When John Greenwood’s daughter, then aged six, was asked in a school assembly what her dad did for a living, she said: “He walks on beaches and flies in helicopters.”
She pretty much nailed it, says John, who sells luxury waterfront properties and special projects for Bayleys, mostly north of Auckland up to the Bay of Islands. After 50 years in the property industry – with the last 25 selling real estate – he has transacted over $1 billion in sales.
As he puts it, “I don’t really sell property, I sell dreams.”
Q: What did you do before selling residential real estate?
Start your property search
I’ve got a degree in civil engineering but never really practiced. I did lots of different things – I ran an earthmoving company, I had my own construction company (we built the Devonport naval wharf) – but all of them were to do with land and property. I ended up in the 1980s as the property director for Lion Nathan, and set up a company that managed all of the shopping centres they owned, including 277 in Newmarket. When we closed the property division at Lion Nathan I took that company out and sold it to Colliers. From there I started selling commercial real estate.
It was fantastic because I went from having 56 employees to having none. It was a lot less stress – when you own a company you can’t get sick.
Q: How did you end up selling waterfront properties?
I knew [Bayleys executive director] John Bayley from when I was selling down property assets with Lion Nathan – Bayleys did most of the sales of the shopping centres and pubs. One day in about 2000 he called me into his office and said he wanted me to work for him. He employed me to run the waterfront side of things.
Greenwood with one of his sculptures. Photo / Fiona Goodall
It was different to what I’d been doing but it’s still selling property. I fell on my feet straight away and I’ve loved it ever since. I enjoy everything I do; I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t.
Q: Can you remember your first sale?
Within weeks of joining Bayleys I was given three properties to sell by [the late property developer and philanthropist] Adrian Burr in Sandy Bay, on the Tūtūkākā Coast, after he found out I was working for Bayleys. I sold all three of them so that was a big tick for me. Twenty-three years to the day, one of the people who bought one of them rang me up and asked me to sell it for him. He said, “You probably won’t remember me ...” but of course I did.
Q: Do you really spend your time walking on beaches and flying in helicopters?
The walking on beaches, yes, but there aren’t as many helicopter flights these days. I still take some buyers on the “Greenie trip” – I hire a helicopter and take them to look at a range of properties. I can show them what’s available and what places nearby have sold for, so they can make comparisons. We can highlight what they want to see and then I’m quite happy to take two days to drive them to each of those properties. I do a lot of driving – I will often do a day trip to the Bay of Islands. But I’m not going to take people to every single property, I’m not a taxi driver.
Discover more:
- Will Omaha's elite ditch their $10m baches for this waterfront plot?
- $40m Pakatoa Island for sale again - but now the owner wants $60m
- The two words that pushed a Super Rugby legend into real estate
I remember doing the Greenie trip 15 years ago with a Kiwi buyer who was based in the States. He came over to look at properties and rang me and said he was interested in one I was selling in Waiwera – which he hadn’t even been to – but first he wanted to fly up to the Bay of Islands to look at other properties, to check there was nothing else he’d rather buy. This guy turns up at Mechanics Bay for the flight and he was about 25 and I thought, “Oh no, is he even a serious buyer?” But he swiped his card to pay for the flight and that made me relax a bit.
We went to the Bay of Islands and back – we didn’t land – and that convinced him he did want to buy the Waiwera property. It was a waterfront farm owned by the heart surgeon Sir Brian Barratt-Boyes, and it was $8.5m. Then the next day this guy rang me and said, “I see you’ve got an apartment for sale in Metropolis.” I thought, Oh no, how can he want the apartment instead of the Waiwera place? He said, “Don’t worry, I want to buy both.” So he bought the Waiwera property and the top two floors of the Metropolis. And when he sold Waiwera four years ago, he got me to do it for him. These are some of the characters you meet in this job.
Q: What’s it like working with high net worth people?
