He started his career with ResortBrokers just weeks before the onset of the pandemic border closures and lockdowns in March 2020, and Jeff Keast showed his ability and tenacity by completing some major deals during one of the most chaotic business periods in history. Cold hard results tell the story – in just over a year, Jeff has 16 properties either sold or under contract with a total value of more than $20 million. His superior negotiating skills and determination to help all parties in a deal are the key attributes which has led to his business success.
How, and when, did you come to work at ResortBrokers?
After working in the car industry for 20 years, where I owned my own business in both the retail and wholesale end of the business, I had come to a point in my career where I wasn’t developing any new skills. I enjoyed negotiating a transaction, talking to clients and building relationships, however, I found people generally only buy or sell a car every three to five years, so it was a long period of time before an opportunity would arise again to do repeat business with a client. Eager to find a new industry that would be interesting and, at the same time challenging, I found myself asking the question: can I see myself working in the car industry for another 20 plus years? The short answer was “no”.
So, when an opportunity popped up with ResortBrokers in the Brisbane team, I jumped at it.
You started with ResortBrokers right before the COVID-19 lockdowns began – how did you handle this and how did you overcome the obstacles that arose?
I had been at ResortBrokers for less than one month when the pandemic hit. It was only my third week in the job when I was out doing sales calls and meeting management rights operators in my zone, when I received a phone call to say we were going into lockdown and to start working from home.
My wife operates a little beauty salon from our house, so when she could no longer operate her business during the lockdown, the salon become my new home office. It also made a great escape for me to get out of home schooling the kids!
Anyway, for the next couple of months this became my new work dungeon, as tempted as I was to turn the wax pots on and jump into the tanning tent for a full manscape and beauty makeover, I resisted the urge and got on with the job.
I probably sound like a bit of a nutter, but each day I would dress up in my full work attire and head out to our 9 sqm salon and start calling the managers in my area. There was a bit of uncertainty with what the market was doing at the time and it was a challenging time for buyers and sellers not knowing if this was a good time to buy or sell.
I was fortunate in the short time that I had been in the job, I had already met some great management rights operators and it wasn’t long before I had landed my first listing. This gave me a lot of confidence and that if I could survive the first year, things would be okay and the market would return.
What do you specialise in and how is your market looking right now?
I specialise in management rights and look after the inner city and north Brisbane area. The market is very strong at the moment with more buyers than we have listings. As always, there is a strong appetite for business only MLRs and also listings in desirable areas which show a net profit are always in demand.
Everything is price sensitive, but there is no question the market is hot right now.
What is the toughest part of your job?
Working with fellow Brisbane Specialist Nathan Eades. For those that know him, they’ll understand exactly what I mean. He’s such a pest. The second biggest challenge is time management. I often feel there’s not enough time in the day to get everything done, especially as I pride myself on providing the best service to clients by communicating on a regular basis. I would really love to be able to clone myself, a horrible thought for some, and assign Jeff-2, Jeff-3 and Jeff-4 etc. all the follow up work and research that needs to be done in this job. Until that’s possible, I’ll just have to make sure I work through my daily job list.
What do you do on a typical weekend?
Going to watch my kids play sports, catching up with friends and family, a couple of quiet beers and watching the NRL. I enjoy mountain bike riding and often head off to the trails with my son. I also enjoy a good movie or binge-watching a good Netflix series.
If you couldn't work here at ResortBrokers, what would be your ideal job?
I honestly can’t think of anything else I would rather be doing. This job is very rewarding and I enjoy building relationships with people in the industry. It’s a good feeling to able to help someone sell out and retire or buy another business or assist someone purchase their dream business.