Beyond the Signboard with Amy Bennett
Welcome to Beyond the Signboard; where you get the opportunity to learn all there is to know about your real estate journey from professionals who are passionate about property.
Beyond the Signboard with Amy Bennett
Navigate the Property Maze: How Buyer's Agents Transform Your Real Estate Journey
What exactly does a buyer's agent do, and why might you need one for your next property purchase? This candid conversation with three of the Sunshine Coast's leading buyer's agents—Murray McCarthy, Aaron Thompson, and Keeta Gibson—lifts the curtain on one of real estate's most valuable yet misunderstood professions.
From diverse backgrounds spanning corporate property development, IT, and sales, these professionals share their journeys and why they're passionate about leveling the playing field for property buyers. They tackle the biggest misconceptions head-on, including the myth that their services are only for the wealthy elite. As Aaron reveals, "I've helped an elderly couple from New Zealand buy a $760,000 house... so at any price point we can help buyers."
The conversation delves into their day-to-day challenges and successes, revealing how buyer's agents save clients not just stress but significant money. In one compelling example, Aaron shares how he saved clients $100,000 by finding an off-market property just days before they were set to bid at auction on a less suitable home.
Learn how these professionals wear multiple hats—from negotiator to counselor to local area expert—all while maintaining independence from selling agents. They explain how their deep connections provide access to properties before they hit the market, and how their negotiation skills and market knowledge help clients buy with confidence.
Whether you're a first-time buyer intimidated by the process, a busy professional without time to house hunt, or an interstate investor seeking local expertise, this episode provides invaluable insights into how a buyer's agent might be the secret weapon you need for your next property purchase. Tune in to discover if partnering with a buyer's advocate could transform your real estate journey.
Welcome to Beyond the Signboard, where you get the opportunity to learn all there is to know about your real estate journey from professionals who are passionate about property. I'm Amy Bennett, your host, and I look forward to providing you with education, inspiration and a behind-the-scenes look at the world of real estate. Well, welcome to Beyond the Signboard with a very exciting first for the series, which is I actually have three guests today, which is awesome. So we have the amazing Keita Gibson, murray McCarthy and Aaron Thompson, all exceptional buyers agents here on the Sunshine Coast. So welcome everyone.
Aaron:Thank you, amy, thanks for having us.
Amy:Lovely to be here, so exciting. So I was just saying off air that it's the first time that I've had more than one guest. So this will be a lot of fun and it was really interesting. As my guests all came to the office, some of my team said, oh, you've got three buyers agents on all at once. And I said you know, like, ultimately, isn't that the gift we have on the Sunshine Coast is really a united group and really, you know, I always say rising tide lifts all boats. So I really appreciate you all coming.
Amy:What we're going to do today is really unpack what a buyer's agent is. For some people it's a familiar topic. For some of our listeners it's going to be a brand new discovery for them. We're going to chat about how you got to be in the position you are, I guess, your key points of difference. We'll chat about the appetite for the market at the moment, some misconceptions and myths, and then also get to know you all, so welcome. What we're going to do first is we're just going to have a, I guess, a bit of a chat of how each of you got to being a buyer's agent.
Amy:But I will sort of preface that with essentially, I guess my take on a buyer's agent and feel free to expand. But essentially a buyer's agent is somebody that represents a purchaser in the market. So they may be somebody that's time poor, they may lack confidence in having conversations with agents, which is very normal. They may not be here on the Sunshine Coast. So there's a myriad of reasons why I mean I am a very strong advocate for buyers agents, which you all know, and I personally would use one because essentially I'm time poor, but also I feel and I personally would use one because essentially I'm time poor but also I feel like sometimes I'm too close to the industry as well. So you know, somebody may use they may be based on the coast, but they may use a buyers agent elsewhere. So that's my take. I'm happy for you each to expand, but look, what we'll do is we'll chat through, like I said, where from to where you are now. So we'll start Murray with you.
Murray:Great. Well, I've had quite the journey, I have to say. So I started off with a commerce law degree, so I worked at a big international law firm, and then I'll do the express summary. But then I was company secretary, legal counsel for Multiplex and by working, working there, I had the opportunity to move into the development space for Multiplex. I did London's tallest residential tower, came back worked at Shell and then I went down to Stockland and I did all their townhomes, about 400 townhomes on their master plan communities, and I was at Stockland for about five years.
Amy:And that was in.
Murray:In Sydney yes, so I've worked all around the place, yeah, and then I had the opportunity to come up to the Sunshine Coast to run the city centre for Walker Corporation.
Amy:Yeah, so that's in Maroochydore the brand-new CBD. Correct, yes, so the?
Murray:brand-new CBD, so a real journey, which was really good.
Amy:And always property-focused journey which was really good.
Murray:And always property focused, always property focused. I always loved property, yeah, and when I came up from Sydney at the time grew up in Brisbane, but when I came up from Sydney I sort of saw that there's an opportunity for a bit more sophistication on the waterfront. Yes, and so I started to buy properties on the waterfront. So Malula Drive was my first one and I did that up and it sort of validated what I thought and in terms of bringing a bit of style and sophistication and we did quite well there.
Amy:Yeah, so you were project managing that as well.
Murray:Yeah, Wonderful, absolutely. And then we bought one on Sunbird Chase, which was a north-facing block, and we set the record down in Pariera, slash, kewana Island for the highest price sale at the time.
Amy:So Murray has a good eye for property.
Murray:Yeah, good eye for property and so we've got another project on the go in Budrum now at the. Moment.
Amy:And first job.
Murray:First job that I ever did myself outside of school.
Amy:Yes, oh well, if there was one in high school.
Murray:I actually worked at Brashers.
Aaron:Okay, yes, I don't know if you remember that, but that was actually a CD record company. Yeah, that's gone back, so this is a long time ago.
Murray:Yes, Before you know, the internet was as much as a thing, obviously, as it is now I'm showing my age.
Aaron:Yeah, yes, they.
Murray:you know, it's got a song and it's got love in it or something like that, and then you'd have to try to understand what the song was and you'd flip through the book Whoa Like a catalogue, even to this day that I know Madonna's Warner, which is pink, which therefore I go down and I pick the CD out and hand it out.
Amy:Wow, that's awesome. Crazy things like that. Yeah, that's so good. I remember where I grew up here in the hinterland. I had a retrovision with there and when CDs came out there was about 10 to choose from each year. So my husband always talks about, too, going to HMV at the Sunshine Plaza where you could literally, like you could take a CD off the shelf, put it in and listen to it. So that's cool.
Murray:That was fun.
Amy:Brashers, there we go.
Murray:And I think for me so I've been heavily very big corporates my whole life, yes, and you reach an age where you've got the opportunity to actually go out on your own. So that enabled me to move into the buyer's agent space, because not only do I see it as an advisory role, which is very similar to what I've done in the past, but I transact myself.
Keeta:Yeah.
Murray:So I buy, renovate, I sell, so I have the confidence to talk to people about what they should buy and shouldn't buy. Yeah, absolutely, and I've had a client who said Murray, we love so much what you buy personally, you buy what you find me something that you would buy, yeah, that's awesome. And to renovate and stuff. And so I've had clients like that. I've had such a broader range of different clients.
