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REconnect by Recruit RE is a series created to share learnings, wisdom and practical advice from some of the leading real estate professionals within our industry.
REconnect | Dave Skow
Words of Wisdom – with Recruit RE and Dave Skow
“Being able to forge meaningful, long-lasting relationships has helped in shaping the leadership style that I've adopted and the leader that I've become.”
Having spoken about his success in some of the biggest forums in real estate, there isn’t much that Dave Skow hasn’t seen in the industry. His experience has spanned over two decades of hard work and determination in offices, corporate environments, business ownership and industry training.
Now as Chief Operation Officer at Ray White Macarthur and Nepean Group, Dave focuses on authentic leadership while growing his team and is passionate about the development of the next generation of industry leaders, offering mentorship for those in the industry.
Tell us about your career and how you started in the industry
I knew from a very young age that real estate was going to be something that I was interested in. I did work experience in year ten at an office in Wagga Wagga in regional NSW and got my first job after the HSC in a sales only independent office. After a few years I moved to Sydney and worked in a couple of offices and corporate as well as the REI as a trainer when CPD was coming in.
We were delivering CPD sessions across NSW in 32 regional locations would travel for training to REINSW members and the certificate of registration licensing subjects in Sydney.
I was in Sydney for around seven years and then decided, like all good country boys do that it was time to go home and settle and I went to work for that same agency that I was originally employed by.
After 20 years they decided to diversify from sales only and I started the rent roll for them as a partner in2010.
In 2014 I took the plunge and opened Wagga Property Management which I owned until last year. I grew that business from nothing to around 1000 properties under management and we had acquired the REMAX business along the way. By the time I sold it, it was sales and property management.
When we sold it was an offer too good to be true. I took some time off and then started a job with Independent in Canberra that wasn’t the right fit and then began this job around six months ago.
What qualifications did you complete to get into the industry?
When I started in 2001 Department of Fair Trading had an interim certificate and there were no limitations, and it was easy to hit the ground running. When I worked at the REI NSW, I was able to study for my real estate licence, stock and station agents and business agents’ licence.
How would you say that your friends and colleagues would describe you?
Sometimes they see me as having quite a lot of bravado but deep down I’m introverted. I really enjoy my time and space, but I think that as a leader you've got to give the sense that you are outspoken which quite often means being able to speak comfortably at open forums and in public and through my career, I've been able to present at conferences.
What is your proudest career moment?
The pinnacle was creating a business from scratch and achieving the success that I did. The proudest moments of my career happened all the way through 18 years of business ownership and hitting the milestones.
The ultimate was being able to confidently manage assets and an attraction business. The fact that someone could come and offer what they did and see it’s worth and buy locally when we weren’t looking to sell was a real testament to its success.
What is the most rewarding part of your career?
The ability to bring two parties together. I really enjoy the challenge of starting with a vendor and purchaser or landlord and tenant that are at opposite ends of the scale of what they want to achieve and being able to bridge that gap and bring it together through compromise and good communication.
How have the companies that you've worked with helped you reach your career goals?
I've been lucky in that all the places I've worked as employee have had really supportive management structures in place and business owners that have been across it all from an agency point of view.
I'm thankful because the level of mentorship I've had has been great and I still count some of these people, like my first boss in the independent sales business, as good friends, and mentors.
The Head of Education and Training at the REI 20 years ago is still a close friend of mine, and I call her and her husband who's one of our trainers. We speak every couple of months and catch up when we can.
What advice would you have for early career professionals?
Most real estate careers are a marathon, not a sprint and most overnight successes are many years in the making. It's very rare that you see someone achieving the heights of success without moving up through the ranks and learning the craft as an associate or PA to atop performing sales agent or property manager.
There's this misconception that real estate is a job that anyone can do, and that success comes easy to the people. I don't think you'd ever find that any of the industry's topper formers have made it big overnight without a lot of practice, hard work and mistakes along the way.
What advice do you have for maintaining good mental health?
Over the last couple of years, we've gone through the transition from working from home and then back again. There are some good initiatives in industry, Rise is the one that comes to mind.
It’s important to try and maintain balance and to learn strategies on how to separate work from life. Also, to deal with the expectations that we see from clients which has drastically changed. People are more technologically advanced and expect things immediately. It's learning how to delegate that time to work, but also making time for the stuff outside of work.
