Hello world, thanks for visiting and taking the time to read my first blog post!
So, who am I? As the title gives away, I am Richard Sinnott. I am a licenced Real Estate Sales Person (REAA 2008), Chairperson of the Wainuiomata Community Board, husband to Te Aroha Tahu-Sinnott, and father to my wonderful children – of whom there are many!
Some of you will know me as ‘that guy that works at the movies’, or other such similar title. To be fair, that was my job for many years. My career of nearly 18 years in cinema started at Hoyts Lower Hutt, which is now the Lower Hutt Baptist Church. My role there included working on the candy bar (part of which was rolling ice creams – despite popular belief they do not come out of a machine!) selling tickets at the box office, ripping tickets and cleaning cinemas. I moved into the projection room, back in the days where we still used 35mm film and laced projectors. I was also a part of the management team shortly after turning 18. All in all, a great time and a big learning experience.
Just before my second son was born, I decided I should give the real world a go and get a ‘proper job’, you know – one that was based in an office and not fun like working at the movies. For this I decided to give the Ministry of Justice Collections Contact Centre a go. Getting people to pay their fines was not fun, but I did learn a lot. Some negotiating was involved, but more important was being honest and telling people ‘how it is’. Here I moved quickly into a Team Leader role, and assisted with the training of new recruits.
During this time Westfield Queensgate was going through an expansion, part of which was a new cinema to be operated by Skycity Cinemas. I decided I wanted to work closer to home, doing something I would actually enjoy. Come June 5th, 2006 (just 2 weeks after the birth of my daughter) I started there as the Assistant Manager. This was a very exciting and challenging role, including hiring all the staff, training, setting up new systems and getting to introduce the people of Lower Hutt to one of the best cinemas in New Zealand. Over time I was promoted to Cinema Manager, and in 2014 won Best Chain Cinema Manager at the New Zealand Motion Picture Industry Council awards.
In early 2015 I started working in Wellington again at the wonderful Embassy Theatre. This cinema is, in my humble opinion, the best in New Zealand. Working there was a huge change, with a totally different type of customer and business model. There were a huge number of functions and special events, making every day different to the last.
Come November 14th 2016 things changed dramatically in the Wellington cinema scene. The earthquake that struck that day caused significant damage to my baby at Queensgate, resulting in the cinemas along with the carpark beneath being torn down. This event made me feel it was time to move on, and do something new.
It may sound odd to most people, but I have wanted to work in Real Estate most of my life. Some of my earliest memories come from house hunting with my Dad, it is something I have always enjoyed. I love ‘the hunt’, finding people new places to call home. Equally, helping investors into their next project is just as enjoyable. I have always been able to see potential in the properties that need a little love. This is what got me into real estate, and something I hope I can help you with soon.
The job of a Real Estate Agent is not really about selling houses, it is about solving problems. People sell for many reasons, which are motivated by a problem they want to solve. The current home may be too big or too small, it may be in need of renovation and they don’t want to carry the work out themselves, they may be a landlord who wants to cash up for varying reasons, a move to a new town may be on the cards. Buying a new home will be for essentially the opposite of the reasons above. Problems to be solved.
I hope that this, my first ever blog post, has served its purpose and given you a little insight into who I am, where I have come from, and why I do what I do. If you need a problem solver, get in touch.
Thanks for reading!