Selling real estate seemed like a good option for Michael Swarbrick when he decided it was time to move on from his corporate job a decade ago. Consistently one of the top salespeople at Harcourts Cooper and Co in Auckland's Takapuna, he can thank his mother-in-law for helping to kickstart his successful career.
Q: What did you do before real estate?
My first ever job, straight from school in North Canterbury, was working for a Ford dealership in the parts department. After that I was a flight attendant for Mount Cook Airline for three years. That was an awesome job, I was flying out of Christchurch to all these touristy places – Queenstown, Mount Cook, Te Anau – and having a fantastic time. It was never meant to be a long-term thing though, and after I met my wife Fleur, I ended up moving to Auckland.
I then spent the next couple of decades working in sales in the tech industry, including setting up a sales team for a technology company in Portland, Oregon. We lived in the US for a year. I also had my own GPS tracking company for a while.
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About 10 years ago it got to the stage where I was burnt out from the corporate world. I wanted to have quality time with my kids, Thomas and Amelia. I was getting up early in the mornings and not getting home until late at night, and I hardly saw them. I wanted something that gave me the flexibility to spend time with my family. Real estate seemed like a good idea. It was working in sales, which I’ve had a lot of experience doing, and I knew a bit about the industry because my mother and several other family members have worked in real estate.
Q: Was it hard going from a well-paid corporate job to a commission-based one?
I made pretty big money in the corporate world so it was a big change when I first went into real estate. There was an element of it being a bit scary but everything I have done has always worked out, and I thought that if I did what I have always done in sales, then the results would come, which they did. I’m not scared to take risks.
It’s hard starting out in something new when you have no experience in that industry and I do remember, when I first went into real estate, some other agents not talking or even looking at me. Sometimes people forget that while you may be new to real estate, you are not new to life. There are people going into real estate who have a lot of experience in other careers than can be really useful in this industry.
Q: What is it that you have always done in sales that gets results?
The thing for me has been consultative selling. That means really listening to what people want. In corporate sales they talk about ‘show up and throw up’. That’s where you turn up and just try to sell something you’ve got without actually listening to what it is that people want. I take the consultative approach, and I listen, and people trust me. If you do that, then you’ll do well.
Q: Did it take long to get your first listing?
My first listing was actually my mother-in-law’s house, which was very helpful. I was not only new to real estate but I was new to the North Shore, so I didn’t know anyone there, apart from my mother-in-law, and had to start from scratch. It was very nice of her to trust me! Her house sold at auction, and I wouldn’t say it was easy, but from that I got talking to people and I got my next listing. That’s the thing in real estate, you’ve got to work smart and build on relationships to find the listings. A lot of my business comes from referrals.
Swarbrick: "There are people going into real estate who have a lot of experience in other careers than can be really useful in this industry." Photo / Fiona Goodall
My third listing came from a guy who lived overseas who had found the website I had set up. I made sure the website and my brand were good from day one. Once people started getting to know me, things snowballed from there.
Q: Have you had any particularly memorable sales?
There have been a lot over the years but one thing that stands out for me is the work I have done with Ngāti Whātua. They’ve got a development in Belmont called Oneoneroa and I pitched for that business quite a few years ago. I’ve sold around 50 properties for them. It’s an awesome relationship, I really enjoy working with them and getting results for them.
Q: What do you love about the job?
The relationships. For me, real estate is not necessarily about houses, it’s about the people you get to meet and interact with. You go on a journey with your clients and you often get pretty close to them. It can be quite emotional but you’ve got to be the one getting them through and achieving the best possible outcome. If you’re committed to doing that then you can deal with anything. Being able to create those relationships with people is really rewarding.
I now know a lot of people. I went down to the beach this morning and saw two clients. When I go to the supermarket I can get stopped four or five times by people I know. I really enjoy being part of the community and doing what I can to support people.
During Covid I made a lot of videos about local businesses, to try to help out when things were difficult. I think it’s good to know about the people behind the businesses.
Q: Has real estate provided the flexibility to spend time with your family that you were after?
Definitely. Yes, you can work a lot of hours and you have to work weekends and you have to be available when people want to talk to you. But to be honest, I think the hours are a lot longer and people work a lot harder in the corporate world. In real estate, you have the flexibility to pick and choose when you are working and when you are going to have time off to go to after-school activities or to have a coffee with someone. If you work smart then you can get a lot done, but you can also be there for your kids. I’m very glad I made the move and that I’ve been able to be at rowing and the other activities my kids have been involved in.
Q: You’ve won a lot of awards, including being named Harcourts number one agent for the Auckland region in the July-September quarter last year. Are awards important to you?
It’s nice to get the recognition and yes, I am always striving to be as successful as I can be, but getting awards is not what it’s about for me. I have personal goals and as long as I am meeting those, I am happy.
Q: What do you do when you are not selling real estate?
My passion is flyfishing. We had a holiday house in Turangi and I got into flyfishing down there. Now I try to get away when I can with a few friends to the back-country in the central North Island and go flyfishing.
My other big passion is a 1937 Chevy truck that I’ve been getting restored for about the last 10 years. It’s a ground-up restoration so it’s a massive job and it’s taken thousands of hours but it’s nearly finished. I can’t wait to go out driving in it. It has been in my family all of my life – my dad bought it when he was 25 and he’s now 80 – and I have so many good memories of it, including sitting on the roof and the bonnet when I was a kid. But nobody will be doing that when it’s finished. After all the work that has gone into it, I won’t be happy if it gets scratched!
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