October 12, 2025 • 38 mins
- 00:00 - Why the band has rolled back to LocalAgentFinder and how the platform continues to be the preferred partner for agents across Australia.
- 07:39 - Melbourne and Brisbane Real Estate Market Trends and Insights
- 13:26 - Nuturing Leads
- 29:09 - Real stories, real numbers – hear how the top 1% of agents are consistently winning listings in this current market.
- 31:13 - Your Oct-Dec End of Year Plan
Guests:
- Avi Khan (Group CEO & Principal at Ray White Marsden AKG)
- Stavros Ambatzidis (Owner & Director at O'Brien Real Estate Chelsea & Seaford)
*I am a LocalAgentFinder band ambassador
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tom Panos (00:00):
It is a small world we live in, ladies and
gentlemen.
It is a small world we live in.
I'm in Athens and it is tena.m.
in the morning.
You're in Australia, mostlikely, and it is six o'clock.
Yet Stavros, show them yourblender.
Look at that.
(00:22):
We're connected by blenders.
The world's getting smaller,right?
The ecosystem of the planet'sgetting smaller.
Uh two human beings bycoincidence end up holding the
same blender.
Now I've got to tell you,before we move on to this
wonderful webinar, and I thinkuh we're gonna find out the
reasons why local agent finderbecame rumor.
(00:45):
Actually, I just thought aboutit.
It was only a rumor, it neverreally happened.
I just thought about that now.
It was only a rumor, it neverreally happened.
And then local agent finder hasgone back to the great brand
that we got accustomed to thatwe liked because it actually
(01:06):
explained what they did.
And that's gonna be a littlebit about what we're gonna cover
because this webinar today isbrought to you by Local Agent
Finder.
Let me say it again three timeslocal agent finder, local agent
finder.
The brand is local agentfinder, and Warwick is gonna
cover that.
But I've also got with me twoincredible thought leaders.
(01:28):
I'll tell you why I like aboutthese guys because they both got
an understanding of themechanics of real estate, but
they both have a view andopinion on the helicopter view
of real estate.
So not just in the trenches,but because they can step out of
the picture, they can sometimessee the picture very clear.
Arvi Khan from Ray White inQueensland and Stav.
(01:49):
And if there's a guy thatshould say this correctly, it
should be me, particularly whenyou're in Athens right at this
moment, right?
You should be able to say that.
But I'm gonna say StavrosAmbazides.
Close enough.
Say it.
Ambazides Stavros Ambazitis.
There you go.
(02:10):
I nailed it second time withguidance.
Rhymes with Mercedes.
I like that.
Warwick steel, the person thatwe've grown to live with local
agent finder.
That's what we know local agentfinder is all about.
Good to see you.
So let's get so so Warwick.
Um, just for everyone that's onhere, because I think this is
(02:32):
probably the first time it'sbeing addressed, why the name
has gone back.
Tell me what's happened.
Let's get that out of the waybecause we want to talk about
what you've got to do the last90 days to nail 2025.
Warwick Steele (02:44):
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
I think we want to talk aboutmore important things, but I
just do want to clear this up,right?
So I think local agent finderrebranded to Ruma with good
intentions.
Uh, we were hoping to broadenour audience and to modernize
the experience for bothhomeowners and our agents alike.
What we really underestimatedwas the strength and the trust
(03:08):
that LAF already had in themarketplace.
And that was really evidentearly.
Uh, and when we took thefeedback and it was pretty
instant from our agent network,and when homeowners sort of uh
indicated that rumor wasn'treally clear as to what we might
be doing here in the business,uh, and registrations dropped
off a tad as such.
(03:30):
Uh, we made a really sort ofbrave decision to be able to
roll it back.
And I think the rollback is inthe best interest of both our
agents and our homeowners alike,as I said.
But, you know, it's not rollingback to what it was previously.
The experience will be the samefor now, but we'll certainly
look to enhance the product forboth agents and homeowners
(03:50):
alike.
And uh we've seen already thathomeowners do resonate with the
LAF brand and the registrationshave come straight back.
So, to be honest, Tom, I ampumped to be back as LAF.
I cannot wait to get back towork, I cannot wait to support
our agent network and help themturn these leads that we can
provide into listings, not onlyin the last quarter of this
(04:13):
year, but into next year andbeyond.
We're really pumped.
Tom Panos (04:17):
Warwick, and I'm glad, and I'm glad that you're
back because Warwick still is aperson that the clients have
been used to.
I was a person that I've beendealing with you, but I want to
give some fun facts before wekick it all off today.
Number one, in 2024, thehomeowners of approximately one
in 16 market listings comparedagents through LAF.
(04:41):
I'm gonna say that one in 16.
In 2024, approximatelytwo-thirds of the people that
came through LAF to compareagents went on to list their
homes within 12 months.
With the bulk of these, withthe bulk of these happening
within three months.
(05:02):
So what we're saying is a highproportion of the listings are
immediate sellers, right?
Because they're coming on inthree months.
We're not talking about, youknow, price updates that might
originate in a year, two, three,four years.
There's a high proportion ofpeople that go on a local agent
finder.
(05:22):
Why?
Because they mean business.
And for me, one of the biggestissues, Warwick, has been real
estate agents have not used thesame nurturing process that they
would have with other non-LAFleads, right?
And then they think tothemselves, hey, how come I
didn't get, you know, moreaction out of that one, right?
(05:42):
One of the things I'm gonna goon, Warwick.
Warwick Steele (05:45):
No, I was just gonna say that's correct, Tom.
It's probably one of the mostfrustrating things that I see
from my chair every day.
And I've looked after the agentnetwork here for 18 years, what
we find is a large percentageof what comes through is genuine
and goes to market.
What I get a little bitfrustrated at is that if the
agents get a lead today and callwithin minutes, which is
(06:06):
awesome, and the vendor doesn'tanswer because the vendor is at
work or might be busy orsomething along those lines,
it's then treated automaticallyas a crap lead.
It doesn't get the nurturing itdeserves, doesn't get the
follow-up it deserves.
But you can clearly see fromtop performers through the
website the people who do dothat, nurture it correctly, put
it into the database, giving allthe love and care that it
(06:28):
deserves.
There are many, many listingsthat they could and should be
winning, Tom.
Tom Panos (06:33):
Okay.
Warwick, we have now have closeto 7,000 active agents using
the service nationally with alot of agents being market share
leaders.
Well, I know that's a factbecause I'm, you know, we've we
feature a lot of the real estateagents in there.
Obviously, I came via therelationship that you had with
(06:53):
Constathopolis from McGraw inParramatta, and uh he's another
one of the big clients.
Local agent finder is a greatplace for rental leads, and I
wasn't aware of how much you'vebeen helping agents build the
incredible big rent roll assets.
So if you're not growing a rentroll through LAF, then you're
probably not using an unfairadvantage that some other
(07:16):
clients might actually have.
So you should be mindful of it.
So, Warwick, these twogentlemen, these two gentlemen
that we've got here are verystrong uh uh thought leaders,
but they're practitioners.
Stab is in actually, let's getan introduction.
Stab, who who are you, whereare you, and what are the main
things you do in the business?
And Arvey, I'm gonna ask youthe same question.
Stavros Ambatzidis (07:38):
Uh, Tom, I play several parts.
So I'm I'm part of uh I'm oneof the co-founders of O'Brien
Real Estate here in Victoria,but I also own a few offices uh
here in Victoria for O'Brien.
Um I'm very strong in the RAOV,so I'm part of the auction
chapter and chair of the RAOVauction committee.
Uh, but just all in all, uh mycapacity is chairman of the
board at O'Brien and a listerand seller, auctioneer on
(08:01):
weekends.
So I play, yeah, I've got myfinger on the pulse in many
parts, and I I get to see whatgoes on by a huge cross-section
of uh the Victorian market, uhdoing probably auctions across
40 suburbs in Noland.
Tom Panos (08:16):
That is listen, that is a great helicopter view
because both as a wellfranchiser, franchisee,
auctioneer, um, and you've beena long-term practitioner.
So uh that is uh that is the CVof CVs.
Uh so Arve, same question.
(08:38):
And I know you've got adifferent background.
Avi Kha (08:40):
Mate, I don't know if I can follow from that intro from
Stavros, but I'll try my best.
Um, so I own Fiverr Whites inBrisbane.
Uh we sell nearly 900 homes ayear and we manage about 3,000
properties, 3,000 landlords.
They also run a law firm inSydney as well.
So uh a little bit of diversebackground, not as strong as
Stavros over there, but we dotry our best.
Tom Panos (09:03):
And you've been working in markets that are
different.
You've been working, Stavroshas been working in the
Melbourne market where there'sbeen a bit of an exodus of
people leaving Melbourne andhopping on a Virgin or Jet Star
or Quantas Plane and heading toQueensland.
And that's been reflected inproperty prices.
