In profile: Knight Frank's associate director of retail leasing, Brisbane, Ashley Moffat
Name: Ashley Moffat
Position: Associate director, retail leasing
Company: Knight Frank
Office Location: Brisbane
How long have you been in the industry?
21 years
What’s happening in the area you specialise in?
Plenty – the sands are shifting constantly in retail leasing and sometimes hard to keep up with the latest trend/fad/concept. At the moment, it’s all about very specific fresh food concepts. Rather than just opening an Italian restaurant, restaurateurs are instead opening up a “Meatball” restaurant which may roll out 10 different varieties of meatballs. It’s all very exciting.
Describe the most interesting property you have sold
I’ve spent most of my career leasing or developing shopping centres. Probably the funniest transaction was when I was in the pub talking to a complete stranger who, after sharing a couple of drinks, asked me whether I was interested in buying a piece of land he had an interest in. 12 months later I completed building a BI-LO Supermarket and specialty shops on it which resulted in a few million dollar profit for the company I was working for at the time. Goes to show, networking does work!
What are the ingredients to being successful in your job?
You have to love it, because it shows if you don’t. There are plenty of people that just go through the motions; they are also the first people to complain they haven’t received a promotion or aren’t making any money.
What aspects of your role do you enjoy the most?
Every day is different, every hour is different – it never gets boring.
Where would you invest a spare $750,000?
I’m a big believer in the Gold Coast at the moment – it’s clawing its way out of the mud and there are just some unbelievable opportunities to pick up. I would choose a two bedroom, two bathroom unit overlooking the ocean, in an older style building, for mid to high $400,000s. Spend $50,000 modernising it and to me, that is a smart investment for the boom that is on the horizon.
Which football team do you support?
Broncos (don’t hit me!), Roar and the Lions. And of course the Reds. Any ueensland team with the exception of the Titans – my brother and sister support the Titans so I automatically hate them just to be annoying! Makes for interesting dinner table conversation when we catch up.
What’s your favourite app or techno gadget?
“Kaching”, which is the Commonwealth Bank app. Obviously only handy if you bank Commonwealth, but I use it all the time, it’s just eliminated so much time wasted getting online or going to the bank.
How do you use social media?
I admit to being a little “slow” to embrace these mediums. I don’t have Facebook because I like to maintain some form of private life. However, I am starting to embrace LinkedIn, which I think is a very handy tool for professionals to communicate and share information. But I’m still a little “old school”, and believe nothing beats picking up the phone and talking to somebody, or better still, face to face contact.
Correction: Ashley Moffat's title has been updated to associate director of retail leasing since initial publication.