Amy:Awesome and that's essentially where we connected because I guess we shared our journey from corporate you know working for, you know big corporations and I guess you know that pull of being here on the Sunshine Coast and what community means. Is there anything else that you would like to add to what a buyer's agent does?
Murray:I think a good buyer's agent is someone who's got very deep connections in the industry, because that's vitally important if you want to find everything you know, off market. Pre-market on market.
Keeta:Yeah.
Murray:And to have that relationship and to have the knowledge and understanding of a suburb is not necessarily one. A house in one area is not in a suburb like Budrum.
Amy:Yes.
Murray:Versus. You know, you might be at the top of Budrum or you might be down near Wises Road. They're just different. There's just different areas and you just have to understand nuances and stuff. So you need someone who has that understanding about property and about locations to be able to advise you on what is a good purchase.
Amy:So that's a great point, isn't it? Because if I think about you know, obviously sometimes we just think at a local perspective. But if you know, you thought, hey, I'm going to invest in Townsville. You're exactly right. I mean, you know, I don't know, you know where the impacts are for you know cyclones and everything like that, or what's a rougher end of town. So great little addition, wonderful. Let's head over to you, aaron, your career journey to where we are now.
Aaron:Career journey. Well, it's been a lot of random jobs, I will say, since high school. I'm 36 now. I just feel like I finished yesterday, but it was a while ago. I was initially from Brisbane, moved up to the coast in 2017 and I was working with a job that was at home and I think at the time it was like real cutting edge. I was like, oh, this is cool, I'm killing it. I'm at home you know, making money from the couch kind of.
Amy:In your pyjamas. Yeah, very much so.
Aaron:Yeah, the underpants and anyway. So that took me to the coast, right, because we were coming up here regularly to visit the mother-in-law and it was like you know, it was on our vision board and we're manifesting let's move to the beach, and you know, two months later we were at the beach, sort of thing.
Amy:Amazing.
Aaron:And I loved that job. It was really cool. I learnt a lot. I was a real and I think my work ethic is shows but I'm a real yes man, good or bad as that sounds where I'd come in and my role was my role. But I wanted to learn absolutely, absolutely everything so I could make myself like pretty, you know, invaluable to the company, right and and do it like that.
Aaron:So if the boss was like, hey, could you help, yeah, cool, I'll do that, or let me get on the front, so you know, my, my customer service role became customer service, but then it was sales account management operations yeah, it sounds familiar yeah, and, and the joke was that, like when, um, the company's called red book inspect carsalescom eventually came and bought them, that when they were kind of trying to explain my role to like the CEO and stuff like that, they were like, well, this is his title, but we literally call him the Jack of all trades, and then it was kind of like a sort of a GM position.
Aaron:So it was really interesting and I was really, you know, stoked to get myself into that position because I was like, yeah, I can do anything right, and then fast-forwarding through that. When COVID came to town, you know it was pretty crazy. No one knew what was going to happen. I was like, we're sweet, we weren't. We all stood down for a month and I was like, ooh, chewed into the holiday pay and all that sort of stuff. And I think I was the first one to pick up the phone. I called the CEO and I said, look, barry, like I appreciate what's going on in the world.
Keeta:World is a bit mental, but I have financial, you know, worries and and all that sort of stuff.
Aaron:So can I come back to work or I'm going to find a new job and he goes, mate like love, your tenacity. I've got this random sanitization business idea and I was like cool, know nothing about sanitization, you know what I mean and learned how to build like a Shopify website. So it was me, the CEO and the head of tech yeah and like I'm just like you'm just like you know, I felt like a what is it? Small fish in a big pond, sort of thing. I was like, wow, these heavy hitters.
Amy:Yeah, but that courage to be able to just and that was kind of you know.
Aaron:Just I was like look, I've got nothing to lose here because I'm just sitting at home like we're just chilling drinking wine on the couch. So you know, learnt how to build a website. Learnt how to sell sanitisation products, which was super random. Then obviously off the back of COVID. A few new products came in. I ended up taking the digital stuff and ran with that for probably 18 months to two years after that I can't remember the timeline.
Aaron:It was a bit crazy, but yeah, that was kind of it, and then I kind of just hit a wall with that job where I was just like, look, I kind of it. And then I kind of just hit a wall with that job where I was just like, look, I've loved it, I feel like I've done everything. I didn't enjoy the way it was going, sort of in the corporate world.
Aaron:You know things were getting cut and you know I just didn't enjoy it. I was like, oh, it's lost its charm for me. I like the fact that it was once a mum and dad organisation I grew with. It was just this huge beast and I was like, ah, this is it's lost its charm to me. And I was at that crossroads of, okay, cool, I want to make more money and I don't know what to do. Where do I go from here? So it was a bit of soul searching. I was, I probably. To be honest, I was probably a little bit lost for it for a period of time and I was surrounded by a lot of really successful people, you know, a lot of really close friends, and I would always take inspiration from it, never took it in a negative way, and I thought, well, I'm looking at all these people that are successful and they're doing different things right. So there's no one-size-fits-all.
Aaron:Anyway so I was on my best mate's Bucks party right as all good stories start and I met this guy Jordan Navy Box was his name, and you know, hey, mate, how you doing. I'm Aaron, I'm Jordan Having a beer. What do you do? I'm a buyer's agent.
Amy:He was yeah.
Murray:He was a buyer's agent. That's what he said.
Aaron:And I was like mate, what the hell is a buyer's agent?
Murray:Probably said a few more expletives you know at this point, but I was like what is a?
Aaron:buyer's agent and he gave me and at the end of the conversation I was like, yeah, like I think I could see myself doing that. That was kind of it. Yes, you know, we cut ties then and the weekend obviously got out of control in the best way and I come back to town and I remember it was just sort of, you know, leading into these events. So I kept sort of seeing him and, I'll be honest, I wrote it off. I was like I just think this is. I was so sort of naive at the time. I was like this is a fad, like I don't know. I was like this is for the ultra rich, like this is I don't know, I don't think it's going to work, it's not going to work up here, surely, and I was really dismissive of it, you know, I'll be honest, and to the point where, like he sort of you know offered me a job and I turned it down.
Aaron:I remember once and I was like on becoming a finance broker because that was the industry I was working in, sort of alongside of, I should say, and I had so many job offers like Sydney, brisbane, melbourne, gold Coast, but none on the Sunshine Coast and I eventually found one on the Sunshine Coast didn't gel with the people at all. I was like no, this is just, I don't know, like I'm lost, still right. But I kind of knew that this was going to help me long term. Anyway, again saw Jordan at the wedding and saw him at the lads' cruise and saw him here and saw him there and just kept popping up and you know, as you do with social media, you start to dig a little deeper. See this guy.
Aaron:I thought he's a cool character. There's something going on here.
Amy:See, that's the thing, isn't it? You can investigate this now. I mean, you don. You don't have to have a job interview.
