Jason Boon knows real estate and knows how much of himself he has to pour into it. He is Richardson & Wrench's top-selling agent in the sumptuous and densely populated Sydney harbourside suburb of Potts Point. Having worked in the area for twenty years, Jason knows every building and the best places to grab a coffee or walk the dog. With more than $800 million worth of sales under his belt, Jason sells properties from $500,000 for a one-bedder right up to $20 million or $30 million. At any time he can have 37 vendors with an average listing price of between $1.5 - $3 million.
Jason knows that relationships trump everything else. He says, “Relationship selling just destroys anything in the real estate market that you can come up with: any database, any letter, any dialogue, any days on market, any option process. They all work to their sections, but if you have relationships with buyers and you find them a property, the negotiation takes a second ride. It becomes easier.”
But building relationships with the right people takes a lot of passion, planning and patience. Jason says, “There’s a guy and I worked with his wife for over two years, and I liked dealing with her. She was a lovely lady, she was always pleasant to meet and I’d always bring her off the back of other appointments. We just consistently kept communicating for two years.” When she finally found the right property, they bought the property within a week. Taking time reaps rewards but it requires commitment.
As real estate is a long distance game, the more buyer appointments Jason does in a month, the better the month is at the end. He explains, “So if I do less, we make less. If I do more, we make more money.”
A good amount for showings for Jason is seven properties in one day! He adds, “I can show a property privately up to 30 or 40 times for the week. That’s one buyer six times or whatever. The reality to it is that I probably deal with maybe four or five strong buyers in a week and maybe show anywhere up to 15 or 20 properties.” Alternatively, in one week he could work with just one buyer with whom he has a good relationship and reap four sales.
In his office, Jason has a whiteboard on which he writes all his properties and another whiteboard for buyers. He even has a whiteboard at home as well.
He says, “My wife and I sometimes on Sunday, when we’re watching TV, we will write up names that I should call for the week, and I’ll get down to 20 or 30 names that I need to call.”
When he is at work, “I’m on the phone all day,” explains Jason. “When I’m not showing property, I’m on the phone and I’m calling vendors, I’m calling buyers, I’m calling people who I’m having a relationship with to show them stuff. I’m always talking on the phone with a headpiece and setting up maybe my next buyer appointment.”
When he is on the phone, he is looking for opportunities and looking for a buyer’s sense of urgency or intention.
He says, “I’m trying to marry up personalities with the right piece of real estate. I’m trying to marry up a person who’s ready to buy and who’s not. There are some buyers out there that I’ve shown lots of real estate, but never bought through me, but I have a great relationship with them.”
“I don’t stay on the phone long,” he states. “Depending on who I’m calling, I’ll get on, familiarise myself with them and I might make a bit of a joke, or talk to them, or ask them how they’re going, or talk about a topic that I know they’re interested in, and then just get onto the point. I’m not a long talker on the phone. I do like to have a chat, and that’s enough. I give it enough time to make it look like I’m not rushing them off the phone, or I’m just after one thing. I’ll add a bit in. I think there’s a tone to the call that I do. I think I’m looking for a personality. I think I’m searching for someone I can work with and show property with.”
What he is looking for are patterns. He explains, “This buyer might say to me, ‘Look, I’ve been looking. I just missed out on one. I’m really ready to go’. I’m trying to hear patterns. I’m trying to hear how much they want to spend. I’m trying to hear whether they missed on something; what they like. Have they seen something else? Are they working with another agent? Older style, new style, if they know sizes - then I’m really clicked in if they know sizes of apartments, because that turns me on when we talk about rates and sizes and everything else, because I can then start showing almost mentally over the phone, by talking about types of buildings. I can really get into the area. If they’ve got dogs, we can talk about being near parks.”
He also listens to what sort of money they want to spend. He asks, “Have they seen something? At what level is their gun loaded at to buy? Are they ready to go now? Are they able to tell me a bit about the area, do they know the area? Are they committed to the area that I’m selling in? Do they have friends who’ve seen other real estate? How far down the yellow brick road are these guys? Do they like their favourite coffee shop up here?”
Once he has gathered the critical information he says, “I can get an image as to what they’re going to buy. And then I know the area like the back of my hand, so I can start moving them in the right direction. And if they’re ripe and ready to go, I can work with them.”
With vendors, Jason explains, “I’m looking for contact, relationships, how they’ve progressed over the next few days. With some of them, I’ve got stories to tell them; for some of them, I’ve got buyers; with some of them, I can talk to them as they just want to talk. They just want to talk about their property and how it’s going; they want to touch base, want me to tell them how I’m going with their place, building a bit closer relationship during the program. It’s always good to make contact. They want to hear from you. There’re not many who I’ll call that don’t want to hear from me.” Jason Boon is a good man to know.
THERE’RE NOT MANY THAT I’LL CALL WHO DON’T WANT TO HEAR FROM ME.