September 20, 2025 • 12 mins
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
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today, a real estate agent said to me he's never
booking me again, which is not aproblem because we have more
bookings than we can handleevery Saturday.
Every Saturday, we have morebookings than we can handle.
In fact, like every Saturdaythis week, he's giving auctions
out again, hey, john.
(00:22):
So why did the agent say to mehe's not going to give me
another option?
I'll tell you why.
What happened is we were 10grand, 20 grand short on getting
an offer accepted.
The buyer was bidding with greatmomentum.
He had no one to push him anyfurther, but I knew there was
(00:45):
more money in that buyer.
So the buyer played hardballwhen we tried to negotiate
during the auction.
So what we did is go to pass itin and the agent said to me no,
don't pass it in, I want you tosell it.
I said listen, there's only avery small risk.
(01:08):
We won't get this offer off thebuyer after the auction.
And, quite frankly, the reasonI want to pass it in is that I
believe that in a negotiationpost-auction there is the
potential to get another $50,000for this owner.
And I mean this agent now saidno, no, no, I want it sold under
(01:28):
the hammer.
Right, anyway, we did it.
Can I guarantee you that I'llget another $50,000 in the next
week?
No, but I had a funny feeling Iwould.
And I think you've got to make ajudgment call.
(01:50):
At all the times, a lot oftimes in real estate we've got
this obsession, this addictionto feel like sold under the
hammer.
Put the sole buyer money in thebank.
Let's move on, and I agree withall of that.
But there are times when you'vebeen doing a job for four
decades where you feel that thatbuyer, if he had a competitor
(02:10):
to drive him up another 50, 100grand, he would have paid it
right.
And yes, there's a risk.
And I got to tell you this iswhere great negotiation comes to
the forefront, because if youmeet a really good buyer, that's
a good negotiator.
That makes it lead you tobelieve I'm not paying a single
cent more, I'm going.
I can see how a lot of realestate agents would say, yeah,
(02:34):
do it.
But the other side of it was Ilooked at it on RP Data and I
thought to myself getting anextra $50,000 or $100,000 wasn't
going to make this propertyvery expensive anyway, if
anything, it was in the range Ithought.
But I suppose the message Iwant to get across there is
don't feel the need to have tosell every property even though
(02:58):
you think the owner is going totake that offer right.
To narrow a gap of 10 or 20grand is not that difficult, and
that's what they did today.
And they sold it and we move on.
But you know, I thought aboutit as I was having a quick bite
to eat before.
What if I was given the job tomake real estate great again?
(03:22):
And then I thought to myselfwell, was it ever great in the
first place?
So maybe that's not thequestion to be answering.
Let me tell you, if I was madethe CEO of real estate in
Australia, what I would do.
Number one I would clear up thepricing game bullshit.
(03:44):
I'd clear that up.
I need you to know this.
Pricing buyers hate it, vendorsdon't like it and agents end up
in the tribunal.
It's no win for anyone.
Be transparent, be compliant,build trust.
(04:05):
It's the fastest way to winlong-term.
Don't look at the scoreboard.
Look at the process.
You look at the scoreboard toomuch in real estate.
You start getting commissionbreath.
What you do is always look atthe process.
Be married to the process,don't be married to the outcome.
When you're looking at theoutcome, you let go of looking
at the process, and it's theprocess where the magic happens.
The second thing I would do is Iwould raise the bar in training
(04:26):
.
I mean, at the moment, like,what is training it's?
You do your CPD points once ayear, you know, and that's a you
know.
At most it's one day.
You might go to Aret, which isanother two days, but I've got
to tell you, you know, if youwant to go pro in our industry,
you've got to actually trainlike a professional, because
(04:46):
you're always sharpening theblade and what I'm talking about
is constant reps reps onscripts, reps on dialogue, reps
on negotiation, repetition onprospecting, repetition on your
digital skills.
I need you to know.
That is what the winners aredoing.
Number three I would make realestate great again by actually
(05:08):
reminding real estate people.
We use tech, we are not tech.
Two different things.
We use technology, we are nottech.
Two different things.
We use technology, we are nottechnology.
All CRM systems, virtual toolsare great tools Like I get it,
you know and chat, gpt and AI istransformational, but don't
forget this people list withpeople.
(05:31):
So what actually happens is youuse technology to free up time
so you can actually speak tomore people.
