Lisa Westerby was rebellious as a teen, but she learned from her mistakes and developed the mindset and work ethic that have made her a highly successful real estate agent. Now working at Ray White Mount Eden, Westerby has sold over $200 million worth of property in five years.
Q: What did you do before real estate?
I hadn’t really known what I wanted to do, as I had a tough time at school. My family had moved to Tauranga from Christchurch after the earthquake when I was 14, and I struggled to fit in. I got badly bullied and was quite rebellious, and I left school at the end of Year 12.
I really wanted to make something of myself. When I was going through difficult times at school, my teachers would tell me, “You’re never going to get anywhere with the way you’re going”. I thought, “I’ll show you”. I loved the job I got out of school, and then after six months, I stuffed it all up.
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Q: What changed?
I knew that whatever I did next, work had to be more important than my social life, and I had to do a really great job. It was a real wake-up call.
Mum came to stay with me and said, “What’s plan B?” I didn’t have one. She pointed out that I was really interested in property. We used to watch TV shows like Escape to the Country and Location, Location, Location together, and we were the sort of people who couldn’t drive past an open home flag without looking at the house. She suggested I could try real estate, and drove me around so I could hand in my CV at pretty much every real estate agency on the North Shore.
Westerby says she’d tell her teenage self: “It’s OK, things are going to work out.” Photo / Fiona Goodall
I told people, “I’m willing to start at the bottom. Whatever you’ve got, I’ll take it.” I landed a job as a marketing administrator at an agency, which was a great way to start, as you learn everything about real estate. I really liked it, but I’d look at the agents and think, I want to do what you do.
From there, I went to be an auction coordinator and operations manager at another agency. They helped me to get my licence because they knew that was what I really wanted to do, and I ended up becoming a PA and a sales associate in a team.
Q: Was it challenging starting in an industry where most of your colleagues were much older?
Definitely. I was only in my early 20s. Also, I didn’t have a network of contacts. You don’t have friends who are buying and selling houses at that age. And it’s hard when you look quite young for your age. I’m sure people thought, “What’s this 16-year-old doing on my doorstep?”
It took me about seven or eight months to get an appraisal. I realised if I wanted to do well, I needed to go all in. I had one day off each week, which was Friday, and I decided that instead of taking it off, I’d use it to do more prospecting and networking. I began walking around doing letterbox drops [posting flyers] in areas where we had sold properties.
Q: Did that pay off?
It did. I spent four and a half hours one Friday doing letterbox drops around a unit the team had sold. I decided to target every unit in the area to see if someone had something I could sell because we had good buyers ready to go. Two weeks later, I got a call from someone who owned all of the units in a block of four right next door to the one we’d sold.
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We got the listing instead of a very well-known agent in the area because we pitched to sell the properties individually rather than as one lot; at the time, the first-home buyer market was stronger than the investor market. The highest offer we got from an investor was $2.5m for the four. We sold them individually, all to first-home buyers, and got just over $3m. I thought, “Real estate’s easy!”
But obviously, it isn’t. Sometimes campaigns go really well, but other times you struggle to get the sale. That can be for many different reasons. You just have to put in a lot of effort.
Q: When did you leave the team to go out on your own as a salesperson?
At the beginning of 2022. I sat down with my business owner and said, “I want to spread my wings.” I was 24, and I felt ready to take the plunge. I had four listings signed up, and I thought, “Well, if those are the only ones I sell next year, I can live with that”. It was quite scary, and I wondered if it would work out. I sold 20 properties in that first year.
At first, it seemed that every listing had some kind of problem, like unconsented works or something defective. I thought, “Why is everything I am getting so tricky?” But I got them sold, and I think it was really good for my growth. That was also the year the property market slumped, and I think that was also good for me because you learn a lot more when the market is tough than you do when it’s good.
Westerby with her partner and fellow Ray White agent Monty Northcroft. Photo / Fiona Goodall
I teamed up with my partner Monty Northcroft at Ray White a year ago – we met through mutual friends, not real estate – and I have learned so much from everyone here. There are so many successful agents in the Mount Eden office, and watching them has been really inspiring.
Q: Why do you think you’ve done so well in real estate?
I’ve always loved building relationships. I like getting to know people so I can help them as much as I can. That’s what I love most about real estate – the people you get to meet.
I guess I just really throw myself into what I do, and I always give it my all. I have really high standards, and I work to the standards I would expect someone to achieve if they were working for me. And I have a lot of energy. I think it is also important to be humble and just do the best you can.
Q: What do you do when you’re not working?
We bought a dog last year – a cocker spaniel called Sprout – so we take him for a lot of walks. I also go to the gym, and on Tuesdays, Monty and I do Pilates together. My family moved back to Christchurch, so I try to get down there to see them when I can.
I’m really into music. I play the violin, piano and guitar, and I used to sing in rock bands. We did Kings of Leon, stuff like that. Now I just sing in the car. If I wasn’t in real estate, I would have loved to have done something with music, but it’s hard to make a career out of it in New Zealand. My granddad in the UK is a singer; he was on The Voice UK.
One day, when I’ve sold a few more houses, I might be able to have somewhere with a music studio.
Q: A decade on, what would you say to 18-year-old Lisa?
I’d say that as terrible as it is, this is a pivotal moment, because it’s going to change the way you think, and you are going to work hard to be someone your parents are proud of. I’d say, “It’s OK, things are going to work out”.
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