Why this agent won’t book me again 🗞️ Real Estate Market Wrap

03:25 – Make price transparent, and other things I’d do as CEO of real estate to clean up the industry

08:04 – How you do business is more important than how much business you do

10:31 – The #1 quality you need to make it in real estate (and it’s not confidence)

My Clearance Rate: 7/9 SOLD 

Transcript

Auction Decision That Lost a Client

Speaker 1 0:00

Today , a real estate agent said to me he's never booking me again , which is not a problem because we have more bookings than we can handle every Saturday . Every Saturday , we have more bookings than we can handle . In fact , like every Saturday this week , he's giving auctions out again , hey , john . So why did the agent say to me he's not going to give me another option ? I'll tell you why . What happened is we were 10 grand , 20 grand short on getting an offer accepted .

Speaker 1 0:36

The buyer was bidding with great momentum . He had no one to push him any further , but I knew there was more money in that buyer . So the buyer played hardball when we tried to negotiate during the auction . So what we did is go to pass it in and the agent said to me no , don't pass it in , I want you to sell it . I said listen , there's only a very small risk . We won't get this offer off the buyer after the auction . And , quite frankly , the reason I want to pass it in is that I believe that in a negotiation post-auction there is the potential to get another $50,000 for this owner . And I mean this agent now said no , no , no , I want it sold under the hammer . Right , anyway , we did it . Can I guarantee you that I'll get another $50,000 in the next week ? No , but I had a funny feeling I would .

Speaker 1 1:48

And I think you've got to make a judgment call . At all the times , a lot of times in real estate we've got this obsession , this addiction to feel like sold under the hammer . Put the sole buyer money in the bank . Let's move on , and I agree with all of that . But there are times when you've been doing a job for four decades where you feel that that buyer , if he had a competitor to drive him up another 50 , 100 grand , he would have paid it right . And yes , there's a risk . And I got to tell you this is where great negotiation comes to the forefront , because if you meet a really good buyer , that's a good negotiator . That makes it lead you to believe I'm not paying a single cent more , I'm going . I can see how a lot of real estate agents would say , yeah , do it .

Speaker 1 2:34

But the other side of it was I looked at it on RP Data and I thought to myself getting an extra $50,000 or $100,000 wasn't going to make this property very expensive anyway , if anything , it was in the range I thought . But I suppose the message I want to get across there is don't feel the need to have to sell every property even though you think the owner is going to take that offer right . To narrow a gap of 10 or 20 grand is not that difficult , and that's what they did today . And they sold it and we move on . But you know , I thought about it as I was having a quick bite to

Making Real Estate Great Again

Speaker 1 3:15

eat before . What if I was given the job to make real estate great again ? And then I thought to myself well , was it ever great in the first place ? So maybe that's not the question to be answering .

Speaker 1 3:32

Let me tell you , if I was made the CEO of real estate in Australia , what I would do . Number one I would clear up the pricing game bullshit . I'd clear that up . I need you to know this . Pricing buyers hate it , vendors don't like it and agents end up in the tribunal . It's no win for anyone . Be transparent , be compliant , build trust . It's the fastest way to win long-term .

Speaker 1 4:06

Don't look at the scoreboard . Look at the process . You look at the scoreboard too much in real estate . You start getting commission breath . What you do is always look at the process . Be married to the process , don't be married to the outcome . When you're looking at the outcome , you let go of looking at the process , and it's the process where the magic happens .

Speaker 1 4:22

The second thing I would do is I would raise the bar in training . I mean , at the moment , like , what is training it's ? You do your CPD points once a year , you know , and that's a you know . At most it's one day . You might go to Aret , which is another two days , but I've got to tell you , you know , if you want to go pro in our industry , you've got to actually train like a professional , because you're always sharpening the blade and what I'm talking about is constant reps reps on scripts , reps on dialogue , reps on negotiation , repetition on prospecting , repetition on your digital skills . I need you to know . That is what the winners are doing . Number three I would make real estate great again by actually reminding real estate people .

Speaker 1 5:11

We use tech , we are not tech . Two different things . We use technology , we are not tech . Two different things . We use technology , we are

We Use Tech, We Are Not Tech

Speaker 1 5:19

not technology . All CRM systems , virtual tools are great tools Like I get it , you know and chat , gpt and AI is transformational , but don't forget this people list with people . So what actually happens is you use technology to free up time so you can actually speak to more people . You do not use technology to talk to the people .

