Brooke Barrass and Jordan Selwyn met at Auckland’s Kristin School when they were 14 and have been great mates ever since. Now they’ve have turned their childhood friendship into a successful business partnership, selling property for Harcourts Cooper & Co on Auckland’s lower North Shore.
How long have you been working together?
Jordan: It’s five years now. I actually got my licence when I was a teenager. My mum, Heather, is an agent and I used to help her out when I was at school, doing things like handing out flyers at open homes. Then I was her PA part-time while I was at uni studying law, and I needed to be licensed to work with her. So I got my licence, never thinking this is what I would end up doing. I’ve had a few careers before this. I spent quite a few years acting, doing theatre and TV. I’ve done a couple of stints on Shortland Street as well as what used to be called Montana Sunday Theatre. I love acting but unfortunately you don’t earn any money. I’ve also sold outdoor furniture and been a nanny for a couple who owned a restaurant. I would go there after uni and look after their little boy until they got home at 1am. That was a cool job.
So what led to the move to real estate?
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Jordan: When I was 23 three friends and I bought a house together, which we renovated. I took a semester off uni to do that and never went back because I was having too much fun. I ended up going to work for my mum for what I thought would be six months but really enjoyed it and now she works for us.
Brooke: I went to uni for four years, studying marketing and advertising. After I left I took the first job that came along, which was working for a real estate company in marketing. I was only there for a couple of months before moving to Sydney with my partner after he got a job there. I got into real estate in Sydney which was very competitive, but fun. After three years we packed up our lives, travelled around Europe and came back here. I ran into a couple of ladies I used to work with and they needed a PA. I didn’t have a licence here so I thought I would do that but Jordan intercepted me and said no, come and work with me.
Jordan: She came to work with me as my PA and by the end of day one I said, “You’re way overqualified. Let’s team up”. It’s been a level playing field since then, 50/50.
So you’d stayed friends after leaving school?
Brooke: We’re part of a big group of friends who are still really close. We meet up all the time and even go on holiday together. For our 30ths in 2019 about 15 of us went to Greece, with some coming from Hong Kong, Singapore and London. Another of our friends who lives in Singapore is coming back this year and she will be working with us. She’s not an agent yet but she will be.
Jordan: I think if you get on well enough with someone to go on holiday with them, then you are probably going to find it easy to work with them. And we’re really good at going on holiday together.
Brooke: We’ve had lots of practice!
So being friends and working together works well for you?
Brooke: Absolutely.
Jordan: We’re really lucky because we have the same sort of…
Brooke: … humour. We laugh a lot. That helps.
Jordan: We don’t really need to discuss things because…
Brooke: … we’re always on the same level. We don’t really disagree about things, we just end up laughing.
Jordan: It’s great to be able to reference check against someone else. We’ll get in the car after doing an appraisal and say, “What do you think this place is worth?” Normally our appraisal figures are $100,000 apart.
Brooke: He’s usually $100,000 more than me so we go down the middle and we are usually right.
Do people think you are a couple?
Brooke: They do often think we’re married.
“We laugh a lot.” The real estate duo have made a name for themselves on Auckland’s North Shore. Photo / Supplied
Jordan: Or brother and sister, because Mum is in the team as well. Our partnership is kind of unique, like a lucky work marriage. I can’t imagine doing this job without Brooke. It’s really demanding with long hours and we both have a habit of taking on our clients’ stress. I don’t think I would do it if I wasn’t in fits of laughter multiple times a day thanks to Brooke. I think the most stressed I have been was when I sold Brooke’s house last year. I didn’t have her to bounce things off because she was the client. She was relaxed, I was losing my mind.
Brooke: I have never seen Jordan so stressed in my life. I thought I had picked the wrong agent! But he did get a very good price for me.
What’s been your most memorable sale?
Jordan: There have been lots. We’ve had some incredible results and had vendors in tears because they are so happy. There is lots of negative media about huge auction prices from a buyer’s perspective but from a vendor’s point of view, a lot of sales prices are life-changing. It is really cool to be a part of that. One memorable sale was for a couple who really needed their property sold because they were expecting their second child and needed more room. We managed to get an offer just as the vendor was going into labour.
Brooke: I was at the hospital twice, in the birthing unit, while she was in labour, negotiating back and forth.
Jordan: When the vendor said she was having the baby, Brooke said, “That’s okay, we’ll talk in a couple of days.” The vendor said, “No we won’t, get here now with the contract, I want our place sold”.
Brooke: That was my first time in a birthing unit, not quite what I expected to be doing!
What do you do with your spare time?
Jordan: We don’t get a lot – I remember getting to Christmas last year and realizing we hadn’t had a day off since September. At the age of 31 me and a group of friends have decided to learn to play tennis. We’re really bad but it is a lot of fun. We accidentally booked court one at our club the other day and there was everyone else playing serious tennis and there’s us idiots, just trying to get the ball over the net.
Brooke: We both enjoy renovating houses. I’m on my second house and so is Jordan. My husband is an interior designer which helps. I say what will sell well, what practical things are needed, and he makes it look great.
Jordan: My house is horrible but I will change it. I’ve always loved beautiful homes. It is not uncommon for Brooke and I to empty out the contents of our houses into a vendor’s house if they can’t afford staging or if it just needs a lift. We also joke that we’re New Zealand’s most expensive cleaners because if we need to we will muck in and help to get a house ready for sale. We like the houses we sell to look good.
Brooke: We always want to do the best we can for our clients.
Jordan: We definitely feel the responsibility of selling their biggest asset. It’s a big deal for people and you can’t forget that.