I have met some incredible people. There’s not one ratbag among them. People often perceive high net worth individuals to be arrogant but I’ve never dealt with anyone like that. They’re all pretty genuine. Most of them have worked hard for what they’ve got and it’s allowed them to have a lifestyle that is better than most. But they don’t abuse that. Well, maybe some of the younger ones who have inherited their wealth can do, but most of my vendors are 60-plus and most of my buyers are 40-plus. These days the really young ones who have big money tend to buy in Queenstown. It’s very brand-driven and you can be seen there. You’re not seen in the Bay of Islands.
Greenwood’s biggest sale to date is the $70m-plus he got for Carey Bay, on Waiheke Island. "I’ve got a couple of others for similar amounts brewing at the moment," he says. Photo / Supplied
My philosophy is to treat everyone as you’d like to be treated, and I try to make people feel special. Do the very best you can and it will return dividends in the end.
Q: There’s only a small pool of buyers who can afford these multi-million dollar homes – are they harder to sell?
There are fewer buyers – often there is only one buyer for each property – but I will do what I can to find them. One of the reasons it can take a while to sell some of my stock is that people come to look at a place somewhere like the beautiful Tūtūkākā Coast and they love the location and then they’ll go, “But where’s the nearest coffee shop?” If going out to a coffee shop every morning is a big part of their life then I’ll tell them they should be looking at Omaha or Mangawhai. If you want to live on the Tūtūkākā Coast, you need to make your own coffee.
Q: Do you have to be patient when it comes to finding the right buyer?
You do. The longest listing I have had is Pakatoa Island. I listed it when I first joined Bayleys 25 years ago and it’s still for sale. I’ve listed it seven separate times and presented six offers but each time the vendor has said, “No, I don’t want to sell it for that.” I relisted it again just before Christmas. When it does sell, I think it will be to a hotel group that will turn it back into a resort. Things can just take time.
Greenwood: "My philosophy is to treat everyone as you’d like to be treated, and I try to make people feel special." Photo / Fiona Goodall
Very few of the people I work with have to sell, so they’re not in a rush. The main reason they’re selling is a change in their lives for some reason. Often it’s because the kids and grandkids don’t come to stay any more, they go to Japan skiing instead. An owner will say, “My wife won’t come up to the beach anymore because she wants to look after the grandkids.” They’ve owned this place for 15 to 20 years and they love it but their grandkids are more important.
Q: What’s the most expensive property you’ve ever sold?
Carey Bay, on Waiheke Island, a magnificent coastal farm with a couple of beautiful beaches. It went for over $70m two years ago. That was the biggest sale I’ve done but I’ve got a couple of others for similar amounts brewing at the moment.
Q: Do you have a waterfront property yourself?
Not anymore. We used to have a place in Pauanui which was good when the kids were younger but we sold it. But I’m lucky that one of the nice parts of my job is that I get to stay in a lot of these places I sell.
Q: What do you do when you are not selling real estate?
I love spending time with my grandkids, I love fishing, I love golf. My hobby is carving large pieces of wood with a chainsaw. I do it at home, I’ve got a carving yard. I got into it in 2007 when I was selling a subdivision at Matauri Bay and I was asked to commission a sculpture for the entrance. I found a guy in Kaiwaka to do a big kauri carving and I used to call in and see him every time I went up there. One day he said to me, “John, you could do this, you understand it.” The next time I was there he gave me a chainsaw and a bit of wood, and I’ve been doing it ever since. I do Maori pieces, figures, mostly copies of things I’ve seen.
Q: What do you love about your job?
The people, both the sellers and the buyers. I’ve met some incredible people. And getting to see these amazing places. Lots of them you’d never know they were even there. I had a phone call the other day about selling a property just north of Tūtūkākā and I had no idea it was there even though I’d sold the place next door.
My job gives me energy, and makes me feel like I am helping people. I’m 72 now and I’m never going to retire. Why would I stop? I get to meet great people, I don’t have to wear a suit and tie, and I don’t have any employees. I love what I do.
- Click here to find properties for sale
