The YSH Team
Our dynamic, fun and fast-paced team work together to ensure that our strategic direction and daily challenges are met with enthusiasm and a ‘can do’ attitude. Our supportive team has a commitment to home owners and investors as well as our valued stakeholders, to ensure we continuously strive to deliver quality residential products.
Dean Parker
Owner / Managing Director
Dean is Managing Director of YSH, a licensed Real Estate Agent and responsible for the strategic and operational direction of the business. He has been a full-time property investor since 2004 with involvement in over 450 property transactions totalling over $160 million in value, including renovations, new property developments, a portfolio of investment properties, and rental property management.
From country Victoria, Dean was brought up under the golden rule of respect for others, a belief in hard work and a firm conviction to ‘do the right thing’. After completing a double degree at Deakin University – a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Accounting and Management and a Bachelor of Science majoring in Information Systems – Dean had something of a bumpy start along what he thought would be a smooth IT career path. Over a period of just a few years he had a succession of job changes and experienced the highs and lows of progressing quickly through the ranks at IBM (from programmer to systems analyst), being headhunted, relocating to Melbourne, being retrenched and enduring an 8-month period of job seeking. He was left with an unacceptable taste of precariousness and disenchantment to which he responded by determining to take control of his future.
Dean began educating himself about property by reading books and attending seminars, with a view to using the proceeds of property investments to replace his salary. Inspired by the success of Steve McKnight, Dean, with life partner Elise, attended a one-day training event of Steve’s that became a turning point in their lives. Highly motivated, Dean and Elise took leave from their jobs to apply their newly acquired skills to renovating and developing property for profit. Their systems approach and diligence led to success and enabled Dean to transition from being an employee to launching their full-time property business in 2005. Elise soon followed, and they engaged their first employee in 2007.
Today, Dean is a testament to the execution of his successful property investment strategies and his astute management skills. He and his team of six employees renovate and develop both residential and commercial property, and operate a comprehensive property management business to ensure ongoing high performance of clients’ assets. Dean is passionate about helping people achieve their own financial freedom by sharing his extensive practical experience and knowledge through property seminars and workshops for purchasers. His greatest sense of satisfaction comes from seeing his clients – home buyers and investors – achieve their personal and lifestyle goals through property by making informed choices.
Your Style Homes lives by its mission, ‘Satisfaction Beyond the Keys’, with the objective of maximising clients’ capital growth and rental return prospects by creating beautiful, functional, healthy and wellmanaged homes, and ensuring client satisfaction throughout the process and beyond settlement.
Dean now lives in Brisbane where he and Elise raise their young daughter, grow their own organic food and keep chickens. In his spare time, Dean keeps fit, indulges his passions for football and tennis, and loves relaying the tale of how he came to spend a private half hour with the inspirational Roger Federer, a man whose talents, qualities and values encapsulate all he admires in a person.
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 1300 368 658
- Mobile: 0438 255 739
Elise Parker
Owner / Healthy Homes Specialist
Elise’s professional background led to a senior consultant role in the IT and accounting industry. Working her way up the corporate ladder she established a leadership position customizing accounting and finance systems for a variety of corporations. Elise has had in-depth experience establishing and integrating systems and procedures to ensure the most streamlined approach to financial and administration elements of the business.Driven by a recent personal experience, Elise’s passion is also to ensure that the health and wellbeing of our residents is central to the company’s ethos and has now taken on the role of YSH’s Healthy Homes Specialist.
Elise’s role is to ensure each YSH property is guided by natural-based design principles and utilizes the healthiest home building products suitable, thus ensuring all future occupants well-being has been thoroughly considered.
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 1300 368 658
Jodi Ott
Finance Manager
Jodi is YSH’s Finance Manager and a registered Certified Practising Accountant. She also manages YSH’s corporate services, including legal and human resources, and oversees the corporate governance structure.