That's been reflected inclearance rates, that's been
(09:25):
affected in, you know, thehappiness level of, you know,
people that are in that sector.
Um so staff, can I ask you,what is Melbourne like at the
moment?
Stavros Ambatzidis (09:35):
Look, there is a there is a strong buzz, and
and I can feel we're probablygoing to go into a bit of a
boom.
Probably a lot, a lot of peoplesay the last boom for this
decade.
But the reason for that is thatat the moment, the medium house
price in Australia, we'refourth.
Yeah, we're behind Brisbane,Sydney, Adelaide, and and that
can't happen.
You know, we're the biggestcity now in Australia.
(09:58):
There's a lot of buyers.
Tom Panos (09:59):
I wouldn't be I wouldn't be surprised if you're
actually behind even Perth.
Possibly, possibly so.
I reckon you're behind, Ireckon you're behind Sydney,
Perth, Brisbane, and Adelaide,which is bizarre.
Stavros Ambatzidis (10:14):
That's bizarre.
It's bizarre.
And that's not going to be, youknow, the state of play for a
lot for you know forever.
We're seeing a huge influx of,especially Sydney advocates
coming in, uh, a lot of Sydneyinvestors buying in,
particularly in the Frankstonareas, uh, Caram Downs, uh,
Seaford.
So we're seeing a huge influxof investors buying in because
(10:36):
now's the time to buy.
You know, the curveball isabout to go up in in Melbourne.
So if you're looking at buying,I honestly believe, and it's
not just real estate speak thatI say that.
I I believe it's the truth.
Look, I was one of the Exodus,you know, I've I spent a lot of
time up in Byron and NorthernRivers of New South.
Um, but I can see there's a bigtrend coming back into
(10:58):
Melbourne.
Tom Panos (10:59):
Yeah, well, I think, Stav, what actually happens is
when I get out of TallamarineAirport and I see the thousands
of travelers wearing suits andcomputers going to their
corporate offices in Melbourne,when I see sporting events, and
it's what we've seen in the lastmonth or so, when you look at
the buildings around Melbourne,you think to yourself, this is a
(11:22):
serious hub.
When you look at the amount ofcommunities that are in there,
you think to yourself, this isjust a short-term temporary
blip.
There is no way in the worldthat Melbourne shouldn't be up
there if not first, second.
I mean, Sydney and Melbourne,Sydney was always just a touch
higher than Melbourne, but nowthe gap has just got bigger, and
(11:42):
you know what actually happens?
Marketplaces eventually seevalue, right?
And and I think that's what'sgoing to happen.
Arthur, what's it been like inBrisbane?
Avi Kha (11:51):
Look, we're saying that um, we've been saying this for
the last 12 months, actually,but we're seeing a perfect storm
of buyers coming into Brisbane.
And I think what's happening inMelbourne is a great indication
of how local governments, stategovernments, and federal
governments have a play in themarketplace.
If they stuff things up,investors will bail.
And we've seen that across theboard throughout Australia,
where people are saying they'revoting with their wallets, that
(12:14):
Queensland, the play Queenslandis the place to put your
investment property in.
And we're seeing a whole lot ofinvestor buyers coming through.
Over the last three, fouryears, there's been
predominantly Sydney buyers.
Now we're seeing the influx ofMelbourne investors coming in as
well.
Coupled with the changes thatthe government has done in the
first-home buyer schemes.
We're seeing first-home ownersgetting in, we're seeing
(12:34):
investors getting in, we'reseeing mum and dads downsizing,
investing in their home state aswell.
So it's been a great time to bein the Queensland property
market, that's for sure.
Tom Panos (12:43):
Maybe, you know, maybe what we should do when
Aric is on next year, maybe onthe day after Aric, have a
special conference where we uhbring the Victorian government
that can spend one day for theQueensland government, like just
do a bit of a roadshow and say,guys, here's our template.
Just copy the template.
This is exactly what I've gotto tell you, there'd be some
(13:05):
ideas in that template that theywould turn around and say,
Well, that sort of makes sense.
Why aren't we doing it?
Right.
Um, but and and and can I askyou both over the years, what
has your relationship with localagent fine meant to you?
What does it mean to yourbusiness?
And what in what role does itplay in your business?
(13:26):
Um, yeah, just share that.
And then we'll move on to a bitof real estate strategy stuff
for our audience.
Avi Kha (13:33):
Tom, I think when you look at the the way the agents
work, like there's so muchlistings out there.
There's so much um, so manysellers wanting to sell, but
there so many agents arereluctant to do the work, right?
They're reluctant to pick upthe phone, reluctant to
doorknock, they're reluctant tosend text messages and all that.
And then then we get agentssort of complaining, oh, you
know, there's local agentfinder, we're gonna have to pay
(13:54):
referral fees and things.
I think it just all comes downto laziness, right?
There's someone's telling youthat if we send you a lead,
there's a 67% chance that thisperson is listing in the first
four months.
Why would you pick up the phoneand call?
So our listings have surgedbecause we've used the service
well.
We know that there's readysellers, there's serious
sellers, as opposed to the otherservices out there where you're
(14:17):
chasing people, you're callingthem, they're not picking up.
But what we find is two-thirdsof the leads that we get, they
actually go on to sell.
So it's just about picking upthe phone.
Most of the times, it'squalified leads.
Um, there's someone on theother end of the phone helping
us convert those leads as well.
Like we get follow-up textsfrom local agent finder now
saying, hey, this person's backon the profile, they're viewing
(14:38):
the listing, they're viewing theinformation again.
Time for you to call them.
So we've built up a marketshare by using the service.
And now what we're trying to dois build up our rental pool as
well by using the rental leadsas well.
So it's been very effective forus.
Stavros Ambatzidis (14:51):
Okay, beautiful.
Stab, same question.
Well, it's interesting.
Every time I look at some newtech, and I've looked I go way
back with uh with Warwick.
So we we've known each otherfor you know a couple of
decades.
I always look at tech andthink, what problem are they
trying to solve?
So if and I don't like usingtwo systems when one will do,
(15:12):
you know, try and remove asystem, you know, when you're
putting a system on.
One thing that I could sayWarwick and local agent finder
have been for us is they're moreof a business growth partner,
okay?
So performance-based marketingchannel that connects, you know,
directly with motivatedsellers.
The other thing that I like tolook at is, you know, compelling
(15:32):
reasons.
Why would I use, you know, youknow, local agent finder?
So, you know, as an auctioneer,what are the compelling reasons
to buy or bid or or so forth?
So the big one for me, and youknow, Warwick's gonna love me
for saying this, is they'rerisk-free list generation.
You're not you don't pay unlessunless you get, you know, you
(15:53):
get the lead and unless you sellit.
So you don't have to pay.
Um, and the great thing withlocal agent finder is, and
there's several times where, youknow, if I've already got the
relationship, I've already donethe appraisal there, the guys
have been really good to workwith.
But the best one for me, uh,Warrick, is you know, some of
the stats that we went through.
Um, you know, we've got one guythat's received 97 leads in my
(16:16):
business, and he's had a 35%strike rate for those that come
on market.
That's huge.
I mean, there are agents thatprobably wouldn't do that much
business in a whole year, andhe's just done that from local
agent finding.
That's that's a person atO'Brien Real Estate.
So there's there's many reasonswhy you know we'd like to use
them.
They're high intent qualifiedclients, I suppose that's
(16:38):
another good one.
Um, and credibility.
Yeah, they've got visibilityand credibility.
We'll they're very credible touse.
Tom Panos (16:46):
Yeah, so well said to both of you.
And I'm gonna just touch onthis issue of improving your
probability.
So let's assume when you get alead.
So, in the time I've beenworking with Warwick, I can't
help it, but I keep asking realestate agents that love local
(17:07):
agent finder how they thinkabout those leads and how they
go about them.
And the first thing I'll echois that they say to me that um
the skill is that it's not oneand done.
You don't have the view that,hey, I got a lead, I tried to
(17:30):
ring it, it didn't come off,they ghosted me, I couldn't get
through them, or theconversation was short, and then
what they've done is they'velet it go, yet they don't do
that with other leads.
So, number one, I would say bepersistent and understand the
importance of perseverance.
(17:51):
The second thing is speed.
I noticed that these peoplethat have actually gone onto
local agent finder and press,you know, the keyboard, they
love a response to that keyboardquick, right?
Because we live in a world, welive in a world now where speed
(18:14):
is a very highly valuedcurrency.
Why has speed become a highlyvalued currency?
I mean, I remember, Arvee, Imean, you probably weren't even
in real estate back in 19, in1991, I'm not joking, you'd go
to a listing presentation andyou'd say to the owner, let me
put something together and I'llget it back to you and I'll try
(18:37):
and have it back to you by theend of the week.
So you'd do this on a Monday,right?
And they'd say, Oh yeah, evenif you did it, you know, next
week, that's all good.
