LEILA AND DAVID MACDONALD
Leila MacDonald hated New Zealand, its weather and its lack of decent coffee when she first arrived from Lebanon with her husband in 1960. Her dream was to sell antiques, and for a while she did, so how did she end up selling houses and becoming one of Auckland's top real estate agents? OneRoof asked her and her son David, with whom she's been selling properties since 2006, what has made her a success.
Leila, what brought you to New Zealand?
I arrived in New Zealand with my late husband, Angus, in December 1960. I’d met him at the American University of Beirut, through my uncle.
The boat trip didn’t go well and between Australia and New Zealand we struck a terrible storm. When we arrived in Auckland, it was raining so much we were unable to leave the ship. I asked somebody what season it was — they said summer and my heart just sank.
I spent my first couple of years in Auckland hating the place. I’d never cooked at home in Lebanon so I had to learn quickly when I got here, but I couldn’t find the ingredients I needed. I ended up buying small bottles of olive oil from the chemist. I can’t even bear to think about the lack of coffee back then. All that was on offer in New Zealand was this awful stuff made from chicory roots! Eventually my sister and brother decided to emigrate from Lebanon and life here got a whole lot better.
Did you head straight into real estate when you arrived?
No, I did quite a few other things first. Angus was an agent, working in South Auckland, but my dream was to have an antique shop and I finally found the right spot in what is now the Lido cinema. I specialised in New Zealand kauri furniture and Meissen ceramics, both of which were popular at the time, but finding good stock was hard work so I decided to try my hand at selling houses.
I joined Gladding, Keyes and Neil, quite a well-known company at the time. They said I wasn’t to do anything with paperwork until they’d properly trained me. But on my first day I managed to sell a house and as I handed over the buyer’s cheque for the deposit, I assured my bosses that only the vendor and the buyer had actually touched the agreement – not me! Funnily enough, I’ve since sold that property twice.
In the early days I got my listings by simply knocking on the doors of houses that appealed to me. It was easier marketing property then. You put an advertisement in the Saturday paper, and you took clients around to see the homes they were interested in. Nowadays it’s all about endless open homes!
David, what's working with your mother like?
When I first decided to try real estate myself, I went to Barfoot and Thompson in Onehunga in 1995. I didn’t mention my family connections because I wanted to succeed on my own. Once I felt I’d achieved that, I was happy to join forces with Leila — we work really well together. It’s good when there are two of you because you can share the load, and we both bring our own skills to the relationship.
Leila, why do you think you’ve been so successful?
I take what I do seriously, and the thing I enjoy most is putting people together — when I can see that the vendor and the buyer are the right fit.
If I ever do something wrong, I apologise straight away and try to learn from it. It’s very important to me that I can walk down the street with my head held high.
When you’ve sold as many properties as I have, you find yourself saying hello to a lot of people who remember you, and I love that. I think people know I’m a straight talker and I’m honest, even if it isn’t quite what they want to hear.
David and I are both quiet in our style. We’re hard workers and we don’t make a fuss about things. We just get them done.
What do you like to do outside of real estate?
Leila: There are never enough hours in the day because I’m always busy. My family is the biggest part of my life and I love to be with my grown-up children and my grandchildren.
I do Lebanese cooking demonstrations for charity and I enjoy spending time in my garden. I open it for garden tours and there’s always something to do in my house, which is 150 years old. I’ve lived there for 40 years.
People ask when I think I might retire, and I tell them, “When my legs and my brain are not working.”
David, she’s serious about that, isn’t she?
Yes, she is, and I don’t imagine it will happen for a long time yet!
“People sometimes ask when I think I might retire, and I tell them, ‘When my legs and my brain are not working.’”