Speaker 1 5:44

The next thing I would do to clean up the industry is I would make sure that I would simplify things . Why do you have to speak to a lawyer for every damn thing ? Jeez , that's a good looking car . I'm just looking at a beautiful . It's an electric . It's an electric Porsche .

Speaker 1 6:03

So I'd clean up the industry and I would bring in rules that are standardized around the country , like can you explain to me why , like in New South Wales , you're allowed to do one vendor bid at an auction In Melbourne ? I think you can do unlimited vendor bids . I mean , what's that all about ? Like , can you explain to me why should a vendor be entitled to multiple vendor bids on their property ? Why would they want to buy their property ? Why would they want to buy their property back ?

Speaker 1 6:39

Think about that concept and like , even if , for whatever reason , one vendor bid and let's assume you use it , like I use it occasionally , very rarely in New South Wales when do I use it ? If I go to an auction and I've waited 20 minutes and no one's bidding , I'll use the one vendor bid that we're allowed to . Or if I get a reserve of $2 million and someone makes a bid of $800,000 and no one else bids , I'll go put in a vendor bid at 1.8 or whatever , just to actually say to people we're all wasting our time . The owner is not considering selling at that number you're talking about . But this concept of having multiple vendor bids and various parts around the same country having different rules to me needs to get standardized . So I would do that .

Speaker 1 7:31

The next thing I would do is I would put service back at the core and the business is not about commissions

Community Over Commissions

Speaker 1 7:39

, it's all about community . Commissions no , community , yes . And I also have to say to you community , yes . And I also have to say to you and listen to me very carefully how you do business is more important than how much business you do . If you're a real estate agent , I'm going to say that again how you do the business is more important than how much business you do . And I'll tell you why . I've got to say to you the single reason why is this Number one ? When you're doing business in a good way , what actually happens is this you get repeat business . So it's more enjoyable than having to do the catch and kill and have to prove yourself to each and every time , to strangers who don't want to talk to you . That's number one . The second thing is how you do business is more important than how much business you do , for this simple reason Because if you like the way that you do business , you're going to be happier and you're going to have a longer life term in real estate . So you might end up working 30 years and , yes , you could have made a lot of money in your first five years doing it in a way you don't like , but you would have got burnt out . So that's why I say to people how you do business is more important than how much business you do .

Speaker 1 9:14

The next thing I'm going to say to you and this is very , very important If a salesperson , you've got to pick the right people in our industry , I've got to tell you . You've got to pick the right people in our industry . I've got to tell you there's a lot of people that work in our industry that are soft . They are so soft They'll sit there and the number one concern that they have during the week is what day is my day off If I have a real estate agent that I'm sitting at an interview that starts talking if I get a client of mine that says , mate , sit through this interview right , because I want you to help me in the recruitment , because a lot of principals aren't the greatest recruiters and I have an agent start talking about days off . I mean to me what they're talking about is not how they're going to build their career , what they're talking about is how they're going to escape from their career and that's why they're so focused on that day off .

Courage: The Real Estate Essential

Speaker 1 10:14

And the last thing I'm going to say to you the number one quality you need to succeed in our business is courage , much more than confidence . I'll tell you why . Because courage , my friends , is what you need to give you confidence . I'll explain to you why . When you start doing something brand new , you're vulnerable and you're slightly incompetent and you're not going to be confident . But you need courage to do it . So what happens is courage is always step one . Once you've done it , you feel like , okay , it wasn't bad , I'll improve on it , and that's how you build confidence .

Speaker 1 11:04

And for me , anyone that's brand new in real estate that's watching this let me tell you your confidence enabler , your confidence enabler thanks David . Your confidence enabler is product knowledge , because product knowledge gives you confidence and confidence gives you influence . Be the person that is the chat GPT of your market , because I've got to tell you , when you do that , you start serving and you stop selling and you build a tribe . That's got your vibe and that's how you have a long-term , successful career in real estate . Signing off Byron Bay see you this week . Those of you in Manila with Wingman , safe travel home , stay well . Good luck to the two teams I'm backing this weekend in the NRL the Bulldogs and the Sharks and good luck Geelong .