That was 1991, right?
In 2025, I'm sitting there onsome street in London,
(18:58):
Gloucester Road, it was, and I'mlooking at it and I'm thinking
to myself, shit, this Uber wassupposed to be here like one
minute ago.
Like I'm freaking out over aminute.
People expect things quicklynow.
Whether Uber has done it,whether the going from brick to
click where everyone's buyingthings online, pressing a
(19:19):
button, whether that's it, uh,whatever it is, but all we're
saying is clients r love speed.
So when you do get that lead, Idon't know, guys, I'd like to
ask you, the practitioners, theowners of these big businesses
out there in the marketplace,like if you get a lead at 8:30
at night, should you just pickup the phone at 8.31 and chase
(19:43):
it?
Avi Kha (19:44):
There's a saying in our business, and it goes to your
speed um statement, makeimmediacy your currency.
So that's how local agentfinder should work.
With any lead that you get, youshould be on it straight away.
And when we call the thesellers straight away, they're
amazed.
They're like, oh, oh, okay.
I just literally got off mylaptop and I closed it down.
(20:05):
You guys call me within threeminutes.
It means so much to thembecause one of the things that
working with Warrig, we realizedthat only the best agents use
this product, right?
So some of the leads, most ofthe leads are going to the best
agents.
So you want to be in thecauldron with the best.
If you if you want to be anagent, you want to prove
yourself, you want to go upagainst the best and beat them.
So the first person on the callis most likely going to get a
(20:28):
first appointment.
The third person might not evenget an appointment.
But sellers are time poor thesedays, right?
They only want to interview oneor two people.
So make immediacy yourcurrency, it works a lot better
if you do.
Tom Panos (20:40):
Beautiful.
Stab, is anything you want toadd to that?
Stavros Ambatzidis (20:42):
Yeah, look, success leaves clues, and and we
all know that.
Um, and and RV's spot on.
We find that the guys thatactually have the best uh strike
rate with local agent finderare the ones that actually get
onto them straight away.
It doesn't matter what time ofday it is, because you don't
know the client.
The client the client might bein a different time zone as you
are today.
So if they've sent somethingthrough local agent finder that
(21:05):
moment, they're online.
They might be scrolling in bed,they might be watching TV, you
know, they might be watching theblock or or doing anything,
right?
So if you don't want to ringthem because it's too late, sms
them, um, email them, but makecontact immediately because I
know when when I do that as aconsumer, you know, my father
always used to say, get go onthe other side of the counter.
(21:26):
What's it like on the otherside of the counter?
As agents, we never look at,you know, we always look at this
side of the counter.
On that side of the counter,when I'm when I'm a customer,
whether it's an Uber driver orI'm looking for, you know, you
you're watching, you know, it'sa minute away.
That person laying in bed orwatching TV and they've reached
out, you contact them straightaway, mate, it's immediate,
(21:47):
you've made an impression.
RV, you're spot on.
Um, and if you're third, you'veforgotten about.
Just get back to them as strictas soon as possible.
Yeah, that's the that's theish.
Tom Panos (21:57):
You know what I was thinking about real estate?
Hey, like Olympic Games, thereason it's in my head, this
morning, I'm gonna post it.
I went for a run around theOlympic Games Stadium.
Did you see it, Staff?
I've gone.
I went.
No, I haven't seen it.
Hey, it was just you pay 20bucks or whatever, 20 euro, and
you go into the stadium and yourun around, and there's people
(22:20):
there.
Anyway, I was going through thestadium and I was thinking to
myself, these guys run train forfour years, right?
And then I thought, and if youdon't win, well, there is gold,
silver, and bronze, but in realestate listing presentations,
right?
Like, there's no silver andbronze, right?
It's like the person that getsit, there's only one prize, the
(22:42):
person that signs up thelisting, right?
I'd love to ask you both aboutnurturing the ones, you know,
that might not be coming onright straight away.
Is there any tips on nurturethat you can give?
Like, how do you and and andnurturing in real estate's an
interesting one because on theone hand, you want to stay in
(23:03):
contact with people and say, Icare, I'm here.
But on the other token, I hateit as a consumer when I'm buying
a product or service, and I'vegot a girl or guy that's chasing
me up, and I keep seeing thecall, and I sometimes ghost
them, right?
Because I often feel that thatconversation is a little bit on
(23:27):
the nudgy, too pushy side.
And I sometimes feel like I'mgonna get into this
conversation, and at some pointin the conversation, they're
gonna sort of ask me a questionand I'm gonna feel uncomfortable
about it.
So actually, I might not justactually take the call.
So it's this balance, you know.
You know what I'm getting at,Arvy, because I saw you nod
(23:48):
there.
This this balance of addingvalue, but not stalking.
This concept of I'm here, sodon't forget me.
But at the same time, I don'twant you to picture me as having
commission breath, right?
Any any tips there, gentlemen?
Maybe start with you, Arvey.
Avi Kha (24:07):
Look, I think uh one of the things, the concepts that
we have in our business at themoment is apology prospecting,
right?
So, Tom, say I've done an openhome at two o'clock, probably
three streets down from you.
You've told me you're aboutsix, seven weeks away.
We're trying to nurture you.
So, hey, Tom, it's just Arveyhere from Ray White AKG is just
letting you know I've just donean open home, about three, four
streets down from your house.
(24:28):
We've had 16 groups through inthe first 20 minutes.
I think one of them will grabthe house, but there's gonna be
15 people left over.
I've just talked to them now,there's office coming in.
Look, I'm so sorry to call youlike this.
I know you're six weeks away,Tom, but I wouldn't be doing my
job if I didn't let you knowthat I'm gonna have 15 buyers
ready to go.
I just want your permission tosee if I can bring them through
(24:51):
this Monday, which four o'clocksuits you.
Like, that's the way younurture.
That's the way you nurture.
You give them things to talkabout, you give them things
value that you've got buyersthat have missed out.
Rather than one of the one ofthe pet peeves I have, Tom, is
like, hey, Tom, it's just overhere calling to touch base.
Like, it's it does nothing forthe client.
(25:12):
So nurturing has to have astrategy, you have to have value
proposition.
It's the touch base thing thatthere's no value proposition.
That's why we get annoyed withthose things, right, Tom?
When people call us, I want atouch base, Tom.
How are you going?
Are you ready?
Hey, Tom, touching base.
You've got to give them somevalue.
So I've got 15 buyers, they'vegot a million to spend, they're
all cashed up, they're gonnajust gonna miss out on this
(25:33):
property.
I've just put on the market,four streets down from your
home, exactly the same specs.
Can I bring them throughMonday?
Tom Panos (25:40):
Okay, let me show you on, and this is this is in
another industry.
Right?
I'm just gonna read out um I'mgonna read out the message you
sent me in car sales.
Okay, here it is.
(26:01):
Hi, Tom.
So I made an inquiry about acar for my wife.
This guy's got my number, spoketo him, and he sends me this
message.
Hi Tom, I hope you're well.
Just letting you know someoneelse is also looking at that
car.
Just wondering if you'vedecided.
(26:22):
Wouldn't want you to miss outon it.
So I want to respond back.
They can have it.
Timing's not right.
He responds back.
Oh, good choice.
What else I should be look uhlooking at?
The point, the point is that Iautomatically, for some reason,
(26:44):
changed the way I felt aboutthis guy when he sent me that
message, right?
So that was in cars.
Hey, I've got basically sayingis hey, I'm calling you, I've
got another buyer uh on that,right?
Well, if you got another buyer,like I work in the world of
business, you probably wouldhave just sold it, right?
You would have sold that, andthen you try and sold me
something, something else,right?
(27:05):
So uh, Stav, is there anythingthat you can extend on what Arve
said about nurture?
Stavros Ambatzidis (27:11):
Yeah, look, we're all very different, and no
one needs to be Stavrosson, noone needs to be Arvey, right?
Um, everyone's got to work ontheir own strength.
Um, there's 32 ways ofprospecting.
There's so many ways ofprospecting.
But I I grew up on a farm,Arvey, and um and a lot of real
estate is farming.
You know, we've all heard thatyou've got farming areas and um,
(27:32):
you know, you plant the seedand and you nurture it and it
grows.
The way I like to do things isI like to be in the line of
sight.
The line of sight means thatyes, I don't have commission
breath.
I want to I want people toremember how they feel after
they've they've dealt with me oror met me.
So when they think of realestate, then they'll come to me.
So we're all very different theway we do things.
(27:52):
And I remember my fathersaying, you know, you're very
lucky, and we are lucky being inreal estate.
We've got a pen and a phonethat we use.
He uses a shovel on the phone,you know, he sweats, he works
hard, he has droughts, he has hehas floods.
We're so lucky that we've gotall these tools, like local
agent finder, right?
And and we've got to use thosetools to do what we've got to
(28:15):
do.
So I like to walk up my up thestreet, uh, Tom.
