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OneRoof.co.nz
THE PROPERTY RICH LIST | SELLING
SUPER PRIME MOVERS
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here’s a short list of agents who sell prime real estate in New Zealand. They mingle with the country’s elite, and are often indistinguishable from their clients, enjoying the same pursuits, wearing the same style of clothing and driving the same luxury cars. They are the ultimate middlemen and middlewomen. They know just what to say and who to say it to, and without them, deals fall apart and expensive houses lie unsold or fail to reach their full market potential. They’ll keep in contact with clients they’ve previously housed, sometimes decades back, just in case there’s an itch to move. They know the number of luxury homes in New Zealand is relatively small compared to the rest of the market, and that for their clients, there is a small window of opportunity to get the be!er house or be!er location. More often than not, the job is about anticipating needs. Mark Harris, managing director of New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty, says discretion is important for many of his vendors. “Quite often people in that category don’t want to make a big fuss. They want a discreet, private approach,” he says. Many of the deals Harris’ agents broker are under the radar, with buyers found through personal contacts or the company’s database of local and international prospects. Ray White principal Heather Walton, who sells prestige homes in Auckland and in the wealthy beach enclave of Omaha, to the north of the city, says top-end clients need agents who are connected. “You become the one they go to because they know you’ve got the connections, you’ve got the database,” she says. “You’ve got to walk amongst them. You can’t be an outsider.”
What wealthy buyers want
Walton says her son’s 13 years at Kings’ prep and King’s College has made her all sorts of connections, which she cultivates by giving back to the school through sponsorship of things like the rugby teams. “Giving back helps bring people together. People know me as Harrison’s mum,” she said. Precision agent Di Balich, who also sells in Omaha, agrees that relationships are important. “Buyers approach me to go in my black book when certain properties come up, while with sellers it’s more about relationships. I’ve dealt with them before, they’ll come back to me,” she says. “Often the really big deals have non-disclosure clauses from buyers and sellers so you can’t even talk about them.”
“YOU’VE GOT TO WALK AMONGST THEM. YOU CAN’T BE AN OUTSIDER.”
These agents have been selling houses to the very rich for decades. So how do they convince rich-listers to sign on the dotted line? DIANA CLEMENT and CATHERINE SMITH find out
Discretion is important, especially when a listing is the result of a relationship split. Divorce is an awkward issue, regardless of how much money is in a client’s bank account, (although access to top lawyers can stymie the process). “You’ve got to be very clear in your communication to both parties and make sure that you understand what the rules are in terms of the dynamic between the couple,” Harris says. “If it’s a nasty divorce, it can get complicated. But we’ve been doing this a long time, and we’ve seen most situations, so we know how to handle these ma!ers.” Barfoot & Thompson agent Leila MacDonald, who has been selling in Auckland’s blue chip Remuera for decades, says that while some clients would like to sell on the quiet, in reality only 1% to 2% of her deals are done off-market. “You’ve got to open up to the most people so that vendors will get the best price. The more people who know the be!er,” she says. MacDonald is not averse to knocking on the doors of “once-in-a-lifetime” houses that would-be buyers whisper they would like - “I know who they are anyway”. She also knows what her clients are looking for in a home. “I’ve got a property coming up in the $8m to $12m range, and there are already two people who want it,” she says. “Sometimes you might not have a house on a particular street and then all of a sudden, a whole lot come on.”
Timing is everything
Bayleys Takapuna agent Victoria Bidwell, who sells to the top end on Auckland’s North Shore, says that in many ways wealthy buyers are like most people in the market. “All buyers have certain budgets that they don’t want to go over. And all buyers have the same set of emotions. It’s just the same thing on a different scale. You just write bigger numbers on the sale and purchase agreement,” she says. However, she adds: “Everyone thinks it’s all about money, but it’s not. It’s about finding the right property. [Buyers] are usually quite comfortable where they are already, so it’s about being able to satisfy a particular desire they’ve got. That could be space around them, views, waterfront, privacy.” Like price, the décor or condition of the property isn’t critical either. “I’ve sold a house for $10m, which was immediately knocked down because the opportunity to buy there on that piece of land wasn’t going to come around again in a hurry.” Like many agents operating at the top end of the
