‘We love our home town’: Jen and Greg Ward launch their own real estate agency

Ask Jen Ward what it was like growing up with younger brother Greg and she literally clutches her hands to her heart.

“It was honestly like having my own little baby,” she recalls.

“I was nine when Greg was born and I honestly just carried him around everywhere - I was basically his second mum.”

Fast forward a few years and the brother sister duo, who grew up on Queanbeyan’s Montebar Row (mum Maureen and dad Tony still live there), are closer than ever. They’re now co-owners of Ward Estate Agents, their own boutique agency catering to Queanbeyan, Jerrabomberra, Googong and beyond.

The Wards were part of the McGrath Estate Agents team - Greg for 10 years as franchise owner and Jen for four years - but decided to go out on their own to offer the people of the Queanbeyan region a new way to experience property sales and marketing.

“We’ve got a lot of history in this town and we want to capitalise on that - people know us and we want to just step out from behind a brand,” Jen says.

“We’ve always been about quality over quantity and Ward Estate Agents will just reinforce that.

“It takes a lot of energy to manage a property through from appraisal to sale and we never want our clients to feel they have to ‘get in line’ - the sale of a property is not just a transaction to us, ever.”

The siblings have sold a combined 1000 homes across Queanbeyan, Jerrabomberra and Googong during their careers and can instantly call out each other’s strengths when asked.

“Greg is a master negotiator,” Jen says.

“You need a lot of runs on the board to be able to refine those skills and he’s had over 20 years of negotiation experience.

“I just look at him most days and think, wow.”

According to Greg, Jen’s an administrative and client experience dream.

“Real estate is essentially about project management and she’s all about processes,” he says.

“Everything has a process. And the relationships with our clients are critical to Jen. Her work has to have meaning and it’s the people we work with who bring that meaning.”

The siblings want prospective clients to know that they’ll get the “exact same” client experience they’re used to at Ward Estate Agents - and they want people to start reimagining how they engage a sales agent for their home.

“We want people to get to know us before they need us,” Jen says.

“If you’re going to hand over your greatest asset to someone, you want to know, who am I handing it over to? Do I trust them? Do I like them?

“Then when you’re ready to go, you feel like you’re in safe hands.”

View Ward Estate Agents’ current listings here.