I like to meet my public everyday.
I like to be in the line ofsight.
You know, I walk up, hey Tom,how are we?
Hey, Warwick, how are yougoing?
And and that could take me anhour or two to do that, to walk
up and walk back again.
Um, but when they're thinkingreal estate, they think me.
I'm not a door knocker, right?
I I like to get on the phone, Ilike to, you know, to make a
(28:36):
lot of calls.
You know, on average, I doabout 72 calls a day.
But my way of doing nurturingis relationship-based.
Others do, I don't know,geographical based.
So work your strengths, uh, notyour weaknesses.
Don't try and be stronger atsomething.
My daughter's a good singer, asyou know, Tom.
And I remember her teacher atschool said she's bad at maths
(28:57):
and she needs to get a tutor.
And I said, mate, can you sing?
And he goes, Nut.
What if I got you a tutor?
Could you sing?
Nut.
Yeah, what if we really workedhard?
Could you sing?
He goes, Nut.
I go, how about we focus on herbecoming a better singer,
right?
And not maths.
Maths isn't her thing.
And everyone needs to work onthe same thing, you know, work
on your strength and work harderon your strengths to make them
(29:17):
better.
We can't be all things to allpeople.
So that's how I deal withthings.
And and very different to whatArvey just said.
And and uh I've got a lot ofpeople that work the way Arvey
does in my business, but workyour own strengths.
Tom Panos (29:30):
You know, on the last day before my HSC, sorry, it
wasn't the HSC, it was, youknow, where you the last day
before you put your yourselections for where you want to
go, you know where you fill outthe form, your preferences for
university.
I remember going to see acounselor at Kingsgrove North
Hyde, and I said, I'm soconfused.
I don't know whether to dobusiness.
(29:51):
I'm interested in politics,maybe Bachelor of Arts in
Political Science.
But I want to do Bachelor ofBusiness, right?
Uh marketing, Oscon.
And listen to what she said.
Tom, I think you should justpick what you'd like to do and
what you're sort of good at,because that's probably gonna
(30:14):
mean you've got the best chanceof winning in that area.
And I said, Why is that?
She goes, really simple.
If you pick something that youlike and you're okay at it,
you'll do lots of it.
Because you'll do lots of it,you'll beat people just through
sheer work.
But the second thing is you'llget a lot of practice.
(30:34):
Because you're actually workingharder than others, you'll be
practicing more than others.
Because work is practice.
And then what will actuallyhappen is because you're
practicing, not only are youworking longer, but you're
actually even getting better.
So at some point in the future,you'll be considered the best
in your field.
And when you're the best inyour field, you charge what you
(30:57):
want because one person alwaysis on the shopping list in
business, right?
End of story.
So um I think what youbasically said is what was said
to me in 1985 (31:08):
work your strengths, double down on them,
outsource your weakness.
Avi Kha (31:13):
Are you going to give people their December, their
October to December plan?
Tom Panos (31:17):
That's what I was about to do there.
I was just sharing it here.
And I was going to say, here isthe short version.
Santa is something that I wanteveryone to actually use.
In the real estate gym, there'sa thing called the Santa
letter, which allows you, it's abit of an ethical bribe that
(31:38):
allows you to get very closewith your marketplace,
particularly if you're in afamily marketplace, that allows
the kids to participate ingetting something from Santa and
at the same time actuallymaking an impact on them, but in
addition to that, making animpact to your CRM system with
new opt-ins.
So I would look at that.
The next thing I would say isSPR.
(32:01):
As December comes, there'sgoing to be a lot of fatigue
stock.
All I've got to say to you isif you want to sell that stock,
SPR, significant pricereductions.
If a property's been on themarket for months and months and
it's not selling, there's onlytwo reasons.
It's either the price or themarket, marketing.
And if you've done themarketing, I would make sure
that I am looking at the priceif you've actually put it
(32:23):
through the process.
In addition to that, I want youto all leave at Christmas time
or just before, you know, let'ssay you leave on the 15th of
December or thereabouts.
Leave with your car parked onthe top of the hill.
And what I mean by that, makesure that when you leave to go
on vacation, that you've gotlistings that you've signed up,
(32:44):
form sixes, agency agreementssigned up, ready to launch.
If they're auctions, thatyou've actually got auction day
launches.
And all I can tell you is thatyou'll have a much better break
knowing that you've got stocklaunch.
Of course, we're talkingpremature now.
You've got enough business timenow for you to not only list
properties that you can forvendors, you can actually be
(33:07):
listing the buyers that buytheir properties off vendors.
You've got plenty of times.
In fact, I'm letting you knowmy sprint till Christmas
actually begins today.
So today, when I leave Athensand I go to work, I start
working in Bulgaria.
It is a clear run home till the15th of December.
So this is my final series.
(33:29):
So, end of your summary calls.
I want you to make sure thatyou ring up everyone in your
database, including all yourlocal agent finder leads, and
that you say, hey, Tom Panelshere from the real estate.
This is the time of year I liketo give all my vendors and
people in my database a quickbrief outlook on what happened
in 2025 and also what I thinkwill happen in 2026.
(33:53):
These are called theend-of-year summary calls.
And if you want a quick summaryon what you should say, ChatGPT
is your best friend.
Go into ChatGPT and say, I wantto call people in my database
and give them an update on whatwas actually happening in the
suburb of Kenmore for 2025.
(34:14):
Give me four or five basicstatistics.
That's all you need to do.
Then you can also put in there,what do you think the market
will do in 2026?
You can actually do that aswell.
So I would suggest that thereason you do these summary
calls is you can re-qualify.
You might also get anappointment.
Say, how open-minded would yoube for me to pop around and tell
(34:35):
you how much money you'resitting on?
Even if they say, Oh, but we'renot thinking of selling, Tommy,
just say, listen, it's not forpeople that are selling.
It's for people that arestaying, that just want to know
how much value they're sittingon.
And then there is the list nowlaunch later strategy, which
basically what you do there isyou say, Mr.
and Mrs.
Vendor, I understand at themoment you're not ready to come
(34:59):
onto the market yet.
What I'd like to say to you isthat you might want to take out
insurance.
And insurance is called theList Now Launch Later Strategy,
where what I do is I just getsome paperwork done that means
that it's not illegal for me totalk about your property.
I put it in my top pocketbecause as we've got these
(35:19):
government grants going aroundthe country at the moment,
including the 5% guaranteeddeposit bond, I might end up
having lots of buyers that wantyour specific property.
And if I've got it available, Ican talk about it.
And you might be fortunateenough and get someone that is
emotional and pays top dollarfor your home.
(35:40):
But if we don't, we can launchlater.
So we're not going to have openhomes as such.
So if you're not ready toactually have a lot of action on
your property, we can just usethe list now launch later
strategy.
And for me, that is also calledas a pocket listing.
So, team, don't forget this isthe time of year that you should
(36:01):
also start preparing inNovember and December to at
least take some sort of gift toyour top 100 clients.
Um, I find that this time ofthe year is a good opportunity
for you to break bread withclients.
And I want to remind you, theBoxing Day soft launch is
something that you might want toconsider.
(36:21):
Why?
Because realestate.com tells usthat period after Christmas Day
is a good eyeball period forthem.
In fact, I think they've saidin the past Boxing Day is one of
their biggest days of eyeballs.
So I can picture why thathappens.
People are sitting homewatching the Boxing Day test,
and they've got their mobilephone, and they're thinking, is
(36:43):
it time to upgrade our home?
Is it time to buy an investmentproperty in the RB Khan's
office?
I don't know what they'rethinking.
And the last thing I want tolet you know, I don't talk about
these much, but I've got totell you, a lot of the photos
and videos that I take whileI've been on this trip have come
from the meta glasses.
(37:04):
Meta glasses to me aresomething that I'm surprised
they haven't been embraced moreby the real estate industry.
$400 allows you to actually getincredible video content in the
moment without people freezingand saying, oh, he's pulled out
his phone, right?
And you can actually get someincredible content and they act
(37:26):
as incredible speakers.
By the way, I don't know howthey do it, but they have sound
coming through those glasses,even though there's nothing in
your earbuds.
And I think they use vibrationof your ear canals.
So, team, meta glasses, buyyourselves a present at
Christmas.
(37:46):
Gentlemen, it is so good tohave you here.
Stev from O'Brien's and Arveyfrom Ray White, two amazing
thought leaders.
By the way, Arve, can I askyou?
I'd love have have you put havewe got that podcast put up yet
or it's not up yet?
Is it?
Avi Kha (38:03):
It's coming out next week, Tom.
Tom Panos (38:07):
I really enjoyed the podcast.
So I never I hardly I hardlyever I always ask the questions,
but I went there thinking I wasgonna do a podcast, and then
Arvey goes, oh no, no, I'm doingthe questions.
Um and I really I all Iremember is I enjoy uh I enjoyed
it.
