– Four weeks into real estate, a $30m Lotto winner walked through his door …<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019d been in the company for years indirectly with obviously Mum and Dad and my uncle in the business, but I\u2019d also come in and work in the title search division going up to the Land Survey Office and getting all the titles during the school holidays.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that was his introduction to real estate and he hasn\u2019t looked back – although he said he was still learning.<\/p>\n
Thompson said the industry was changing rapidly, with artificial intelligence reshaping the way people access information.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be on your toes. If you sit still, you will never progress,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Yet despite changes in technology, Thompson said the fundamentals of real estate remained much the same as when Barfoot & Thompson was founded 103 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to really just refocus on all our agents getting back face to face and providing a service that still warrants the need for a real estate agent.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said while buyers and sellers now have more access to more data than before, real estate still remained a people business.<\/p>\n
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Barfoot & Thompson is Auckland\u2019s biggest real estate agency. Photo \/ Fiona Goodall<\/p>\n
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Thompson in 2020. He was made Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit this year for his philanthropy and services to rugby. Photo\/ Ted Baghurst<\/p>\n
That approach has helped Barfoot & Thompson maintain a dominant position in Auckland and expand into other parts of the country through partnerships with independent agencies.<\/p>\n
The company banner now stretches to Northland, Tauranga, Hamilton and across to Coromandel with more than 80 branches and over 1800 salespeople.<\/p>\n
While he\u2019s spent a lifetime in property, Thompson said neither he nor the Barfoot family were frequent buyers and sellers.<\/p>\n
\u201cGarth (Barfoot) was in his home for about 35 years. My wife and I have been in our home for about 25, almost coming up to 30 years. I\u2019m probably on my third family home, starting small,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Thompson said he also preferred to pay off each property\u2019s mortgage before selling and trading up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like carrying debt,\u201d he said, a lesson he learned in the 1980s when mortgage interest rates climbed above 20%.<\/p>\n
Every day, Thompson walks past a photo gallery of the generations that built the company, including founder Val Barfoot and his great-grandfather Maurice Thompson.<\/p>\n
He worked alongside the second generation of family leaders, including his uncle Monty Thompson and Garth and Chris Barfoot, before taking over as managing director in 2002 after the sudden death of his brother Mark.<\/p>\n
Even now, he still leans on that generation for advice.<\/p>\n
\u201cGarth is now 90, so I don\u2019t talk to him that often. But often I would pick up a phone, or he would phone me and say, \u2018Have you thought about this?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMonty was always a good sounding board, because at that stage I didn\u2019t have Dad to rely on and he sort of took it over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thompson said maintaining those connections was part of what made a family business unique.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe generations have to pass the information down and be involved, otherwise there\u2019s no point in being a family company,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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