Spot the differences...

As a kid I remember going on road trips with Dad and Mum. In those pre Ipad times BP Servos would hand out various games for kids to play in the car in a bid to negate the 'are we there yet?' chant? A favourite of my BP collection was to spot the differences between two almost exact photos.... It required an eye for detail, and a fair bit of patience.

And so last night when I found this old press clipping from 20 years ago, June 30 2004, to be exact i started to do some epic reminiscing and trying to spot the differences between this 2004 article and today.....

For context. I'd been invited by Courier Mail Features Writer, the most entertaining, engaging and magnificent Mike O'Connor to share a steak and a few refreshments at the Breakfast Creek Hotel in exchange for my always candid view of the world.

The choice of the Brekky Creek for our afternoon of beef and burgundy was calculated and significant for 3 reasons.

1. Because the Brekky Creek was the birthplace of Professionals Real Estate Group, an organisation I was delighted to Chair for 10 years.

2. I was spearheading an International rebranding campaign to modernise an ageing brand and launching a fund raising initiative for the National Breast Cancer Foundation which has to date raised 4.2 million dollars to fund research. (An initiative I'm still incredibly proud of)

3. And because if a Journo is paying for the steak and the booze I'm gunna make sure its the bloody good gear!

I've reproduced Mike's 2004 story word for word below. I've also included some pics.

So, just like I did in the back of Dad and Mum's car almost 60 years ago, how many differences can you spot between that 2004 article and the photos, and the world today?

The Interview with Mike O’Connor - The Courier Mail June 30 2004

THE talk is of money and who's made it and the proposition that

salespeople have made truckloads.

"It's embarrassing. isn't it, says Peter Brewer, managing to effectively mask the discomfort that comes with significant wealth as he orders a bottle of red and a steak "a bloody big one with chilli and chips*- in the faux-hacienda surrounds of the Breakfast Creek Hotel's Spanish Garden

The operator of a family real estate business at Manly since 1985 and chairman of the board of The Professionals co-operative group of agents, he's well placed to pass judgment on what has become the country's leading spectator sport - the real estate market.

"I think a lot of people have done very nicely. Anyone who had a pulse and a dog jumped in as a real estate salesperson over the last two years," he says. "The industry went from having 4000 registered salespersons 2.5 years ago to 8500 salespeople today. Yes, there's been some good bucks made but there's also been a lot more people chomping at the pie."

They used the, "fog test", he says, meaning that if someone held a mirror in front of your face and you were able to fog the surface, you were given a real estate licence.

"You could have been a truck driver for Tommy's Tow Trucks today and tomorrow be selling real estate. It's true. Put on a tie and you're an industry guru," he says, siphoning a draught of wine through an impressive moustache.

He's loquacious, blokey, 44, married with three children and has just ridden the biggest property boom in the city's history.

"There will be a phenomenal rationalisation over the next couple of years of real estate agents.?

‘If you couldn't sell real estate and make a buck in the last 2.5 years then, mate, you had bad problems or halitosis’

"A lot of people have made a lot of bucks and there'll be a lot of people sitting on a beach in Rio thinking: 'That was fantastic' but there are a lot of us who'd like to see the industry cleaned up."

Cleaned up? What manner of revolutionary talk is this?

"I just sold a property today for $375,000. Those people are going to pay me $9700 plus GST for me to sell their home.?

I'm not embarrassed about taking the fee. I think I earned every cracker but I think that for Mr and Mrs Consumer, 9,700 is a bloody lot of money.

"You expect reasonable service and a lot of the wankers who've been around won't cut the mustard any more."

His conversational barrage lifts momentarily to allow him to carve a slice from the slab of meat all but covering his plate, allowing me to ask if he thinks real estate commissions are too high.

"There have been plenty of agents who have come along and said: 'We'll do it for a flat fee.. Two grand or three grand or whatever, but generally they don't do much business.?

I think the rates are probably reasonable as long as the level of service is there.

"The No. 1 criticism that sellers have about dealing with real estate agents is lack of feedback.?

They say: ‘I’m paying this person a bucketload of money but they don't have the courtesy to ring me.

Ive given them the keys to my home. Surely they've got the courtesy to ring me back and tell me what someone thought of it?'?