Staff, I'll see you in ByronBay, I'm sure, at some point
over the festive season.
(38:27):
I'm sure I will see you there.
Um Warwick, I want to let youknow it is so good to have Local
Agent Finder back.
We're gonna have a number ofother events over the next month
as well, covering various realestate topics.
So I want to thank all ouraudience.
Thank you so much for signingoff and see you soon.
It is a small world we live in, ladies and
gentlemen.
It is a small world we live in.
I'm in Athens and it is tena.m.
in the morning.
You're in Australia, mostlikely, and it is six o'clock.
Yet Stavros, show them yourblender.
Look at that.
(00:22):
We're connected by blenders.
The world's getting smaller,right?
The ecosystem of the planet'sgetting smaller.
Uh two human beings bycoincidence end up holding the
same blender.
Now I've got to tell you,before we move on to this
wonderful webinar, and I thinkuh we're gonna find out the
reasons why local agent finderbecame rumor.
(00:45):
Actually, I just thought aboutit.
It was only a rumor, it neverreally happened.
I just thought about that now.
It was only a rumor, it neverreally happened.
And then local agent finder hasgone back to the great brand
that we got accustomed to thatwe liked because it actually
(01:06):
explained what they did.
And that's gonna be a littlebit about what we're gonna cover
because this webinar today isbrought to you by Local Agent
Finder.
Let me say it again three timeslocal agent finder, local agent
finder.
The brand is local agentfinder, and Warwick is gonna
cover that.
But I've also got with me twoincredible thought leaders.
(01:28):
I'll tell you why I like aboutthese guys because they both got
an understanding of themechanics of real estate, but
they both have a view andopinion on the helicopter view
of real estate.
So not just in the trenches,but because they can step out of
the picture, they can sometimessee the picture very clear.
Arvi Khan from Ray White inQueensland and Stav.
(01:49):
And if there's a guy thatshould say this correctly, it
should be me, particularly whenyou're in Athens right at this
moment, right?
You should be able to say that.
But I'm gonna say StavrosAmbazides.
Close enough.
Say it.
Ambazides Stavros Ambazitis.
There you go.
(02:10):
I nailed it second time withguidance.
Rhymes with Mercedes.
I like that.
Warwick steel, the person thatwe've grown to live with local
agent finder.
That's what we know local agentfinder is all about.
Good to see you.
So let's get so so Warwick.
Um, just for everyone that's onhere, because I think this is
(02:32):
probably the first time it'sbeing addressed, why the name
has gone back.
Tell me what's happened.
Let's get that out of the waybecause we want to talk about
what you've got to do the last90 days to nail 2025.
Warwick Steele (02:44):
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
I think we want to talk aboutmore important things, but I
just do want to clear this up,right?
So I think local agent finderrebranded to Ruma with good
intentions.
Uh, we were hoping to broadenour audience and to modernize
the experience for bothhomeowners and our agents alike.
What we really underestimatedwas the strength and the trust
(03:08):
that LAF already had in themarketplace.
And that was really evidentearly.
Uh, and when we took thefeedback and it was pretty
instant from our agent network,and when homeowners sort of uh
indicated that rumor wasn'treally clear as to what we might
be doing here in the business,uh, and registrations dropped
off a tad as such.
(03:30):
Uh, we made a really sort ofbrave decision to be able to
roll it back.
And I think the rollback is inthe best interest of both our
agents and our homeowners alike,as I said.
But, you know, it's not rollingback to what it was previously.
The experience will be the samefor now, but we'll certainly
look to enhance the product forboth agents and homeowners
(03:50):
alike.
And uh we've seen already thathomeowners do resonate with the
LAF brand and the registrationshave come straight back.
So, to be honest, Tom, I ampumped to be back as LAF.
I cannot wait to get back towork, I cannot wait to support
our agent network and help themturn these leads that we can
provide into listings, not onlyin the last quarter of this
(04:13):
year, but into next year andbeyond.
We're really pumped.
Tom Panos (04:17):
Warwick, and I'm glad, and I'm glad that you're
back because Warwick still is aperson that the clients have
been used to.
I was a person that I've beendealing with you, but I want to
give some fun facts before wekick it all off today.
Number one, in 2024, thehomeowners of approximately one
in 16 market listings comparedagents through LAF.
(04:41):
I'm gonna say that one in 16.
In 2024, approximatelytwo-thirds of the people that
came through LAF to compareagents went on to list their
homes within 12 months.
With the bulk of these, withthe bulk of these happening
within three months.
(05:02):
So what we're saying is a highproportion of the listings are
immediate sellers, right?
Because they're coming on inthree months.
We're not talking about, youknow, price updates that might
originate in a year, two, three,four years.
There's a high proportion ofpeople that go on a local agent
finder.
(05:22):
Why?
Because they mean business.
And for me, one of the biggestissues, Warwick, has been real
estate agents have not used thesame nurturing process that they
would have with other non-LAFleads, right?
And then they think tothemselves, hey, how come I
didn't get, you know, moreaction out of that one, right?
(05:42):
One of the things I'm gonna goon, Warwick.
Warwick Steele (05:45):
No, I was just gonna say that's correct, Tom.
It's probably one of the mostfrustrating things that I see
from my chair every day.
And I've looked after the agentnetwork here for 18 years, what
we find is a large percentageof what comes through is genuine
and goes to market.
What I get a little bitfrustrated at is that if the
agents get a lead today and callwithin minutes, which is
(06:06):
awesome, and the vendor doesn'tanswer because the vendor is at
work or might be busy orsomething along those lines,
it's then treated automaticallyas a crap lead.
It doesn't get the nurturing itdeserves, doesn't get the
follow-up it deserves.
But you can clearly see fromtop performers through the
website the people who do dothat, nurture it correctly, put
it into the database, giving allthe love and care that it
(06:28):
deserves.
There are many, many listingsthat they could and should be
winning, Tom.
Tom Panos (06:33):
Okay.
Warwick, we have now have closeto 7,000 active agents using
the service nationally with alot of agents being market share
leaders.
Well, I know that's a factbecause I'm, you know, we've we
feature a lot of the real estateagents in there.
Obviously, I came via therelationship that you had with
(06:53):
Constathopolis from McGraw inParramatta, and uh he's another
one of the big clients.
Local agent finder is a greatplace for rental leads, and I
wasn't aware of how much you'vebeen helping agents build the
incredible big rent roll assets.
So if you're not growing a rentroll through LAF, then you're
probably not using an unfairadvantage that some other
(07:16):
clients might actually have.
So you should be mindful of it.
So, Warwick, these twogentlemen, these two gentlemen
that we've got here are verystrong uh uh thought leaders,
but they're practitioners.
Stab is in actually, let's getan introduction.
Stab, who who are you, whereare you, and what are the main
things you do in the business?
And Arvey, I'm gonna ask youthe same question.
Stavros Ambatzidis (07:38):
Uh, Tom, I play several parts.
So I'm I'm part of uh I'm oneof the co-founders of O'Brien
Real Estate here in Victoria,but I also own a few offices uh
here in Victoria for O'Brien.
Um I'm very strong in the RAOV,so I'm part of the auction
chapter and chair of the RAOVauction committee.
Uh, but just all in all, uh mycapacity is chairman of the
board at O'Brien and a listerand seller, auctioneer on
(08:01):
weekends.
So I play, yeah, I've got myfinger on the pulse in many
parts, and I I get to see whatgoes on by a huge cross-section
of uh the Victorian market, uhdoing probably auctions across
40 suburbs in Noland.
Tom Panos (08:16):
That is listen, that is a great helicopter view
because both as a wellfranchiser, franchisee,
auctioneer, um, and you've beena long-term practitioner.
So uh that is uh that is the CVof CVs.
Uh so Arve, same question.
(08:38):
And I know you've got adifferent background.
Avi Kha (08:40):
Mate, I don't know if I can follow from that intro from
Stavros, but I'll try my best.
Um, so I own Fiverr Whites inBrisbane.
Uh we sell nearly 900 homes ayear and we manage about 3,000
properties, 3,000 landlords.
They also run a law firm inSydney as well.
So uh a little bit of diversebackground, not as strong as
Stavros over there, but we dotry our best.
Tom Panos (09:03):
And you've been working in markets that are
different.
You've been working, Stavroshas been working in the
Melbourne market where there'sbeen a bit of an exodus of
people leaving Melbourne andhopping on a Virgin or Jet Star
or Quantas Plane and heading toQueensland.
And that's been reflected inproperty prices.
That's been reflected inclearance rates, that's been
(09:25):
affected in, you know, thehappiness level of, you know,
people that are in that sector.
Um so staff, can I ask you,what is Melbourne like at the
moment?
Stavros Ambatzidis (09:35):
Look, there is a there is a strong buzz, and
and I can feel we're probablygoing to go into a bit of a
boom.
Probably a lot, a lot of peoplesay the last boom for this
decade.