You do not use technology totalk to the people.
The next thing I would do toclean up the industry is I would
make sure that I would simplifythings.
(05:52):
Why do you have to speak to alawyer 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.
So I'd clean up the industry andI would bring in rules that are
standardized around the country, like can you explain to me why
(06:13):
, like in New South Wales,you're allowed to do one vendor
bid at an auction In Melbourne?
I think you can do unlimitedvendor bids.
I mean, what's that all about?
Like, can you explain to me whyshould a vendor be entitled to
multiple vendor bids on theirproperty?
(06:34):
Why would they want to buytheir property?
Why would they want to buytheir property back?
Think about that concept andlike, even if, for whatever
reason, one vendor bid and let'sassume you use it, like I use
it occasionally, very rarely inNew South Wales when do I use it
(06:54):
?
If I go to an auction and I'vewaited 20 minutes and no one's
bidding, I'll use the one vendorbid that we're allowed to.
Or if I get a reserve of $2million 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 toactually say to people we're all
wasting our time.
The owner is not consideringselling at that number you're
(07:16):
talking about.
But this concept of havingmultiple vendor bids and various
parts around the same countryhaving different rules to me
needs to get standardized.
So I would do that.
The next thing I would do is Iwould put service back at the
core and the business is notabout commissions, it's all
(07:40):
about community.
Commissions no, community, yes.
And I also have to say to youcommunity, yes.
And I also have to say to youand listen to me very carefully
how you do business is moreimportant 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 moreimportant than how much business
(08:04):
you do.
And I'll tell you why.
I've got to say to you thesingle reason why is this Number
one?
When you're doing business in agood way, what actually happens
is this you get repeat business.
So it's more enjoyable thanhaving to do the catch and kill
(08:26):
and have to prove yourself toeach and every time, to
strangers who don't want to talkto you.
That's number one.
The second thing is how you dobusiness is more important than
how much business you do, forthis simple reason Because if
you like the way that you dobusiness, you're going to be
(08:46):
happier and you're going to havea longer life term in real
estate.
So you might end up working 30years and, yes, you could have
made a lot of money in yourfirst five years doing it in a
way you don't like, but youwould have got burnt out.
So that's why I say to peoplehow you do business is more
(09:09):
important than how much businessyou do.
The next thing I'm going to sayto you and this is very, very
important If a salesperson,you've got to pick the right
people in our industry, I've gotto tell you.
You've got to pick the rightpeople in our industry.
I've got to tell you there's alot of people that work in our
(09:30):
industry that are soft.
They are so soft They'll sitthere and the number one concern
that they have during the weekis what day is my day off If I
have a real estate agent thatI'm sitting at an interview that
starts talking if I get aclient of mine that says, mate,
(09:51):
sit through this interview right, because I want you to help me
in the recruitment, because alot of principals aren't the
greatest recruiters and I havean agent start talking about
days off.
I mean to me what they'retalking about is not how they're
going to build their career,what they're talking about is
how they're going to escape fromtheir career and that's why
(10:11):
they're so focused on that dayoff.
And the last thing I'm going tosay to you the number one
quality you need to succeed inour business is courage, much
more than confidence.
I'll tell you why.
Because courage, my friends, iswhat you need to give you
(10:33):
confidence.
I'll explain to you why.
When you start doing somethingbrand new, you're vulnerable and
you're slightly incompetent andyou're not going to be
confident.
But you need courage to do it.
So what happens is courage isalways step one.
(10:54):
Once you've done it, you feellike, okay, it wasn't bad, I'll
improve on it, and that's howyou build confidence.
And for me, anyone that's brandnew in real estate that's
watching this let me tell youyour confidence enabler, your
confidence enabler thanks David.
(11:14):
Your confidence enabler isproduct knowledge, because
product knowledge gives youconfidence and confidence gives
you influence.
Be the person that is the chatGPT of your market, because I've
(11:37):
got to tell you, when you dothat, you start serving and you
stop selling and you build atribe.
That's got your vibe and that'show you have a long-term,
successful career in real estate.
Signing off Byron Bay see youthis week.
Those of you in Manila withWingman, safe travel home, stay
well.
Good luck to the two teams I'mbacking this weekend in the NRL
(12:03):
the Bulldogs and the Sharks andgood luck Geelong.
