by Neil Jenman
Reading time: Apx 5 mins
Kingsley Gannon is a real estate agent. He promotes himself as the agent that sellers “hate the least”.
What a marketing approach.
Yet it doesn’t seem to be working. With only three properties online, Kingsley isn’t attracting many sellers.
What a shame that more agents don’t realise that the best way to attract more sellers is not to admit to being hated, it’s to do what’s best for sellers. To become worthy of trust.
If you’re a home seller, now is NOT the time to hire an agent you dislike, let alone hate.
Instead, take the time to find an agent you like and trust. The sort of agent with the skill to negotiate a high price and the integrity not to leave you out of pocket thousands of dollars if the agent fails to sell your home.
Although Kingsley Gannon refused to speak with this writer (see below), if he does what many agents in his network (McGrath) do, it means this: If he fails, you’ll lose.
And, with yesterday’s interest rate rise, life is now even tougher for sellers and buyers.
Buyers will have to pay more in repayments which means they can’t afford to pay as much for homes.
So, it’s never been so important for sellers to find the right agent to help sell their homes.
Essentially, there are two types of agents: Waiters and Chasers.
At least 80 per cent of agents are Waiter Agents.
Waiter Agents usually take three steps.
First, they expect sellers to pay advertising costs. No risk for the agent. All the risk with the sellers.
Second, once ads appear, Waiter Agents sit at properties and wait for a response.
Third, if Waiter Agents meet a buyer who loves the property and wants to buy it, the Waiter agents claim to have “sold” the property.
In reality, there is no “selling”. No, the buyers bought the property (usually below their highest price); the Waiter Agent just took the credit.
Waiter Agents spend much of their lives hoping sellers don’t realise how little they are doing nor how easy it would be for sellers to do the same – wait for buyers to show up.
Chaser Agents do what all the best agents do – they chase buyers.
As soon as Chaser Agents list a home, they ask themselves: “Who do I know who might buy this home?”
When they’ve compiled a list of suitable candidates, Chaser Agents hit the phones. They don’t just send out blanket emails.
That would make them Waiter Agents.
Chaser Agents make sales happen.
When the market gets tough – and buyers are scarce – Chaser Agents never say to their sellers, “Er well, no one turned up at the Open House. You’d better drop your price.”
And, as anyone who knows anything about selling real estate (as opposed to waiting for buyers to show up and buy) will tell you: Instead of dropping their price, many home sellers should drop their agents.
If you’re a homeowner trying to sell in a tough market and you’ve got a Waiter Agent, you are in real trouble.
Wally (not his real name) is a Waiter Agent.
Last year, Wally called himself a “legend”. He was doing what many agents do – flashing an impressive looking symbol saying, “Agent of the Year”.
But that ‘award’ is laughably absurd.
It comes from a company called RateMyAgent (should be FakeMyAgent) which is funded by agents. As unhappy sellers all over Australia have discovered, it’s near impossible to leave a complaint about an agent with RateMyAgent.
The true worth of an agent is not discovered by looking for those with an undeserved badge from a mob that should be known as FakeMyAgent.
No, the true worth of any agent can be discovered the same way you discover the best in any profession – what do they do when things get tough. The cop who runs towards terrorists with no body armour. The nurse who stays with a patient at the end of her shift. And, of course, the real estate agent who makes more sales when times are tough.
The best in any profession shine when times get hard.
A few weeks ago, I rang Wally. He had “never seen real estate so quiet”.
Wally didn’t know what to do.
“With most of my listings, no one is coming to the open-inspections,” he said.
Wally said that last year (2025), as many as one hundred people came to his open-inspections.
“And how many buyers bought each home?” I asked.
“Just one, of course,” he replied.
“Okay, so what happened to the other 99 people?”
I asked Wally, “Why don’t you call the thousands of people who inspected your homes last year? Maybe many might still be looking to buy.”
Wally replied, “I have never done that.”
Well, maybe you should start.
Josh Hanvey (his real name) is a Chaser Agent.
Last week, Josh spent most days chasing buyers. He made dozens of calls to buyers’ agents asking if they had buyers interested in a gorgeous block of land in the best street in Eaglemont.
Josh is the fourth agent to list this property. The previous agents all convinced the sellers to spend tens of thousands of dollars in advertising costs. All money wasted.
And no, not because the property is no good. The agents were no good. All they did was spend the sellers’ money and wait – hoping a buyer would turn up.
But hope is not a method.
Waiting for buyers when the market is tough (prices have been falling in many areas of Melbourne since 2022) is rarely successful.
This week, Josh Hanvey is calling builders and developers in his hunt for a buyer for this lovely property owned by lovely (yet stressed) owners. In total, these owners have spent (and lost) around $58,000 trying to sell their property.
All with lazy and incompetent Waiter Agents.
And yet, since they listed with Josh, they haven’t spent a cent.
Josh – and his boss, Scott Kim – are doing what all best agents do. They are taking the risks. They are paying for the costs. They are chasing the buyers.
And here’s what I predict will happen.
Josh Hanvey will succeed.
If you’re selling a home in this market, don’t hire an agent you don’t like. And never hire an agent that expects you to fork out thousands of dollars in advertising costs. If the agent has to take the risk and pay advertising costs, the agent has a real incentive to make the sale. You see, if the agent fails, the agent loses. Not you.
But Chaser Agents rarely fail.
As mentioned, I could not get a comment – other than a terse “Do not contact me again” – from Kingsley Gannon the agent who advertises himself as “hated the least”.
But I would venture to say that Josh Hanvey, the Chaser Agent, would often make more sales in a month than agents like Kingsley Gannon make in a year.
The message for sellers is clear: Search for an agent worthy of your trust, one who chases buyers. Reject agents you don’t like – especially those you “hate the least”.
Choose an agent with the intelligence and the integrity to do what’s best for you – the home seller.
After all, think of the commission you’ll pay when your home is sold. Most sellers now pay close to $50,000 to sell their homes.
That’s worth taking the time to find an agent you like, surely?
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TEXT TO KINGSLEY GANNON – MCGRATH REAL ESTATE.
6:07 pm September 28, 2026. And later (after getting no response) sent by email and to his office at 7:23 pm.
Hi Kingsley
This is Neil Jenman. I’m an author that specialises in real estate. I’d like to speak with you about a billboard that seems to carry your name and image saying that sellers chose you because you were the agent they hated the least. I note that you have 100% positive reviews on RateMyAgent but I also note that your network has 83% negative reviews on Product Review. I’d like to speak with you and get some comments from you for an article I’m working on. If you’re okay to speak with me, please text back with a time that would suit you for me to call you.
Thanks very much.
Rgds
Neil
Reply received at 7:24 pm saying, “Do not contact me again.”
Second reply received at 7:25 pm saying, “Stop contacting me. I’m going to report you for spam.”
