Business Owners' Wisdom. Brett Kelly
or someone calls me up wanting to sell a house, I can tell them what it is worth – if it’s 20 million or 30 million or 50 million – because I have sold so many of them. The only way to get to know what a property is worth is by having sold them. You know, people would say, ‘I’ve had three agents look at this, but we want your opinion.’ So I say, what have they sold? I produce a brochure when I go there, like this. Another sale, another record, and a photograph …
BK: This is fantastic.
BB: Yeah. That’s the dearest house sold on the waterfront in Sydney, which I sold.
BK: Which house was that?
BB: That is number 25 Coolong Road, Vaucluse. And this is the one I just sold to Jamie Packer. I’ve sold Jamie the five houses he owns. I sold him the one he lived in in Campbell Parade. I sold him the one he lived in with Kate Fischer. I sold him this one, as well as the one he lives in on the corner of Campbell Parade which I sold to his sister, Gretel, her house for David Archer. I sold him five houses and this one is a record for a rural property in New South Wales.
BK: Oran Park House –
BB: Yeah. It belonged to Ashley Dawson-Damer. I sold that for $19 million for 150 acres.
BK: And who bought it?
BB: A mob called Valard.
BK: Fantastic. Wolseley Road, Point Piper – $45 million.
BB: Yeah. I’ve sold that three times and I’ve got a lot of money.
BK: That’s on the market.
BB: Yeah. I’ve got that. So, I sold that to Harry Barrett, the bookmaker, when he won $12 million off Kerry [Packer].
‘It’s a no bullshit organisation. I mean, I don’t bullshit people.’
BK: Is that right?
BB: Yeah. Actually, that’s going back quite a few years. I sold that to him and then Kerry won $14 million back off him and he had to sell it again. I sold it to a bloke who’s in there at the moment for $28 million.
BK: What do you think it’s worth?
BB: Fifty … Well, he wants to sell it in two parcels. It’s unencumbered. He doesn’t owe any money on it.
BK: So, when you’ve had a track record like that –
BB: It’s a no bullshit organisation. I mean, I don’t bullshit people. Some fellow recommended me to someone. He said to the bloke, ‘My wife doesn’t like Bridges too much. She thinks he is a little bit wild.’ He said, ‘Do you want an elocution lesson or do you want to sell your house?’ So, you know, the more money they’ve got, the rougher I treat them. Otherwise they get control of you. They say,‘Another agent said he can get another $3 million more than you said,’ and I say,‘Well, you give it to him. I can’t get you that.’ They come back.
BK: So for this sort of property, you put a listing up on the internet. But in practical terms, where does the buyer come from … out of the networks that you’ve built up over time?
BB: You never know. When he bought that he came in and said, ‘I’m Deke Misken’(Altona). He had a herring tin on one foot, galoshes on the other – wouldn’t have thought he had two bob.
BK: Well, I googled him. And I thought, he’s got a bit of money, this bloke. He’s sold all these magazines to Murdoch. Dolly and others. And I said, ‘You want to raise a bit of finance on this?’ He said, ‘No, I’ll pay cash for it.’
It’s still unencumbered. He is the worst owner you can have because he doesn’t have to sell. So I said, ‘What are you going to do with the money? It’s unencumbered.’ He said. ‘I haven’t thought about that.’ I said, ‘Well, why don’t you leave some in on a first mortgage, at a very competitive rate?’ You can’t borrow money from banks. You may as well say I’m selling a finance package as well as a house. I’ve just sold one of those for another bloke for five million. I said, ‘You don’t want the money at your age. Why don’t you carry three million for the bloke. It’s foolproof, isn’t it? He’s putting in $2 million. And he said, ‘Yeah, OK.’
BK: He gets his 7%, which is pretty hard to get anywhere else.
BB: In this instance, he’s getting 8%, but he will carry the balance of 4%, but we’re going to load the interest to the purchase price. So, he doesn’t pay tax on the interest. This is all about knowing what the next move is. There’s a key to every sale. You’ve got to think where is it going or why isn’t it sold, what are they doing wrong and how can I rectifiy it.
BK: So, really looking for a solution to this problem.
BB: That’s right.
BK: I have to ask, how old are you now?
BB: 83.
BK: OK. So, you’ve got fifty-four years’ experience. you’ve been cutting deals and financing property for fifty-plus years. So it’s not a surprise with the level of innovation that you’ve used that people are coming to you for this sort of thing. What makes a great property, what do you think are the things that make people want to own these properties?
BB: Well, it’s mainly the wives.
BK: They get excited about them?
BB: The wives get the husbands to spend the money. It’s a social thing with a lot of them. Some it’s not, but, you know, they just want to be there because it’s the best. It’s very hard to resist that one. But the one over there is not so good. I’ve got an offer on that at $28 million. He should be taking it.
BK: Big, old property, isn’t it?
BB: Yes.
BK: Alright.
BB: [Pointing] Stokes lives there, and John Howard’s brother, Stan, lives there.Mackell Park lives there, and there’s Lindesay House up here.
BK: Right.
BB: So they’re the only houses in the street. You’ve got to know your streets and you’ve got to know your values. And you’ve got to know why, you’ve got to be straight with people. People don’t want to be made fools of – they don’t want to go to the Cosmopolitan or anywhere out with their friends and think they’ve paid too much money. I drive them around and show them why they’re paying $20 million. So, when their friends are saying, ‘Oh, you paid too much,’ they can say, ‘Come and I’ll show you what he sold for $20 million.’ So, I’m covering all the paths, and I’m sweeping the paths behind me as I go along.
BK: And you know these streets like the back of your hand.
BB: Every blade of grass. And there’s a story to every one.
‘I mean, the right people have always held property. paper goes out, shares go out. But bricks and mortar go on forever.’
BK: So tell me,