When her parents brought their young family to Auckland in 1940s, it didn’t take long before Repeka’s father saw the opportunity to stake a claim in their new homeland by buying real estate.
“Dad learnt at a very early age how to settle his roots here. In fact, he had several properties around the place, from Devonport to Parnell to Ponsonby and Grey Lynn,” she recalls. “He was secretary of the Pacific Island Church in Edinburgh Street and worked very closely alongside Reverend Sio in helping our new migrants settle in New Zealand. One of the things he tried to make sure of was that as many as possible of the families learnt the value of home ownership themselves, and many did that by buying their homes.”
The irony for her is that many of the early immigrants more than a half a century ago achieved it, despite the language and cultural barriers. Many of the following generations, who were born, bred and educated in New Zealand, haven’t, and this is what I want to change. Some people have not bought because of fear of commitment, and yet they are committed paying someone else’s mortgage off. It has not got any easier to purchase and it won’t.
Intuition and listening skills has enabled Repeka to become one of Century 21’s leading agents, as a regular member of its Multi-Million Dollar Club and a Centurion Award winner. The Centurion Award is given to top achievers in the Century 21 group both nationally and internationally.
Repeka was born and raised in Auckland, and returned to Samoa in 1979 where she lived for 13 years. She built her first home in Faatoia in her twenties. “It has survived two major cyclones, so I didn’t do too bad,” she says.
Repeka returns to Samoa frequently, “It is where I go to rejuvenate both spiritually and culturally”. It was not until her return to Roots Mission organised by the Pacifi c Island Trade & Investment Commission (PITIC) that she looked seriously into helping the local real estate industry across the Pacific.
“With the strong value of the New Zealand dollar there are genuine opportunities in the islands. For me, however, it’s also about helping those who want to invest there for the right reason. First and foremost, I would like to help people like myself, who have been brought up outside the islands to reconnect to a place they have descended from.”
