109 | Do Relationships Matter In Real Estate? - Chat with Glen Coutinho, Director of RT Edgar

Welcome to the Property Couch. For each week you get to listen to two of Australia's leading property experts. Rice Holdaway, co-host of location, location, location Australia on Foxdale's lifestyle channel and Ben Kingsley, chair of property investment professionals of Australia and the 2014 and 2015 property investment advisor of the year. Alright folks, you're on the property couch for each week Ben and I bring you the insider's guide to property investing. Hello mate. Are we talking for you? Not really. Not really. No, not after that weekend. We owe support. It must be really devastated. Oh thanks straight into a vote. Just no warm up. Oh you know we just had no confidence going forward. We bloody overused the pill. We had no structure. Our defence came up too high. So all I can say is thank God it's Thursday and there's a game on tonight and we get to hopefully redeem ourselves against Richmond. I don't know what if we lose this one. We're not talking for the year. I don't know of course I'm back. I think we'll move on but today we have a very special episode today. We've got some exciting guests but before we get there I'm just going to pick to that mindset minute Ben. Please. Thoughts disentangle themselves passing over the lips and through pencil tips. Oh gee. Are you going to like some sort of philosopher back time? I think this through. When we write we get clear and when we get clear it acts like a magnet that pulls us towards it. So what does that have the context of property? Building a plan. Building a plan. Building a plan. Building a plan. You may not. What you plan to become? Exactly. So there you go folks. It's when you actually go to the effort to get it out of your mind. Yes. Speak it out. Put it on paper. Actually put a plan. That it becomes a magnet that draws you towards it. So I'd certainly encourage people to make sure they write in their plan. May that's a ripper. Thank you. Thank you. I always like Carlos. Feedback from you as always. Hey, Glenn Cortino. Welcome. Good day. How are you fellas? Very good. Hey, listen as we've got arguably one of the greatest real estate agents in Australia. I'm sure Glenn will back me up on that. I'll say yes. I'll say yes. I'll actually as a buyer's agent Glenn won't remember this but I've actually been in the field when Glenn was an auctioneer. Yeah. And very very charismatic auctioneer. 17 Muistreet Hawthorn. It was an apartment back in 2007. Do you remember that? Third level. Self about 550 I think for memory. How's that? That was 10 years ago. So I was in the crowd. I wasn't successful bitter on that one. Right. But I was definitely the crowd in the crowd. Great property. Salber. Clarenamone Sue Williamson. I'm selling for you right now. Actually funny enough. Thank you. It was pretty special. It's a great spot for me to be able to walk straight right near the river. Yeah. So I'm impressed with the memory. I'm very impressed with the memory. But do you not drink? No, I don't actually. But welcome to the probably catch you all the director's senior auctioneer and your Alicincestor agent, Arty Edgar and Burundara. That's arguably one of the greatest places in Australia to live. So what do you like listing every day in that time? I mean look I list all over Melbourne but that's a great pocket private school belt. Canary Hawthorn. Most of the houses there started two million and we've just listed a couple for 15 and 16 million. So it's a pretty good part of the world. But I'll take anything. Yeah. I was like, I was like, what is coming? Bring it all away. Yeah. Talk us, because I mean I've described you as one of the best. I think that you've got some awards that actually banged that up. What's it like being all day, every day in one of the most competitive markets in Australia? You know, when you're all the hunted, everyone's trying to chase you. What's it like staying on top of the game for as long as you have? Look, it's just a matter of discipline. I mean I'm self-disciplined because I've got five children and a Mexican boy, Lingwood is now six. And so it's a competitive business and school feast to pay. So look, it's a competitive business but really in most cases you compete against yourself. That's what I do. I get up every day and competing against myself and you know, I've been doing it 31 years now. So most of my customers are six seventh time round. Take us back 32 years ago. What were you doing and then why did you move to real estate? I was in banking 30 years ago, 40 years ago I was in banking at Westpac driving an old Telstra and then I saw a young kid in their convertible Mercedes and I followed him. I thought, "How can he's got a Mercedes convertible?" So I followed him and do wood arts real estate. I got out of my car and walked in and I said, "Can I have a job?" And then I quit banking and went and worked in real estate. So let's say I started. No passion, no interest, just wanted to drive it convertible. You saw the question, how long did it take before you bought your first convertible? Two years, yeah, pretty quickly. I had hair then. I just had a lot of money. Very good, very good. So you're a father of five. How do you combine? That's a fair effort to have a house on a full of five and be at the top of the game in real estate. What you're organised? I am very organised. Like, look, I get home most days at 3.34 o'clock to see the kids help out at home but then I'd sit at the kitchen bench with the kids and do my work while I do their homework. I did two or three hours of letters and customer follow up to do while they did their mathematics which I can't help with because I'm too stupid. You just got the real estate's bad being a great father, great husband and then being an age and after that. So just on that point, so how many days a week are we on? Oh, seven days a week. You're seven? Yeah, but I don't put the suit on the seventh. So Sunday, we don't put the suit on unless I've got a function. But we do 15 sports a week, basketball, tennis, singing, dancing and in between that I'm talking to everyone that's there, every person that's at the game is a client of mine. So it's business, it's always business. And we're still sleeping again. Not that much. We're up at about six most mornings in the car by 6.45 and we're away. Tell us a bit about, you know, this podcast is largely for property investors. So you've got this unique viewpoint where your client is the seller and you're trying to get the best out-come for your seller. But you see so many buyers. What would you say is the number one fatal mistake that you see a buyer make? Look, I buy for property too. I do occasionally, you know, I'm going to be buying a house next weekend for a client. I always say to my client, just pay the ass and get on with it. Don't try and save 50 grand on a purchase because it'll cost you if you miss it. And if you look back now, like we're selling land in Campbell well for 3.3 million for a block of land and two years ago it was two and a half. And I just know buyers have missed it for 20 grand and missed it for 30 is cost of