Million Dollar Agent
Million Dollar Agent
The Agents Who Win When the Market Gets Hard
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We break down how top agents grow market share even when the market contracts and headlines turn gloomy. We focus on controllables, sharper buyer work, firmer pricing advice, and better deal-making so you can build momentum heading into spring.
• cutting out negative media and adopting useful beliefs
• doubling down on buyer calls, follow-up, and buyer creation
• targeting investors focused on yield and long-term holds
• pushing early price alignment instead of chasing reductions
• over-communicating with buyers and vendors like a newsroom
• leveraging results and proof of activity to build confidence
• nurturing past clients because recency beats loyalty
• using creative terms like bridging, settlement flexibility, and structures
• tightening negotiation language so buyers stop spectating
Winter Wrap And Market Heat
Tom PanosHi everyone, Tom Panos, John McGrath, Troy Malcolm, Million Dollar Agent, the podcast, letting you know this is officially the last winter podcast of Million Dollar Agent for 2026. There's an interesting fun fact.
John McGrathCan't believe it's winter. I mean, I've got the sun pelting through my home office. Yeah. And when you said we're just off air, when you were saying that before, I cannot believe, Troy. It's winter. It's kind of like Sydney, certainly. I'm not sure what's happening at the moment in other parts of Australia, but Sydney and New Zealand. Sydney's on fire.
Troy MalcolmIt's crazy. It's meant to be 28 degrees in Sydney on Wednesday. 28 degrees, start of spring.
Tom PanosYeah. Yeah. It's hotting up. It's hiding up. Now, gentlemen, we've got a great uh podcast coming up. And I'm going to start off and give it some context.
The Goal: Grow In A Dip
Tom PanosLast week, John and Troy, I spent a couple of hours with Amit Nayak and his team. They're a regular one-on-one monthly client. And Amit said to me, Tom, I want to do the same amount, if not more, even though the volume in our market has dropped 20%. He goes, I want to not go backwards. And we sat down and we did the numbers. And, you know, the reality is if the market contracts and you don't grow your market share, you may make less sales. But winners in this market, they're sort of saying, we're not hoping the market gets better. We're going to get better. And Mittna Yak does more than 200 deals a year. He's one of the best. I know, I know at your awards night, John, he was up there featured. I know he didn't get, you know, number one, two or three, but he's up there for the volume that he does, the price point that he does is an absolute gun. And I thought, John and Troy, we would speak about what is it you've got to do to win market share in a market that's contracted. We know that it's been challenging. We know that we faced headwinds, but the reality is there's a lot of real estate people that are just got up and they're moving and they're moving. And there's another cohort of agents that are saying, what's actually happened here? They're flat footed. So, John and Troy, let's share with our great audience what are some of the strategies the best of the best are doing right now to actually make sure that they don't go backwards in a lower volume market.
Control The Controllables
John McGrathYeah, Tommy, knowing that this was what you wanted to focus on today, and Troy, I'll just start with, you know, I've got I just scratched out on my little notepad here, half a dozen things. If I was in full-time sales, I'd be doing or changing or shifting as we speak. Uh, in fact, I would have been doing it a while ago because we I think many people have seen this case shift in the market occur. So, what are some of those things? First thing you mentioned, tell me before about you know contractions in the market and so forth. One is I'd be I'd be stopping through watching the news. I would I would be not interested at all in any of the negative media. I would be focused on what's between my ears and what's in my under my control, as they say. And the stoic uh area, they say control are controllable. So first thing I'd be doing is just um disregarding anything external and focusing on the inner market. And you know, it was interesting because statistically, let's just dabble on that for a minute, Tommy. Yeah, let's say most markets have got 200 sales a year, for most people, so um, that might be a uh a typical market. And it's possible that, you know, the market's contracted 20%, and so maybe there's 160 sales, but for most listeners today, uh still at 160 sales or whatever the number might be for you, there's plenty of opportunity for you to double your business, even with there's slightly fewer sales in the market. Because guess what? Most of the agents, Troy, have gone to sleep. You've seen it with your competitors out there. There's plenty of agents of fearful, they're in a cave, they're trembling, they're waiting for the storm to blow over. This is a time to be loud and proud and out and get amongst it and shake hands and and just tell people, you know, anyone that wants to ask, you know, the market is fine if you adjust, yes, there's been a price adjustment. If you're realigned with the price adjustment, right