Property Point

Whatever you do for work or business and whatever success you might achieve along the way there is always someone to thank, usually more than one person, who has given you some guidance along the way.

Whether you are a plumber, solicitor, florist, doctor, teacher or real estate agent, someone has helped you and made the path to success a little bit more direct, a little shorter, a bit quicker than it would have been without the help.

Human behaviour varies and there are plenty of people with a level of experience and expertise that could benefit other, less experienced, colleagues but they choose not to.

But then there are the generous humans who view life differently and do what they can to help colleagues achieve success. For them, a colleague’s success is something to celebrate, not something that diminishes their own standing.

I went into real estate about 12 years ago after a career in journalism and it is the sort of job where there is a lot to learn and the learning is largely done on the job rather than in a lecture hall.

I needed to learn a lot quickly and the person who helped, guided and corrected me in those early days was a bloke called Eric Rickman.

Eric had been in real estate for some time when I started and I worked under him firstly at Vision real estate and then at Gardian.

Don’t get me wrong, Eric is one of the world’s great smart arses and if you say or do something stupid you will hear about it.

But once that hilarious opportunity had been exploited and shared with anyone within earshot, he would get on with providing the necessary advice.

I could go on about how Eric helped me with negotiating skills over an offer on a property, winning a listing at an appraisal, creating a pipeline of potential sales, and he definitely helped me with all that and my career has benefitted as a result.

But there was also this: the constant reminder to always do the right thing, the honest thing.

Real estate is tough and sometimes there is a fine line between getting a sale done and it falling through, getting commission for that sale or not getting it.

Some agents fall for the temptation to blur the lines of honesty, twist the truth to get a sale done … or to downright lie and worry about the consequences later.

I like being able to sleep at night and one of the things that worried me when I decided to go into real estate was whether I would be pressured to change, be less honest, in order to succeed.

It was a great relief when I started working under Eric because he was very successful but also as honest as the day is long. There was no trickery, no deceit, no dodginess.

Yes, he would always push to get the best price for his sellers and, yes, he would work hard to keep a deal together when the building and pest report was an absolute disaster.

But it would be done through good negotiating skills, understanding the buyers and their motivations, using the power of persuasion. Always above board.

In the end, honestly leads to trust and trust is currency in real estate. You want to work with an agent you can trust, whether you are a buyer or a seller.

Sometimes what you get from a leader is not something new and dazzling but a confirmation of what you know to be right and a reminder not to sway from the path. That’s leaving a legacy.

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