Born and bred in Brisbane, Jodi has always sought jobs that present challenges and teach her new skills. She started out with the state government while she undertook a Bachelor of Business and postgraduate university studies, progressing into senior management roles within government. Jodi’s strong attention to detail and interest in change management implementation led to Government roles with the Department of Education and Training (Queensland) that saw her introduce processes, procedures and systems as part of the changeover from cash accounting to accrual accounting, and project-manage implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) regime, which included conducting training for all TAFE College finance staff to ensure compliance with legislative changes. She later moved to the role of Financial and Legal Manager for Brisbane’s Southbank Education and Training Precinct during its $250M construction and redevelopment phase, and into its ongoing maintenance and services contracts.
Jodi moved from the public to the private sector when she joined YSH in 2015. Armed with a strong set of transferable skills, she met the challenges of working within a different operating framework with respect to business structuring, corporate and trust tax regimes and corporations law. Her friendly relatable approach means she quickly forms strong relationships with colleagues, clients and stakeholders, and is proud of the relationships she has built with key contacts such as business banking managers and investors through YSH. Jodi’s greatest sense of achievement comes from being involved in the delivery of quality projects to satisfied clients – from her initial input into financial feasibilities to managing cashflows of development projects and residential property portfolios, preparing accounts, liaising with tenants and finalising commercial and residential leasing documentation.
In her spare time, Jodi is a keen sportswoman with a love of running and netball, having played competitive representative netball for many years and now coaching an Under-16s team. She is also passionate about skiing and travel and, with husband Bill, is a super-proud parent of a son and daughter who are both now at university.
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 07 3339 1472
Alex Stagg
Assistant Development Manager
Alex is YSH’s Assistant Development Manager and holds an honours degree in construction management (Bachelor of Urban Development) from Queensland University of Technology. His role includes construction project delivery, cost control and budgeting, valuation, and town planning assessments.
Growing up in Noosa in a hospitality business environment, Alex developed an interest in property during his school years. Heeding his parents’ advice that ‘if you want something you should go and get it yourself’, he solicited for his first real estate job at age 21. Alex has worked in residential and commercial sales and leasing from city fringe property to large-scale mixed-use transit oriented developments. In 2007 he was awarded Real Estate Results Network commercial agent of the year for his achievements in the Brisbane market.
Strongly influenced by the turmoil surrounding the GFC, Alex developed a passion for finance and was awarded a study-abroad scholarship in Chicago at Illinios Institute of Technology. Learning about various financial instruments and the cyclical nature of financial products Alex has learnt strategies to mitigate negative financial impacts.
His move into development management drew significantly on his construction management experience, with an understanding of design risk, budgeting, procurement and scheduling paving the way for property feasibility analyses and construction delivery of units and townhouses.
Alex is inspired by the YSH’s level of care shown in all aspects of the business, internally and externally, and formally and informally. Tenacious and with keen attention to detail, he thrives in the tight, convivial team environment with like-minded professionals.
Away from work Alex loves nothing more than cooking a mean meal over a good red, hanging out with family and having a laugh … unless perhaps it’s watching a top game of rugby, where he counts seeing the Wallabies beat the All Blacks as a magic moment!
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 0439 891 731
Sara Taylor
Marketing & Customer Relations Manager
Sara is YSH’s Marketing Manager, overseeing and creating all project and company marketing campaigns and strategies. She holds a Diploma of Management, has completed her Real Estate Registration Course and brings with her over 10 years property industry experience.
As the youngest of four children enjoying a semi-rural and rural upbringing in NSW, Sara developed a love of animals, horse riding and the outdoors together with a healthy competitive spirit and a determination to strive for success.
Starting her career with a traineeship in a small real estate office, Sara was told at the outset that there was no way to fast-track knowledge. Taking that on board, she worked her way steadily upwards to become office manager and then progressed through various other property-related management roles – including rental, sales and contract, and strata – before branching into marketing. In that role, she has been responsible for project marketing multi-residential, house-and-land and master-planned community developments.
Driven by self-improvement and results, Sara takes pride in her accumulated industry knowledge and to work with a team of dedicated and like-minded professionals within a company that aligns with her values of honesty, integrity and excellence. She is inspired and motivated by being part of a work environment that encourages innovative and progressive thinking, and is passionate about delivering a quality product to clients.
Away from work, Sara spends her time with family and friends and her little dog, Maddy. She loves the ocean, travel and creating special memories around experiences with different cultures and landscapes.
