW TAFE Student Representative of API’s Young Property Professionals who, as the API’s website states “create future leaders by providing a number of networking and educational events. The API’s Young Property Professionals events are run by enthusiastic and ambitious API members who are working in the industry and/or studying towards a tertiary qualification”.
Charles is also a fluent French speaker, and holds black belts in Judo and Karate.
