How Stone Real Estate Illawarra uses Reapit to grow, without losing its five-star edge

With 99% of their business coming from referrals, Stone Real Estate Illawarra knows better than most that great service fuels growth.

And growth is exactly what they’re after. The agency specialises in residential sales, leasing, and property management, and also works closely with developers on townhouse apartments, villas, and duplex projects – a lot of moving parts, each ripe with opportunity.

So how do they have the confidence to scale an already sizable operation without compromising the five-star experience that drives their referrals? Simple: they have Reapit on their side.

The red folder era

With 29 years in the property industry, Principal Paul Piacentin remembers the days of photocopiers, fax machines and keeping coins handy for phone booths. His constant companion was a red folder stuffed with reports, memos and even handwritten pages tracking individual staff performance.

As organised as Paul tried to be, flicking through that folder to find the right piece of paper quickly became a hassle.

Finally, a friend in the industry took one look at the overflowing folder and told Paul it was time to move to a CRM system to manage its customer-facing activities. Paul listened, and soon after, discovered Agentbox (now Reapit Sales).

A single source of truth

Darnell Haselau, Sales Agent, recalls their PropTech first system as clunky and limiting. Sales and Property Management operated in silos, and with everyone flat out, referrals between departments often didn’t happen, leaving many opportunities missed.  

Fast forward to today, the Stone Illawarra team is more connected and collaborative than ever working across Reapit’s platform

Because every department operates within the same system, there’s no pipeline drop-off when it comes to up-selling or cross-selling opportunities. As Darnell puts it, sending referrals is now as simple as clicking a button.

Pullquote from Darnell: “Having a system that practically automates referrals from property management through to sales just ensures that we're not going to miss a lead.”

Hannah Portelli, Leasing Consultant, highlights the same effortless link between Reapit Lettings and Reapit PM: Adding or removing tenants, distinguishing between leasing-only and property management clients, and keeping records accurate is far simpler when everything syncs automatically. No double data entry for her!

Across the business, the team values how easy it is to manage leads, appraisals and contact details in one central place. Sarah Ward, Sales Agent, also points to the power of filtering.

Pullquote from Sarah: “It's really important that we're able to gather data very quickly. What I love about the Reapit system is, for example, I can go into the advanced search, search a street, and in 30 seconds have a list of everyone in our database who lives there. I can then hand that over to an associate, and they can make those calls straight away.”

For Ayla Paull, Sales Administration & Compliance Manager, this visibility is especially valuable when tracking business performance. Her standout feature is Reapit’s reporting functionality, which allow the team to drill deeply into the numbers.

Pullquote from Ayla: “What Reapit solves for us is the ability to have all the figures straight in front of us as we need them. It's such a simple task to go to the reporting tool, select what period you want the figures for – Q1, financial year, calendar year – and it's all just right there.”

Everyone has a favourite

Like Ayla, everyone at Stone Illawarra has a favourite Reapit feature.

For Darnell, it’s Buyer Match. Because Reapit integrates with popular listing portals, he can collect prospect data, apply filters and send targeted emails about new listings in just a few clicks.

For Paul, it’s the Move Me In integration. Through that service, tenants or new homebuyers can organise electricity, internet, water, removals and insurance in one place, supported by a dedicated consultant. Paul says this add-on has had a noticeable impact on tenant satisfaction.

For Sarah, it’s the automated SMS system. Stone Illawarra uses text messaging extensively because the engagement rate is higher and the connections feel more meaningful. Messages don’t sit ignored on phones – they get read.

Reapit also logs every message, who it was sent to and when, making it easier to tailor future communication or decide whether to send one at all.

For clients, this creates transparency.

For prospects, it builds familiarity long before they’re ready to sell.

The view from the dashboard

The Reapit dashboard is a favourite across the business.

From rent payment status and staff performance to overall business health, it offers instant visibility into what matters most.

Pullquote from Ayla: “The dashboard definitely makes our day-to-day easier. Being able to just open it and see what properties are available, what's under contract, my tasks, my team’s tasks, how we can assist each other, it makes our day super organised."

As Principal, Paul also uses the dashboard alongside reporting tools to track progress year on year and recognise team achievements in real time.

Pullquote from Paul: “I could wake up at 1 o'clock in the morning, have this epiphany that I need to know a figure now, bang on the app, and I can get that information immediately. The dashboard gives me all the information, all the stats, all the graphs, right there on the phone.”

Built for what’s next

With tasks made easier, faster, or fully automated, the Stone Illawarra team has more time to focus on the culture and service that’s earned them so many five-star reviews.

Pullquote from Hannah: “Reapit's automation means that I can do so much more. I can spend my time doing other things and feel confident that all the admin is still happening in the background."

Pullquote from Darnell: “The most important thing for me is selling real estate in the most efficient and effective way possible, and Reapit enables me to do that by taking away a lot of the administration tasks and simplifying things so I can get in front of buyers, get in front of sellers and achieve the best results for all my clients.”

Paul still reminisces about the fax machines, the phone booths and the red folder, but he’s far happier with the efficiency that PropTech brings today, and with how it’s shaping the future of the business.

The vision for Stone Illawarra is growth: more properties, more offices, more neighbourhoods. And Paul sees Reapit as a critical part of that journey: giving the team the insight they need to understand where opportunities lie and where to go next.

Pullquote from Paul: “The advice I would give to someone considering Reapit is, ‘What are you waiting for?’”