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 07 3339 1464
Magi Tessieri
Portfolio Manager
Magdalena (Magi) is YHS’s Property Manager and is responsible for managing all aspects of investors’ property assets, from advertising and securing new tenancies, to their management and maintenance.
Growing up in a small country town outside Bratislava in Slovakia, Magi has a natural exuberance and an innate love of all things great and small. Taught the values of integrity and hard work and encouraged to live life to the full, Magi left her home country at 18 with no knowledge of the English language and what can be described simply as a zest for life. She moved to the UK and later Australia, where she fully integrated herself into the new language and culture.
Magi’s love of learning has led her to undertake studies in business and management, a Diploma of Screen and Media, a Bachelor of Psychology and her real estate diploma at the Real Estate Institute of Qld, and continues to drive her in everyday life. Coupled with her love of people, she thrives on building strong relationships with clients and carries the proud reputation of being seen by all as highly personable, helpful and professional.
Magi joined YSH in 2016 and is inspired by the vision of the company and the YSH team to set the client satisfaction bar high and to deliver an outstanding product, and she takes great personal pride in the positive feedback she receives from clients. With scrupulous administrative skills, her main goal is to ensure the process for both property investors and tenants is a smooth, comfortable and highly professional experience.
When not at work, Magi enjoys spending time in nature and with animals, especially her beloved rescue dog Hank, and would love to one day establish a sanctuary for abused and abandoned animals. She thrives on meeting people and reading offbeat books, and her current challenge is mastering the cello.
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 07 3339 1462
- Mobile: 0497 497 499
Bernie Kerwick
Finance Officer
Bernie is YSH’s Finance Officer, assisting with all financial aspects of the business.
Brisbane born into a family with a long history as hotel licensees (dating back to the 1870s, with the heritage-listed ‘Normanby Hotel’), Bernie was brought up with a strong work ethic.
Starting out in banking, Bernie focused for a period on child-raising and also took up bookkeeping for her husband’s newly started property development business. She later undertook a long stint in nursing-home administration with a financial component, including payroll and residents’ fund management.
Bernie began her current role in 2012, bringing her financial skills together with a broad knowledge of all aspects of property development – from dealing with construction and trade partnerships through to financial processing and record keeping – gained over more than 30 years of association with her family’s business. She has watched YSH develop into the successful company it is today and is proud to be part of the dynamic team that has progressed that evolution.
Outside of work, Bernie enjoys spending family time with her five children, ten grandchildren and cavoodle Lily, and loves seeing each of her family members achieve their goals.
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 1300 368 658
Nickie Gracie
Project & Administration Support
Nickie is YSH’s Administration and Project Support Officer, whose role is monitoring and improving procedures and providing support at all levels. As the company’s original permanent employee, Nickie now holds more than a decade of valuable corporate knowledge of the company’s evolution and past projects. To add to her secretarial and accounting qualifications, she is currently undertaking an Advanced Diploma of Building Biology to investigate the components of a healthy home.
Arriving in Australia from England at age seven and spending her high-school years in Canberra, Nickie went on to develop a strong work and customer-service ethic through administrative roles in various industries including not-for-profit, television and property, the latter including large and small commercial construction, civil construction, real estate and property development.
Moving around a lot – 33 times, at a recent count! – and residing in all of Australia’s eastern states and Territory in both purchased and rented homes, Nickie developed a strong interest in property functionality and livability, leading to her focus on the healthiness of homes. Her belief that ‘without wellness all other achievements are compromised’ guides her current directions.
Nickie thrives on helping others and being part of a passionate and successful team that shares a common goal and operates with honesty and integrity. She loves witnessing the synergies across all arms of the business that result in not just happy clients but many returning customers.
Currently working part time to fulfil a long-held ambition, Nickie is also undertaking a Bachelor of Health Science (Nutritional & Dietetic Medicine). Away from that and her activities towards helping others, which extend well beyond the workplace, it’s all about family, with her ‘most important role’ having been raising her three now-adult sons. With a talent for singing and a love of music, Nickie also enjoys spending relaxing sessions at the Brisbane Jazz Club where she helps out as a volunteer and husband Neil can often be seen ‘tickling the ivories’.
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 07 3339 1463