a million. So, you know, I bought plenty of property. I just go to the age and what do you want? Pay it, get done, lock it away. It's a long-term hold. It's not a short-term business. And that's relative for obviously the marketplace that you're playing. Do you have any differing views or have you ever studied the markets where it's in the fringes of town? Yeah, look, I'm probably in the fringes. But even like, for example, I've, you know, at Croydon. Like, probably there's a going up there. If you go out to Asmondale Gardens, they've gone up into the market, just keeps going. We've got to have a long-term view on property. The first question is, is there something special about? Do I want this house? And I always go looking for the same thing. Tree line street, no matter where it is, can be in Canaveral, Danyl. Tree line street, near the schools, not on a main road. Just looking for the basics in real estate and you'll never go wrong. And can we get a sense of how many transactions you're doing a year? Personal or company? I overall, I'd be interested to do that. Me, personally, probably eight to ten a year. I mean, I buy and sell all the time. We just put a building in Calton. Actually, just three weeks ago, we went to get coffee and ended up buying a building. So that happened sometimes. But did you get the bread? No, that's a good idea. But company-wise, we might do three, four hundred sales a year. Pretty solid. And we do commercial, residential, businesses, divorce rates high. So that's great for business, you know, we're amazing. 30% of our properties are separation. Hence the motivation of the seller. Very motivated. The problem of the separation is we end up being more of a counsellor than an estate agent. And there's four sales involved every time. Because there's always another couple on the other side of it. So it's a complicated business. We deal in wills, estates. It's a minefield sometimes. So you transact personally? Are you a buying hold or are you a buying seller? Normally a buying hold. In most cases, I like to hold long term and I sell off a swap and it's something. But I prefer to hold real estate. So you're about to go and buy property for yourself your own portfolio this weekend? Where would you go? What would you look for? Okay, first thing I would do is I'd ring the agent that's handling it. And I find out the listing agent, not the black that's handling it. So there's two sides of that. There's the lister who signs the house up and there's a young guy that then we get to handle it. Generally, I'd go to the guy that listens to say, what do you really want for it? Why are they selling? They'll tell you. Can I buy it now? I don't need to come to auction. Just have a very straight conversation. If I really want to buy it, I'm going to have a coffee with him. I want to look him in the eyes and say, what do you really want for it? Seafood blinks. And then I'll make him an offer while I go to the auction. If I go to the auction, I turn up the auction and say, I'll come here. I'm here to buy it. My name's Glen, shake hands. Not to make things difficult for you. I just want to buy the house. Sometimes if you have the agent on your side, you'll win. Don't be his enemy. Do you think that you've got a bit of an advantage being an agent? No, no. I do always disguise it. If I was Mr. and Mr. Jones and I wasn't an agent, I would go to the auction. I'd put a suit on a time if I was going to buy real estate. I'd always go to dress for business. Stand next to the auctioneer, shake hands, be his best mate. You're market a quick hammer. Is that part of the tactic, though? Because that's something that I like to do. Stand at the front. You like to stand on the wing of the auctioneer. I like to be able to eyeball all the buyers. Ultimately, as a buyers agent, we want to professionally intimidate other people that we're here to buy. We've got deep pockets. When I buy real estate, again, I'd stand next to the auctioneer. I would look at all the buyers in a friendly way. I kind of persuade them to think that I'm never going to stop. No blinking, no discussion, no phone call. I don't want to be standing. If a husband or wife are bidding for, I don't want them to come. If they do come, once they look at each other, they just tell me they're out of money. Correct. Very obvious. Once they make a phone call, they're down. Sometimes I go to the auction, put my hand up and I just leave it up and I won't move. And it just stays up. Most people look away. I've got to limit like anyone else. But it's that street theatre, which is effectively what it is. Because we do it all the time. We understand what we're doing, whereas someone who's in the market is not the right person. who's a novice at it, why not necessarily know how to play the first game of cards. Well, you know, you need a poker. You might have read all the books, but at the end of the day you're still anxiety in their face. There's that stress, there's that looking at each other when we said we weren't going to look at each other. There's that figure that we set, then we look at each other so can we go a little bit more because it's going to run over. Yeah, it's interesting. I always set the figure and then add a hundred and then be in the zone, do I want this house badly? If it's one of six, then set an up and walk away. And if I need it because I hold on the house next door, I've got the one behind, then there's no negotiation and then don't waver in your bidding. Yeah. It's interesting you say you stood there with your hand up because the only tactic that I've seen consistently work is confidence. I've seen people roll up in a wash. I've seen people, we have the aviator glasses on. I've seen people try and intimidate all that works is confidence because people have got their limit and it's when you get to that limit. I mean, we bought one on the weekend, one of our team, you talk about the look, that new at the point and the other by had that look, then she just looked at them, straightened the eye, whispered and said, I've got plenty. Yeah. And it was just enough to knock her off and she didn't put her hand up against us. She didn't throw away her last five, ten grand. So ultimately, have you seen anything other than confidence when you consistently? No, I've always wins. Yeah. Absolutely confidence because most people remember that go to an auction that aren't represented by an advocate. They do it once in ten years and they're gone and they don't get the system, they don't get the game. Yeah. You know, I know the auctioneer, I know his style, I know when he's on the market, I know when he's nervous, it makes such a difference. And I always say to people, no matter what you're doing for a living, don't try and be in a constadation for the weekend, you unemployed somebody, me or you, I don't care who they employ, but employees someone. Yeah. Because I've passed properties into somebody at 1.2 at an auction, as an auctioneer and I've said the reserves 1.3 and they go, yes, you know, just like that. Now, have they employed somebody to negotiate? They would have bought it for 100 less. Right. But don't walk into my auction and