Aaron:Anyway, long story short got to the point where I was like, look, I want it. And there was a few other people like my best mate knew this guy, jordan, and it was sort of one of these things. I had a few stars aligned right and to the point where, like I'd met, this was sort of right before I started the job. I was like, look, I'll catch up with him again and I'll catch up with Jarrod Cannon, who I work with on the coast as well, who's been really really good, had like a catch up like this. Sat down, they gave me the pitch, I was real honest with them, they were real honest with me and I walked away from that going yeah, I think that was something you have to say. I was like I'm going to take the job. I was like I've got nothing to lose and anyway.
Aaron:So I took the job and, you know, took a pretty decent haircut on my pay at the time. So I was pretty stressed in that way and I just thought I've got nothing to lose here and I just was like, well, you tell me what to do and I'll go and do it, and that's all that ran with it. So Jared was like, look, go and talk to agents, go and do this, go and show up at open arms, go and be at auctions. You know, talk to you very early on, right, and I was kept showing up. I think that was the biggest thing and probably the biggest takeaway that I could give to anyone is like, if you make yourself visible, you make yourself there, you keep showing up, keep showing up to agents, brokers, financial advisors, but eventually these agents are going to go.
Aaron:Man, this guy like he just keeps showing up, like, keep showing up, like he wants to buy property, he wants to work with buyers, and that just became my thing, was just like just being mr visible and and I, like you know, two and a bit years into it, I'm still like that, right, I'm very chatty and and and social and stuff. So it kind of, you know, come full circle where I thought I wouldn't have no luck in this. It's been really good because I'm like it suits my personality to a t. Yeah, I love that it's not the typical nine to five, because I never liked that.
Keeta:I like that you could get something done at 10 o'clock at night, we're all nodding our heads.
Aaron:And that's really cool, like I get a mad kick of you know getting the deal done, getting that, getting the new client and genuinely helping someone. That's like. You know you can see someone when they really need the help and you're like man, I can help you here.
Amy:And I think it's such a good journey that you've been on and I think you know that's why all three of you are here, because you all actually have a really beautiful journey but all come from a really great place of looking after your clients and it's just such a synergy with what I do.
Amy:But, you know, like reliving your journey, you know, I think that's amazing. You've always been very open as well. I guess, you know, with personal impression, professional development and I think that's, you know, can often be a really courageous step. But for you to be able to identify and go, hey, I'm not where I want to be, but what does that look like? You know we've caught up, you know, countless times and you always bring a notebook and you're always open, you know, to, I guess, ideas and inspiration and sharing that.
Amy:And exactly right, you know all three of you repeatedly support my business and that means so much because you know, ultimately, when you're, you know, presenting an open home or an auction or an event, you know there's nothing more wonderful than seeing smiling faces and having that support. But, like I always say, that does take, you know, out. You know I'm obviously one of the only people that does a Friday night auction, so I appreciate that that's taking away from you know, whatever it is footy on the couch. But no, that's an amazing journey, aaron. And you know really interesting isn't it when you know you are pulled towards something. You know, even with resistance. I mean that's very much my journey into real estate. You know it was so misaligned I felt with who I was and my values. But you know, ultimately you encapsulated which is just hard work, honestly, just showing up whatever success is, any sort of first job or something as a teenager.
Aaron:Yeah, my first job. I was just like 14, I think it was, and my mum's friend owned the Pizza Hut at Indooroopilly Shopping.
Amy:Centre. Ah, not a bad gig. Yeah, and my mum's friend owned the Pizza Hut at.
Aaron:Indooroopilly Shopping Centre. Ah, not a bad gig. Yeah, so come in $6.25. That was my first hourly rate.
Amy:I thought that was the cost of the pizza.
Aaron:I think they were quite cheap and yeah, again, I just liked it Like it was fun, it was cool. You know, I got to meet people again, talk to people.
Amy:Yeah.
Aaron:What was your role?
Amy:Oh look I did everything, jack of all trades.
Aaron:No look, made the pizzas. You know, Saturday morning I'd go in there, we'd make them. It was like the mini pizzas.
Amy:We'd go in.
Aaron:We'd make them. We'd talk with a you know crab getting fired up for the day, and then you'd go out the front and you would do it and I loved it and look, 14, I was probably a little bit looser.
Aaron:You all the stuff and you give a few free pizzas away to friends and whatnot. But it was fun. I think it set the foundation. It learnt a lot. Obviously, dealing with you know, even back then you're dealing with customers, some that are super nice, some that are super aggressive. You know different backgrounds. You know again, we're all human beings. I think that's really important and it's so cool because I love, I get excited about like talking to people you know and taking in different opinions and impressions and all the stuff.
Amy:So yeah, and I think as well too, like if you go back to I think that's ultimately what people crave is, you know, conversation, support, building, trust. I mean, look, I'm the first person to put my hand up and say that you know you are essentially, you know, protecting your clients from undesirable agents, or I guess you know the antics or the smoke and mirrors that happens in this industry. So, you know, I do genuinely believe you don't have, you know, such a poor, I guess, reputation as agents do. So I think that's really important. But rapport building, handholding and I think you know this is the most important thing, that we never move away from this being such a big investment for them as well. Awesome Pizza Hut hey.
Amy:Who remembers the dine-in Pizza Hut?
Keeta:All you can eat I did Was mine's business profitable. What did you eat? Yeah, not $6.25. I'll give away all the money.
Murray:I didn't imagine you did that.
Amy:At 14, that was pretty a lot of pizza.
Aaron:Yeah, yeah, I think my first roll it was $5 something and I literally used to get the payslip like cash in the envelope had the same thing, she would rip it off and be like cool $80. Yeah, oh, no, it wasn't $80.
Amy:I think it was doing like three hours in a pharmacy, oh man so it was about $15 that I'd get, yeah, and then mum would normally have a book where I'd let that out, so that sort of went straight away. All right, keita.
Keeta:Well, how do you follow that? So I went to university and I studied computer science, which is nothing related to what I do now. I spent some time overseas, in Ireland and Canada, as an IT manager and then, when I came back to Australia I guess, long story short I started my first business with my mum and we made coasters. They were called Kitas coasters, so they were because living in Queensland, everything.
Amy:Yeah, we need some coasters on the table right now.
Keeta:My mum was an amazing sewer and or seamstress, and so mum was the little factory worker. She didn't get paid and she made all these prototypes.
Keeta:We love mums. So that was my first business. We changed the name to Soak it Up Coasters Keita's Coasters didn't stick, unfortunately. And then I had a business, an online business with my sister-in-law. So we had a full store that was all natural and organic products, everything from nappies to saucepans. So wash, hand wash anything, anything and everything, shampoo everything. So I did that with my sister-in-law. And then after that I was a financial planner a mortgage broker and then started buying property.
Keeta:So after that I also was a share trader. So I traded shares for a period in time and then just fell in love with property and went this is my jam. So I was a property flipper, so forming and storming predominantly on the eastern seaboard. I did go over to Western Australia but it just felt too far and looked at and researched a lot of those mining towns over there but just decided, oh, it's just too far. So then, you know, in that entrepreneurial spirit, founded the company that I own and run now, with purely the intent to help buyers, give buyers an equilibrium in the buying stance or in the real estate industry. But the reason that I founded the company is because my family and friends are saying well, hang on a minute, what are you doing, can you help us? And then with the TV show Lux Listingsings, buyers' agencies became a thing.