Would you do anything differently if you were given the chance?
There are some times during a particular business ownership cycle, where if I was asked that question at the time, I probably would have answered it differently. I think knowing what the end result was and how it came out at the end makes it easier to look back with the assurance that everything's okay and will fall into place.
What unexpected opportunities that come out of your career?
I’ve been lucky to count some of the industry's best-known speakers and thought leaders as close friends and they are part of a network that I can call on. I know I can pick up the phone and they will give me 10 minutes of their day to answer a question or to review or catch up.
Being able to now give back and be one of those people that will be called upon and helping people is something the I really enjoy.
What do you think the biggest recruitment challenges are in the industry?
There is an unrealistic expectation around what a career in real estate entails. If there were more reality around what the roles in real estate encompass it might mean that people are a little savvier about what's involved.
We're dealing with downward pressure on revenue and upward pressure on costs and there needs to be more value on the work that is being done and how much we are charging for the skill level that is involved.
How do you find the best talent to join your team?
We have found new team members through referrals and because we've got the benefit of having such a big team, there's typically always someone who knows someone who wants to start in the industry, and we've had some good success that way.
Otherwise, we're always on the lookout to diversifying to find skills from other industries that might compliment the skill set of our current team. We also have anyone joining our team complete personality profiling so that we can learn their strengths and work out if they will be a good cultural fit. It gives amazing insight for us to make decisions as a leadership team.
What's your advice for anyone who is trying to buy or sell investment properties in the current market?
I think interest rates are always going to be topical and they will always have an impact on people's perception on whether it's a good time to buy or sell.
The best investors will tell you that real estate is a long game. It's a game of buying and not selling and there are obviously tax implications when you do eventually sell. Each market has its own nuances, and each is different. In some areas there are still people buying investment properties where the yield is strong compared and so I think it's largely geographically based.
What is a top tip for anyone to flourish in the real estate industry.
If you're looking at business ownership, take a punt. It always comes down to hard work and you will have the most skilled agent versus the agent with minimal skill that will work hard and the one that works hard will always come out on top.
REconnect | Dave Skow
REconnect | Dave Skow
Words of Wisdom – with Recruit RE and Dave Skow
“Being able to forge meaningful, long-lasting relationships has helped in shaping the leadership style that I've adopted and the leader that I've become.”
Having spoken about his success in some of the biggest forums in real estate, there isn’t much that Dave Skow hasn’t seen in the industry. His experience has spanned over two decades of hard work and determination in offices, corporate environments, business ownership and industry training.
Now as Chief Operation Officer at Ray White Macarthur and Nepean Group, Dave focuses on authentic leadership while growing his team and is passionate about the development of the next generation of industry leaders, offering mentorship for those in the industry.
Tell us about your career and how you started in the industry
I knew from a very young age that real estate was going to be something that I was interested in. I did work experience in year ten at an office in Wagga Wagga in regional NSW and got my first job after the HSC in a sales only independent office. After a few years I moved to Sydney and worked in a couple of offices and corporate as well as the REI as a trainer when CPD was coming in.
We were delivering CPD sessions across NSW in 32 regional locations would travel for training to REINSW members and the certificate of registration licensing subjects in Sydney.
I was in Sydney for around seven years and then decided, like all good country boys do that it was time to go home and settle and I went to work for that same agency that I was originally employed by.
After 20 years they decided to diversify from sales only and I started the rent roll for them as a partner in2010.
In 2014 I took the plunge and opened Wagga Property Management which I owned until last year. I grew that business from nothing to around 1000 properties under management and we had acquired the REMAX business along the way. By the time I sold it, it was sales and property management.
When we sold it was an offer too good to be true. I took some time off and then started a job with Independent in Canberra that wasn’t the right fit and then began this job around six months ago.
What qualifications did you complete to get into the industry?
When I started in 2001 Department of Fair Trading had an interim certificate and there were no limitations, and it was easy to hit the ground running. When I worked at the REI NSW, I was able to study for my real estate licence, stock and station agents and business agents’ licence.
How would you say that your friends and colleagues would describe you?
