Agent Spotlight – Q & A Session

I moved to Australia from New Zealand in 2001 where I started working in Security. I worked for Chubb Security and SNP Security as a Monitoring Centre Operator. I then moved into training for approximately two years and then moved into Quality Management prior to moving to Brisbane in 2008. I then headed up the Queensland division of a guarding company for about three years before moving into real estate. 

After three years of working as the Sales Manager for L & H Security Management in Brisbane, I wanted to do something completely different. I had never ever thought of going into real estate and had no idea if I would enjoy it.  

I started my career as the Business Development Manager for rentals at Bruce Harry Real Estate in Holland Park, I thought that this would be a good way to gauge whether or not I would enjoy a sales role within the real estate industry and then I could transition from BDM to Sales later on. 

The rest as they say, is history.

When I started in sales, I worked for Bruce Harry Real Estate in Holland Park. They use a system called the Jenman System. This method of selling is based on ethics in real estate and has been around since the late 1980’s. 

Although this was a great environment to begin my career, I soon started to realise that selling is not “one size fits all”. There is more than one way to sell a home and for me, I think that being flexible is an important step in becoming a great real estate agent.  

I believe that if an owner wants to do opens or private inspections, auctions or private treaty, list a price or no price, then we should be flexible as real estate agents to tailor an informed solution that our sellers feel comfortable with and that will still help them to gain the best outcome, not convincing them that there is only one way to do it. 

The reason I chose to leave Bruce Harry Real Estate was because I lost belief in their system. It’s hard to watch listings go to other agents who use different methods of selling, and see those agents help their sellers to move on.   

After leaving Bruce Harry Real Estate, I worked for Place Estate Agents. Place use a much more flexible system for selling real estate however this comes at a price. Their fee for selling is around 3% plus GST and you as the seller are also required to pay the marketing costs upfront. 

In my opinion, a lot of the advertising they do, is more about branding for the agent and Place, than it is about selling properties at higher prices. YES! the Place Magazine looks great, YES! the letters that go out to the local neighbourhood to try and attract a local buyer look lovely, but at the end of the day, they aren’t going to put more money in your pocket when you sell.  

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Place, knowing full well that when I went into a listing presentation, I had the flexibility to tailor a selling solution that was both informed, yet comfortable for the sellers moving forward.   

These days, there are still some real estate agents who obtain listings through dishonest tactics. I think that ethics is either something you have, or you don’t. There is no grey area. One of the most important parts of being ethical, is being honest. It means having the tough conversations, whether you like it or not and it’s these fundamentals that will shape the type of real estate agent you are.

Sparrow came about as I wanted to bring forward my strong ethics and honesty at a more competitive fee than other big-name agencies.  

I don’t have the same overheads as more traditional or large agencies have and therefore can reduce my fees to offer more competitive/flexible rates.  

Some of the reasons I can offer such a great fee structure are:

I don’t put a lot of money into branding. Most of my advertising is done online so I don’t have huge expenses.

I don’t have to pay royalties back to a head office like the bigger agencies do.

The main reason however, that I charge lower fees, is because I am happy to help my clients for a more reasonable selling fee. 

I got told by an old managing director prior to leaving that agency and moving to Sparrow, “don’t you think you are worth more money?”. I told him, “it’s not that I don’t think I am worth more money, I’m just happy to help my clients for less”.

Most agents will try and tell you, “If an agent is willing to give up his money that easy, then what do you think he is going to do with the price they get for your home”. These objection strategies have been used for years by real estate agents, to try and convince sellers that they will get you more money for your home by not negotiating their fees, because this makes them stronger negotiators and that “you get what you pay for”.

I can think of a couple of examples of homes that were listed by well-known and very successful agents with selling fees around 3%.  

One of the agents brought three offers in 90 days that were lower than what the agent quoted the property would sell for in the listing presentation. After the agent was unsuccessful in selling the property, I then obtained the listing and sold the property in the first week for $25,000 higher than the three previous offers and with a selling fee under 1.6%. I ended up putting an extra $35,000 in the Sellers pocket based on the difference in price and commission.

The other property was listed for 90 days with another well-known agent, this particular agent commended the owner on how wonderful their property was at the listing presentation, and then spent the next 60 days telling him everything that was wrong with the property to try and convince the owner to take an offer that was more than $50,000 lower than the price they quoted in the listing presentation. I then obtained the listing and within 90 days, was able to achieve a selling price, well above what the other agent was able to achieve and for a considerably lower commission.  

I believe that the internet has changed the way we sell real estate. Years ago, if you wanted to sell in Holland Park, you would list with an agent who was based in Holland Park. You could jump in the car with the agent and they would take you to all of their listings that they thought would be suitable. 

Nowadays, thanks to the internet, you can look for a property anywhere in the world at any time. Websites like RP Data and Price Finder allow any agent to focus on sales within a particular area, whether they have sold in that area or not, to obtain a complete understanding of where the market is currently at. 

I am not saying that there isn’t a benefit to having a local agent, it may be that they have a buyer on their books that is looking for your particular property, however it pays to tread carefully with agents who say they have buyers on “their database”. I got told by a previous manager that if you don’t say this to sellers, whether you have a buyer or not, then you fail Real Estate 101. 

If you aren’t sure whether an agent is being genuine about having buyers for your property, allow them seven days to bring their buyers through. You’ll soon find out whether or not they were being honest, or just saying what you wanted to hear to get the listing. 

Seven days should be plenty of time to allow for prospective buyers. If it just so happens that one of the buyers makes an offer that you are happy to accept, then not only do you get the price you are looking for but you were able to do so without paying any of the marketing costs.

THAT, and only THAT, should be the benefit of having a buyer database. Why would you be charging vendors upfront costs for marketing if your buyer databases are that good?

I take a very non-pressured approach to selling real estate. I believe this allows both my vendors and buyers to feel at ease during the process and feel like they are being guided towards the right decisions rather than be pressured into making decisions under duress.