Amy:Yeah, absolutely, and they're selling Sunset in America yeah.
Keeta:So yeah, with all of that, it was just like hang on a minute, this makes sense. And with the love of property, it was like, oh, this is just, this is fantastic. And with my analytical, analytical background in IT and project management, like we were saying, you become that overseer and you sort of become the project manager, if you will, of the transaction, with the best interest of your client at heart, absolutely yeah.
Amy:That's such a good encapsulation, I guess, of your IT background because I'm a super nerd, like I am living on spreadsheets and everything and a lot of people don't sort of believe that with me, but very much I'm process driven. And someone said something the other day about oh, you have to have this process in 20 steps. I was like it's in my brain. So I think that also provides a real peace of mind for your clients. So they know that you're on top of what is the next step and you've got the ability to really manage through the process as well.
Keeta:First job I grew up on a farm, so my dad was a sheep and grain crop farmer. So we had lots of animals and one of them was a cow. So my first job was milking the cow and then we had to separate the cream. Yes, so it was selling the cream to the bus driver and any teacher that was in the vicinity. When we got to school they got cream too.
Amy:There you go. Do you have to get up early to milk the cow? Yes, such a city slicker Like very early, right?
Keeta:Yes, yes, not to go on about it, but yeah, so that's my work ethic. Yes, growing up on a farm.
Amy:Yes.
Keeta:You never sleep literally. You're up before the sun gets up and you go to bed way after the sun goes down and you just work.
Amy:And that's your family. Has always been like that A hundred percent which is good and bad.
Keeta:Don't get me wrong. Like, yeah, I'm probably a little bit of a workaholic as well, but there's also that work ethic that is definitely ingrained in having that upbringing.
Amy:Absolutely, that's amazing. Whereabouts was the farm?
Keeta:Just back on that cow thing. Yes, just so you know.
Murray:Yes.
Keeta:You have to tie the cow's tail back, because if you don't tie, the cow's tail back. Do you guys know this?
Aaron:No, but he tied it too.
Keeta:Well, you have to.
Aaron:You put the cow next to a rail and you put them in there and they pretend to eat yeah.
Keeta:And then you have to get their tail and tie it to the rail, because if you don't, you only have to sit here and tie it down. They will fall, flick their tail and it hits you, whips you. Wow, yes, hot tip I like it.
Amy:That's so good, we're learning a lot today. That's epic. And I always, when it's so funny because you're such an early bird, right like even now, like I'm not an early bird, I'm definitely a stay awake, you know, well past midnight. And it's so funny because sometimes I'll open Facebook and Keita's, you know, gives a snapshot of the beach.
Murray:And it's three hours ago and you know what time does she wake up? What about you guys, early birds or late to bed?
Amy:no, I'm definitely early bird because I cycle, yeah, okay, so I love to cycle, yeah you know might cycle from from uh Budram to Noosa and back, or before work like that before work as you do, yeah. Aaron.
Aaron:No cycling.
Amy:Hey, you are a marathon man, right?
Aaron:Yes, yes, yes, in a different life I ran a marathon. Thanks for bringing it in.
Amy:I appreciate that I'll take it. If you've done it and you've got the medal right, I still get it.
Aaron:I'll be keeping that forever.
Keeta:Yeah, I'll take that to the grave One and done.
Aaron:Um, no, no no. I've always yeah, it's the biggest battle. I'm like I know how much like sleep is important for health, blah, blah, blah blah.
Murray:But I think cause you work like pretty much from dawn or when you get up.
Aaron:it's not dawn for me, but when you get up to probably nine or 10 o'clock is pretty standard for me and then I just like to sit down. I'm back into the wrestling, you know, and I'm just we sit down, we watch some wrestling and it's just like, okay, now I can just chill for an hour and then it's bed. So I probably sacrifice a little sleep just to enjoy my hobbies, you know, outside of work.
Amy:I think we all run our own race, don't we? And I think what we've all kind of discovered is that that allows us all to essentially, you know, live our best life, but we also are all in a role that, you know, accommodates that Like. It sounds like we've all sat at a nine to five desk, which I don't think is any of our forte. So I'd love to, I guess probably let's get straight into a really hot topic, which is misconceptions and myths about the industry, and then we'll kind of chat through a bit of a day in the life. So, keita, are you happy? I know you've already got a myth ready to share. I do.
Keeta:So for me, the biggest misconception is that the buyer's agent is in partnership with the real estate agent, so we are at arm's length in any transaction, in any acquisition, in any purchase. So I think it's also important to understand that we or I, we buyers agents we need real estate agents in our life, selling agents. I typically call them sorry because we just do. You have those relationships with sellers, we have relationships with buyers. So I think that it's really important for people to understand that we don't necessarily hey, amy, let's just any, you know, let's just do a back-end deal and you know we'll get this done for both of us. That's absolutely not the way that it works. When I'm in that sphere. It's all about having trusted relationships and knowing that you absolutely were there to get the deal done. We're in the business of buying properties, but we need selling agents in our lives.
Amy:It's great. I was really amazed when you said that off air, because this is why we have the podcast is to learn all of these things. And I guess you know you have perceptions, don't you, and everything like that. But yeah, certainly I think you know, ultimately, and even you know, obviously you know you may say as well that the selling agent is only there for the seller, but the reality is there is no deal without two parties that win in a transaction and ultimately, I find the best thing is if there is, you know, a buyer's agent there who has pre-qualified and done the work with their client, it just makes for a smoother transaction.
Amy:I would definitely say there's never, you know, favouritism or anything like that, but generally, generally, I find you can present a cleaner deal to the client and essentially our role, as you know, a selling agent, is to minimise stress in the process, make it as seamless as possible and get to the end result, For whatever that is for them, it's either, you know obviously, time or money. I genuinely believe you can't have both, especially in this market, but ultimately, you know, I think that it's a great education piece for your clients, but also for my clients too, because essentially I often find they're the same too. They'll get a bit miffed. They're like, hey, why are you doing that for them when, ultimately, it's about everybody having a positive experience? So great myth or misconception, aaron.
Aaron:I've probably got a couple, the first one being that.
Amy:Such an overachiever.
Aaron:The first one being that it's easy to be a buyer's agent. It's kind of like just go and get a piece of paper and take someone's money and get their brief and make $25,000, $30,000 plus a month. It's not like that. It takes time to forge these relationships with key people in the industry like yourself, and you know where do you get your buyers from. It's not like there's this place. You can just get online and pick them.
Amy:So and also from their perspective. You know, I think the challenge that you've got with an industry is people don't know about the service or they don't know they need it so you know it's not like we're operating it. You know, fast forward 10 years when everybody's using one, and it's literally going through reviews. It's really about that education piece first and foremost.
Aaron:Yes, there's so much education. I think when I came in, like myself, even just talking to agents, because some agents were like, oh what? It's almost like you're in competition with them. It's not like that.