agent, right marketing, things go really well. I was talking to James Kirkland, one of our sales leaders, Tommy, you know him very well. And he was just saying to me, he actually saw an uptick or with buyer activity on the weekend. Um, and some had they had some great sales results under the hammer. So there's plenty of stuff to be doing there. And I think it was Chris Heldy years ago, Tom, when he spoke with us, he said, you got to adopt useful beliefs. Whether they're right or wrong, let's not debate it. But a useful belief right now is there is more than enough business in my market for me to increase market share, not decrease market share. Another belief anyone that contacts me or turns up in an open or inquires about a property is a serious buyer that wants to buy, despite what they might tell me. So I think you've just got to get the positive energy,
Buyer Work And Investor Outreach
John McGrathnumber one. Number two is buyer work. I mean, in any market, buyer work is nowhere near as good as it should be, in my opinion. But in this market now, there's there's a lot of people that are just not recognizing the importance of spending half the day on the phone to buyers, finding buyers, following up buyers, creating buyers. I sent a text message, in fact, you know him, Tom, I won't mention his name, but he works for a company that you used to work for, and he's based in New York overseas. And I sent him a text message, and I just read about something he was doing in the paper, and he was he's done very, very well. And I just said, if you um it's a great time to be buying at the moment in Sydney, market's down 10, 15 percent, you might be a good time to buy something for the kids um for the future. And he texted back, he said, Yeah, that's an interesting idea. Let me chat to my wife and I'll and I'll come back to you. I mean, I think if if if there's anyone that thinks the market's flat and they're doing well, that probably means it's a great time to be buying. And a lot of people out co-hort, especially you're you're on my age, Tommy, more than Troy's, but even Troy's, they've got kids coming through that are now seven, eight, nine, ten, fourteen, fifteen. What a great time to be buying a little duplex or a block of four flats or a single unit for their future to help them because a one better in another eight, nine years is going to be 1.5 million in Sydney and and uh Brisbane and and probably Melbourne. So good time. So reach out to potential investors. Um, third thing, Troy.
Tom PanosSo just so John, just just on investors, there's a guy that you know. I don't know whether he wants me to mention his name. You you you you know you know him, and you met him socially once, but he said to me today, he said, Tom, it is better for me as an investor buying a property now than what it was pre-budget. I said, Why is that? He goes, simple. Prices went down, rents have gone up, I'm a yield investor, negative gearing is not my game. I, you know, putting a bit of a deposit down. And at the moment, do I think it's at the bottom of the market? I don't know, and I don't care. I'm buying well, so I'm buying. Yeah. That's what he said to me.
John McGrathYeah, exactly, exactly right. I mean, I think the stats are negative gearing, not that I was happy that the government made this change, but uh, I think the stats are most negative yearly geared properties only lasted three or four years as negatively geared, then they became positively geared. So I think, you know, it's people want to buy property, they want to buy it, they want to buy good, well-located property, hold it for the long term, and see significant capital growth, even though the government's made it slightly less attractive.
Price Alignment That Actually Sells
John McGrathUm, Troy, the next one I had here was price alignment, but a decent price alignment. This is the problem with a lot of people, Tom, as you've you and I have seen over the decades. They chase the market down. You know, they want 995 and then the market's at 940. By the time they actually adjust to 940, the market's now at 920. And by the time they catch that falling dagger, it's down to 895. And what you really need to do in the best interest of your client is say, look, for us to sell before there's another market correction, if you think there's going to be one, and a lot of people are saying there could be another rate rise, and therefore there could be another downward leg, one more downward leg, perhaps, no more, I suspect. Well, then you know what you've got to be doing is give give the property the right haircut. Matty Lahood used to say, Don't give them a trim, you've got to give them a proper haircut so people notice their haircut. It was quite a good benefit for it. He said, he said, you know, you get a trim on your head, Troy, and no one notices, but you get a buzz cut and everyone says, What?
Troy MalcolmEveryone notices.
Tom PanosNo, Johnny, it's funny you say that because I remember when in my days as a as a publisher in media, I came to you with a deal in print when print was declining. And I came to you with a deal. And at the time, I remember you said to me, Sir Tommy, I asked you for a deal. I didn't I didn't ask here for a haircut. We need a new hairstyle. This ain't working, bro.
