Cross-Generational Real Estate
10 December 2020
Written by Acme Mag
As the world moves at lightning speeds it’s becoming clear that new agents and their more established counterparts are bringing different perspectives to the table. This month Acme Magazine sits down with Fraser Lack and David Lack of Biggin & Scott Port Melbourne, two agents with 2 and 28 years of experience respectively to discuss real estate differences (and similarities) between their generations.
David Lack, with close to three decades of tremendous experience, has experienced firsthand real estate change, most notably how the selling cycle has accelerated, “dramatic fluctuations over a short period of time versus, if you go back a couple of decades, it was a cycle that could be as long as 7 to 8 years and I suppose one of the reasons for that is the availability of information and obviously social media has been a big influence. When I started in real estate in 1993, there wasn’t much to do with the internet and mobile phones had just started being used by a lucky few people. Now, good news and bad news is transmitted a lot quicker than it was in the 90’s and the early 2000’s” shares David.
Although there is a wealth of information at one’s fingertips compared to when David entered the industry, it seems that misconceptions of real estate are still skewed:
“I think it’s a very common interpretation of real estate that it is quite ‘flashy’ and that there is a lot of pizzazz about it being a high-income position where it’s small input of effort, high output of income earned and that’s pretty consistent when you ask outsiders their thought on real estate – it is an industry that has a poor reputation.”
Fraser, who experienced his own revelation when entering the industry at 20, says “I may have had an advantage of a cadet role for 20 years growing up by being in and around the office however I still didn’t understand it completely or understand exactly what was involved, so I’d say I was in a similar position from the outside looking in like any other person, regardless of how close someone may be to real estate”.
There’s no denying that between generations there is a wealth of knowledge to be shared and if there is one piece of advice that 28 years has provided for newer generations, David says it’s about the long game approach, “if I look at some of my best clients, my advice is to not judge a book by it’s cover. Remember that every dealing you have can lead to another opportunity, and when I think about this year, some of the transactions really started 30 years ago. I always remind the team, regardless of whether someone is a buyer or a tenant that they are a human being, they should be treated with the utmost respect and when you do that, people remember” advises David.
As David and Fraser talk about the past and present it raises the question: what about the next 30 years?
“The things that have changed in recent years have been more from an efficiency standpoint and ways we can make the process quicker or simpler – and I think that ingenuity and innovation will continue; I do however think that the human side of sales, the people component, will never die.” says Fraser.
Talking with two agents who are at different stages in their career it’s clear to see that the real estate industry is represented in these two by Fraser pushing forward with new and innovative ideas, and David using his wealth of experience to balance the enthusiasm with steadfast clarity. Undoubtedly Biggin & Scott Port Melbourne is primed for continued success with their phenomenal balance of gusto and doing things for the right reasons, and as Fraser puts it, “our dynamic means that we humble each other” and that they “work as the perfect balancing act”.
