Property Point 12 july

There are compliments and there are compliments.
When the compliment comes from your mum, it’s nice but … well you know, it’s from your mum.
Like the time I brought home a useless wooden box that I had “crafted” in a manual arts class at school. It was an ugly insult to the woodwork industry and had a stupid lid that wouldn’t close because the sides were uneven.
“Oh, darling that’s fantastic,” my mother said. Thanks mum.
The best, most credible compliments come from people who work and succeed in the same area as the person they are complimenting. Artists complimenting fellow artists, builders complimenting fellow builders, footballers complimenting fellow footballers.
I follow AFL footy and there is a specific compliment you sometimes hear when a footballer is asked his view on another player.
The compliment is: “I love the way he goes about it.”
There are some nuances to that compliment. The player being interviewed is not saying the other player is “the most spectacular”, “the fastest runner”, “the biggest kick”, “the highest mark”.
The comment, “I love the way he goes about it”, means that the player giving the compliment admires the discipline of the other player, the effort he consistently puts in, his focus on the small but important things (the one-percenters), his willingness to sacrifice his individual game for the benefit of the team, his desire to do the hard things (the tackling, the chasing) that don’t win awards but are vital for success.
Now I work in real estate and if I had to pick one agent to whom I would apply the term, “I love the way he or she goes about it”, it would be my friend and colleague Mick McLeod.
Mick works as a buyer’s agent as part of Ben Kerrisk’s team at Gardian and I love the way he goes about it because he is hard-working, consistent, determined, focused and always doing the best he can for buyers and sellers.
You will always see Mick armed with printouts of emails, texts and inquiries from buyers that he calls every day to follow up on private inspections and open homes and to try to match buyers with our listings.
Mick will work with buyers for months trying to find them a Gardian property that suits them. He is relentless but not pushy, so he sticks at the job but doesn’t make buyers feel that he is hassling them.
He is confident but not arrogant, so he has the self-belief you need to pick up the phone and make calls to strangers but his low-key, modest manner makes it a pleasant experience for everyone he deals with.
He is also even-tempered, a vital trait in a business with soaring highs and plunging lows that can make or break your day. If you bump into Mick and have a quick chat you wouldn’t know whether he has just sold a $1m property or whether that contract has just crashed. Stay calm and focus on the job.
Mick isn’t a flashy show-off but an insightful agent who understands and connects with people and follows the process that we know produces good, consistent results.
Anyone who works hard needs to be able to turn off and, if it’s late on a Saturday afternoon and the work’s been done you might spot Mick with a Great Northern in front of him with one eye on the last race at Caulfield and the other on the rugby league.
Later in the night there’ll be stories about growing up in Flaggy Rock and his days as a tearaway opening bowler … which means it’s time for you to go home.

‍