Aaron:You know obviously it's two professionals now instead of one professional and the buyers. But I think we've all kind of touched on it. We all work late, we all get up early and we're all work, work, work, you know, and that's awesome. But I just in my world, you know, I want to be successful and I've got ambitious goals and stuff, and I just don't see this where you can just sort of half-ass it, so to speak, and still be really good.
Amy:Yeah, that's a great take because obviously that's also real estate, especially if you look at the last few years and I say this repeatedly on the podcast, but I always say I could put my two pugs out the front of a house a few years ago and they could have sold it.
Amy:So we definitely had a wave of people entering the industry, doing a five-day course and essentially, I guess, probably sitting at a desk thinking, okay, well, when does the phone ring or when do I get a, you know, a luxury vehicle. So I completely understand I think that's a really fair call. Do you get approached by people? Do you think you kind of make it like look easy Maybe.
Aaron:I think social media is probably one of those things where people say oh, we just bought this house we've just done this or we're at a really fancy house doing an inspection, people house doing an inspection.
Aaron:people go, oh, that looks cool, that's pretty rock star, but there's a, there's a lot of other houses in between that, that five plus million dollar house, you know, um, on the water at bedena or something like that. So, um, I, you know again, being a night owl. It's good, because I don't, I like working at night, so like I'm, I'm rarely home before probably 7, 7, 30, and I'm always at things after dark, you know, and I'm always just, you know again, just making yourself like visible, right, but yeah, getting people now more, it's funny, right, like being a buyer's agent, right, even family members, oh, so how many houses did you sell last week? You're like not one.
Murray:Yeah, I've never sold a house in my life. I'm a buyer's agent, you know, and people are like what, tell Right?
Aaron:But then, just you know, recently a guy used to live next door to him off a beach. I bumped into him twice now, at two different acres probably. So I'd just recently purchased something in Landsborough for these guys, so they had a very similar brief, you know. I said, look, you know I'm helping these guys right now, but you know I'd love to chat. And they were like oh, I think we need some help. How long have you been looking? Twelve, kind of really know what you're doing, you know. So I think there is that work to be done where people just it's not everyone knows what a sales agent does, right?
Aaron:generally speaking, but most people, I don't think, understand what a buyer's agent does, and you know there's a lot of work that goes into being a buyer's agent. Oh, absolutely, some briefs are a bit more cruisy, but you know a lot of them are very difficult. You know if someone's been looking for a house for five years.
Amy:There's a reason. Well, yeah.
Aaron:And it's about us to delve deep into that. I'm really buyer centric, so I get, you know, really talkative with my buyer. I try to really like draw stuff out of them what's you know, not just the house, but what's their lifestyle, look like, you know what do they do on the weekends, and try to piece it together like that and ultimately it helps me get results quicker with those buyers. So yeah, and then just to touch on the other one. Sorry, I don't want to take up too much time, but I think I mentioned earlier, like I thought it was for the ultra rich.
Amy:Yeah, that's a great misconception. That is a big misconception.
Aaron:I mean I helped an elderly couple from New Zealand buy a $760,000 house in Clarendra West the other day right. Amazing. So I think I've done $530,000, being the smallest one. So at any price point we can help buyers. You know and I think it just comes back to other issues right, are they time? Poor interstate, have they felt a bit of pain in the market? Other people just don't want to deal with it. You know, they're scared of agents, they're scared of auctions, all these things.
Aaron:So yeah, the fact that it's not just for the ultra rich, it's for everybody.
Amy:That's awesome. And look, I would say more and more in my conversations that I know I've mentioned to you each like at the end of every buyer inquiry I'll always say, would you like me to introduce you to a buyer's agent? But ultimately the I guess where I'm referring the most people is actually in those really hot price points. So you know, that sort of first home buyer where you know obviously there's 30, 40 people you know at a viewing or submitting offers, and so I actually think that that's a really good. You know, that's what I say to prospective buyers. Like you're in a position where there's a lot of people and especially if it's a home that's sort of like single story, modern, you know, close to the beach, like it's kind of like what everybody wants, and so I think that you're exactly right. You know it isn't just somebody that's time poor in Melbourne or overseas that's coming back. So awesome, murray. Any myths or misconceptions?
Murray:I think so. I think there's a misconception by many buyers that they're property experts.
Amy:Yes.
Murray:And I don't need a buyer's agent. I can go and buy something, and they're actually not. No, and they actually need a buyer's agent to help them find something that's a fair price, that's a good location and all those type of things which we do, and so that's something that I find really quite important in educating particular people, especially if they're time poor or they're not locally, all those type of things that we've talked about. It's educating them about that. Hey, you may not be best placed to look for a property which is a serious investment for many people especially if it's their principal place.
Amy:And where do you think they're sourcing their information? Like, do they kind of give you an insight or it's you know?
Murray:I think buyers in general are obviously a lot more savvy than, say, 20 years ago Absolutely and that's obviously just simply because of the volume of information that you can find online or different things like that. But no one can beat a buyer's agent with a finger on the pulse. All the you know the connections and the agents that you know. Like I myself would use a buyer's agent if I'm time poor and you know. People talk about fees. Everyone talks about the fee. Oh, why do I need to pay a fee for a buyer's agent? But the brutal reality is for what you pay and what you get is actually a really good value proposition.
Amy:Absolutely, and I can't wait for us to sort of unpack that, because I think that's again that's with anything, isn't it? You get what you pay for. And I think, ultimately, you know, like I always say well, I guess we can just delve into it now with fees is that I always have found that buyers, agents, you charge. Obviously, we'll kind of just touch on it broadly, but you know, my understanding is that generally a client will pay a fee to secure your services and then on the successful purchase of a property, they pay you a percentage of the sale, which would vary. But what I've always understood, or I guess I've seen, is that because of your relationships and access to and we'll talk about off-market properties, generally, you are saving the buyer. You're also helping them with their finance and everything like that. So they've got cleaner terms and therefore can offer less. And you know, essentially, you know I always say it's the same with what I offer, I always aim to provide an experience that exceeds what they pay. That's the difference in commission and marketing. So I guess it's an interesting thing, isn't it? Because people don't know until they're at that stage, don't they? So they're taking a gamble. You know they're taking that sort of risk of that investment and I think that's where things like today really helps, because people can do a bit more research but they can see who you are as people and learn a little bit more as well. I also think buyers have TV shows, like you just mentioned.
Amy:Keita I in a former life was a wedding planner. It's the same thing. I mean I can tell you you turn up to a wedding and the mother-in-law, sister-in-law, grandma, everyone's a wedding planner. They kind of look at you like why on earth are you here? I get the clipboard out and next thing I've got like safety pins or fixing some kind of drama. But yeah, you don't know. But I do always find that and I'm sure your buyers you know they have your experience and then no doubt they want to be a buyer's agent as well.
Amy:I think as an industry as a whole, I'm sure you all agree that we do make what we do look really easy. I was absolutely sodden last Saturday we had the crappiest rain event here and you know I sent a picture to my husband. I was like there is nothing glamorous about this kind of weather and you know we've all had those inspections at horror properties and tenants in bed I always say I've had to photograph tenants out of properties. So look, it's certainly not glamorous or easy. So we've spoken about the myths or misconceptions. Let's now chat about what you love about your role. I might throw back to you, murray.