think you're going to buy cheaply. Employ an advocate who knows the game who can bluff. And that's the best part about having you on the podcast is that we're seeing it from primarily a selling agent here. So, you know, what I want the listeners to try and get a sense of is, you know, what's your mindset, what are you looking for, how are you going about it? So, here's a question for you. You know, what should someone who's looking to engage a selling agent look for in their agent? So, we all buy hold if we can, but we're going to have family members and there's going to be up sizing and downsizing that's going to occur. What are some of the critical things you want to see in a great selling agent? Okay. So, for me, people point, I mean, I get a point a lot as you know. Yes. And most of my business is uncontested, it's recommended. So, the recommendation is really strong. You're an attraction agent. Yeah. Attraction agent. I don't have to compete with three agents a lot. And if I do, I'm happy to compete. But I always say the first 60 seconds, do you like the bloke? Don't ask for fees and marketing. Do you like the guy? Or girl? Do you love him? If you like him in 60 seconds, your customers will. Because they look you in the eye. Do they smell good? That's what it's all about. Do they smell good? Do they pass those tests? That's pretty important, right? And then the next one is the first one to drop their fees is the one you throw out. Because that means I can't negotiate. Right? I drop my fees sometimes too, but I try. I try. Have a go. I try and get a really good fee. And if you can't, then you're going to drop your fees. But you want to test their negotiation skills. And if they drop their fees too quickly, then they're going to drop your value of your real estate in a second. And the last one is, are they in it for the long term? And is it a quick one-night stand? In an out four week? So when I made a client, like I'm selling for late at the moment, I know I'm going to know for 40 years until I'm dead. Because I like her. I'm going to help her out. It's a long, long term relationship. She's 70, I'm 50. So we'll both be gone in 30 years, right? But I know that it's a 30 year relationship. Most of my statements were going in out and be paid and gone in three weeks. Which is interesting. I mean, Bryce talked about a property in 2007. You knew the property. You knew the view. You knew everything about that. How much confidence should a vendor put in the product knowledge of the agent as well? I'm going to state agent, right? But it's not about real estate. It's a people. Yeah. Like, you're in the people business. I know that house. I know it's self-amid fires. But the lady's name's Sue. The son's like, you know, I know where they live. I know what they do for living and I know what he's studying. I know the family. And I want, if you're selecting an agent, you get an agent that actually knows you as a family, knows you as a team, knows your kids' names. That's the agent you want. I love agents that know that have families because it works well. They're a lot more committed to the process. They've got commitment. They're honest. They're straight. And I think looking for the agent that's in it with you for the long term. Not a quick sale. Hey folks, Ben here. I hope you're enjoying the podcast. Now, if you want to take your property, finance and money knowledge, even further, check out the new My Knowledge in more. We've packed My Knowledge with over 120 plus free resources from free reports to educational video series to fact sheets on demand courses and heaps more. Get started today at theprobablycouch.com.au/myknowledge. Give us a bit of an insight for the listeners. What the insider's got to be an agent looks like because a lot of people who get paid time for money, if you're talking on Monday, clock on Friday, don't understand how a realist at agent actually earns a living. Yeah, so we get paid by the vendor. So if I don't list a house, I don't make any money. So there's no point if you're a buy and you ring me up and you say, "Can you show me five houses?" I can't really help you because I don't, you don't pay me. So buyers don't get shown houses and driven around and show in house unless they've got a house to sell. So from agents point of view, we're really interested in something on there, but are there a house to sell? Or we absolutely love you. But 30 years ago you probably did be the convertible, didn't you? I did. But people I really liked. My first process is, is to think about real estate. You can choose your own customers. We meet 50 people that I have an inspection. Who am I going to deal with? 50 of them want to buy a house. You know what? I pick the ones I really like. That's what it's great. People I said, "You got great clients, I pick them." Anyone who walks in gives me a really hard time. I just politely say, "Goodbye." So that's the first thing. If you want to work with a really good agent, just be a good mate. Be nice to them. They'll be nice to you. Sometimes a vendor, you know, we've got houses with selling for clients and they'll leave our cookies and milk. I end up working harder to get them more money. It's crazy, isn't it? You can tell by the stomach. It's a lot of work. But are you one of the happiest agents I've ever met, too? There's just nothing phases you. No, no. And you've been consistent for a long time, so. Yes. But Glendiz, I mean, what you say sounds simple, but not all the wages are doing that. How come you're able to grasp that better than most? I mean. I've always had a really positive mindset and I've always thought, "Well, you know what, if you're not good at your job, just stay in the contest." So if you're not great at it and you're just learning, then you know what? Just getting it started. When I started my career, I was in at 7.30 every morning because I didn't know what I was doing. So I just got in early and just stayed there and luck falls your way. And I'd say if you're not a great agent, you're not really naturally gifted, then you stay in the contest. Like I've probably been gifted with some good skills, but I've worked hard to get them. Like I'm confident, right? But I was in confident 30 years ago, a little Indian kid school in the corner and I wasn't a confident kid. I'd like to force myself to be an auctioneer, force myself to stand up in front of people. I did my auction training in a park by myself doing an auction for weeks and weeks. I stood in a park and auctioned to nobody. Like a good. To the trees. To the trees and people walking past and all that. You know what? Took away my show on us. And you just have to. If you're coming in a real estate, you have to be an attraction business and you have to just be absolutely kind to everyone you meet and it's easy. So talk to Sir, what you meet someone, you've got a process. Well, I just met these two gorgeous girls here and I got both your names and details correct. And you're along and you are going to be carton. So you're going to go on my database and probably you know I'm probably going to write your letter to say it's nice to meet you and develop a relationship because