But the reason for that is thatat the moment, the medium house
price in Australia, we'refourth.
Yeah, we're behind Brisbane,Sydney, Adelaide, and and that
can't happen.
You know, we're the biggestcity now in Australia.
(09:58):
There's a lot of buyers.
Tom Panos (09:59):
I wouldn't be I wouldn't be surprised if you're
actually behind even Perth.
Possibly, possibly so.
I reckon you're behind, Ireckon you're behind Sydney,
Perth, Brisbane, and Adelaide,which is bizarre.
Stavros Ambatzidis (10:14):
That's bizarre.
It's bizarre.
And that's not going to be, youknow, the state of play for a
lot for you know forever.
We're seeing a huge influx of,especially Sydney advocates
coming in, uh, a lot of Sydneyinvestors buying in,
particularly in the Frankstonareas, uh, Caram Downs, uh,
Seaford.
So we're seeing a huge influxof investors buying in because
(10:36):
now's the time to buy.
You know, the curveball isabout to go up in in Melbourne.
So if you're looking at buying,I honestly believe, and it's
not just real estate speak thatI say that.
I I believe it's the truth.
Look, I was one of the Exodus,you know, I've I spent a lot of
time up in Byron and NorthernRivers of New South.
Um, but I can see there's a bigtrend coming back into
(10:58):
Melbourne.
Tom Panos (10:59):
Yeah, well, I think, Stav, what actually happens is
when I get out of TallamarineAirport and I see the thousands
of travelers wearing suits andcomputers going to their
corporate offices in Melbourne,when I see sporting events, and
it's what we've seen in the lastmonth or so, when you look at
the buildings around Melbourne,you think to yourself, this is a
(11:22):
serious hub.
When you look at the amount ofcommunities that are in there,
you think to yourself, this isjust a short-term temporary
blip.
There is no way in the worldthat Melbourne shouldn't be up
there if not first, second.
I mean, Sydney and Melbourne,Sydney was always just a touch
higher than Melbourne, but nowthe gap has just got bigger, and
(11:42):
you know what actually happens?
Marketplaces eventually seevalue, right?
And and I think that's what'sgoing to happen.
Arthur, what's it been like inBrisbane?
Avi Kha (11:51):
Look, we're saying that um, we've been saying this for
the last 12 months, actually,but we're seeing a perfect storm
of buyers coming into Brisbane.
And I think what's happening inMelbourne is a great indication
of how local governments, stategovernments, and federal
governments have a play in themarketplace.
If they stuff things up,investors will bail.
And we've seen that across theboard throughout Australia,
where people are saying they'revoting with their wallets, that
(12:14):
Queensland, the play Queenslandis the place to put your
investment property in.
And we're seeing a whole lot ofinvestor buyers coming through.
Over the last three, fouryears, there's been
predominantly Sydney buyers.
Now we're seeing the influx ofMelbourne investors coming in as
well.
Coupled with the changes thatthe government has done in the
first-home buyer schemes.
We're seeing first-home ownersgetting in, we're seeing
(12:34):
investors getting in, we'reseeing mum and dads downsizing,
investing in their home state aswell.
So it's been a great time to bein the Queensland property
market, that's for sure.
Tom Panos (12:43):
Maybe, you know, maybe what we should do when
Aric is on next year, maybe onthe day after Aric, have a
special conference where we uhbring the Victorian government
that can spend one day for theQueensland government, like just
do a bit of a roadshow and say,guys, here's our template.
Just copy the template.
This is exactly what I've gotto tell you, there'd be some
(13:05):
ideas in that template that theywould turn around and say,
Well, that sort of makes sense.
Why aren't we doing it?
Right.
Um, but and and and can I askyou both over the years, what
has your relationship with localagent fine meant to you?
What does it mean to yourbusiness?
And what in what role does itplay in your business?
(13:26):
Um, yeah, just share that.
And then we'll move on to a bitof real estate strategy stuff
for our audience.
Avi Kha (13:33):
Tom, I think when you look at the the way the agents
work, like there's so muchlistings out there.
There's so much um, so manysellers wanting to sell, but
there so many agents arereluctant to do the work, right?
They're reluctant to pick upthe phone, reluctant to
doorknock, they're reluctant tosend text messages and all that.
And then then we get agentssort of complaining, oh, you
know, there's local agentfinder, we're gonna have to pay
(13:54):
referral fees and things.
I think it just all comes downto laziness, right?
There's someone's telling youthat if we send you a lead,
there's a 67% chance that thisperson is listing in the first
four months.
Why would you pick up the phoneand call?
So our listings have surgedbecause we've used the service
well.
We know that there's readysellers, there's serious
sellers, as opposed to the otherservices out there where you're
(14:17):
chasing people, you're callingthem, they're not picking up.
But what we find is two-thirdsof the leads that we get, they
actually go on to sell.
So it's just about picking upthe phone.
Most of the times, it'squalified leads.
Um, there's someone on theother end of the phone helping
us convert those leads as well.
Like we get follow-up textsfrom local agent finder now
saying, hey, this person's backon the profile, they're viewing
(14:38):
the listing, they're viewing theinformation again.
Time for you to call them.
So we've built up a marketshare by using the service.
And now what we're trying to dois build up our rental pool as
well by using the rental leadsas well.
So it's been very effective forus.
Stavros Ambatzidis (14:51):
Okay, beautiful.
Stab, same question.
Well, it's interesting.
Every time I look at some newtech, and I've looked I go way
back with uh with Warwick.
So we we've known each otherfor you know a couple of
decades.
I always look at tech andthink, what problem are they
trying to solve?
So if and I don't like usingtwo systems when one will do,
(15:12):
you know, try and remove asystem, you know, when you're
putting a system on.
One thing that I could sayWarwick and local agent finder
have been for us is they're moreof a business growth partner,
okay?
So performance-based marketingchannel that connects, you know,
directly with motivatedsellers.
The other thing that I like tolook at is, you know, compelling
(15:32):
reasons.
Why would I use, you know, youknow, local agent finder?
So, you know, as an auctioneer,what are the compelling reasons
to buy or bid or or so forth?
So the big one for me, and youknow, Warwick's gonna love me
for saying this, is they'rerisk-free list generation.
You're not you don't pay unlessunless you get, you know, you
(15:53):
get the lead and unless you sellit.
So you don't have to pay.
Um, and the great thing withlocal agent finder is, and
there's several times where, youknow, if I've already got the
relationship, I've already donethe appraisal there, the guys
have been really good to workwith.
But the best one for me, uh,Warrick, is you know, some of
the stats that we went through.
Um, you know, we've got one guythat's received 97 leads in my
(16:16):
business, and he's had a 35%strike rate for those that come
on market.
That's huge.
I mean, there are agents thatprobably wouldn't do that much
business in a whole year, andhe's just done that from local
agent finding.
That's that's a person atO'Brien Real Estate.
So there's there's many reasonswhy you know we'd like to use
them.
They're high intent qualifiedclients, I suppose that's
(16:38):
another good one.
Um, and credibility.
Yeah, they've got visibilityand credibility.
We'll they're very credible touse.
Tom Panos (16:46):
Yeah, so well said to both of you.
And I'm gonna just touch onthis issue of improving your
probability.
So let's assume when you get alead.
So, in the time I've beenworking with Warwick, I can't
help it, but I keep asking realestate agents that love local
(17:07):
agent finder how they thinkabout those leads and how they
go about them.
And the first thing I'll echois that they say to me that um
the skill is that it's not oneand done.
You don't have the view that,hey, I got a lead, I tried to
(17:30):
ring it, it didn't come off,they ghosted me, I couldn't get
through them, or theconversation was short, and then
what they've done is they'velet it go, yet they don't do
that with other leads.
So, number one, I would say bepersistent and understand the
importance of perseverance.
(17:51):
The second thing is speed.
I noticed that these peoplethat have actually gone onto
local agent finder and press,you know, the keyboard, they
love a response to that keyboardquick, right?
Because we live in a world, welive in a world now where speed
(18:14):
is a very highly valuedcurrency.
Why has speed become a highlyvalued currency?
I mean, I remember, Arvee, Imean, you probably weren't even
in real estate back in 19, in1991, I'm not joking, you'd go
to a listing presentation andyou'd say to the owner, let me
put something together and I'llget it back to you and I'll try
(18:37):
and have it back to you by theend of the week.
So you'd do this on a Monday,right?
And they'd say, Oh yeah, evenif you did it, you know, next
week, that's all good.
That was 1991, right?
In 2025, I'm sitting there onsome street in London,
(18:58):
Gloucester Road, it was, and I'mlooking at it and I'm thinking
to myself, shit, this Uber wassupposed to be here like one
minute ago.
Like I'm freaking out over aminute.
People expect things quicklynow.