Today, a real estate agent said to me he's never
booking me again, which is not aproblem because we have more
bookings than we can handleevery Saturday.
Every Saturday, we have morebookings than we can handle.
In fact, like every Saturdaythis week, he's giving auctions
out again, hey, john.
(00:22):
So why did the agent say to mehe's not going to give me
another option?
I'll tell you why.
What happened is we were 10grand, 20 grand short on getting
an offer accepted.
The buyer was bidding with greatmomentum.
He had no one to push him anyfurther, but I knew there was
(00:45):
more money in that buyer.
So the buyer played hardballwhen we tried to negotiate
during the auction.
So what we did is go to pass itin and the agent said to me no,
don't pass it in, I want you tosell it.
I said listen, there's only avery small risk.
(01:08):
We won't get this offer off thebuyer after the auction.
And, quite frankly, the reasonI want to pass it in is that I
believe that in a negotiationpost-auction there is the
potential to get another $50,000for this owner.
And I mean this agent now saidno, no, no, I want it sold under
(01:28):
the hammer.
Right, anyway, we did it.
Can I guarantee you that I'llget another $50,000 in the next
week?
No, but I had a funny feeling Iwould.
And I think you've got to make ajudgment call.
(01:50):
At all the times, a lot oftimes in real estate we've got
this obsession, this addictionto feel like sold under the
hammer.
Put the sole buyer money in thebank.
Let's move on, and I agree withall of that.
But there are times when you'vebeen doing a job for four
decades where you feel that thatbuyer, if he had a competitor
(02:10):
to drive him up another 50, 100grand, he would have paid it
right.
And yes, there's a risk.
And I got to tell you this iswhere great negotiation comes to
the forefront, because if youmeet a really good buyer, that's
a good negotiator.
That makes it lead you tobelieve I'm not paying a single
cent more, I'm going.
I can see how a lot of realestate agents would say, yeah,
(02:34):
do it.
But the other side of it was Ilooked at it on RP Data and I
thought to myself getting anextra $50,000 or $100,000 wasn't
going to make this propertyvery expensive anyway, if
anything, it was in the range Ithought.
But I suppose the message Iwant to get across there is
don't feel the need to have tosell every property even though
(02:58):
you think the owner is going totake that offer right.
To narrow a gap of 10 or 20grand is not that difficult, and
that's what they did today.
And they sold it and we move on.
But you know, I thought aboutit as I was having a quick bite
to eat before.
What if I was given the job tomake real estate great again?
(03:22):
And then I thought to myselfwell, was it ever great in the
first place?
So maybe that's not thequestion to be answering.
Let me tell you, if I was madethe CEO of real estate in
Australia, what I would do.
Number one I would clear up thepricing game bullshit.
(03:44):
I'd clear that up.
I need you to know this.
Pricing buyers hate it, vendorsdon't like it and agents end up
in the tribunal.
It's no win for anyone.
Be transparent, be compliant,build trust.
(04:05):
It's the fastest way to winlong-term.
Don't look at the scoreboard.
Look at the process.
You look at the scoreboard toomuch in real estate.
You start getting commissionbreath.
What you do is always look atthe process.
Be married to the process,don't be married to the outcome.
When you're looking at theoutcome, you let go of looking
at the process, and it's theprocess where the magic happens.
The second thing I would do is Iwould raise the bar in training
(04:26):
.
I mean, at the moment, like,what is training it's?
You do your CPD points once ayear, you know, and that's a you
know.
At most it's one day.
You might go to Aret, which isanother two days, but I've got
to tell you, you know, if youwant to go pro in our industry,
you've got to actually trainlike a professional, because
(04:46):
you're always sharpening theblade and what I'm talking about
is constant reps reps onscripts, reps on dialogue, reps
on negotiation, repetition onprospecting, repetition on your
digital skills.
I need you to know.
That is what the winners aredoing.
Number three I would make realestate great again by actually
(05:08):
reminding real estate people.
We use tech, we are not tech.
Two different things.
We use technology, we are nottech.
Two different things.
We use technology, we are nottechnology.
All CRM systems, virtual toolsare great tools Like I get it,
you know and chat, gpt and AI istransformational, but don't
forget this people list withpeople.
(05:31):
So what actually happens is youuse technology to free up time
so you can actually speak tomore people.
