How does your usual day look?
I am up early each day and have a set routine Monday to Saturday to either exercise, do yoga, practice meditation or walk the dog while listening to podcasts.
I have set out an ‘ideal week’ which gets me focused on single tasks at a time, for example most days I start with reading the news (AFR, not negative propaganda). From 9am I work on campaign management (buyer follow-ups, how can we lease/sell sooner). I mostly do inspections between 10am and 1pm (sometimes not achievable), then have lunch at 1pm for 30mins. Afternoons are then a mix of prospecting, follow ups and email. After dinner, I then look at my diary for the next day and make a list of any/all action items for the following day. I do not achieve this daily; however, an ideal day is what I consider the perfect day.
How did you start your career in commercial real estate?
To be honest, I was set on playing rugby league professionally. I had an injury at 17 that kind of ruined the chance, so I thought, what’s next?
In year 10 I did some work experience with a real estate agency and enjoyed it, I liked talking to people and thought that it could be quite fun. I went to a seminar on real estate and started the year I finished school - 18 years ago!
What do you enjoy most about being at Ray White Commercial? What makes Ray White Commercial different?
I have been with Ray White for over 10 years combined and can honestly say it is always pushing the boundaries of what is next. I joined Ray White Commercial NSW in 2014 shortly after Jeff Moxham, as it felt like a great opportunity to not be so rigid like the major brands who I had worked for before. There was (and always has been) a direct line to ‘the family’ (the Whites) if ever we needed. The Ray White Commercial brand seems to fit perfectly in the sub-institutional space, right the way down to mums and dads; no other brands have that!
What are your go-to property marketing methods that you present to your clients?
Our market is a little different where generally being called in you are able to sign up the listing on the spot. We are also unique in that 60-70% of sales transactions are completed year on year off-market. To help challenge that we are suggesting that we launch the property ‘off market’ via our database and website to see who we can catch. Normally we would give it two weeks and if nothing comes of it, we launch the property as a new listing online with marketing.
The filter for how much we propose they spend is “what would I spend if it was my property?”
We are also a predominantly leasing and property management business due to the low turnover of sale stock. We have signboards on every property and have every property enhanced online. We sit in the top three agencies in every suburb we operate in, which leads to increased brand awareness and being called into more listing appointments.
Tell me about a unique success story?
With extensive knowledge of leases, we have been able to on many occasions, negotiate favourably, make good settlements from outgoing tenants, and provide the settlement to the incoming tenant as part of their incentive. This also resulted in higher rents being achieved.
One that comes to mind is a large property in Caringbah (1,000m2) where a major tenant was vacating and we obtained a great settlement from them and agreed for them to vacate early whilst still paying rent to the end of the lease. We negotiated a new 5 x 5 year lease to another large company at a 25% increase in rent and because of the settlement with the previous tenant, the client did not pay any incentive from his pocket.
Do you auction?
Very rarely do we auction. Our competitors who do aren’t getting great clearance rates, and the buyers aren’t big fans of being in a public bidding war. As referenced earlier they would rather purchase off-market.
What’s the one thing you know now, that you wish you knew when you first started out?
It’s not about knowing one thing for me, as there are many great things I have picked up over the years.
For me, it was about getting clearer on what I wanted and going after it. As a young real estate agent there is a lot of ‘show’ with and without success with materialistic things; nice clothes, eating out and leased cars; literally spending everything you earn to please others. The sooner you move away from that and focus on paying off debt, having a savings goal, buying a property, starting a business, or buying into your current business, the more longevity you have in this game.
What is your outlook for the Greater South Sydney market over the next 12 months?
I am really excited for what is ahead for our business. We are finally at a stage where we are a top three player in our market and all of it has been built on relationships and deals completed with integrity. We engaged a VA to populate all our geo-data for every owner of every commercial property in our market so, in the next 12 months, I will be having a conversation with every owner.
CONTACT
Email: blord@raywhite.com
Phone number: 0439 594 121