Murray:Well, I guess what I love about my role is because I was always in such a defined you know eight till six type of role, and this allows me to be your own boss, independent in terms of flexibility, and you're meeting people all the time. Like I can talk to anybody and you meet so many different people, your brief is always different. Yes, everyone has a little nuance that you need to deal with. You have to change your communication style with different people because of their expectations, and so I like the variety of the role and I just love looking at different properties and being inspired by going into oh wow, I didn't realise that that was there, you know, in this little pocket or something, so it's really amazing.
Amy:So you're all I mean, it's so evident to me. You're all personable people, right, like anyone that has the courage to say yes to jumping on a podcast, thank you. But also, I think that there is that quest to help, but also quest for ongoing knowledge, because, you're exactly right, no two properties are the same right, and it's always you move from client to client. But what I love is that you've all got an interest and you're all continuing your learning as well, and it is really lovely, isn't it, to consider these hidden gems. I know Aaron and I were talking the other day about a community that I sell in and we kind of spoke, didn't we, about a client brief and also just expanding people's knowledge on what's out there and what's here in our backyard. Awesome, keita, what do you love about your role?
Keeta:So in the variances that we were just talking about, I say to people that we wear many hats as well, so we can be a counsellor, we can be a marriage counsellor.
Aaron:we can be a motivator.
Keeta:We wear all of these different hats literally because we go on the buyer's journey, or the emotional journey, with our clients, and so with my clients, I create a WhatsApp group, and I have single people as well as married couples, and what happens for me sometimes is, you know, we'll be talking about the brief or we'll be talking about the properties, and then I'll get a message on the side outside of the group more often than not from the husband going. She's not having a great day just so you know, and so I go.
Aaron:okay, thanks for telling me.
Keeta:So there's that as well. But the thing that I genuinely love, which we have all touched on, is helping people Like there's a satisfaction that comes when you've had all those late lights and you've looked at all those properties and you find the one and it's signed, it's done, the seller's signed, we've signed, we've negotiated, we've gone through the journey and then it's either the phone call or the text message that I receive that my clients say thank you, kida, we couldn't have done it without you.
Amy:Oh bless, yes, it's amazing, isn't it? Because it's, I mean, it's one of I mean, look, I always say we're not saving lives, right, like I'm realistic, but it is a rollercoaster, and you know it's interesting, isn't it? I always ask kind of people, what's your sort of high point of a transaction? And you know, obviously you know, for those that haven't, you know, journeyed with property, obviously. So our buyers agents here will submit an offer. That offer will then go to the selling agent who will chat to their clients. It's obviously to and fro negotiating. The best result from that is a signed contract, agreeable terms. Then, generally in Queensland, the buyer signs. That now happens electronically. It then goes to the seller. Sometimes solicitors need to review, sometimes banks. You know this can be a drawn out process. Once we then have a fully signed contract, we then move condition through condition. So that's building and pest inspection. So just when you thought it was signed, sealed, delivered, you get. You know, in Queensland you get mould or water damage or no termite barriers. You know all of that jazz. That's what.
Murray:I've got now. I've actually by 5 o'clock. I've got to find out about building and pest. Okay, so we're just dealing with that.
Amy:So hopefully, and isn't it interesting though? Because it becomes, you know and this is where this you know multi like having all of these things, because that's you know, there's a lot of people involved in that your client, the seller, everything as well. The countdown's on, then you've got finance and you know we're always at the mercy of the bank's delay. So, anyway, once we get to an unconditional contract, you know, yes, that's wonderful and a good celebration, but then we've got to move the sellers out and help them navigate. And then you know we help the buyers, you know whether they're connecting their power, all of those sorts of steps. And then we get to settlement. And you know, all going well, settlement generally is affected in 30 to 45 minutes, but whether that happens generally not. So best advice for buyers listening, please don't have a removalist truck on the driveway on the day of settlement. And then settlement happens. And then you know we all obviously get paid as a result from that.
Keeta:So and sorry, just to add to that complexity with the C word that was brought up, COVID there was the new clause that was put into contracts that allows either party to then shift settlement for five days. Correct, yeah, absolutely.
Amy:Who did that? Yeah, so then there's that as well, right?
Keeta:Correct, so don't have the removal track there.
Amy:on settlement day because either party could go. Oh, we're just going to push that Africa line. Yeah with no, and so there's no rebuttal on it. Essentially, either side You're exactly right. I just don't talk about that because it hasn't happened to me yet. My talk about that because it hasn't happened to me yet my very first settlement.
Aaron:That happened where the goalposts were moved and there were older people and it was like the brother that was there, so they literally had a bed delivered. This old boy is standing out the back with the bed and it just something blew up right. It was a money thing and I've gone to the property, met him, helped him move the bed.
Aaron:Yeah, and I was like look, and the truck had to park up somewhere random, like overnight and I think, just moving forward, like I said to them at the time, I said, look, I would just wait until it's done and then we'd get the moving truck, but they jumped the gun and I was like, oh my God, and I was like God. I hope this doesn't happen every time.
Amy:Yeah.
Amy:But we do it all though you know, yeah, well, you learn, don't you? Like my biggest thing is write the brand of the dishwasher or inclusions in, because, you know, no doubt someone's going to swap those out. So, oh gosh, yeah, you're so right, though. And so, again, we talk about the highs and the lows and the roller coaster of it. So the testimonial at the end, which really is that deep breath, isn't it into a property?
Amy:And I think you know it was interesting, aaron, you mentioned that about as you got to know clients that it's really not just about the property.
Amy:Like, ultimately, there's a reason people are moving, like, I find, most people on the coast we love where we live, and you know that's testament to such a low shortage of stock is because people only move for, you know, certain reasons, and a lot of the time they won't disclose that as well. So you know, keita, when you were saying about, you know, being in the WhatsApp group, and I've certainly sold properties for people that hadn't disclosed that they were separating, and you know, I think sometimes it is like you said, murray, it's matching people's tone and what they're going through, and especially in my case, I work with a lot of people transitioning from, you know, into aged care or family members have passed away, so it's being sensitive to that and that's very much, I guess, a polar with the. You know, the champagne with the signboard, isn't it as well? Um, you know, I had a client yesterday. They just said, look, we just are really private people. We don't want, um, our photo signboard photo online.
Amy:Absolutely, I respect that you know, it's just something that I'll keep for us. So, yeah, awesome Aaron what do you love?
Aaron:Yeah, similar to what these guys have touched on, like sounds cliche, but there's a lot of stuff that I do like about it. I like the journey through the process too. You know going from okay, where's my buyer coming from? Like if you've got a referral from an agent, you know that's great. You're now credible to that agent. You know shown up enough that they trust me to get the job done with.