STEAK knife poised mid-air to make his point, he offers a suggestion that?

would cause many an agent to clutch at their chest and seek medical help.

"We've seen phenomenal over-pricing by some agents over the last couple of years where some have promised the world and haven't been able to deliver.

"I think that if the industry doesn't do it, the government should be looking at some sort of regulation that says to the consumer: ‘if I say your property is worth $700,000 and I don't achieve for you a price within the selling range that we agreed on, don't pay me any commission. That would slow them down. I'd suggest in this sort of market, a 10 per cent range would be reasonable."

Looking skywards, I check for flying pigs but there are none to be seen.

I mention my pet peeve, the advertising of properties without a price indication and he nods. "It there's no price, 30 to 40 per cent of people will dismiss a property from their shopping cart. When people don't put price indicators in their advertising they get the wrong people looking, or they get no people locking.

And what i ask. of agents who place advertisements inviting bidders from $500.000 when they know that the seller won't accept less than $600,000?

"I had a debate with a chap yesterday about that and he said 'I think it's right' and I said 'I think you're a fool, An absolute fool, because while you might think that's cute and smart and that you’ve now got 30 or 40 per cent more people through the property, you've got the wrong people through and you've pissed off another 30 to 40 per cent more people."

"On auction day they're going to be saying: 'We're not going to be coming to this wanker's auctions again because obviously the expectation of the sellers was at $600k not $500k. Why did you waste my time?."

I then pose the question posed a hundred thousand times a day in as many minds: what's the market doing?

"I think in the next six months there will be some very good buying for those who are smart enough to buy. Not for those who sit on the fence but those who watch the market carefully.

"There will be some great opportunities because some people will hurt. Some people will have overcommitted themselves but you've got to look at real estate as a big picture. "The days of 'paint and profit' are over but if you look at the big picture, you'll make a buck.

"Real estate prices have grown at 10 per cent a year compounding over the past 900 years in Britain and the last 100 years in Australia and you don't get that in the stock-market, so is it a smart place to put your money?… Yes it is but think about doing it long-term - seven years plus - because real estate markets are five to seven-year cycles."

It becomes obvious he has no time for wankers, particularly those who wank on about renting instead of buying. "You listen to the wankers who put up this argument of rent versus buy. You go and tell the two or three hundred thousand Australians who have doubled their capital wealth in two or three years that renting is the smart thing to do.

"You go and take Billy Bloggs from Struggle Street who two years ago got a $7000 first home owner's grant and got $3000 off mum and dad and at least got into the market at $150,000 or $200,00 and who has now got an asset of $400,000.

If he'd continued to pay rent... he's got nothing.

He says The Professionals is presently rebranding its image following research which showed that 80 percent of real estate decisions were made by the female member of the household. "Yet if you look at most real estate marketing and branding, it's blokey stuff, but who makes the decisions? The women. The blokes are looking for reasons not to buy. Women have a driving force which says: I want better. We can do better.

"We've targeted our new branding towards females because they're the ones who make the decisions..The females have a higher expectation than the blokes. Women are more worldly."

As part of this pitch the co-operative has embraced beat the National Breast Cancer Foundation as their preferred charity.

"We looked around for the right thing to do, and some people have accused us of being cynical but, by placing a small levy on each transaction, we'll contribute $500,000 towards breast cancer research this year.

"Breast cancer affects one in 11 Australian women. I lost my grandmother to breast cancer."

The conversation returns to real estate and he recalls that 24 years ago, working in his Manly office, he would try to sell people land at Lota.

"They'd say: 'Don't bother. We're not looking at Lota. It's mud flats. It's sand flies. Take us to Manly.'

"Now Lota is one of the hot spots around Brisbane and we're selling properties at Lota for a million bucks."

He shakes his head at the craziness it all and recalls a quote he'd heard on a television current affairs program:.

It said that Australians row spend their time putting themselves into debt to impress people they don’t like with properties they couldn't afford.

"It's true, isn't it," he says.

Having just signed a mortgage with which a few years ago I could have bought Tasmania, I nod and have another drink.

Mike O'Connor's The Interview appears every Wednesday

So, 3 quick questions from me.

1. How many differences did you spot?

2. Have things changed much in 20 years?

3. How many times did I say Wanker?