John McGrathYeah, Captain, shout out to Maddie Lahood. Um, but I think uh now 10% seems to be the number, Troy, that if yeah, if you do a 10% price alignment, and and James Kirken did say to me that one of the properties he was at, sorry, uh, one of the properties that he was at that had a significant increase, he was at the open last weekend. They uh the agent uh spoke to the vendor, said, look, we're not we're just not connecting with the market, we need to adjust. They adjusted by 10%, and there were 10 people and four contracts out as a result. Shift from one week to the next. So once you actually get the property into the selling zone, all of a sudden, you know, the everyone will start nibbling. So that was the next one, Troy. The next one I have here.
Troy MalcolmOne
Communicate More And Show Proof
Troy Malcolmof the other ones, John, that we always used to mention was over-communicate like a newsroom. And that was a great analogy to both buyers and to vendors was there was information to come in, make sure you're communicating it. This is not the time to hold back, it's the time to over-communicate and really encourage and be that energy in the room.
John McGrathYeah, yeah, totally. Exactly. Um, communicate, communicate, communicate. And as I said, well, the next one I was going to do is is is talk about leverage your success. And and Ahmed Nayak, your great coaching client there, Tommy, in he did a magnificent job in COVID when everyone else was shivering and and also thinking the world was going to come to an end. Every time he did a deal, he just posted it and he did it not in a you know shout, shout from the rooftop. He just said, you know, we've done another deal, 10 Smith Street, sold for, you know, 875,000, delighted to serve these clients. Photo of him and the client, socially distanced, you know, in front of a board or in the boardroom. So a lot of sellers and buyers have sort of come to the conclusion there's very little or no activity. The three of us know there's actually quite a lot of activity, but some of it's being hidden. So I think you've got to be able to find a way to communicate to the public and the world at large that deals are happening. There are there's plenty of activity. You shouldn't be embarrassed buying a property today, like the guy you just mentioned, Tom. You should be confident and proud of it.
Past Clients And Budget Conversations
John McGrathNext one I put here, Troy was um often neglected. Past clients, nurture marketing. Tom, your one of your many wonderful lines is recency trumps loyalty. Um, and uh it's really critical to get back in touch. Again, people almost think, oh, look, it's real estate's on the nose. No, it's not. Real estate's a part of everyone's life. And most people want to know, wonder what my place will be worth today, Tom. You know, what do you reckon's happened? Should I be buying or selling? Maybe I should buy an investment for my kids, whatever it is. People are interested in property, whether the market's going up, down, or sideways. But if you're not in touch with them, they're probably not going to be bothered making the call to you. But if you ring them, they'll be saying, Oh, gee, I'm interesting. Tell me what's happening. What do you reckon I should be doing? Buying, selling, upgrading, downgrading. Great time to have a conversation about the budget. Now, a lot of people are choosing to upgrade their primary place of residence because of the budget. They're seeing that that's the last bastion of tax-free gains, is their own home. So a lot of people, when given the chance to have a conversation, will actually say maybe we should upgrade our our home because this is where we're going to find our future superannuation next nested is uh inside, hidden inside our own family home. So I think that was the next one. Troy, I had one or two more. Yeah,
Creative Deal Terms To Close
John McGrathbut you've got to be creative. I'm talking with Maddie Steinway. We're trying to do a a deal currently with a with a joint client of ours, and um, and it's it's you know, it's sort of up and down, up and down, it's close, but you've got to be creative. So we've gone out there, we've sought, we've found a great um 18-month bridging loan product, which is at 7.9%. It's not extraordinary interest rates. It gives the seller and buyer, sorry, the buyer of the in this instance, 18 months to sell their property, which gave them the confidence to that we're gonna get out of this market, and within six, nine months, you know, we think it's gonna be a better market environment, and and she feels comfortable with that. Um, we've we've negotiated some of the terms, not just price, but settlement terms. Um, so sometimes you've just got to start getting creative, Troy. And when there's 12 people lining up unconditional in an auction, you probably don't need to be too creative because no one no one needs or wants that. But in this market, sometimes you've got to work that a little bit harder to find an angle that's gonna make the buyer and the seller comfortable with the transaction. And and so I think that's you know, that's critical. There are some of the key ones that I had, Troy. If I missed something, no,
Tom Panosyeah, go Troy. No, you go, Troy. I
Energy And Language At Opens
Troy MalcolmI was just gonna say, you know, when it comes in these markets, and I mentioned a little bit earlier, the energy that you bring can actually impact both buyers and sellers. And I had a live case study on this on the weekend. I went to one open with our team, and then I had a little bit of time in between. So I just jumped into another open. I took my jacket off, took my tie off, and it was a competitor, a very well-respected competitor in one of the markets. And I was just hanging around outside, you inspected the property, obviously introduced myself, said I'm, you know, I'm just looking for personally. But then I was hearing the dialogue from one of the associates, and that associate was actually saying to a buyer, a potential client, that the market's really doom and gloom. And I just thought, wow, there's a moment to influence people. Now, it's not booming market, but there are transactions happening as we know. And I think everyone needs to remember that it's important the energy we bring to every aspect of real estate right now. It's important the dialogue and language that we use with both buyers and sellers and people that are inspecting properties. Because the reality is um there are transactions happening and there's some great results. You know, John, you've spoken to me about some great results over the past fortnight. And Tom, you you see some great results from your clients all the time. But I think we just need to stop and remind ourselves that see the market for what it is. It's not our fault, it's not the client's fault, but it's the market we're in. Let's see the positivity in it and let's get some transactions happening, especially leading into this amazing springtime.