Aaron:And I don't take the referral lightly, you know, because it's an extension of their business, whether it's an agent, broker, friend, whatever it may be. So then you know, like getting that person. And then you know having that good sign-up call or meeting and you know they've then entrusted you with. You know, like the fee is substantial, the asset you're buying is very substantial. It's the most amount amount of money that a lot of people will ever spend, right. So I really don't take that lightly. And you know, with Cow and Hand, I really noticed that from the beginning, like from the top down, they really drove that in, like what we're doing is important, right? So don't take anything for granted. You know, and I think, just going through the process, you know I love it when it's a bit tricky too, like where someone has been looking for a while, or they're a little bit Do.
Murray:The thrill of the chase. Yeah, it is, that's what it is. Yeah, yeah, we're all the same on weed.
Amy:I love it.
Aaron:Yeah, just like going through that right and even to the point where you'll call an agent and say, oh look, I'm working with a new buyer looking for X, y and Z. For that much, oh mate. Yeah, good luck.
Murray:Yeah, 12 months ago, mate, yeah, or didn't.
Aaron:No, but I think that's fun because I love going cool like game on right, because you're one agent but you know I could talk to another 50 agents back to back and again being chatty and work ethic, like I'm pretty tenacious, so that helps and that's, you know. Again, thinking of the fee, thinking of the result for the buyer Okay, cool, I've got to pick up the phone, I've got to get it done right. Some cool. We've seen all that. Let's go deeper. There's more out there. And yeah, I think just going through that journey, you know, going through it and meeting the buyer, like I love that part of it. And then, yeah, just ultimately, I love being that professional in their corner, you know, because a lot of buyers they have their money, they take it to the marketplace, whatever it may be, and they usually spend it all and maybe then some. Yes, I want to level up the playing fields.
Aaron:I want to show them stuff that they're not seeing and I want to buy it at a price better than anybody else. That's two big key things that I like to do. I had some clients recently and they were pretty hell-bent on this auction property. So I had them on a certain service for that property and a full service to show them other stuff, right. And there was, say, six days between that and the auction and I thought, well, they love this. Like you know, we'll be able to buy this at auction, right, but I still want to show them stuff. I was like six days. I was like, okay, they're kind of it's a unique sort of property.
Aaron:Anyway, three days later I had ten properties of that. I was like, okay, this is going to be tall order and I knew that particular property wanted quite a bit more than they wanted to spend. Anyway, lucked out, found another one that night and, sorry, my stomach's rumbling, sorry.
Amy:That's all right, we'll feed you after. No, you're all good.
Aaron:Fasting and you know, again, two days out of the auction, dropped this property to them and they were like, oh my God, I love it. I was like cool, that's awesome. Naturally, I couldn't get them through the property on the Friday I really tried to. The auction was Saturday. You've got this time thing. Now You're like, okay, what if this sells for a?
Amy:better price. We are always at the mercy of the market, 100%, yeah.
Aaron:So anyway, long story short they and again, that's a win for them because I've created leverage for them they were really hell-bent on something and didn't know about this thing. This was off-market, this has never seen the light of day right now, and you know, fast forward another four or five days we get through it.
Aaron:Two days after the auction, we negotiate it, we bought it and there was $100,000 difference in the auction property in up showing the property, getting them through it, buying it. To me that's like a really powerful case study, because they've gone, we love this one. Now all of a sudden we love this one more and we bought it at a better price. They didn't know about and they would have seen it and yeah just, I don't know, I just love that. You know, look competitive streak in me, like I love the win.
Aaron:I love the win of finding that property. I love the win of signing the client, helping them you know one there and then ultimately, you know, I feel we won the negotiation, we got it where we wanted it. So yeah, that whole thing. So yeah, it sounds sort of cliche, but there's not much I don't like about being a buyer's agent. There's some tricky days, of course, and some tricky conversations you've got to have. The other thing too, just to cap off, is you touched on personal development? I think this role it's good for your personal development, just in its nature, right, because you have to go out and you have to call people that you don't know and you put yourself out there. You're an expert here, You're a specialist there and really, you know, geez, I'm taking $2 million of someone else's money. Like I've got to get them. Like a good result.
Amy:Yeah.
Aaron:And sometimes you know you might be left with egg on your face like touch wood. I don't get that, but you know it can go pear-shaped pretty quickly in this industry. So yeah, I just think it's good for your own development. You know from where I was two years ago, like it's just chalk and cheese. Where's it going to be in five years, you know, and I plan to be here for like a long time.
Amy:Amazing so it's fun.
Aaron:I love it.
Amy:So we're just going to flip the script really quickly because, if you weren't a buyer's agent, what would you be?
Aaron:doing Sales agent? No, I don't know. I don't know. Look something, I think, where I could talk. I used to do podcasting as a hobby before this.
Keeta:Really 153 episodes. You could be a radio presenter.
Aaron:Radio time radio was on the cards. Yeah, I've never applied for, you'd probably know, obviously been into the heavy stuff. The racket on triple j okay I tried to be the.
Aaron:I wanted to be the host of that one. I also applied for the job. That didn't get it. Um, but yeah, look, I love, I love music, I love movies, like I'm into sort of the weird and wonderful stuff. Look pretty clean cut. But I'm a bit out there. Um, I think something where I can just again talk to people. You know, maybe I could have been a sales agent I looked at becoming a sales agent, like six years ago, and I just you know, I didn't do it because I was like oh, I don't want to work Saturdays, I don't wear a blue suit.
Aaron:I definitely work Saturdays, but I don't wear blue suits, right, neither do I, yeah, but look, it's something where I could just use my voice and just be around customers, you know.
Amy:Have you always been a chatterbox?
Aaron:Yeah, yeah, me too I've been chatty. Hey, all the report cards through high school, you know. Yeah, he's good, he just needs to apply himself more Talks, a lot, talks, a lot, talks a lot, and I just like it. I literally did a podcast. It was myself for, like in a room for 45 minutes every Monday In the mirror.
Murray:Yeah.
Amy:He did ask if it was being filmed.
Aaron:I must admit, and what you were wearing, yeah, very conscious of what I'm wearing, thanks for noticing.
Amy:I also think that's your but interesting because you were saying before and I think that is, you know, like you are high attention to detail, yeah, and I really appreciate that. So you know, you're very much like what are the questions and who are the guests and everything like that, and questions and who are the guests and everything like that, and I'm like I'm very structured but I'm also like, oh, you just turn up Aaron and we'll just have fun.
Aaron:I think I had one look at the questions before and I was like, oh, it's just cool, now I've got an idea. I'm not that much of a studier in that way, but yeah, look, honestly it would be a podcast host, radio host, something where I could just talk, run a bar, like just something where it's involved with people and, I guess, just around things that I like, like music.
Amy:Imagine a podcast in a bar with music guests. Shut the front door. Anyway, murray, what would you be doing if you weren't a buyer's agent?
Murray:Well, I've done everything already, yeah.
Amy:Retire.
Murray:That's it. No, like Aaron must be my love child, because you know I love that stakeholder talking to people and everything like that as well and obviously I still have that affinity to development and property because I still do that. I've done my own apartment development in Drupilly, one in Taringa and I've done all that type of stuff as well. So I think the buyer's agent space is a product of where I've come.
Aaron:So it's almost the other way.