one day your mum might sell and hopefully you say well just ring Glen, he was nice to me. So I was going to be on a database. You put a rest of the stick, she'll know. But I think that's important message for us. We got a lot of professional services who listen to our podcast. I mean, Glen's just giving them a tip because you'll send them a text. You'll send them an email. Well the girls will give me an email because I think I'm trying to date them. So I got their email to start with. But when they reply back to my email, all their names and details will be at the bottom. So they'll steal it. And like the girls in Western Australia that they're out of their way, they're really nice lady helping with something. I wrote them a nice letter. She wrote back to me. I've got her details. I sent her kids a cup of carton, had some weird buddies and she's referred me and listening already. That easy. I won't meet anyone with a writing them a letter. Everyone I meet. But so how do you write hundreds of letters a month? Well I'd see you. I just get the business card like this. I give it to my daughter Brooke and she writes, dear Bryce was really great to meet you. Thanks for being this on I stick Glen and we post it. I mean it's not totally genuine but it's just the objective. I've got off my backside to send you something and I think well okay, well Bryce whenever you've got a house to sell or a friend that's got a shoe months ago, maybe I'll wringle and you took the effort to write me a letter. Just be nice to you. Basic human behaviour. Tell us a bit about a florist. Okay so I bought a florist. So I've got, I send flowers to all my clients. Both they, the client of my just listen to the house with me after receiving flowers for her birthday 28 years in a row. And wedding anniversary she gets flowers every year for the last 25 years and her husband gets a message the night before to remind him. So I've only good relationship. I do that with all my customers right. And I end up spending the 14th of our flower, so I bought a florist in Canterbury. I bought the florist. We've very branded it and a lot of my clients go in there now. And then we just put in a coffee shop as well so it's called Black Betty Coffee and then the florist is called Centilla. So my clients go in there, they get a coffee, give them a bunch of flowers on the way out. It's a great business. I didn't sell any houses week by sold 11 bunches of flowers and about three bags of coffee. But I think that's the message here is great customer service, great experiences, go the extra mile, do the one percenters. So whether this is a podcast about how amazing Glyn's, Runnies, Business and while you're you know one of the Australia's top real estate agents, there's also messages in here for property investors. Do you want percenters? Do your research? Don't cut corners. Get a relationship with the agent. One of the things that frustrates me out there is there's some buyers agents out there who were aggressive and there's some boys out there who are aggressive and you just don't need to be aggressive. You don't need to be, look you know buys advocates roomy up at the time if they're friendly and they say what's the reserve hotel and what's it going to make? I'll tell them, I'll just tell you the truth, please. But it's a mindset of customer service that you just have in your life. Like I was in a coffee shop the other day, these two long-haired guys come in having coffee. I said, "When you guys are here, you say, "Yeah, we were." I said, "Oh, thanks, coming back." I went and got some chocolates and some cakes, gave it to them and some me. They've been back every day since. That's how easy real estate is exactly the same business, right? Did you take your little life frame in the business? It's my coffee shop. My son does singing and after the first singing lesson, he wrote the singing teacher a letter because I've trained him that way. I wrote him a letter and recently he's got this little dog, beautiful dog and I'm going to be born in a dog bowl and some presence for his family and that just listed his mother's house for auction, not a coincidence, no competition. And that's how easy real estate is. It's actually the easiest business in the world. So are you in real estate or are you in business real estate or people? Yeah. Actually, don't like property. People go, "Oh, you love real estate. Houses, you want to show me your house? I don't like it." I don't like it. But the challenge for you is you're seeing some of the very best houses in Melbourne as well. But I get my cilantro. Yeah, yeah. Normally I go and sit down and have a cup of coffee, sign the house up. Do you want to look at the house up? If you want me to. I don't want to buy it. I want you to know that I want you to work with me. If you want to show me the house on the toilet, that's great. It's a funny thing people ask about. Are you watching the block of noise? The last thing I want to do is go and watch the movie. I'll never watch it. That's the way I look at it. I still think there's one to realize that show you should watch that. What's that one? I'll location location location. There's a little plug for the shot. Yeah, look, back on the selling agent thing for me. A selling agent comes in to speak to a vendor for the first time. And we hear it all the time when we're doing expos and that type of people come up and say, "How do I deal with a selling agent? How often do selling agents tell untruths about the value to try and win the listing?" Well, those days are probably gone, I reckon. You might go to a house and you think it's worth $750 to $800, right? And the owner thinks it's $9, which is always the case. Sometimes you've got to be careful on how you catch it. Because if you argue with him, you get thrown out. So if you're a good agent, you say, "Look, I think it's $750, and I understand you want $9, and I'm happy to have a go at $9." That's my conversation. I remember that it's Chase 9. As long as you and I agree, I haven't told you what's $9. In my younger days, I would have just said $9 and signed it up because I didn't know any better. I think I've got my dialogue right. But when you're first knew when you real estate, you probably don't know. So you just have to agree with the owner and get on with it. Because we meet a lot of unrealistic people. I think that's an important dialogue to just think about from the perspective of the buyer. Because that's exactly what is going on for the agent. They've got to facilitate a transaction, change the title from one person to another, in the best interest of their client, which is the seller. And the buyer, if they're a clock on a clock off Monday to Friday, they don't understand that the agent doesn't get paid per alley, they get paid for a result. And therefore they can get frustrated with the real estate agent. But without realizing that the real estate agent actually isn't acting in the buyer's best interest. No, we're not going to do any favors. And look, a lot of times we're dealing with divorce. You know, I've got properties down selling for where there's two different reserve prices. I've got one where this full