You do not use technology totalk to the people.
The next thing I would do toclean up the industry is I would
make sure that I would simplifythings.
(05:52):
Why do you have to speak to alawyer 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.
So I'd clean up the industry andI would bring in rules that are
standardized around the country, like can you explain to me why
(06:13):
, like in New South Wales,you're allowed to do one vendor
bid at an auction In Melbourne?
I think you can do unlimitedvendor bids.
I mean, what's that all about?
Like, can you explain to me whyshould a vendor be entitled to
multiple vendor bids on theirproperty?
(06:34):
Why would they want to buytheir property?
Why would they want to buytheir property back?
Think about that concept andlike, even if, for whatever
reason, one vendor bid and let'sassume you use it, like I use
it occasionally, very rarely inNew South Wales when do I use it
(06:54):
?
If I go to an auction and I'vewaited 20 minutes and no one's
bidding, I'll use the one vendorbid that we're allowed to.
Or if I get a reserve of $2million 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 toactually say to people we're all
wasting our time.
The owner is not consideringselling at that number you're
(07:16):
talking about.
But this concept of havingmultiple vendor bids and various
parts around the same countryhaving different rules to me
needs to get standardized.
So I would do that.
The next thing I would do is Iwould put service back at the
core and the business is notabout commissions, it's all
(07:40):
about community.
Commissions no, community, yes.
And I also have to say to youcommunity, yes.
And I also have to say to youand listen to me very carefully
how you do business is moreimportant 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 moreimportant than how much business
(08:04):
you do.
And I'll tell you why.
I've got to say to you thesingle reason why is this Number
one?
When you're doing business in agood way, what actually happens
is this you get repeat business.
So it's more enjoyable thanhaving to do the catch and kill
(08:26):
and have to prove yourself toeach and every time, to
strangers who don't want to talkto you.
That's number one.
The second thing is how you dobusiness is more important than
how much business you do, forthis simple reason Because if
you like the way that you dobusiness, you're going to be
(08:46):
happier and you're going to havea longer life term in real
estate.
So you might end up working 30years and, yes, you could have
made a lot of money in yourfirst five years doing it in a
way you don't like, but youwould have got burnt out.
So that's why I say to peoplehow you do business is more
(09:09):
important than how much businessyou do.
The next thing I'm going to sayto you and this is very, very
important If a salesperson,you've got to pick the right
people in our industry, I've gotto tell you.
You've got to pick the rightpeople in our industry.
I've got to tell you there's alot of people that work in our
(09:30):
industry that are soft.
They are so soft They'll sitthere and the number one concern
that they have during the weekis what day is my day off If I
have a real estate agent thatI'm sitting at an interview that
starts talking if I get aclient of mine that says, mate,
(09:51):
sit through this interview right, because I want you to help me
in the recruitment, because alot of principals aren't the
greatest recruiters and I havean agent start talking about
days off.
I mean to me what they'retalking about is not how they're
going to build their career,what they're talking about is
how they're going to escape fromtheir career and that's why
(10:11):
they're so focused on that dayoff.
And the last thing I'm going tosay to you the number one
quality you need to succeed inour business is courage, much
more than confidence.
I'll tell you why.
Because courage, my friends, iswhat you need to give you
(10:33):
confidence.
I'll explain to you why.
When you start doing somethingbrand new, you're vulnerable and
you're slightly incompetent andyou're not going to be
confident.
But you need courage to do it.
So what happens is courage isalways step one.
(10:54):
Once you've done it, you feellike, okay, it wasn't bad, I'll
improve on it, and that's howyou build confidence.
And for me, anyone that's brandnew in real estate that's
watching this let me tell youyour confidence enabler, your
confidence enabler thanks David.
(11:14):
Your confidence enabler isproduct knowledge, because
product knowledge gives youconfidence and confidence gives
you influence.
Be the person that is the chatGPT of your market, because I've
(11:37):
got to tell you, when you dothat, you start serving and you
stop selling and you build atribe.
That's got your vibe and that'show you have a long-term,
successful career in real estate.
Signing off Byron Bay see youthis week.
Those of you in Manila withWingman, safe travel home, stay
well.
Good luck to the two teams I'mbacking this weekend in the NRL
(12:03):
the Bulldogs and the Sharks andgood luck Geelong.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.