Deal not over until money’s in hand

The real estate expert, who has spearheaded many of New Zealand’s largest property deals in the past 19 years, remains somewhat of a sceptic at heart, particularly about inner-city shoebox units.

As a real estate rainmaker, he has learned to suspend belief until faced with irrefutable evidence.

For two decades, a central tenet of his career has been never wholly to believe a deal is closed until the money is in his hands.

Real estate people are more known for their unhesitating optimism but he has a wry pessimism beneath his shiny real estate agent exterior.

That extends to settling a few scores before he responds to the pull of family ties and leaves the country.

He tells how one developer lied to him. While working at a consultancy, he was doing his own deals on the side but denied this when confronted.

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