beneficiary is fighting and they've all got different reserves. So somebody would say, well, what do you want for us? And I actually can't tell you because I've got four people can't agree. So it's a complicated system sometimes. If we've got a reserve and somebody says, what is it? And I've got it, I can say, hey, this is what we want. But just remember, the agent's job is to get you to pay the most amount of money. There was a lot of frustrated buyers out there with the market as hot as it is. And there's always that famous old saying, quite a low watch. You know, get an audience, you know, get people through. And that looks good for the vendor who's doing that. I mean, I still put you in the 1% of agents clean. So I still think in some unmachua markets or low-rend markets, there's probably still that competition for that listing where they are possibly saying to the vendor, I'd get you and then condition the vendor to come down off that. So I definitely agree, I mean with obviously people like yourself, with great people like John McGraw and Tom Pannos on their million dollar agent podcast. People, they're trying to educate the industry to improve and lift that standards. Where do you see the industry going for professionalism? And how far has it come from in the time you've been involved? I've been doing the same thing for 30 years, which is people loving, which is what I always do. But I see it moving forward, it's always going to be a people business. It's not going to be automated. But there are plenty of people along the Concrete Ticket on the way through now. There's buyers, advocates, vendor advocates and plenty of that sort of stuff. Look, I think that good agents have to just stay in the contest for a long period of time. And I'll just get, there's so much business around. If you're a good agent, you won't be able to keep up. There's not going to change it. And to be honest, if the market drops devastatingly bad, it's fantastic. Nothing makes any difference to us. No, that's from the end of the day. We know that the data tells us that once it comes off the peak, there's a lot of people that are holding on, picking up on the list. And then they go into the market too late. And that pushes that little bit of a spur in supply, which is good for agents. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, as I said, the business we are is financial sales. We do lots of mortgage sales. We do lots of disputes. We do lots of divorces. If you don't love your husband, then the market drops you still don't love him, right? So it doesn't make any difference. What's the best time of the year to sell a property? Depends on where you are. But in our market, you just avoid the school holidays. So avoid the school holidays in our market. Otherwise, all year round, you can do it. Further out, it's not so school holiday driven because people don't go far. So it depends on if you're in the affluent areas, they still go overseas. Because your plants are an aspirin. They're a separate brand. Correct. They go on their off. So if you go out, I've got houses for sale, which is croiden out in Glasgow Road, out that way in Montrose, they don't tend to go to aspirin. So they might go to Rye. So you can sell all year round there. So it just depends on where. And grandfather, of course, you can call it in the plane. Not in 95. Not in Wilder. So what's the most important piece of property investment advice you've ever received or given? Well, basically looking long term. So don't look at the market and the value of the property today. You're going to have it for 10 years. Work out. Do you need it? How bad do you want it in your portfolio? And the second one was always buying a tree line streak. Can't go wrong if you're in a tree line streak. Because they just go up all the time. What's the appeal? What are most buyers saying about tree line streets versus one that have an. It's just the look in the feel of the real estate. If you drive. If you drive through Yeareville, Whitiebstown, Hawthorn, Campbell, Canberra, all the beautiful streets with all the lovely trees. Have all the nice houses in them. So what's the sign? It's that wide street. It would turn around. It looks pretty family. Pick up fences. That's where everyone wants to be, right? And we talk a lot about human interest, human behaviour. There's a status to that as well. There's that I'm in one of the best streets in the area and I feel comfortable living in this area and there's like-minded people. And I buy into that as an owner occupies. That's true. Because ultimately that's what drives me. And it's the same in looking to go to Ballarat and find a beautiful tree line streak. You can go to any summer. There's one in every summer. Just pick the best street. If you want to diversify your portfolio, which is a good idea and go to different suburbs, just pick the best street in every summer. And you'll never go wrong. And you'll never get a bargain in those streets. They've always never bargained. Whatever the age and squading add, 15, you'll probably get a pay right. But you've got it long term. When you go to bargain, when you go to sell, it's going to be bargain again. And I think in this market, you'd be very careful with that. And probably have to be a little bit cautious about what you're buying off the plan. Because that market might be a little bit shaky. What's the worst piece of advice you've ever heard with respect to property as an investment? As property, the worst piece of advice I've seen people do is buying properties that bought off financial advisors or accountants. And they haven't actually seen them. And I think they've- so they bought something off the plans, which we sell off the plans too. But you got to remember that the display room is bigger than what you're getting. So you have to be- if you can't read plans, don't buy off the plan. So I'm buying off the photos. So you've got to have a really good look at what you're buying. That's a ripper. Have you ever been out and ago, shaded? Over the journey where someone- Did you ever like- Obviously on the journey, someone's like, "Teezy, got me on that one." Like it was a really good story and I fell for it and basically- Not as an agent. As a buyer, like I bought cars always paid more than I should. Everything I bought, I always pay the asking price. Every car I bought I paid whatever they've asked. I'm a sucker. But as an agent, now I've never been out to go shopping. That's good to know. And if he is, is it a 24 years ago, maybe once? Or what's been- what do you see some of the better negotiating tactics? Yeah, one of the rookie mistakes of a buyer comes up against you. Because you never get out and ago, shaded. So you see them coming to go- Well, I might cut sometimes. Coming spin-off. What are the common things you're seeing them do? It's just body language. I know if I'm looking at somebody in the eyes and they want to pay more money, they generally look away. You just can read that and they look at their wife or they have to make a phone call. They're just giving the game away. Or silly things like, "I'm telling me, you're buying a house in John Street." And you say, "Oh yeah, my sister lives next door." Well, you're gone. My brother lives across the road. Up goes the price. You know, just don't tell me anything. You know, we need to get into this house because we're going to go to the school across the road. You're going to end up paying more money. Well, what does a buyer need to tell you? Because buyers are liars, right? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So you don't want them to tell too much, but that's why a lot of buyers get there and say nothing. But what's the dialogue they should be going on? I'll find that anyway. Because if you walk through one of my houses, I normally let you walk through the house and I grab my kids and talk to them. And they'll tell me. So you've got to get folks. So if folks, that's a good time to take kids. To gamble or cue. Very true. So what do you think of townhouses and apartments? I know you'd be a big advocate for houses. Yeah, townhouses. Now, townhouses, I've got a couple of myself. I think with townhouses, I always go looking for three or four on a block, not 20. Not massive body corpits. Yeah. And if that's the important thing, and also not too long. heavy on the stairs in my patch because of all these stairs are a problem to want when you resell. So and in relation to apartments again it's almost the same thing. Not I avoid the massive blocks. So booting blocks 8, 10, 12, you're always going to do well. You're straight. You're always going to do well. City View. Sometimes in 1970s, 60s buildings are really good. Solid. And you just start looking for the ones that actually aren't in massive big blocks. The ones that are done fixed up and sold very quickly get caught. So what is some because we advocate no brand new and we advocate largely 50 60 70s blocks. So what's some tips for buyers if they're going into a 50 60 70s block that they should look for that the common buy might not think about? Well I think they just got to check the title because in the old days it was strut, has strut, company share. It's not so often now but that can be complicated. And the other mistake they always making those are older ones is the car park is not normally on title. So those 70s block there's 12 car spaces and 12 property actually don't know. So you're just going to be clear on that if you buy it. You only get the usage of it but you don't and that causes them grief. Normally they can stand there either we have a toilet wrong but in most cases you don't own the title. And the court yards in front of your little building you don't know either. And you wouldn't know because it's fancy and you think it's yours but it's actually not yours. So the neighbor comes and has a barbecue there and you going on it's mine. So that's the common mistake with the older building because it's not clear. So talk to our listeners about strut, them and company. What about about about. Just a clear title is always the best. The company share one's a little complicated and the bankstone like lending on company share. Generally the strut and titles have been converted to strata. But most listeners out there wouldn't understand it. So you just got to say to your lawyer what what what what. So and from a lending point of you exactly that. So some banks don't have an appetite for strata or company title. Yeah. Because effectively strata is actually owning air. You're owning that piece of air. Where is with company title and strata title. There's a relationship with the with company title. It's the units that you own. Those units are allocated to that particular property or that particular car spot. So you've got to make sure that those units are lining up with for what you're technically buying. But we are seeing more and more of those strut less on the stratum. Yeah. Moving across the strata. So smart vendors know in their complexes they get together in their body corporate and they say look at my costs is $10,000 to move it across to a strata. But we'll get a better result because there'll be potentially more bias because what happens from a lending point of view from a strata property is that the lender might have a maximum 80% LVR on it. So where is with strata. They will mind we do 90 95. So they've got a better appetite because it's an easier clear title. Yeah. Have you seen when you someone's walked in they've seen one of those properties. I think it's a strata. Yeah. They ask you of the dialogue around the others. Have you seen that that has a. Yeah. Well, in most cases to be honest most agents don't understand it and most buyers don't get it. So they generally brush it off and say they'll just get them with your auction. So you really have to do your research. If you're not sure about it just get a lawyer to look at the contract first. It's in a hot market that makes no difference because the market's red hot. But when the market does turn there are the ones that you can get caught on very quickly. What are some of the things that you would want to tell listeners about real estate? I mean what just comes off the top of your head in the UK. Well, I think I think it's a great investment. I think obviously I'm a state agent. I'd say that but I think that you should diversify. You shouldn't have all your stuff in one suburbs. So it's good to have three or four different suburbs. I think that's important. I think you've got to think ahead if you've got children because none of your kids have been able to afford to buy anything the way the market's going. So you probably should start allocating funds aside to buy properties as in trust for each kid because at the time I get to 22 they're not going to have a afford to how old your girls. Right. You think I've got a afford to house. It's so expensive. Right. So you've got to think about that. If you want to live closely. If you want to live in a city. I've got a bit of a beef with this whole housing affordability. Yeah. Like the first home by his grant where am I going to live at the top mat down in on? Yeah. It's $100,000. Yeah. Look and I suppose the point there is if we all want to live in some of the best areas of any capital city on the planets. Yeah. We're going to pay a premium for it. Yeah. So it's about setting that expectation in terms of to get into a two million or a three million or a four million dollar house. You've got to take a journey. You've got to take steps to get to that to just have the expectation that you're going to be able to get into that straight out of you is not the right expectation. And that's where we don't want false hope by some of these politicians around negative gearing and so forth. Basically saying, oh, we bring negative gearing in and that's going to make every house an issue. It's not going to make any difference at all. If you're a young person, if you're in your 20s and you want to buy a property 23, 24 years old, the first thing I'd suggest you is go and find a couple of agents get to know them asking if you can do a week's worth of spoons in the office. Come and work with us for a week. Just get a feel for the game. Understand the lingo. Know your stuff and you'll you'll make a mate. We'll help you find a house. That's how it