Christies Beach 
Celebrating 33 years in Real Estate on Beach Road.
In an industry renowned for “Johnny come lately’s” October this year will mark 33 years since the sale of his very first listing for local real estate identity Kevin J.Barry.
Commencing in late September 1982 Kevin listed and sold his first property in October. “Just like the current market, houses in Christies Beach were selling as quickly as we could list them with values increasing practically on a daily basis”, reminisces Kevin.
“The average 3 bedroom home in Christies Beach is currently valued around $320,000 but back then was around $45,000”, he remarked.
After graduating from Sacred Heart College at Somerton Park Kevin worked as a stock auditor for winemakers Thomas Hardy & Sons while completing his real estate sales certificate at night school.
At the age of 20 he commenced working for his dad, Kevin Barry Senior as a salesman representing “Kevin Barry Real Estate” at the company’s Beach Road Office in Christies Beach. Under the mentorship of Kevin Barry Senior, he quickly picked up the skills and knowledge to become a highly respected and successful salesperson.
With a further 2 years of night school from there he progressed to office manager in 1984 and about that same time the company joined The Professionals Group as one of the inaugural members in SA, and “Professionals Christies Beach” was born with Kevin’s dad becoming one of the first Directors of the newly formed Board.
During the 1980’s Kevin’s career flourished with numerous referrals from happy clients as his reputation for honesty & integrity spread through the close knit southern community. As a result he was the recipient of numerous sales achievement awards.
Kevin’s brother Peter also joined the team during this time.
Around 1990 Kevin’s Dad sold the business to fellow Professional’s member George Kennedy.
Given his considerable experience & reputation at such a young age, George appointed Kevin as Group Training Manager, for which he was responsible for training all new salespeople to The Geo Kennedy Group and was also 1 of 2 company auctioneer’s while maintaining a very large client base of his own.
In 2000 when the youngest of their 7 children commenced primary school, Kevin’s wife Kathryn joined him as a full time salesperson at Christies Beach and they became known as “The spouses who sell houses”, a name that has stuck to this day.
During this time Kevin & George and another friend & associate formed Geo. Kennedy Special Projects and together they sourced sites, developed, built and sold the residential projects, mainly throughout the southern areas.
In 2004 George retired from agency work and sold his business interests in the real estate agency to an out of the area, non-affiliated firm, leaving the door open for Kevin to commence trading in his own right as Professionals Christies Beach in the company’s present day office situated at 71 Beach Road Christies Beach, opposite Woolworths & Fasta Pasta.
Within a matter of months practically the entire former Geo Kennedy sales team and a number of the administration and rental staff gave notice to the new owner of the former Kennedy business and followed Kevin across to join their long standing colleague under the tried and trusted Professionals banner.
Kevin and the team are Professional in name and Professional in practice and proud to fly The Professionals colour’s. Along with his colleagues Kevin still receives numerous sales achievement awards and is a long standing member of the highly regarded “Professionals Prestige Club”
Following in both his dads & Georges footsteps Kevin has been a Director of the Board of the Professionals in South Australia since 2007 and has held the position of Chairman of the Board for the past 2 years.
The team today consists of 13 professionals: Kevin & Kathryn Barry, Graeme Walker, Brian Pounsett, Tristan Edwards & Kevin Barry Senior in sales, Gail Pounsett in Commercial Sales & leasing, and having a dual role Kathryn Barry runs the property management team with Kristen Stevens, and Anne MacRitchie.
Administration is handled by Pam Hennessy, Melissa Barry, Sarah Barry, and Lauren Barry.
In an industry where the majority of salespeople have less than 3 years actual industry experience and many office principals only 5 years or less, Kevin’s sales team can proudly boast that they have a phenomenal combined industry experience of almost 200 years!! The enormity of this experience provides their clients & younger staff members alike with a priceless wealth of knowledge seldom found anywhere else.
The team still embrace the culture and camaredrie of their days working together at George’s office.
Kevin is regarded by many as “the quiet achiever”, but he has a tenaciously focused & long term vision for the company and see’s the path ahead as challenging and exciting. As a sign of his confidence in this area and as a firm believer ‘in owning the dirt” he, his family and staff have been long term property investors in the southern area acquiring both residential & commercial real estate holdings.
Kevin & Kathryn believe in leading by example and by working at the “coal face” along with their colleagues they continue to grow the business and expand into new markets. Together they offer a unique & unusual combination of youthful enthusiasm and ideas coupled to an immense industry knowledge and experience built up over a long & distinguished career, and with a number of their children involved in the business, they are confident that the Professionals Christies Beach will continue to grow and succeed into a third generation of real estate excellence with the Barry name firmly planted at the forefront.
Follow the Professionals Christies Beach real estate blog for more interesting articles.
Also see: “A tribute to a good friend”
