Oct
Most property managers who miss out at the REB Awards don’t fall short on their numbers. They fall short on their answers. Your score comes from both your metrics and your written answers, so even the best rent roll in the category won’t win it if the answers don’t do their job.
The judges read four responses of up to 400 words each, score each one against the question it’s answering, then add that to your metrics table. So an entry that scores is one that answers every question directly, in your own voice, with the evidence inside the answer rather than somewhere else in the form.
Here’s how to do that for Property Manager of the Year (Metropolitan or Regional), with submissions closing on Friday 6 November.
What are you actually submitting?
The four answers are the main event, but the portal wants all of this:
- Four open responses, 400 words maximum each.
- A table of metrics showing the 2024-25 financial year beside 2025-26. The metrics required are: total rent roll income (commissions and auxiliary fees), total properties managed, new managements won, and managements lost.
- Up to four supporting documents.
- A headshot, your company logo, and 25 words on what winning would mean to you.
- Optional extras: a 30-second video on what excites you about the future of property management, and three song choices. If you win, one of them plays as you walk to the stage on the night.
Everything you include has to sit inside the eligibility period, 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. Entry is free and whether you’re metropolitan or regional comes down to REB’s postcode list on their FAQ page, not what your office calls itself.
Tip: Open the portal and read all of it before you write a word. The headshot and the walk-up songs are often what people scramble for at 11pm.
Fill in the table before you write a word
Do the table first, because it tells you what your story is. Two years side by side will show growth, or retention, or a rent roll that got stronger without getting bigger. Whatever it shows, that’s the thread for the four answers.
It also shows you the awkward bit. If managements lost went up, the written answers need to deal with it, because the judges will see the number either way. A lost management explained (a landlord who sold, a portfolio that moved interstate) reads very differently from a lost management ignored.
What are the four questions really asking?
Question 1: “Detail the principles of your client offerings and how they provide a unique point of difference to drive business success.”
Your principles are what you believe good property management is, say that a landlord should never get a surprise. The judges want to see how that belief shows up in practice, why it makes a landlord choose you over the office down the road, and what it has done for the business.
So pick two or three principles, not ten, and take each one from belief to practice to result. “No surprises” is the belief. “When something goes wrong, the landlord hears it from me first, with the fix and the next steps already worked out” is how it works day to day. “My landlord retention rate is 96%” is what it did for the business.
Question 2: “Demonstrate any market specialisation and tactics used to ensure good client outcomes.”
Name the part of the market you know best, whether that’s a suburb, a property type or an investor profile, then show what you do differently because of it. “Good client outcomes” is an invitation to use numbers: days in arrears, vacancy days, renewal rates, rent increases achieved against the suburb average.
Question 3: “Highlight innovation in your business and how that has impacted business growth.”
The word innovation puts people off. It doesn’t have to be an app or something you’ve invented that has never been done before. A new inspection routine, a different way of onboarding landlords, a reporting change that halved your phone calls, all count. The score lives in the second half of the question, so make sure you have numbers to show how your business grew because of it.
Question 4: “Provide case studies or examples that showcase how you cater for the needs of clients and how that influences business success.”
Two or three short stories, each with a situation, what you did to cater to their needs and the result. Name the client where they’re happy to be named and describe them where they’re not. This is the easiest answer to write and the one most entrants leave vague, because they summarise instead of telling the story.
Tip: Put a number in the first two sentences of every answer. The judge shouldn’t have to dig to find the evidence.
Write it as you (the judges can tell)
REB’s own guidance asks for first person, and it says entries may be marked down if they’ve been built with AI tools, because every submission goes through a detector. That’s worth taking seriously. The judges want a real story in your words with your numbers in it, not a brochure about you.
If writing isn’t your thing, talk instead. Record yourself answering each question out loud, as if a colleague had asked it, then write from the transcript. You’ll keep your own phrasing, which is what makes an entry sound like a person. (It’s also how we write entries for clients: a one-hour conversation, then the answers in their voice.)
Tip: Read each answer out loud before you paste it in. If it sounds like a generic listing description, start again.
Four supporting documents are four free slots
Most entrants upload nothing, or a brochure. The slots are for evidence: a landlord’s testimonial, a reference from your principal, a screenshot of your review score, a one-page summary of the metrics with a line of context under each. Ask the landlord this week. References are always the thing that arrives last.
How much time do you have?
Submissions close at 11:59pm AEDT on Friday 6 November. A full entry needs about two weeks from a standing start: a few days to pull the numbers and line up referees, a week to write, a few days for someone else to read it against the questions, and a day or two in hand so you’re not submitting on the night. If you have less than that, start with the metrics table and planning out your answers. Finalists are announced on Tuesday 17 November, and the gala is Thursday 25 February 2027 at Royal Randwick.
Last cycle REB received 870 submissions and named 300 finalists, so roughly one in three entries got through. An entry that answers all four questions with evidence is how you get on the right side of that line.
If you’d rather talk it through than type it
That’s what we do. One call, four answers written in your voice, your metrics laid out the way the judges read them, and a round of edits before you submit.
We’ve written 100 award entries since 2021, including REB entries for a Sydney property management team. About three in four have made finalist or better, and roughly one in three have won.
Details are on the Real Estate Award Writing page. If you’re entering more than one program this season, How to write an award entry that wins covers the ground that applies to all of them. Let’s make that next award yours.
FAQ
When do REB Awards 2027 submissions close?
Friday 6 November 2026 at 11:59pm AEDT. Finalists are announced on 17 November and the gala is on 25 February 2027 in Sydney.
Is the REB Awards the same as the PMX Awards?
Same publisher, different program. PMX is property management only and runs mid-year. The REB Awards cover the whole industry, and the Property Manager, BDM and Property Management Business categories are where PMX finalists usually land next.
How long is a Property Manager of the Year entry?
Four answers of up to 400 words each, so 1,600 words at most, plus the metrics table and up to four supporting documents.
How much does it cost to enter the REB Awards?
Nothing. REB’s FAQ says entry is free.
Can I use AI to write my REB Awards entry?
REB’s guidance says entries may be marked down if they’re built with AI, and submissions are run through detectors. Write it yourself, or have someone interview you and write it in your words.
Am I a metropolitan or regional property manager?
REB publishes a list of metropolitan postcodes on its FAQ page. Anything outside that list is regional.