John McGrathEvery vendor deserves every vendor deserves to hear the truth, as the great Peter Chauncey. That's exactly the GFC here. Every vendor, and you're right, Troy. Great, great phraseology. It's not your fault, Troy, as the seller, and it's not my fault as the agent. It is what it is. The market shifted, 10% down. Can you make your forward plans work at the new level? Or should we be looking for a plan B? Should we rent it out?
Tom PanosI think I just want to. This has been brilliant, actually, because I actually think to myself, what we've really spoken about is going back to being basics and doing good deal-making stuff and not relying on a marketplace to do 80% of your work. On Saturday, like Troy, I did.
The Four Lines That Shift Buyers
Tom PanosI I had I'd had a couple of weeks off. One was because I was unwell. The second one was we had a family issue, but I went back to auctions on Saturday and a property that got passed in, and I want to share with our listeners four things that were said after an auction to a buyer that made a difference. So I want everyone, if you can, re-listen to this and jot them down. The buyer walked away, says, Listen, the owner wants too much. And I said, Okay, I want to ask you a question. If you see value below what the owner's asking, put that evidence in an offer because you need to know an offer does not obligate the vendor to accept, but no offer guarantees you won't be buying it. Let the vendor say the no. Don't reject the price on behalf of the vendor. Because I said, Mr. Buyer, this market rewards buyers who negotiate, not buyers who just spectate, right? And I think there's a lot of real estate agents that don't go that extra difference to sort of say to a buyer, at what price do you see value to start the conversation? And I think we've got to accept that there is many of the agents that are in our industry that are a product of a COVID environment that always gave them four or five buyers that did the negotiation for them. And now all of a sudden, you've got to be a good deal maker. And uh quite frankly, that's why I'm thinking the Amitz and the Steinways and all the other good real estate agents out there are saying, bring it on because they actually see there being a competitive advantage at being good in real estate in this market. Um so I agree with you. I I was surprised. When I went out that on Saturday, Troy, there's a lot of people out there, right? Now, whether they're pulling the trigger, this is no GFC or 1991, 92. There is people out there. There's no question about it. Whether they're doing due diligence, whether they're trying to get a bargain, whether they're trying to educate themselves. But, John, there's no way in the world that I would compare the market that we're in to a 1991, 92 Paul Keating recession. We have to have market 18%. There were no buyers out there. There is buyers out there in this market.
John McGrathYeah, yeah, there's still loads of transactions happening, as I said, some of them a little bit beneath the surface, off-market. Doesn't really matter how you're selling them, as long as you're selling them and getting, you know, the highest possible price for a vendor and you're delighting blockers so they can they can get their their future home.
Key Takeaways And Spring Push
John McGrathSo uh yeah, guys, what's the what's the um what's the summary? Uh control the controllables, focus on your energy, energy, and the vibration that you're out putting in the market. Do some of this stuff we've spoken about, and you can increase your market share. So when the market starts to come back again, you're actually going to be in a better position than you were before this uh started.
Tom PanosBeautifully said. John, Troy, thank you so much. We're moving into our most important season in real estate, the spring season, which also coincides with the final series. John, congratulations. Congratulations. You'll be watching some semi-final football. I'll be uh I'll be uh enjoying Mad Monday next Monday uh with the Tigers. And Troy, you're nice and set. Uh Swannies have had a very colourful two weeks, but I believe that uh they're in the uh the finals, and there's uh our Melbourne people. I know that uh you like us commenting on that. We'll we'll make sure we'll give all the teams a big uh uh hooray uh next week. But John Troy Springs here, let's do it.
John McGrathSee you guys. See you, Troy. See you telling.