Wilton Lemke Stewart on Putting the Real in Real Estate

Written by Acme Mag

Wilton Lemke Stewart – that’s Jesse Wilton, Tom Lemke and Nick Stewart is a newly established independent agency in Newcastle. While the business itself is new, the boys have been in the industry for a while – starting their own agency to ‘cut the fluff’ in real estate, taking it away from chasing awards and back to helping people. We sat down with Tom, Jesse and Nick to learn how three individually successful agents who work in different areas formed a bond that became their driving force. And how this has become key for the Wilton Lemke Stewart story. 

Acme: So, why did you start the business?

Jesse: We wanted to walk away from franchises – but mainly it was about our mateship. It wasn’t about where we currently were, it was about where our 15 and 20 year vision was. If we all stayed where we were, we wouldn’t have achieved our goal to its full extent. So coming together now, while we’re still all under that 35 age bracket gives us that longevity that we can achieve together.

Acme: So what does that 20 year vision look like?

Jesse: It’s really about building an agency we can call our own. Having that legacy for our family. A lot of the business we get is from our circle of influence. Before we were bringing these clients into other peoples’ businesses that didn’t have our name on the door and that we didn’t have full control of.

Nick: I love that word legacy too. And, I think that’s a really good visual for legacy, something to leave behind and be proud of that wasn’t just a job.

Acme: How do you see this legacy plan working for you?

Jesse: That was Nick’s pathway. Nick’s coming out of his father’s legacy and he’s been able to set himself up for that career, it’s not a forced option. Real estate has been very good to us. We get our lifestyle and we get that without risking our lives. I come from coal mining, which was a hard way to make a living. If any generations underneath us want this as a pathway, it’ll actually be there for them and it’s something they can be proud of. 

Acme: How did you go from coal mining to real estate?

Jesse: I worked underground for seven years. Our shifts were 10 hours, we’d do a roster of either five days straight or seven days straight.

Tom: You’d go down in the dark and you’d come out in the dark.

Jesse: I had a sliding door moment in 2016. Coal prices came well off the top and coal mines in NSW were going through retrenchment programmes. They’d done three stages of cuts and I was in the second stage. I’m like, well the only option here is to go to Queensland, go to WA and that kind of thing. One guy in the pit said, “well you’ve done pretty well out of your own local investing in property, why don’t you sell property?”. I would say, I don’t want to be a salesperson. My Dad says (his words not mine) they’re wankers in sales, all that kind of stuff. But then I got a job with a little boutique firm and the rest is history. I loved it.

Acme: Wow, it’s quite the transition! So, can you tell us what will make Wilton Lemke Stewart different?

Jesse: I believe what makes us different is how we carry ourselves. There’s a stereotype of agents out there that are all about themselves, it’s perceived that way on social media. Whereas we’re very client focused and people say that about us.

Acme: So a big part of it is cutting out the ‘fluff’ in real estate?

Jesse: Yes, it’s cutting the fluff. You see it so many times, you see RateMyAgent awards coming out for the month and everyone’s posting them everywhere. You don’t see a coal miner going on the ground and saying they’ve cut ten years of coal. The real estate industry is the only one where there’s awards after awards for nothing. For us, it’s really about focusing on that client experience and going through that journey with them of making sure they go from listed to sold, and know they made that right decision.