If things had worked out differently, Lawrence Liew might have been a professional dancer. Or he could still have been a chartered accountant, his previous career. Instead, seven years ago he took a leap of faith and started selling houses, and today he is one of Bayleys' most successful east Auckland real estate agents.
Q: You considered dancing as a career?
When I was at university I discovered popping, which is similar to hip hop. I really enjoyed it and was pretty good – I took part in a competition in Sydney and was number eight out of everyone in Australasia. I was teaching classes on Friday nights and I thought maybe I could be a full-time dancer. But when I looked into the money dancers earned, it was just brutal. I wouldn’t have earned enough to pay the rent. I decided not to go down that path.
Q: You were a chartered accountant instead?
Start your property search
I did accounting, finance and marketing at university and went straight to a job as a junior accountant at the Serious Fraud Office. I wasn’t doing investigative work but I did hear lots of interesting stories of things that were going on, which we had to keep confidential. But I didn’t really like being an accountant. I only did it to please my parents.
Q: Why did you decide to try real estate?
One of my friends who was working in real estate called me and said he was recruiting, would I have a chat with him. We had coffee and I saw that he was doing very well, driving a nice car and going to fancy restaurants. I was inspired by his success, and I thought, If he can do it, so can I.
Q: What did your family think about you switching from accountancy to real estate?
They were furious. My parents said, “What are you thinking?” Eventually they calmed down and said, “Well, you can always go back to accounting.” They thought that’s what would happen – I’d fail at real estate and become an accountant again. After my business started booming in 2019 they said to me, “Okay, keep doing what you are doing because you are doing very well”.
Q: What was it like, starting out in a new industry?
Very hard. For my first week, I cold-called my friend’s database. I didn’t know how to talk to people, what the right script was. The second week, I went door-knocking. That was a shock. I hated it. I got doors shut in my face. I got bitten by dogs twice. I walked so much in the first month that the soles of my shoes wore down. But as much as I hate it, I know that it is very important for any agent who is starting out.
Liew switched from dance to accounting to real estate. Photo / Fiona Goodall
I was working in east Auckland which I didn’t know at all, as I had grown up on the North Shore. My mentor at the time said to me, “You’re new to the area, you don’t have any connections, go and knock on doors and meet people.”
Door-knocking is also a good way to build up product knowledge. You really get to learn about an area from being there and talking to people. I got to know things like which side of a road has views, and which doesn’t.
Q: Did door-knocking pay off?
Not to start with. At first I was in Mission Bay where there was a lot of competition. I was 26 but I looked 18 and a lot of the house-owners, who were businesspeople in their 50s and 60s, would look at me as if to say, You should be at uni. I knew I needed to be someplace where there was more volume and average house prices, rather than high end. I went to the eastern suburbs where I had an interview with Bob Mountfort, a franchise owner for Ray White, and he said, “I will give you a try, but if you don’t perform in a year, you are gone.”
Thankfully, I got my first listing after two months.
Q: How did you manage that?
Door-knocking! You know that saying, if you throw out enough punches, eventually you’ll hit someone? One Friday afternoon I had been door-knocking for about two hours and it was very hot and I was tired and sweating, and I had three more houses to go. I knocked on a door and the daughter of the house opened it and when I introduced myself she started laughing. I said, “What’s so funny?” She said, “My mum was just talking about selling the house, and you knock on the door.” The mother asked me to come back the next day to talk to them.
Liew: “I went door-knocking. That was a shock. I hated it. I got doors shut in my face. I got bitten by dogs twice. I walked so much in the first month that the soles of my shoes wore down.” Photo / Fiona Goodall
I was very nervous but I thought, You just have to fake it until you make it. I said, “If you look at my profile you will see that I don’t have any listings and I haven’t sold anything but if you give me a chance, I will do the best job ever.”
She said she would tell me their decision the next day, and I don’t think I slept that night. But the next day she said, “We’ll give you a go. It looks like you are hungry and energetic and I have a good feeling that you can deliver.” So that was my first listing. I sold it and then I got another listing and another one, and it’s just gone from there.
Q: Have you had any particularly memorable sales?
There was one in 2018 that made really me think, I can do this. I met a developer who wanted two houses next to each other but there was nothing on the market he liked. So I went and knocked on doors and it took me three months but I found owners with properties he liked who were willing to sell. I felt like I negotiated really well and that gave me tremendous confidence. I did have to work really hard. At the time I was paying for my wedding and I really needed the money so I went crazy knocking on doors. Weddings are not cheap.
Q: What do you love about the job?
The people I get to meet. We’re not really in the property business; real estate is about people, and I’ve been so lucky to meet so many great people.
Q: Why do you think you have done so well?
I think it is a combination of hard work, work ethic and talent. Hard work is very important, but you won’t be successful with that alone. I know a lot of agents who work really hard but don’t do so well because they can’t get the sale across the line. You have to have a talent for negotiating; an innate ability to close deals. And you have to do things right – it’s a small industry and you can’t get a bad name or you won’t get repeat business. As it is, you are starting out from a point where everyone thinks real estate agents are crooks, so you can’t get anything wrong.
Q: Has real estate delivered everything your friend promised all those years ago?
Kind of. It is financially rewarding and I have a better life than I would have if I stayed in accountancy but it hasn’t been easy. There is a lot of work that you have to do that people don’t see, and a lot of money that you spend on things like marketing that they don’t see either. But it is a good job and I am glad I made the change.
Q: What do you do when you’re not working?
My wife, Sue Low, also works in real estate and we don’t really take time off – I feel like I never switch off. If we do have some free time we like to go somewhere nice for a meal or cocktails.
Q: Do you still dance?
Only if the right music comes on, like 50 Cent. I don’t do classes anymore.
Q: And do you still door-knock?
No! After I first started, I did it whenever I had dry periods, but thankfully I haven’t had to do it for a few years now. I don’t have the time anyway. I am very happy not to be walking for hours knocking on people’s doors.
Liew shows off his moves
