Alex Jordan of McGrath started out studying jazz piano, but quickly realised he was more suited to a career in sales.
Alex Jordan was offered a scholarship to study jazz piano at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music when he was in high school, but quickly realised that sales was his forte.
He began selling properties below the one million dollar mark, but since moving to McGrath has focused on the prestige end of the market.
He spoke to WILLIAMS MEDIA about his career, and told us he once employed a feng shui consultant that helped him sell a house in Indooroopilly that had been sitting on the market for six months.
Alex, you specialise in the Brisbane prestige market. How did you come to focus on that sector?
I started selling real estate in 1999 and for the first 12 years of my career I was selling apartments and houses mostly below one million dollars.
Source: Alex Jordan is selling this new, four-bedroom house at 14 Dovedale Crescent, Ashgrove, Brisbane. Price guide is $1.4 million.
Breaking into the high-end of the Brisbane market was a gradual process and really started to take off for me when I aligned myself with the McGrath brand. One of the main elements that potential sellers assess when choosing an agent to sell their prestige home is how that agent and their agency market themselves.
Property presentation, quality of photography and online presence are key drivers for buyer engagement and perception of value. I knew McGrath was considered a leader in this regard and to me the brand had an ‘Apple’ type of feel, prompting me to make the change.
Have you always worked in the real estate industry, or did you do something else previously?
Not many people would know this but in grade 10 I was granted a scholarship to study jazz piano at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. When I finished grade 12, I soon realised that making a living from being a musician wasn’t an easy task.
My personality was always suited to a sales role. When I was in grade 5, I would buy cans of soft drink from the supermarket for 30c each and sell them at school for $1. But the sales mindset started much earlier, when I was around 6 years old. My mum would make pin wheels and I would sell them to other kids on our street.
Mum wasn’t overly happy about this business venture as the cost of making the pin wheels was more than what I was selling them for... I was accepting all offers!
What’s your outlook for the Brisbane prestige market for the next 18 months?
The current trend suggests that the Brisbane prestige market has good potential for growth in the short to medium term.
I believe part of this has to do with the value proposition when compared to Sydney / Melbourne prices.
An interesting statistic we recently did was comparing the median house price in Paddington, Brisbane to Paddington, Sydney. Paddington in Brisbane was named after the Sydney suburb and there are many similarities making the comparison relevant. In 2007 the ratio of price between the two cities was 1.6 times. That means you could have purchase a house in Paddington, Brisbane for $1 million and would have to pay $1.6 million for an equivalent home in Sydney. That ratio is now 2.4 times.
I think this gap will close and eventually come back to more historic norms. This could happen quickly if Brisbane continues to grow and the Sydney market softens.
Can you tell us about an interesting property you've sold recently, or that you are selling?
I recently had an interesting scenario on a sale of a property in Indooroopilly. This house had been sitting on the market for over six months. We engaged a feng shui expert who suggested some changes to help the house become more appealing. Once we implemented these minor changes, there was a multiple offer scenario and the house sold the following week to a buyer who had seen the property several months before. Interestingly the buyer wasn’t Chinese or a feng shui believer.
Are you seeing a greater degree of interest from interstate buyers in Brisbane?
Yes, having recently sold a number of properties to interstate buyers, I can see a clear trend.
What is interesting is that interstate buyers (particularly Sydney / Melbourne) have more optimism about the potential for growth in Brisbane than most local Brisbane people do. This is because Sydney / Melbourne buyers have seen strong growth in their local markets and therefore can see the potential that Brisbane offers.
What types of properties are selling particularly well in the current market?
One of the main market drivers is access to quality education or being in the catchment of the best schools.
In Brisbane, the best schools are predominantly located in the inner western suburbs and this is where I have been selling for the past 19 years.
Some of the public schools rank higher on the NAPLAN than the private schools. For a buyer with school aged children, this is a great opportunity. Fees for the top private schools are $20k-$30k/annum per child. If you have two children that is $50k+ per annum in school fees. That same $50k per annum can pay off a $1M loan at current interest rates, which are less than 4 per cent for owner occupiers. So, these families can afford to buy a nicer home in a reputable public-school catchment and still have access to Queensland’s best education for their children.
Where do you live now, and what’s your dream home if you could live anywhere in the world?
I am married with two young children and currently live in the western suburbs. Right now in our lives, I don’t know of a better place to live in the world. I think anyone living in Australia should be grateful for what we have - it doesn’t get much better than this!
But if I could live anywhere else it would be on the beach or very close to nature. Byron Bay is a favourite, so a beach house in Byron would have to be the ultimate! And it doesn’t have to be a mansion at Wategos... a little cottage that hugs the sand will do just fine.
Read more about Queensland real estate agents:
Get to know Sarah Hackett, managing director of Brisbane agency, Place
Get to know Hamish Bowman: the top end of the Brisbane market is booming