Whether Uber has done it,whether the going from brick to
click where everyone's buyingthings online, pressing a
(19:19):
button, whether that's it, uh,whatever it is, but all we're
saying is clients r love speed.
So when you do get that lead, Idon't know, guys, I'd like to
ask you, the practitioners, theowners of these big businesses
out there in the marketplace,like if you get a lead at 8:30
at night, should you just pickup the phone at 8.31 and chase
(19:43):
it?
Avi Kha (19:44):
There's a saying in our business, and it goes to your
speed um statement, makeimmediacy your currency.
So that's how local agentfinder should work.
With any lead that you get, youshould be on it straight away.
And when we call the thesellers straight away, they're
amazed.
They're like, oh, oh, okay.
I just literally got off mylaptop and I closed it down.
(20:05):
You guys call me within threeminutes.
It means so much to thembecause one of the things that
working with Warrig, we realizedthat only the best agents use
this product, right?
So some of the leads, most ofthe leads are going to the best
agents.
So you want to be in thecauldron with the best.
If you if you want to be anagent, you want to prove
yourself, you want to go upagainst the best and beat them.
So the first person on the callis most likely going to get a
(20:28):
first appointment.
The third person might not evenget an appointment.
But sellers are time poor thesedays, right?
They only want to interview oneor two people.
So make immediacy yourcurrency, it works a lot better
if you do.
Tom Panos (20:40):
Beautiful.
Stab, is anything you want toadd to that?
Stavros Ambatzidis (20:42):
Yeah, look, success leaves clues, and and we
all know that.
Um, and and RV's spot on.
We find that the guys thatactually have the best uh strike
rate with local agent finderare the ones that actually get
onto them straight away.
It doesn't matter what time ofday it is, because you don't
know the client.
The client the client might bein a different time zone as you
are today.
So if they've sent somethingthrough local agent finder that
(21:05):
moment, they're online.
They might be scrolling in bed,they might be watching TV, you
know, they might be watching theblock or or doing anything,
right?
So if you don't want to ringthem because it's too late, sms
them, um, email them, but makecontact immediately because I
know when when I do that as aconsumer, you know, my father
always used to say, get go onthe other side of the counter.
(21:26):
What's it like on the otherside of the counter?
As agents, we never look at,you know, we always look at this
side of the counter.
On that side of the counter,when I'm when I'm a customer,
whether it's an Uber driver orI'm looking for, you know, you
you're watching, you know, it'sa minute away.
That person laying in bed orwatching TV and they've reached
out, you contact them straightaway, mate, it's immediate,
(21:47):
you've made an impression.
RV, you're spot on.
Um, and if you're third, you'veforgotten about.
Just get back to them as strictas soon as possible.
Yeah, that's the that's theish.
Tom Panos (21:57):
You know what I was thinking about real estate?
Hey, like Olympic Games, thereason it's in my head, this
morning, I'm gonna post it.
I went for a run around theOlympic Games Stadium.
Did you see it, Staff?
I've gone.
I went.
No, I haven't seen it.
Hey, it was just you pay 20bucks or whatever, 20 euro, and
you go into the stadium and yourun around, and there's people
(22:20):
there.
Anyway, I was going through thestadium and I was thinking to
myself, these guys run train forfour years, right?
And then I thought, and if youdon't win, well, there is gold,
silver, and bronze, but in realestate listing presentations,
right?
Like, there's no silver andbronze, right?
It's like the person that getsit, there's only one prize, the
(22:42):
person that signs up thelisting, right?
I'd love to ask you both aboutnurturing the ones, you know,
that might not be coming onright straight away.
Is there any tips on nurturethat you can give?
Like, how do you and and andnurturing in real estate's an
interesting one because on theone hand, you want to stay in
(23:03):
contact with people and say, Icare, I'm here.
But on the other token, I hateit as a consumer when I'm buying
a product or service, and I'vegot a girl or guy that's chasing
me up, and I keep seeing thecall, and I sometimes ghost
them, right?
Because I often feel that thatconversation is a little bit on
(23:27):
the nudgy, too pushy side.
And I sometimes feel like I'mgonna get into this
conversation, and at some pointin the conversation, they're
gonna sort of ask me a questionand I'm gonna feel uncomfortable
about it.
So actually, I might not justactually take the call.
So it's this balance, you know.
You know what I'm getting at,Arvy, because I saw you nod
(23:48):
there.
This this balance of addingvalue, but not stalking.
This concept of I'm here, sodon't forget me.
But at the same time, I don'twant you to picture me as having
commission breath, right?
Any any tips there, gentlemen?
Maybe start with you, Arvey.
Avi Kha (24:07):
Look, I think uh one of the things, the concepts that
we have in our business at themoment is apology prospecting,
right?
So, Tom, say I've done an openhome at two o'clock, probably
three streets down from you.
You've told me you're aboutsix, seven weeks away.
We're trying to nurture you.
So, hey, Tom, it's just Arveyhere from Ray White AKG is just
letting you know I've just donean open home, about three, four
streets down from your house.
(24:28):
We've had 16 groups through inthe first 20 minutes.
I think one of them will grabthe house, but there's gonna be
15 people left over.
I've just talked to them now,there's office coming in.
Look, I'm so sorry to call youlike this.
I know you're six weeks away,Tom, but I wouldn't be doing my
job if I didn't let you knowthat I'm gonna have 15 buyers
ready to go.
I just want your permission tosee if I can bring them through
(24:51):
this Monday, which four o'clocksuits you.
Like, that's the way younurture.
That's the way you nurture.
You give them things to talkabout, you give them things
value that you've got buyersthat have missed out.
Rather than one of the one ofthe pet peeves I have, Tom, is
like, hey, Tom, it's just overhere calling to touch base.
Like, it's it does nothing forthe client.
(25:12):
So nurturing has to have astrategy, you have to have value
proposition.
It's the touch base thing thatthere's no value proposition.
That's why we get annoyed withthose things, right, Tom?
When people call us, I want atouch base, Tom.
How are you going?
Are you ready?
Hey, Tom, touching base.
You've got to give them somevalue.
So I've got 15 buyers, they'vegot a million to spend, they're
all cashed up, they're gonnajust gonna miss out on this
(25:33):
property.
I've just put on the market,four streets down from your
home, exactly the same specs.
Can I bring them throughMonday?
Tom Panos (25:40):
Okay, let me show you on, and this is this is in
another industry.
Right?
I'm just gonna read out um I'mgonna read out the message you
sent me in car sales.
Okay, here it is.
(26:01):
Hi, Tom.
So I made an inquiry about acar for my wife.
This guy's got my number, spoketo him, and he sends me this
message.
Hi Tom, I hope you're well.
Just letting you know someoneelse is also looking at that
car.
Just wondering if you'vedecided.
(26:22):
Wouldn't want you to miss outon it.
So I want to respond back.
They can have it.
Timing's not right.
He responds back.
Oh, good choice.
What else I should be look uhlooking at?
The point, the point is that Iautomatically, for some reason,
(26:44):
changed the way I felt aboutthis guy when he sent me that
message, right?
So that was in cars.
Hey, I've got basically sayingis hey, I'm calling you, I've
got another buyer uh on that,right?
Well, if you got another buyer,like I work in the world of
business, you probably wouldhave just sold it, right?
You would have sold that, andthen you try and sold me
something, something else,right?
(27:05):
So uh, Stav, is there anythingthat you can extend on what Arve
said about nurture?
Stavros Ambatzidis (27:11):
Yeah, look, we're all very different, and no
one needs to be Stavrosson, noone needs to be Arvey, right?
Um, everyone's got to work ontheir own strength.
Um, there's 32 ways ofprospecting.
There's so many ways ofprospecting.
But I I grew up on a farm,Arvey, and um and a lot of real
estate is farming.
You know, we've all heard thatyou've got farming areas and um,
(27:32):
you know, you plant the seedand and you nurture it and it
grows.
The way I like to do things isI like to be in the line of
sight.
The line of sight means thatyes, I don't have commission
breath.
I want to I want people toremember how they feel after
they've they've dealt with me oror met me.
So when they think of realestate, then they'll come to me.
So we're all very different theway we do things.
(27:52):
And I remember my fathersaying, you know, you're very
lucky, and we are lucky being inreal estate.
We've got a pen and a phonethat we use.
He uses a shovel on the phone,you know, he sweats, he works
hard, he has droughts, he has hehas floods.
We're so lucky that we've gotall these tools, like local
agent finder, right?
And and we've got to use thosetools to do what we've got to
(28:15):
do.
So I like to walk up my up thestreet, uh, Tom.
I like to meet my public everyday.
I like to be in the line ofsight.
You know, I walk up, hey Tom,how are we?
Hey, Warwick, how are yougoing?
And and that could take me anhour or two to do that, to walk
up and walk back again.
Um, but when they're thinkingreal estate, they think me.
I'm not a door knocker, right?
I I like to get on the phone, Ilike to, you know, to make a
(28:36):
lot of calls.