Murray:what would I do? Well, I've kind of done, I've come, so it's sort of it's almost the other way. What would I do Well? I've kind of done it and so and here I am because it fits my skillset and what I love.
Amy:And I think as well too, there's such an element of being of service, isn't it Like being able to share your knowledge? And I think that's something that we probably all take for granted, what we do every day, or the journey that we've got to, and because it's always our world. So I think that ability I mean I still help people with rental resumes and things like that Like if there's an ability to help people and especially, like you said as well, like you can immediately for a buyer, articulate a bad move. You know I had a. I'm happy just quickly to share this story.
Amy:I had a client who was looking to purchase a property next door to theirs. I spoke to a developer. I said, look, what would a six stack of units on? Anyway, he just literally ran the calculations and he said, look, best thing your client can do is just sell their existing one as it is. They'll clear the same profit. So I think, having access to that information or people, I mean I could imagine for my clients they would have gone on this, you know, like discovery, you know mission, or you know, bought a property that they shouldn't have. So I think there's so much in that and you know it's such a nominal fee that people pay to have that exposure. Keita, what would you do if you weren't a buyer's agent?
Keeta:I'd be a professional surfer, I'd travel the world. I'd have sun-kissed hair and I'd have a tan 12 months out of the year.
Amy:You already have those. Drop the mic. Yeah, I was going to say the sun-kissed hairs, yeah. It was amazing actually. I was just thinking. I was like how does I always think of you as like a beach babe, right, how were you over in Ireland in IT like rugged up?
Keeta:Well, to be fair, I don't know if you guys have ever lived there the Irish are the most lovely, friendly people my dad's, from Northern Ireland.
Aaron:I've been there a few times, yeah, wow.
Keeta:So I live right in Dublin. Yes, and I'm going to admit it, I became an alcoholic when I was there. No, that's taking it too far. No, I became very social when I was there yeah. Because they just. That's just part of the culture, the culture is let's drink, let's socialise, let's work the crack. Let's go to work. Yeah, drunk. Yeah, I'm over, yeah.
Amy:Yeah, it was the crack yeah.
Aaron:It's so good, but yeah.
Keeta:I do not like the cold weather.
Amy:Yeah, you're absolutely right. I literally was just thinking that as well. Favourite place to surf.
Keeta:Oh, I don't know.
Amy:Bali, bali's actually pretty good. Okay, yeah, you should have really said the Sunshine.
Keeta:Coast, sunshine Coast, alex Bluff. But be very careful of the locals, because people do get a little bit angry. And there's also Noosa. The locals at Noosa are very, very protective Territorial. Yeah, hot tip.
Amy:Good for our visitors, locals only Wonderful. Well, let's wrap up our conversation with just some nice little fun getting to know each other. So let's chat about Dream Holiday Destination Keita. We'll hit straight back to you.
Keeta:Hot and balmy anywhere, anywhere that's hot and the cocktails are good and snorkelling yeah cool, yeah, and food and drinks while you're on holidays. Well, look, I must say that I'm partial to vegetables. I don't eat meat, so any vegetable is a good vegetable, yes, but Asian fusion.
Amy:Don't want a little bit of Asian Nice and drink of choice on holidays.
Keeta:Oh, anything that's cold.
Amy:Yeah, nice and booze. Margaritas hey Murray holiday destination, and what are you drinking and eating there?
Murray:Great, well, I can't be anywhere where I just sit and do nothing. Okay, I have to have activity.
Amy:Yes, I have to do something like that, yeah.
Murray:So anything that's activity-wise, where you know I'm all of a sudden doing jet skiing or I'm mountain biking or just something that I'm doing. Queenstown, it would be great Queenstown, fantastic.
Amy:Yes.
Murray:You know, being there Favourite meal, I love Japanese Pan Asian, so, Keita, I will go out for lunch one day, you should go for dinner.
Amy:Yes, we are going for lunch afterwards.
Murray:Love a coffee.
Amy:Yes Coffee.
Murray:I'm a big coffee.
Amy:What's your coffee order?
Murray:Usually just an oat milk, cappuccino or white. So you know I get a lot of ribbing sometimes with the coffee snobs saying, oh, you're ordering a chocolate milkshake, aren't you? Because of the cappuccino on the top. Yeah, classic and yeah. So that's pretty much the ones, aaron.
Aaron:Holiday. I've been lucky enough to travel a lot, which has been good. I'm like Keto, I like the hot, you know tropicals, so like maybe, Maldives, like Bora Bora, something like that. I've never been to the Greek islands though, something like that, you know, just chilling out. A lot of seafood, a lot of rosé, Yep, that would be nice yeah, and then food. Yeah, look, we love Asian food by the sounds of it. Yeah, big ramen guy, big sushi guy. Love seafood though, like oysters, prawns, like yeah, I just, yeah, I eat a lot.
Amy:Awesome, good. All right, let's wrap up our hour of power with each of your favourite quote or saying Keita.
Keeta:Here's something I prepared earlier.
Amy:I love it. I knew I saw her get her phone out.
Keeta:I constantly have on my phone because I knew you were going to say that Okay, so quoting, you can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.
Amy:Wow, oh, I like it. Nice, beautiful, all right, murray.
Murray:Mine's a little bit more rudimentary. Mine is, and it's quite appropriate for this role is if you don't ask, you don't get.
Amy:Hey, I like it. Good one Awesome.
Aaron:This one. It's got me out of many jams, different head spaces, but I like this two-shell pass. Yeah, it's a good one. It's good in the bad situations, it's good in the good situations. You know, don't sort of rest on your laurels. You get a deal done, cool, all right, enjoy it. Now get on with the next one, or this is a terrible day. Cool. Tomorrow's a new day, so this too shall pass for me.
Amy:I think it's really pertinent in our industry, isn't it? Because you know it isn't all. You know, as I say, champagne popping and everything, tiktok, trends and everything like that. So I think, yeah, it's the ability actually to be able to level yourself, isn't it? You know, bring the highs and lows. I mean I certainly am guilty of. You know the first. You know few years of my journey. You know celebrating too soon, and you know, then you get that termination notice that doesn't come from your clients, it just comes from a solicitor. And then that's the courageous phone call that you mentioned having to do that as well. So awesome. And your favourite quote, amy oh, so many Gandhi. If you can't change the world, change the way you see it.
Aaron:Oh, I like that.
Amy:Yeah, that's a good one. I mean, I am a walking book of quotes.
Aaron:I love them.
Amy:I've literally screenshot everything, because there is so much to learn isn't there? And I think that's obviously been a commonality of our conversation and no such thing as an accident that all three of you were in the room. I knew it would be a really great conversation, so what I will do is share all of your direct details with our listeners. They'll have the ability to be able to reach out and hopefully that allows them to understand a little bit more about what a buyer's agent is. So to Keita, Aaron and Murray, thank you so much.
Aaron:Thank you so much.
Amy:Wonderful. Thank you for listening to this episode of Beyond the Signboard. We trust you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed making it for you. If there are any topics you want covered in the future, make sure you reach out and let us know. Also, feedback and suggestions are appreciated almost as much as likes, shares and downloads.