99 YEARS AND FOUR GENERATIONS OF REAL ESTATE

Expertise built on family heritage

For Christchurch real estate agent Pip Sutton, real estate is a family heritage spanning four generations over 99 years.

It all started with her great-grandfather F. E. Sutton in 1924, out of Lyttelton. Her grandfather F. I. Sutton continued working in Lyttelton, setting up an office in London Street, which still stands today. Pip’s father Dave became a partner in Simes real estate in Christchurch in the early 1970s until 2005 when it was sold for retirement purposes. From an early age, Pip became part of it, with many fond memories of attending property auctions, visiting building sites and regular office visits where the auction gavel and lectern were often used as play toys. “I grew up in the business” she says. “During school holidays I worked in Dad's office. I spent a lot of time helping out, oh and lots of Sunday drives around new developments within the city and 
Lyttelton Harbour with the family.”

On leaving school Pip gained a Bachelor of Commerce and Management degree with a marketing major. She gained valuable experience and skills working as a top sales and marketer for multi-national market leaders within New Zealand and the UK.

In 2005, Pip returned home to Christchurch to commence her real estate career under the guidance and wisdom of her father. “This involved long hours of intensive learning. He passed on an in-depth understanding of Christchurch's land and development right through from the early Lyttelton days.

This included understanding district plans, zoning, the development process. How to research properties deeply to uncover potentials for new owners. How to listen to people and respond to their needs.  He passed on that little bit of magic, which had been handed down from three previous generations of learnings from depressions, World Wars, and within my own career, the Global Financial Crisis and pre and post earthquake environments.”

In 2014, Pip joined Ray White Real Estate. She liked the more caring nature of the Ray White brand, due to also being a fourth generation family brand with over 100 years of learnings being passed down from generation to generation.

“You are working with people during a milestone time in their life, they are often already under stress. A real estate agent’s job is to assist in relieving the stress, not adding to it.”

Pip has become a successful and highly regarded real estate salesperson across the city. For her, the most enjoyable and important part of the process is to spend time with both buyers and sellers, using her in-depth knowledge of the Canterbury property environment to assist in achieving the best possible outcome for her clients.

As she puts it: “My measure of success is the quality of the results I achieve for my clients, not the number of houses I sell. I would rather take more time getting my client into a better position than collecting listings and making quick sales.

Pip's Learning/Education 

• Tafe College Auckland - 2005 Real Estate Salesperson Certificate 
• Lincoln University - Bachelor of Commerce & Management (Major Marketing)

Pip's achievements & recognition

• #2 Salesperson - April 2023
• #2 Salesperson - March 2023
• #1 Top performer - Jan 2023
• # 2 Sales performance Ray White Ferrymead 2020 / 2021
• #1 Salesperson - May 2021
• #1 Salesperson - December 2020
• #2 Salesperson - August 2020
• #3 Salesperson - June 2020
• #2 Salesperson - April 2020
• #2 Salesperson - January 2020
• #2  Salesperson - July 2019
• #2 Salesperson - January 2019
• #3 Salesperson - July 2018
• #1 Salesperson - April 2018
• #1 Marketing Runner Up - 2017 - Next Step Group
• #2 Salesperson - November 2017  
• #2 Salesperson - October 2017
• #2  Salesperson  - December 2016 
• #1 Salesperson - May 2016
• #1 Salesperson - May 2016
• #3 Salesperson - May 2015
• #1 Salesperson - August 2014