Ashley Church, OneRoof’s lead property commentator and the former CEO of the Property Institute of New Zealand, sat down with Barfoot and Thompson managing director Peter Thompson to discuss his career in real estate. Thompson started off managing rental properties in Otahuhu in the early 1980s — and his experiences there opened his eyes to the real differences in Auckland but also highlighted to him the importance of real estate in people’s lives.
The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
Let’s talk a bit about your background, your childhood. You were brought up here in Auckland?
I’ve always lived in the eastern suburbs. I grew up in Kohimarama and went to St Thomas’ Primary School. Four years before I was born, my parents bought on Allum St. At the time there were only 15 or 20 houses between us and the waterfront. My grandparents had built on Tāmaki Drive about the same time. The area has seen a lot of growth since then.
Start your property search
Is it fair to say your dad probably knew what he was buying, that he had some idea of what was going to happen?
Actually, my parents built. I think dad could visualise the growth that was going to happen.
It’s interesting to think of that area being mostly green fields...
Yes. Absolutely.
Amazing. You look at it now and it’s just suburbia. I guess that’s true of so many parts of Auckland. Tell me a little about Barfoot and Thompson.
It was founded first by Val Barfoot in 1923. He bought a betting agency that wasn’t supposed to be around, but they were, for 23 shillings. The original office was in Newmarket. A year later his brother Kelland joined and it went from Val Barfoot to Barfoot Brothers Limited. Neither had real estate experience. Eventually my grandfather came in and he had no experience either. Back then you sort of taught yourself how to do it and it you either had the gift of the gab or you didn’t.
Was it tough getting established?
Very much so. There have been tough patches throughout the company’s history. I remember in the late 1980s, when I was manager of the Manurewa branch, if you made a sale a month, that was amazing and a cause for celebration.
I don’t think real estate agents today appreciate what many before them have actually been through.
So, walk me through a bit more of the history after it was formed in the early years.
The Barfoots and the Thompsons are not related. My grandfather just got in and was sort of the motivator. The Barfoots could see what he was doing in the company. By the time World War II came along and my grandfather went off to fight, they asked if he would come back, Grandad couldn’t give any confirmation and they said, “What if we give you the carrot of being a partner?” That’s when they made it Barfoot Brothers & Thompson. Eventually it became Barfoot and Thompson.
Sold by Barfoot and Thompson: "It’s not just the houses we sell, but the number of repeated dealings with the same families." Photo / Ted Baghurst
If there was ever a real estate firm that absolutely lent itself to becoming a national brand, it’s Barfoot and Thompson. Have you clearly chosen not to do that?
Yes, but I won’t say it will never happen. We have 40 per cent market share of Auckland and it’s hard enough getting around 78 branches, let alone travelling outside Auckland. You’ve got to know the area. We can say Auckland, we love Auckland, we are in Auckland. That’s purely where we associate. If you go nationwide, it’s so much harder to say that.
There was a billboard you ran a couple of years ago, something along the lines of “We’d love to sell your house, in fact we probably already have.” Which summed up that whole Auckland culture? At some stage over near-100 years you’ve probably sold almost every house on the isthmus.
I think when we did that we actually found a property that we sold seven times. And it’s not just the houses we sell, but the number of repeated dealings with the same families. You know you may have helped the grandparents, who put you on to the parents, who then put you on to their children. Dealing with them over that time is wonderful. That’s what true real estate is about.
I want to talk about the creation of the Real Estate Agents Act and its impact on the industry at the time.
When I first started in 1981 we had what was known as a QP ratio. For every one qualified person in real estate, you could have three unqualified.
“Qualified” meaning?
Real estate exams.
So you could become an agent without necessarily having that?
You had to have a salespersons certificate, and you had to have someone qualified — not quite branch manager level but in between the salesperson and branch manager. There were fewer people in real estate, because you were governed by how many people you could get in. Then they relaxed it and I think that was when we started seeing a few [issues]. In some ways I would love to go back to the QP days. You know the ethics that some people have… it is improving. People don’t realise we are dealing with their biggest asset. I think having that QP ratio gave more control within the industry.
Is that now redundant with the more stringent requirements under the REAA?
Yes it is but it’s not hard to pass your real estate exam. And as long as you’re qualified and do your compulsory education, whether you understand it or not, it really is irrelevant. The complaints and independent complaints section of REAA certainly has improved that but to me there’s still a lot of people in real estate when the market is good but they take the cream off all those who have been there for many years. And that’s their choice, but when it gets tough, they are the first to possibly not dot the I’s and cross the T’s. Then they get out of real estate.
Auction action under the Barfoot and Thompson banner. Photo / Supplied
And it’s that stuff that gets reported.
We have roughly 1700 salespeople and associates, and we get two or three major complaints a year. But those two or three complaints make the headlines. And it does damage to all the other people that are doing the right things. Real estate seems to get picked on more than others. But you know it is something we try to take pride in ourselves to make sure we get it. You’ll never get it 100 per cent.
Looking ahead 10 or 20 years — where do you see the market?
In early 2000, someone said to me, “Let’s do a 10-year plan”, so we spent two days on Waiheke and came up with a 10-year plan. We threw it out the door three years later. In those 10 years, we had the REAA come in — no one expected that. We had all this change. If you go back 20 years, we didn’t have smartphones, iPads. What can we expect in the next 10 years? If you think too far out you forget what’s real.
When you started in real estate you were still quite young. How did you find it?
I started when I was 18. I left Auckland Grammar in the 6th form to do an accountancy degree at ATI. Two thirds of the way through, my father passed away. I really switched off and exams were a nightmare. My uncle phoned me and said. “Hey do you want to get into the company?” I joined in February 1981 in Ōtāhuhu, in property management. That was the best five years I ever had. The little white boy from the Eastern Suburbs right in the heart of Ōtāhuhu. Boy, it taught me a lot of things about life and I met some amazing people. I didn’t know what a cockroach was or fleas. It brought me back to reality. At one stage we had nine different gangs renting from us. We had to separate them — we couldn’t have them in the office at the same time.
When meetings were one to one, they were lovely but when there were other gangs there they tried to outdo each other and you had to be careful. But I ended up going to some of the gang Christmas parties. These were some real fun times.
Wow. Any other things that opened your eyes and changed your viewpoint?
One of the things Barfoot and Thompson family members have to do before they get into head office is earn their stripes. I started in Ōtāhuhu, went out to Manurewa as a salesperson, and then went to Papatoetoe to take over property management. From there I went to Mount Albert as a salesperson before moving to Blockhouse Bay and Mt Eden. It was great because I got to experience different parts of Auckland.
So fast forward to today. Is retirement pending or are you here for the duration?
I’ve been with the company 39 years. Each day is different, but I do miss being out there, selling. The best thing about real estate is seeing the satisfaction of a vendor selling and a buyer moving into their dream home. The shared joys from both sides of the equation.
Still got your licence?
Yes. Got to have that.
- Ashley Church is a property commentator for OneRoof.co.nz. Email him at [email protected]