is. So just on that point, because I really want to stress that when we're in a good area and you know, you're taking the property to the auction, how many on average now buyers do you have that are at that auction at the moment? Ah, look at it in a good street, a seven or eight buyers. Seven or eight buyers. You all know this stuff and don't forget if you're going in, you're competing against three that have misforener row. So if you're first time, you're going to get rolled three or four times. So you have to be in the zone. Okay. Of that buyer list of seven or eight, how many are property investors? A half, half, at least half. Okay. So let's take out three or four. Yep. We've still got three or four buyers. Yep. Who was still going to run it out, aren't they? If they're going to fight hard, if they're going to good straight, they're all going to fight. So do you feel that in those markets that taking investors out would slow down the growth rate of property? No, because under the investors, there's another four or five home buyers that will just jump in straight away. You know, we've got, we've got tons of people trying to help their children buy real estate. So the dads are stumping up the cash shop front. So there's another line. If the market comes off seven or eight percent, it'll just bounce straight back. Chris Bowen, you're listening. You heard it. You heard it. You heard it. This is what happens in a city areas when you might even have, whether it's only four buyers lined up, if one or two of those are investors, there's still a competitive market. And that still pushes prices high because owner occupies buy with emotion that don't buy with their head, they buy with their hearts. So don't start delivering false hope to all of the people out there that all of the properties in North Vitro oil, whether it be, you know, Richmond or St Kildor are going to be cheap again. If we bring negative gearing, it won't happen. It won't happen. It will make the houses out in the Addasaburbs cheaper. And that's going to affect obviously mum and dad's who were struggling or don't have that household income. The last thing we want to do for those people is reduce the value of their hearts. Crazy. Glenn, what's the end game for you? Because someone in your position isn't worried about cash flight because elite agents get paid well. You've talked about your own portfolio, you've got enough properties. What's the end of the line? The end of the line is, well, we're just about to open an RTN office in Carlton. That's what we bought a business for. So we're going to start a new business in that side of town. Look at the competitive market. The market, I'm 52. I think I'll do it till I'm dead. Because what else am I going to do? Life just won't be at home. Five or six kids that are hanging around and there's an opportunity for them to work in the business if they want. And my business is. Come up with them, huh? Yeah, they are. That's right. And my business is, it's evolved to a level where it's an attraction business. So I'm selling, you know, people just ring up and say, "You saw from me 15 years ago, come back." Yeah. On a plate. I love it. It's a great atmosphere. Can we tell the story about the kids in the car? Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, look, I left this morning at 7.30. I had two kids in the car. One was texting people to say, "Happy Birthday." The other was on Facebook saying, "Happy Birthday to all my customers." When he anniversary, two this morning, one of them did messages this morning. That's their job. So they had a job between 7.30 and 82. Actually, I don't know if that's cool for you. Yeah, I don't know if there's cool for you. There's cool for you. And I don't have to unpack the dishwasher. They're going to say, "It's good to see you." Yeah. Yeah. The customers, I love it. Oh, really? But do you separate your business from your life business? No, it's not. My life business. Yeah, you've made a call that this is who you are. And we love it. Now, like, a lot of people go, "Oh, so many people work really hard." I'm the same. Everyone goes, "You work so hard in your business." They're like, "You think it's a business." I actually love that. That's the best. It's the best. It's the best thing. Once you've found your niche and you know what you want to do. Look, we were at, and on the other day, we were at Teppin' Archi in Collins Street, great restaurant, had dinner. As I was leaving the waiter said, "Grey, and I didn't even have to write his name there because my daughter wrote his name there because she knows to write him the letter. And the other guy's name is he's got a letter because we don't know any better." The whole family's educated in customer service. Yeah, brilliant. So, I guess an extension of that question though, is you've obviously got businesses part of the portfolio. You've got property. What's the end game for property? Do you want us to deliver a passive income to you? You're just going to liquidate and have cash. No, no, I'll just keep the property eventually. Eventually we'll, you know, when you retire, I suppose you just handed on to the kids and move on. Just keep the property leaving for the children, don't they? They've got to catch them. Legacy generation. Yeah. I'd like to teach them, you know, my son was in the forest the other day sweeping up and doing things like that. He's got to learn how to work, even though he doesn't need to work. He's got to learn. And I think that's the work ethics are most important for him. And, you know, if I sat down with each one of my kids now, they've all got a goal sheet and it starts with hours they work, what they do, respect for women's big. That's what I want to teach my kids. Four boys, good to teach them respect for women and then teach them how to follow up people, keeping touch. It's the same. Like, move away from that sense of entitlement and teaching the value of time and the value of work for earning an outcome. Yeah. I think it's really important. Yeah. So, why don't, so the real estate agents at the Colface, the amount of real estate agents that I meet who have been in the game long, not just five minutes, but who don't own an investment property? Okay, absolutely. It doesn't make any sense because, you know, your investment property can make you $100,000 a year. You know, it can make you really good money. And I think it's hard to convince people about property unless you buy property. You've got to, and you've got to go through that process. And I think the best thing you can do is teach your kids that same mindset. Like, so my daughter who's 22 broke, I've said to her, as soon as you get half the deposit, I'll go your house, we'll go bust something fast. Right? And the same with age kid. half of the deposit, get him in the real estate, otherwise they'll get priced out of the market. My son's learning singing, putting an album out and all that sort of stuff, but on his website it says call me if you want me to work. And when he goes to a gig and sings at 12, he'll always write a follow-up letter, thank you. Of course he does. He'll always get some job. It's little things that