Of the 50 most expensive houses in NZ, 'we've sold 40 of them'

Graham Wall reckons of the 50 most expensive houses ever sold in New Zealand, he and his sons Andrew, 38, and Ollie, 34, have probably sold 40 of them. The trio, from Graham Wall Real Estate, sold New Zealand’s most expensive residential property for a whopping $39m and have obtained the highest prices ever achieved in Orakei, Herne Bay, Remuera, Parnell, Wanaka, Westmere, Ponsonby and Grey Lynn.

That’s not bad for brothers whose first choices of career were art and advertising, and their 68-year-old dad, who didn’t get into real estate until he was in his fifties.

Graham, what prompted you to change careers post-50?

Graham: I’d been in advertising and marketing since I left school. Then in the late 90s I went to the founder of Metlifecare, Cliff Cook, and told him their new retirement village in Remuera should have luxury apartments instead of traditional ones. He gave me a job working for the company that was way beyond my area of expertise. It was testing my theory that apartments for over $500,000 would sell – and they did.

I introduced people buying those apartments, who had big expensive homes to sell, to a friend who was in real estate. Then I started thinking, actually that’s what I should be doing, selling those big houses.

Had you considered real estate before?

Graham: When I was about 12 I saw a short at the movies that had this guy in it who had an E-type Jag with the top down and no tie on. This was in about 1963 and I’d never seen anyone not wearing a tie. He was selling houses in Beverly Hills and I thought, This is a good thing. Then I forgot about it for 40 years.

READ MORE: The biggest house sales of 2019

After seeing my friend selling these big homes for the people going into the retirement village I remembered the guy in that movie and thought, Why not try that? Now I am that guy, I’ve got a Mercedes with the top down and no tie. I’ve cracked it!

Was it a deliberate decision only to sell high-end properties?

Graham: I thought, Let’s start as you mean to go on. The first big deal I did was to sell Sir Colin Giltrap’s house. He was a friend of mine and he said, “Go on, have a go.”

Then I learned about 12 houses in Herne Bay owned by the Sultan of Brunei. I went up to Brunei to talk to his investment agency, and got the job of selling them. I’d only been in the business for about nine months and had no track record. We got a lot of press about those properties – they sold for $35m which was the biggest single residential real estate sale at the time.

From then people with high value properties started coming to me. I have had a huge amount of luck. But I knew I could do it.

Has having lots of connections been important?

Graham: Definitely. I am from a big family, I have lived in Auckland all my life, I know a lot of people.

Ollie: As a kid it was like growing up with a celebrity. Everywhere you went he would be waving at people. If you went to a restaurant, all these people who come over to say hello.

Andrew: Dad’s other skill is being a great lateral thinker. And his enthusiasm. He’s the eternal optimist.

Graham: I’ve always been like that. When they were kids I used to drag them out of bed and throw them in the car to go to school. I’d say, “I feel terrific, how about you guys?” They’d mumble, “I feel terrific” and I’d get them to repeat it until we got to school and they’d be yelling, “I feel terrific!”

Ollie: It was like having Tony Robbins for a father, but it worked.

What kind of dad is Graham?

Ollie: Amazing. Super supportive and encouraging. I don’t ever remember him being mad at me, and I was a ratbag of a teenager.

Andrew: I did a few stupid things when I was younger and that is the only time I remember him being furious. I once jumped off the roof of his house into the swimming pool and he wasn’t impressed by that.

Graham: Because I was scared you would be killed.

Ollie: I had a big party at his apartment in the Metropolis once and I remember him coming home and saying, “What’s going on?” Even then he didn’t shout. One of my friends was climbing on the balcony, which he wasn’t happy about.

Graham: We were on the 34th floor. These kids were risking their lives. If anything is going to make you angry, it’s the chance that your kids could die.

Ollie was previously in advertising and Andrew was an artist who curated Sydney Art Month. How did you persuade them to join you?

Graham: I pitched it to Ollie like we were William Shatner and the other guy from Boston Legal sitting on the deck, and I, being Shatner, was saying, “Do you know how much money I make?”

Ollie: He was trying to impress me. I said, “There’s no way I am going to be a real estate agent. Drop it.” He harassed me for a year and eventually I changed my mind. The clincher was that I could bring the skills I had from advertising and contribute to this incredible business he had. And I could work with my dad.

Andrew: For me it was about bringing family together and being able to work with people I love. I came back from Australia to work in the business having already got my licence in preparation. Over there I was trying to convince people to buy art and then I decided, "Just put your money where your mouth is mate", and go make some money so you can buy the art yourself.

Graham: I just wanted my boys to share in my success. I was enjoying it so much I wanted them to have that enjoyment too. I have another son, Aaron, who is a very talented designer. He worked on the re-brand of Land Rover in London. We have tried to lure him in but I don’t think he’ll give up what he’s doing. He’s a creative genius.

What is the secret of your success?

Graham: Telling the truth. The best way of doing anything in life is to be completely honest. The other things are momentum and reputation. Once you have all those things you are there, and the final component is that we are family. We have exactly the same agenda.

Andrew: We love what we do. We get so excited about getting to sell these amazing houses and I think that enthusiasm is infectious. That’s half of what sells them.

Ollie: We are all obsessed with art, architecture and design, so it is so cool to do a job that encompasses that.

Andrew: We also get to meet the most incredible human beings. The people we deal with are so interesting and a lot of them end up becoming friends.

Graham: We have fun every day, and it doesn’t feel like working. It’s a joy, doing this with my boys. But we never take anything for granted. A lot of success is about gratitude. When we are successful in selling a house it means success for our clients, and we always say thank you. We know how lucky we are, and we are always grateful.