You know, on average, I doabout 72 calls a day.
But my way of doing nurturingis relationship-based.
Others do, I don't know,geographical based.
So work your strengths, uh, notyour weaknesses.
Don't try and be stronger atsomething.
My daughter's a good singer, asyou know, Tom.
And I remember her teacher atschool said she's bad at maths
(28:57):
and she needs to get a tutor.
And I said, mate, can you sing?
And he goes, Nut.
What if I got you a tutor?
Could you sing?
Nut.
Yeah, what if we really workedhard?
Could you sing?
He goes, Nut.
I go, how about we focus on herbecoming a better singer,
right?
And not maths.
Maths isn't her thing.
And everyone needs to work onthe same thing, you know, work
on your strength and work harderon your strengths to make them
(29:17):
better.
We can't be all things to allpeople.
So that's how I deal withthings.
And and very different to whatArvey just said.
And and uh I've got a lot ofpeople that work the way Arvey
does in my business, but workyour own strengths.
Tom Panos (29:30):
You know, on the last day before my HSC, sorry, it
wasn't the HSC, it was, youknow, where you the last day
before you put your yourselections for where you want to
go, you know where you fill outthe form, your preferences for
university.
I remember going to see acounselor at Kingsgrove North
Hyde, and I said, I'm soconfused.
I don't know whether to dobusiness.
(29:51):
I'm interested in politics,maybe Bachelor of Arts in
Political Science.
But I want to do Bachelor ofBusiness, right?
Uh marketing, Oscon.
And listen to what she said.
Tom, I think you should justpick what you'd like to do and
what you're sort of good at,because that's probably gonna
(30:14):
mean you've got the best chanceof winning in that area.
And I said, Why is that?
She goes, really simple.
If you pick something that youlike and you're okay at it,
you'll do lots of it.
Because you'll do lots of it,you'll beat people just through
sheer work.
But the second thing is you'llget a lot of practice.
(30:34):
Because you're actually workingharder than others, you'll be
practicing more than others.
Because work is practice.
And then what will actuallyhappen is because you're
practicing, not only are youworking longer, but you're
actually even getting better.
So at some point in the future,you'll be considered the best
in your field.
And when you're the best inyour field, you charge what you
(30:57):
want because one person alwaysis on the shopping list in
business, right?
End of story.
So um I think what youbasically said is what was said
to me in 1985 (31:08):
work your strengths, double down on them,
outsource your weakness.
Avi Kha (31:13):
Are you going to give people their December, their
October to December plan?
Tom Panos (31:17):
That's what I was about to do there.
I was just sharing it here.
And I was going to say, here isthe short version.
Santa is something that I wanteveryone to actually use.
In the real estate gym, there'sa thing called the Santa
letter, which allows you, it's abit of an ethical bribe that
(31:38):
allows you to get very closewith your marketplace,
particularly if you're in afamily marketplace, that allows
the kids to participate ingetting something from Santa and
at the same time actuallymaking an impact on them, but in
addition to that, making animpact to your CRM system with
new opt-ins.
So I would look at that.
The next thing I would say isSPR.
(32:01):
As December comes, there'sgoing to be a lot of fatigue
stock.
All I've got to say to you isif you want to sell that stock,
SPR, significant pricereductions.
If a property's been on themarket for months and months and
it's not selling, there's onlytwo reasons.
It's either the price or themarket, marketing.
And if you've done themarketing, I would make sure
that I am looking at the priceif you've actually put it
(32:23):
through the process.
In addition to that, I want youto all leave at Christmas time
or just before, you know, let'ssay you leave on the 15th of
December or thereabouts.
Leave with your car parked onthe top of the hill.
And what I mean by that, makesure that when you leave to go
on vacation, that you've gotlistings that you've signed up,
(32:44):
form sixes, agency agreementssigned up, ready to launch.
If they're auctions, thatyou've actually got auction day
launches.
And all I can tell you is thatyou'll have a much better break
knowing that you've got stocklaunch.
Of course, we're talkingpremature now.
You've got enough business timenow for you to not only list
properties that you can forvendors, you can actually be
(33:07):
listing the buyers that buytheir properties off vendors.
You've got plenty of times.
In fact, I'm letting you knowmy sprint till Christmas
actually begins today.
So today, when I leave Athensand I go to work, I start
working in Bulgaria.
It is a clear run home till the15th of December.
So this is my final series.
(33:29):
So, end of your summary calls.
I want you to make sure thatyou ring up everyone in your
database, including all yourlocal agent finder leads, and
that you say, hey, Tom Panelshere from the real estate.
This is the time of year I liketo give all my vendors and
people in my database a quickbrief outlook on what happened
in 2025 and also what I thinkwill happen in 2026.
(33:53):
These are called theend-of-year summary calls.
And if you want a quick summaryon what you should say, ChatGPT
is your best friend.
Go into ChatGPT and say, I wantto call people in my database
and give them an update on whatwas actually happening in the
suburb of Kenmore for 2025.
(34:14):
Give me four or five basicstatistics.
That's all you need to do.
Then you can also put in there,what do you think the market
will do in 2026?
You can actually do that aswell.
So I would suggest that thereason you do these summary
calls is you can re-qualify.
You might also get anappointment.
Say, how open-minded would yoube for me to pop around and tell
(34:35):
you how much money you'resitting on?
Even if they say, Oh, but we'renot thinking of selling, Tommy,
just say, listen, it's not forpeople that are selling.
It's for people that arestaying, that just want to know
how much value they're sittingon.
And then there is the list nowlaunch later strategy, which
basically what you do there isyou say, Mr.
and Mrs.
Vendor, I understand at themoment you're not ready to come
(34:59):
onto the market yet.
What I'd like to say to you isthat you might want to take out
insurance.
And insurance is called theList Now Launch Later Strategy,
where what I do is I just getsome paperwork done that means
that it's not illegal for me totalk about your property.
I put it in my top pocketbecause as we've got these
(35:19):
government grants going aroundthe country at the moment,
including the 5% guaranteeddeposit bond, I might end up
having lots of buyers that wantyour specific property.
And if I've got it available, Ican talk about it.
And you might be fortunateenough and get someone that is
emotional and pays top dollarfor your home.
(35:40):
But if we don't, we can launchlater.
So we're not going to have openhomes as such.
So if you're not ready toactually have a lot of action on
your property, we can just usethe list now launch later
strategy.
And for me, that is also calledas a pocket listing.
So, team, don't forget this isthe time of year that you should
(36:01):
also start preparing inNovember and December to at
least take some sort of gift toyour top 100 clients.
Um, I find that this time ofthe year is a good opportunity
for you to break bread withclients.
And I want to remind you, theBoxing Day soft launch is
something that you might want toconsider.
(36:21):
Why?
Because realestate.com tells usthat period after Christmas Day
is a good eyeball period forthem.
In fact, I think they've saidin the past Boxing Day is one of
their biggest days of eyeballs.
So I can picture why thathappens.
People are sitting homewatching the Boxing Day test,
and they've got their mobilephone, and they're thinking, is
(36:43):
it time to upgrade our home?
Is it time to buy an investmentproperty in the RB Khan's
office?
I don't know what they'rethinking.
And the last thing I want tolet you know, I don't talk about
these much, but I've got totell you, a lot of the photos
and videos that I take whileI've been on this trip have come
from the meta glasses.
(37:04):
Meta glasses to me aresomething that I'm surprised
they haven't been embraced moreby the real estate industry.
$400 allows you to actually getincredible video content in the
moment without people freezingand saying, oh, he's pulled out
his phone, right?
And you can actually get someincredible content and they act
(37:26):
as incredible speakers.
By the way, I don't know howthey do it, but they have sound
coming through those glasses,even though there's nothing in
your earbuds.
And I think they use vibrationof your ear canals.
So, team, meta glasses, buyyourselves a present at
Christmas.
(37:46):
Gentlemen, it is so good tohave you here.
Stev from O'Brien's and Arveyfrom Ray White, two amazing
thought leaders.
By the way, Arve, can I askyou?
I'd love have have you put havewe got that podcast put up yet
or it's not up yet?
Is it?
Avi Kha (38:03):
It's coming out next week, Tom.
Tom Panos (38:07):
I really enjoyed the podcast.
So I never I hardly I hardlyever I always ask the questions,
but I went there thinking I wasgonna do a podcast, and then
Arvey goes, oh no, no, I'm doingthe questions.
Um and I really I all Iremember is I enjoy uh I enjoyed
it.
Staff, I'll see you in ByronBay, I'm sure, at some point
over the festive season.
(38:27):
I'm sure I will see you there.
Um Warwick, I want to let youknow it is so good to have Local
Agent Finder back.
We're gonna have a number ofother events over the next month
as well, covering various realestate topics.
So I want to thank all ouraudience.
Thank you so much for signingoff and see you soon.
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