First National Real Estate Andrew McGrath - Swansea

About First National Real Estate Andrew McGrath - Swansea

Our story began when Andrew was around the age of three and he began cutting out pictures of houses and pasting them onto his wardrobe. He was too young then to realise that his Grandfather and Great Grandfather were both Real Estate Agents, but his fate was sealed.

From an early age, the family would holiday in Lennox Head during the Christmas school holidays every year. Andrew’s Grandfather had been the Mayor there as well as the Local Real Estate Agent. His Real Estate Agency was gone by then, but it was a holiday destination full of great memories. In 1983 Andrew was about 12 years old. He had been working in his family’s Newsagency before and after school for a year or so by then, so his business brain had kicked in.

During the holiday he noticed a particular parcel of land for sale. It was 3 blocks of beachfront reserve land for $90,000 (back then that would have paid for two 3 bedroom homes in suburbia), so he visited the Agency to get more particulars, land size, zoning etc. 

With his knowledge of the area and having watched the location grow Andrew was sure that this block of land was a bargain. This is when he began to hone his negotiation skills. He had his father convinced to buy the block with conversations about long-term values and developments, but his mum wouldn’t budge. In the end, Andrew was right. The land was a bargain and skyrocketed in value … (there are now 11 townhouses there on Tresise Pl, Lennox Head. The last sale was ONE single townhouse – in 2022 and it sold for $2.11million *holds head and rocks*)

Fast forward to 1991 when Andrew started his career just down the road from our office, at what was Geoff Fry Real Estate. Fry’s was a family business and Geoff was a shrewd and astute businessman. Andrew learned a lot from his mentor about business, and just as much about managing an office and staff, compassion, and interpersonal business relationships from Val Fry, Geoff’s wife.

Fast forward again to 2002 when Andrew and two partners opened their own office, which quickly became the number one office in our area. It was a steep learning curve for the original ‘boys’ who were no longer able to pop into Catho pub for lunch as easily or make plans for Saturday afternoons, but the business powered on and was in a fine position when Andrew and the other partners parted ways.

In 2010 Andrew and Leanne opened their own office at Blacksmiths and this chapter of our story began. We opened a second office at Caves Beach and then in 2018 we consolidated both offices into our huge central Swansea office, where there is plenty of parking, a huge window display and wheelchair-friendly access.

We have become a multi-diamond award-winning team, producing outstanding sales results and an unrivaled tier of Property Management service. We have broken just about every local sales record at least once and Andrew has held the Record Sale for Newcastle/Lake Macquarie without anyone being any the wiser. At the centre of all that we do is the excitement of 12 year old Andrew, finding an exciting property.