Shark loving estate agent John Natoli calls time at McGrath Surfers Paradise

Shark loving estate agent John Natoli calls time at McGrath Surfers Paradise
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 7, 2020

The McGrath Group has lost its veteran Surfers Paradise agent John Natoli who has told clients he intends to pursue his passion for underwater photography.

"Mr Natoli has left McGrath to pursue other interests and we greatly appreciate his contribution to the company over the years," the agency told Property Observer.

Asked to nominate stars remaining within the agency, the McGrath spokesperson declined.

"We are confident in the strength of our brand and the quality of our sales team on the Gold Coast and look forward to a successful Spring selling season."

Widely respected as one of the Gold Coast’s foremost authorities on prestige property, John Natoli has a very successful career, the last seven years at McGrath, much of it with conjunctional partnerships with James Ledgerwood, who departed the group for The Agency earlier this year.

He has been REIQ Gold Coast Salesperson of the Year. It came two years into his career.

John has been selling high-end residential real estate since 1993, specialising in Mermaid Beach, Broadbeach Waters, Surfers Paradise, Isle of Capri and surrounding suburbs.

John sold beachfront and riverfront property as well as luxury penthouses and sub-penthouses.

He has set a large number of property records including the highest price for beachfront land in Surfers Paradise in 2003 for $17.5 million and highest beachfront house sale on Main Beach in 2004 for $13.45 million.

In 2004 when at PRD he sold a two-storey beach shack on 963sqm of prime Main Beach beachfront for a whopping $13 million, which worked out to be $13,500 a sqm.

It made the three owners a profit of $11.3 million in just six years."Underwater photography is now an ever-consuming passion," he blogged several years ago.

He started around 2003, diving weekly mainly at Julian Rocks, Byron Bay.

"I love getting upto the Great Barrier Reef into warmer waters and better visibility at least once per year."

His favourite marine life - sharks, mantas and anemone fish - were taken using a Nikon D70 in an Ikelite Housing w/single 125 Strobe. 

He hasn't ruled out a return to property sales, The Gold Coast Bulletin advised.

McGrath Surfers Paradise is headed by Craig Caughlan whose Sutherland Shire-based family has been involved in property development since the 1970s.

In his late 30s, he started his real estate sales career at McGrath in Sydney under the tutelage of Matt Lahood before taking up selling at Penrith with another agency.

He has been at the McGrath Surfers Paradise office since January last year.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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