Vicki Sayers, Director, Mount Eliza
Bespoke’ is a word that Mornington Peninsula real estate agent, Vicki Sayers uses often when describing the way she interacts with clients, handles negotiations, and plans marketing campaigns. However, in the world of real estate professionals, Vicki herself is extraordinarily bespoke.
In just over 12 years, Vicki, a former nurse, has self-fashioned a stellar career selling some of the Peninsula’s most high-profile properties and winning a swag of prestigious State and National awards.
Vicki, who is well known for her ‘can do’ attitude and empathetic nature, has a genuine enthusiasm for property, and her capacity to engage with clients and the community at all levels has seen her rise to the top of the real estate profession.
With Mount Eliza family roots stemming back four generations, including her beloved grandmother Olive, who recently passed away, aged 101, Vicki admits she ‘lives and breathes Peninsula property’.
“My father was a Valuer, and my parents bought and sold almost every two years when I was growing up. So Real Estate has always been a big part of my life.”
Vicki has lived in more than thirty homes in the region including Mount Eliza, Red Hill, Flinders, Shoreham, and Moorooduc, as well as her current home in Mount Martha.
Having completed her education at Toorak College, Vicki embarked on a career in Nursing, a profession in which she excelled.
“I really wanted to study Property, but didn’t have the prerequisite subjects, so chose Nursing because I like people and wanted to travel.”
After finishing her Nursing degree in Melbourne and working at The Alfred Hospital, Vicki returned to the Peninsula to work with The Royal District Nursing Service.
“I was very much at home visiting people in their homes and the community.”
It was during this time, that Vicki, who had always been her inner circle’s ‘go-to’ person when it came to local real estate, began to feel that maybe the property industry was where her true vocation lay.
“I always had an innate sense for value and spent my days off researching the property market, visiting open homes and engaging with local agents, so I was often called upon by friends’ parents and relatives, even some of the patients I visited, to advise on property prices.”
Vicki, who by now was a mother of young children, could feel herself being drawn further into the world of Real Estate, despite her exceptional nursing credentials including a longstanding role as a Clinical Nurse Consultant and even presenting research papers around Australia and internationally in Paris.
“When my youngest child began kindergarten, and my family had experienced a major loss and was touched by illness, I decided it was time to fulfil my dream. It was going to be now or never.”
Vicki studied at night to gain her Real Estate qualifications, and when completed took a year’s ‘leave without pay’ from nursing.
“I secured a job with one of Mount Eliza’s oldest agencies and three months in, knew that I was never looking back. Having grown up in Mount Eliza, I had many connections from my school days and from my family, who have owned local businesses over the years and had a good reputation, so I was able to quickly establish a great referral and attraction business.”
Vicki always feels privileged to be working with families who have held homes for long periods of time, or properties that are deceased estates.
“I think my experience working in palliative care and community nursing has helped in working with families navigating difficult paths. It brings me and my team much joy to help people at these times. I have also enjoyed working with vendors who have been repeat customers. One couple whom I have sold five homes for over the past 12 years have become good friends. I have loved watching their family grow and being part of their journey.”
Vicki’s lifelong passion for mid-century modernist and early coastal architecture and design continues to inspire her.
“We are blessed that this area has many mid-century homes designed by renowned architects such as Robin Boyd, Chancellor and Patrick, Roy Grounds, Mockridge, Stahle and Mitchell and the classic Merchant Builder. As the area was well known as a holiday area in the early 1900s we have many examples of character homes, especially weatherboards, such as the one I am living in now in Mount Martha, which started out as a 1927 Californian bungalow and has been modified and extended over the years but still retains the essence of where it came from.”
When she talks about her biggest successes, it’s not necessarily the property’s monetary value; it’s usually more about the home’s history and design and the honour of representing the vendors.
“One of my stand-out favourites was for 32-36 Osborne Drive Mount Martha, a unique architectural home on a large piece of land that had been in the same family for over 40 years.”
Having won numerous individual state and national industry awards, including REIV Salesperson of the Year for six consecutive years, Vicki was thrilled that her team was recognised last year, taking out the National Sales Team of the Year in 2023’s Real Estate Institute of Australia’s awards.
“The goal is to further grow our coast and country network across the Peninsula and, in the process, expand our client services team offering a diverse range of pre-and post-sales services.”
As Director of RT Edgar Mount Eliza and with RT Edgar Mount Martha, which has only recently opened, Vicki is excited to be expanding her Real Estate business horizons.
“Whilst our core market has been Mount Eliza, we have had great success selling in Mornington, Mount Martha, and Frankston South and across the Peninsula into rural properties and across the top of Westernport and the Southern Peninsula. The RT Edgar network allows us to reach into a broad pool of buyers and, especially in recent years, many buyers are looking to move to the region rather than a particular suburb.”
Vicki says the key to success is the ability to adapt to the needs of each client and property.
“We have a clear but flexible strategy for marketing plans, meaning each campaign is bespoke to the individual characteristics of the property and our clients. Also, a clear understanding of the needs and wants of each buyer allows for bespoke negotiations and dealing with objections.”
This bespoke approach has clearly paid off.
“For many years, I was known to have the shortest days on the market and had vendors well prepared to go to market and buyers ready to buy. With a clear plan around marketing strategy, this formula worked well. I have had extensive experience with changing markets and have adapted to these conditions, allowing clients to achieve a successful sale regardless of the conditions.”
Accolades and awards aside, family is what makes Vicki most proud. Her son, Oscar, had just started kindergarten when she began studying for her Real Estate career and is now at University, and she has recently welcomed the next generation to the business.
“My daughter Ella works within the business and is also currently studying for a Business degree. My husband, Paul, who has had extensive project management, horticultural and rural experience is now also part of our business.”
“We are a family who love where we live, and just being together. The threads of our family have been woven across the Peninsula over many generations, and I’m so happy to see that that is going to continue.”
She hasn’t completely left the world of nursing behind either, currently serving as a Director of Peninsula Home Hospice.
“I am proud to be able to give back,” she says.
Quick Chat: Vicki Sayers
Local Café Faves
The Filling Station, Mornington
Shop Ate, Mount Eliza,
Cibo Deli, Mount Martha
Go-to Local Restaurants
The Rocks, Mornington
Captain Jacks, Yarringa Boat Harbour
Volpino, Mount Martha
When not working, Vicki is ...
Playing tennis, walking ‘all over the Peninsula’ with her friends and her black Labrador, Trigger, and boating or skiing (when she has the time), and enjoys hiking trips with her girlfriends in Tasmania.
Did you know...
Vicki’s best friends are still the ‘girls’ she went to Toorak College with many years ago.
Her father’s family pharmacy in Frankston (Hanton’s Pharmacy) was fitted out by renowned mid-century architects Mockridge, Stahle & Mitchell and was considered very cutting edge for their time.
The iconic palm trees out the front of the old Lintons nursery on Nepean Highway Mount Eliza, were transplanted from Vicki’s great-grandparents’ home on Oliver’s Hill.
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