Victoria’s top 50 real estate young guns
From modest grinding to orange lambos, the state’s biggest property deal-makers aged 35 and under have been revealed.
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Orange lamborghinis, music video promos and coining the term ‘Zold’ are integral to Victoria’s top real estate young gun — but Zed Nasheet insists he isn’t materialistic.
It’s 20 years since the Zed Real Estate director migrated from Afghanistan, and his life on Beach Rd is a world away from memories of a one-bedroom apartment shared by 14 people.
The 32-year-old has been crowned Victoria’s top real estate agent aged 35 or under in research conducted by the Sunday Herald Sun, based on sales figures provided by major agencies.
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Mr Nasheet was the only such agent to top $200m of deals in 2021, with $209,790,000, among more than 50 submissions from the industry’s biggest players.
His 111 sales that made up the mega sum averaged out at $1.89m per transaction.
Buxton Box Hill director Calvin Chan was the state’s second biggest seller, with $198,520,000 of sales last calendar year for an average sale price of $1,418,000 from 140 deals.
Ben Manolitsas (Marshall White), Oliver Booth (Kay & Burton) and Davide Lettieri (Marshall White) rounded out the top five, all with total sales volumes beyond $150m in 2021.
Despite being notorious for his flashy persona, including dubbing his listings ‘Zold’ instead of ‘Sold’ and having that spicy slogan tattooed on his forearm, Mr Nasheet says his biggest driver is inspiring younger generations to believe they can achieve whatever they want in life.
“I hate cars, I’m not materialistic at all. I was born into poverty; the first time I had a proper shower I was 12 years old — we’d had 14 people in a one-bedroom apartment,” he said.
“Of course I don’t want to go back. I want to live life to its full, maximum potential.”
The cars communicate success to clients and potential clients — and they’re fun, of course.
Zed Real Estate HQ — dripping in “New York marble” — is in Hampton East now, after Mr Nasheet started out selling in the “ghettos of Melbourne” in Hampton Park.
And striking deals for $5m-$6m homes is easier than hawking $500,000-$600,000 ones, he reckons — it’s the profile of the person and the negotiation level that changes.
“Knowledge of the fixtures and fittings” is what makes the difference at the top.
“Justifying the price is educating the client rather than selling to them,” Mr Nasheet said.
“People hate to be sold to. You never wanted to be sold to; you want to be educated.”
Mr Chan loves that no two days are the same in real estate — a far cry from his former job as a bank teller after finishing a commerce degree at Melbourne University.
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His 2021 numbers are second only to Mr Nasheet’s after notching his biggest year on record.
The 29-year-old became a director of Buxton Box Hill last year after starting with the company five years ago when he began in real estate.
“A lot of hard work, working at least six days a week, and sacrificing a lot in terms of forgoing a lot of social events and sometimes holidays” are keys to his success.
“When you work as a real estate agent, it never stops,” Mr Chan said.
“You never really switch off, so I do credit my success to the work ethic and having a good team as well and a very supportive principal.”
The uni degree might be irrelevant — but coming into the industry at a more “mature” age meant he was much more okay with working Saturdays than he once would have been.
Kay & Burton partner Rebecca Edwards got her first taste of real estate with work experience “in between schoolies” and convinced her parents it was going to be her full-time gig instead of uni.
She sold $95m worth of real estate last year — her 10th in the game — with an average sale price of about $2.3m from her 41 deals.
At 35, things are getting easier after the high-volume footpath hitting of nascent careers, which fostered success in pricier neighbourhoods for Ms Edwards and Mr Nasheet.
“I’m on call 24/7, it’s not long lunches,” Ms Edwards said.
“I think it looks a bit more glamorous on the outside than what it really is.
“You’ve really just got to grind, and with time it starts to get easier the longer you’re doing it because of the relationships you’re able to build.”
She said working in an office for a company that was supportive was crucial, and loved the relationships and people aspect of her career.
Daniel Nestor of McGrath Ballarat was the deal king when it came to number of transactions, with 158 in 2021, while Ray White Pakenham’s Gavin Staindl brokered 156.
Matthew Akritditis of Nelson Alexander was the youngest agent in the top 50, at 23.
He had $85,560,138 worth of deals, with an average sale price of $1.426m from 60 sales.
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