- Jayne Kiely, known for hosting AA Insurance Location, Location, Location, has worked as a real estate agent for over a decade.
- Despite her TV fame, Kiely focuses on delivering results, emphasising hard work and detachment from emotional pressures.
- She values her partnership with Amy Robertson and enjoys working as a vendor’s agent, leveraging her media experience.
You may know real estate agent Jayne Kiely as New Zealand’s answer to Kirstie Allsopp. For the last two years, she has helped first-home buyers, upsizers and downsizers find their perfect home on the New Zealand edition of the hit property show Location, Location, Location.
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Kiely also presented the reality TV contest Dream Home for 10 seasons, and has worked as a sports commentator, drawing on her experience as a Commonwealth Games athlete.
But what Kiely wants to be known as is a real estate agent. She’s done that job for over a decade, getting her licence just before she turned 50. What she doesn’t want to be called is a celebrity.
“Crikey, that might be a bit strong,” Kiely laughed when OneRoof suggested she could fit the bill.
Kiely talked about the advantages and disadvantages of being recognised as someone on the telly as she showed OneRoof through one of her listings, a renovated waterfront house on Remuera’s prized Victoria Avenue.
Kiely with her sales partner, Amy Robertson. Photo / Fiona Goodall
Kiely and her LLL co-host Paul Glover hit it off immediately. The pair often finish each other’s sentences and sometimes wear the same outfits. Photo / TVNZ
“In the beginning, when I first got into real estate, I was definitely Jayne from the telly, and that was a great conversation starter for me. Because to be honest, when you start real estate, that first year, even year two, is graft,” she said.
“Because you’re on telly doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to list their house with you. It’s all about sold signs and results.”
Getting those results took effort. She recalled that she was petrified before her first auction, adding that while she still feels the weight of responsibility that comes with handling a homeowner’s biggest asset, she has since learned to detach herself emotionally from the process – and get a night’s sleep before sale day.
Real estate in Auckland’s poshest suburbs may seem glamorous, but Kiely approaches every listing the same – she carries a cleaning kit in the car, and she will give a house a quick once-over before the open home. “We just go on and do it. We kick the knickers under the bed,” she said.
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Kiely said that at the start of her career switch, people had told her she was too nice to be an agent. “That was my catalyst. I thought, ‘Right, I’ll show you’.”
She studied for her licence at Auckland’s Unitec campus. She was “the boomer hanging out with the young kids, and they all loved me; they all thought it was hilarious. I was a nerd in the front row with my highlighter pens and my packed lunch”.
Her return to the small screen was equally odd, with the call-up to audition for Location Location Location taking her by surprise. “I said, ‘Do you know how old I am?’,” she said. “I mean, it is just a number.”
She added: “I love that show; I have watched it for years and years.”
Kiely’s media career 2.0 is helped by the chemistry she shares with co-host and fellow Ray White agent Paul Glover.
Kiely and Robertson are selling a stunning waterfront home at the bottom of Remuera’s prized Victoria Avenue. Photo / Supplied
The house, which is being sold as a deceased estate, boasts clear views of the harbour. Photo / Supplied
The pair often finish each other’s sentences and, on occasion, turn up to shoots in matching outfits.
While it is fun to act as the buyer’s agent on the show, Kiely says she much prefers working for a vendor. “It gives me more insight when working with buyers. But they are sometimes pretty hard to nail down. They are jumping all over the place, and you cannot keep up with them.”
Obviously, UK LLL hosts Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp are her favourite television realtors, but Kiely also admits a liking for the “cringeworthy” American show Selling Sunset. “They’re going through these beautiful homes in four-inch stilettos. My vendors would kill us if we walked on their hardwood floors in four-inch stilettos,” she laughed.
Keeping the show on the road when Kiely is off filming is her sales partner, Amy Robertson. “We hooked up as a business couple,” Kiely said, adding that they were “absolutely privileged” to be selling 334 Victoria Avenue.
“For a Remuera agent, it doesn’t get much better than that, right?” she said, pointing out the view over the basin and its boatsheds, the city and Rangitoto.
- 334 Victoria Avenue, Remuera, Auckland, is for sale by negotiation