Sometimes they see me as having quite a lot of bravado but deep down I’m introverted. I really enjoy my time and space, but I think that as a leader you've got to give the sense that you are outspoken which quite often means being able to speak comfortably at open forums and in public and through my career, I've been able to present at conferences.
What is your proudest career moment?
The pinnacle was creating a business from scratch and achieving the success that I did. The proudest moments of my career happened all the way through 18 years of business ownership and hitting the milestones.
The ultimate was being able to confidently manage assets and an attraction business. The fact that someone could come and offer what they did and see it’s worth and buy locally when we weren’t looking to sell was a real testament to its success.
What is the most rewarding part of your career?
The ability to bring two parties together. I really enjoy the challenge of starting with a vendor and purchaser or landlord and tenant that are at opposite ends of the scale of what they want to achieve and being able to bridge that gap and bring it together through compromise and good communication.
How have the companies that you've worked with helped you reach your career goals?
I've been lucky in that all the places I've worked as employee have had really supportive management structures in place and business owners that have been across it all from an agency point of view.
I'm thankful because the level of mentorship I've had has been great and I still count some of these people, like my first boss in the independent sales business, as good friends, and mentors.
The Head of Education and Training at the REI 20 years ago is still a close friend of mine, and I call her and her husband who's one of our trainers. We speak every couple of months and catch up when we can.
What advice would you have for early career professionals?
Most real estate careers are a marathon, not a sprint and most overnight successes are many years in the making. It's very rare that you see someone achieving the heights of success without moving up through the ranks and learning the craft as an associate or PA to atop performing sales agent or property manager.
There's this misconception that real estate is a job that anyone can do, and that success comes easy to the people. I don't think you'd ever find that any of the industry's topper formers have made it big overnight without a lot of practice, hard work and mistakes along the way.
What advice do you have for maintaining good mental health?
Over the last couple of years, we've gone through the transition from working from home and then back again. There are some good initiatives in industry, Rise is the one that comes to mind.
It’s important to try and maintain balance and to learn strategies on how to separate work from life. Also, to deal with the expectations that we see from clients which has drastically changed. People are more technologically advanced and expect things immediately. It's learning how to delegate that time to work, but also making time for the stuff outside of work.
Would you do anything differently if you were given the chance?
There are some times during a particular business ownership cycle, where if I was asked that question at the time, I probably would have answered it differently. I think knowing what the end result was and how it came out at the end makes it easier to look back with the assurance that everything's okay and will fall into place.
What unexpected opportunities that come out of your career?
I’ve been lucky to count some of the industry's best-known speakers and thought leaders as close friends and they are part of a network that I can call on. I know I can pick up the phone and they will give me 10 minutes of their day to answer a question or to review or catch up.
Being able to now give back and be one of those people that will be called upon and helping people is something the I really enjoy.
What do you think the biggest recruitment challenges are in the industry?
There is an unrealistic expectation around what a career in real estate entails. If there were more reality around what the roles in real estate encompass it might mean that people are a little savvier about what's involved.
We're dealing with downward pressure on revenue and upward pressure on costs and there needs to be more value on the work that is being done and how much we are charging for the skill level that is involved.
How do you find the best talent to join your team?
We have found new team members through referrals and because we've got the benefit of having such a big team, there's typically always someone who knows someone who wants to start in the industry, and we've had some good success that way.
Otherwise, we're always on the lookout to diversifying to find skills from other industries that might compliment the skill set of our current team. We also have anyone joining our team complete personality profiling so that we can learn their strengths and work out if they will be a good cultural fit. It gives amazing insight for us to make decisions as a leadership team.
What's your advice for anyone who is trying to buy or sell investment properties in the current market?
I think interest rates are always going to be topical and they will always have an impact on people's perception on whether it's a good time to buy or sell.
The best investors will tell you that real estate is a long game. It's a game of buying and not selling and there are obviously tax implications when you do eventually sell. Each market has its own nuances, and each is different. In some areas there are still people buying investment properties where the yield is strong compared and so I think it's largely geographically based.
What is a top tip for anyone to flourish in the real estate industry.
If you're looking at business ownership, take a punt. It always comes down to hard work and you will have the most skilled agent versus the agent with minimal skill that will work hard and the one that works hard will always come out on top.
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