make a difference. What's the mindset of the agent though? It does says, I'm just not ready to. 37, I know one agent, 37 years in the game. I said how many properties you got and he goes, oh I know some more. Oh God, what would you sell them all? I got that crazy. And it's because they, because a good agent could have a good year, 200,000, right? Is it because they always think they're not going to have the same year next year? Not you, you're this consistent. But the. No, I think what it is is sometimes you can look a good agent can work an million dollars very quickly in a year. Can you remember that? It was a few years ago. If you were back now. But I think we're going to get that loan out. Would you? I think what it is is that real estate agents and I know tons of them and I'll try and keep really close to the market, but they lose the passion for people, market property. And that's when you're gone. Yeah. Do you lose the passion for people? I reckon that's a great way to wrap that section up. That was brilliant. A couple of quick ones for you. Who was your first mentor? My first mentor would have been Neil Burgess, head of Woodhuds. Okay. And what was the best? No, he just got my moral compass right. Because I would have been a bit wild when I was young and you know, he straightened me out. He was a rotary boy. Everything's honest. He got to be honest, got to tell the truth and pretty hard when you're confident out of service. But he straightened me up. That's what I needed. And what is success meant to you? Just for me, happy wife, really positive motivated children, the rest of it's a relevant. Yeah. Happy wife, quiet life. Not too quiet, but happy. Happy. Very good. No, look, I mean, obviously, thank you so much for coming here. It's been a real treat. We plan to do, you know, to identify these great Asians around Australia and get them on. Because it's good to see it from the other side. And you know, human beings, you know, that's the other message that selling agents have got a job to do and they're really good ones. I really great people, people. And I think that's really important to understand. So Glenn, it's been a privilege having you on the property catch. We certainly think that the listeners will benefit from your wisdom. At this point, we throw over to a couple of things here where we give a few life hacks to our listeners. So this is about productivity. So I think you've got productivity disorder. Yeah, I think it's because of the right price. It's got a beauty. Do you use any digital apps that you can't live with out? So I use all the social media sites. There's seven of them. But when I say I use them, I'm 52. So the girl that does it for me is my niece Amber and she gets about 20 bucks a week and she does all my social media. 20 bucks. It's for you to manage for 10 year olds. Oh, I know. They're mad at you about that anyway. Well, I just send it. If I get a positive thing, I just send it to her and I have it on the way home from schools. She just gets on the tram and she classes as they ever went. Yeah, yeah. So I use an app called Evernote. I've banged on about that a bit. But it's like a digital brain, you know. It reminds for creating and thinking and your brain's not for storing. So I use Evernote. But I've often heard this challenge because I listen, do you listen to podcasts? No, never. Sorry. What do you want to be? And he's like, so you just had a listen to what? No, no. But what about Autumn of Evil University? You've got to, you'd be telling your sales guys to listen to something in the car than the radio. Yeah, when I started, and I first couple of years in real estate, Tom Hopkins sales real estate, brainwashed, got my dialogue right. Now I just listen to football talk back because I'm a tragic. Yeah, yeah. Well, I listen to a lot of podcasts, bend to listen to a lot of podcasts, but the challenges I listen to most of them while I'm driving. So the challenge is I'm listening to a podcast with Glen Cortino and you drop a nugget of wisdom. And I think, I've got to write that down. But I'm driving. So the thing with the Evernote app, Ben, is it's got a little dictaphone button. So if you're about to, you know, save driving before you pull it over. Before you put it in drive. Pulled over. You get Evernote open and you get a note started. And I'm about to listen to the property catch, for example. Yep. And I'm driving to work for the next 40 minutes. And then if Ben Kingsley drops one of his famous nuggets of wisdom, I then just hit the dictaphone button and it pauses the podcast. And then it allows me to speak and it types out, more than just said. So of course I'm driving along and imagine someone says something like, location does 80% of the heavy lifting. And I want to write that down. Bang, I hit the microphone. I'll speak that into the phone. It'll actually write what I say. I can get on with driving. I won't get into an accent and I don't lose the opportunity for the wisdom. So that is a very important thing. Well then your part is very nice. Well, bang, I'm just on, I don't know why you'd be listening to our podcast, but that's another story for another day. No, no, I'm not. For example. For example. Oh, for example. So, did you know? Did you know? Obviously why? Everyone listens to this podcast clean because we have this session. Oh, I just come up with some ridiculous fact. You know about. We didn't know text last week. Yeah, we didn't know text yet. We didn't know text yet. No, I don't know. We didn't know text. I didn't know it. I didn't know it. No, I didn't know it. I'm not going to tell you about it. What is it called? Palandrones. Palandrones. Now, palandrones are words that basically are the same when in reverse. Now, how many palandrones? Level. Sorry. Level. Level what? Yeah, you can speak level forwards and spell it backwards. Oh, that's the side of this level. Level what? I'm just going to say where you are anyway. I just want to say that. Oh, yeah, that's good word. There's an example. So, we have over 15,000 sub-oops. I'm like, where's he going with level? Now, I get it. 15,000 sub-oops. See, I'm sorry. Folks. Yeah, you're dealing with a very, very ordinary mind here. How many of the Australian suburbs are Palandrones? One. You can think of one? You think of one? Well, I know. It's a question. Yeah. I'm the one that researches all you. Well, that's your job. And how many other? Three. Oh, there you go. Three. One health. One health. One health. One health. In South Australia. Yeah. Tumor. In New South Wales. One territory. P-A-R-A-P. Spell it forward. Spell it backwards. It's exactly the same way. That is wisdom. There we go. So, it's free. So, you can see what's going to happen. People, Mr. People business over here. Today, we'll be saying, yeah, it's true. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very good. Thanks again for coming on Glenn. Thanks, fellas. We appreciate it. And I'll be back. And, uh, Bernan, until next week. See you later. We're not actually on a couch. Well, we're standing. Yeah. Just what I tell you. [LAUGHTER] Well, that's the magic of our. Very shy. OK. They're right, folks. We'll see you next week.