Traveling the extra mile for clients while educating and guiding them throughout the whole process of buying property, Lloyd Edge has provided clients with exceptional services on every corner.
As the Founder and Managing Director of Aus Property Professionals, Lloyd is committed to finding you a fantastic investment property or that perfect home that suits your budget and lifestyle.
Lloyd helps his clients achieve their financial and lifestyle dreams by compassionately showing them how to create choices through strategic property investment.
Apart from work, Lloyd has authored and published two best-selling books, ‘Buy Now’ and ‘Positively Geared.’ The latter became the best-selling property and finance book in Australia through 2021 and 2022 and is the second highest-selling book in Australia of all time.
We caught up with Lloyd and discussed how his brand carefully crafts strategies that precisely meet the clients’ needs and what goals he has in the near future.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Brief our audience about your journey as a business leader until your current position at Aus Property Professionals. What challenges have you had to overcome to reach where you are today?
I originally was a teacher and realized that I would not be able to achieve financial security in that line of work or build up wealth for the future. This was when I started investing to get ahead and set myself up for the future. I became a successful investor, and the passive income I was getting from my investment properties outweighed my teaching salary, so I retired from teaching.
Aus Property Professionals started as I had received a lot of media attention for some of my investment successes and the developments. I appeared on various podcasts, in newspapers, and radio interviews. This led several people to contact me to seek help with their journey and wealth creation. My first step was to gain real estate qualifications to help people officially. With the demand for my services, I had to move quickly on this and I stayed up until 3 am every morning for months to complete them. I completed Diploma courses in 3 months, which usually takes three years.
I left a full-time “secure” job and backed myself.
Aus Property Professionals started with me as a sole trader but now has two offices and multiple staff and and buy across most of the country. One big challenge has always been finding the right team with the proper work ethic and general positive culture I foster within the company. It is sometimes about finding the most experienced people but those passionate about learning. Looking after our clients is always the number one goal.
As clients always have a high level of trust in me, my challenge is to find the right staff that fit into that culture. I am pretty successful at that now and have a good team, but it has sometimes been challenging to find the right people and it has involved some trial and error.
Another challenge has been putting suitable systems in place and getting skilled at various things when I had never run a business.
Tell us something more about your company and its mission and vision.
Aus Property Professionals helps anyone from first-home buyers and first-time investors to experienced investors, developers, and those looking for expensive waterfront homes. We start by thoroughly understanding their short, medium, and long-term goals and then reverse engineering a strategy of the suitable types of properties to help our clients achieve those goals. There is much more to it than just buying property.
It is about what property to purchase and how it will help achieve the client’s long-term goals. The strategies we employ are all ones I have used to build my own $15 million portfolio, which currently consists of 18 properties. Our mission is to help our clients achieve their own goals and financial independence. I also have two best-selling books, Buy Now and Positively Geared, and a highly-rated podcast, Positively Geared, which is trending on apple. This gets my message out to many thousands of readers and listeners. My goal is to inspire hundreds and thousands of people to achieve their own financial goals through the content I deliver
Enlighten us on how you have impacted the real estate niche through your expertise in the market.
I am regularly featured for comment in the media. This includes commercial TV, pay TV, newspapers, magazines and podcasts. A great many people come to me already having trust in me that I can help them achieve their goals. People see me as authentic and honest, and I am well known for my knowledge and success in property, putting people first, and always working in clients’ best interests.
I have many unique strategies, and clients come from far and wide to learn from me through the techniques I teach and deliver. Clients fly interstate to meet with me in person. I also have many inquiries from people in the industry wanting to come and learn from me, and some of my past and current clients have become buyers’ agents, inspired by what I do. I am also regularly asked to be the guest speaker and present at seminars and forums.
Describe in detail the values and the work culture that drives your organization.
- People first, profits second. If you look after your clients and their best interest, then monetary rewards will come but looking after them first and foremost is critical to our organization.
- Team culture is vital. We all work together in the clients’ best interests. Loyalty to one another is significant.
- We don’t allow egos in the company and don’t compete against each other. We help each other.
- My staff knows they can trust me, and I provide them with trust and flexibility as it gets the best out of the working environment.
- A great many people come to me already having trust in me that I can help them achieve their goals. People see me as authentic and honest, and I am well-known for putting people first and always working in clients’ best interests.
- We have regular team bonding sessions away from the office. This may include ten-pin bowling, cruising the harbour on a boat, or just going out as a team for a nice lunch.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in almost every sector. How are you leveraging technological advancements to make your solutions resourceful?
Zoom and Teams play a big part for us now. I can hold meetings with clients and other industry leaders regardless of their location. We are also embracing this technology and presenting seminars by being online.
What change would you like to bring to the real estate industry if given a chance?
I believe the industry could benefit from having specific licensing/requirements/more definitive licensing for different qualifications and differentiating the other professions a bit more, i.e., sales agent, property manager, buyer’s agent – for example how Strata Managers and Auctioneers have slightly different qualifications. I think this would benefit consumers in understanding that there is a significant difference in each of the roles and that when they engage one in particular, they are employing a specifically skilled individual in that facet of real estate.
Also I believe that a register that could be made public (obviously while adhering to privacy/ non disclosure of names) that would have all official offers for a private treaty sale benefit buyers in seeing that multiple bids are being received. These aren’t just “real estate tactics” and this would potentially give more credibility to many agents and align the private treaty sale to being a bit more transparent as an auction is where there are recordings, and data usually available of how many registered bidders, and bids.
I feel that strict regulations against media outlets reporting on sales and rental “markets” without statistics or credible sources to back up their articles, i.e., to minimize the creation of fake news like “the property market is going to crash.” More accountability. I want to look at how we can improve the honesty and ethics of the industry in general. Agents being more transparent with price guides and offerings etc.
Where do you envision yourself in the long run, and what are your future goals for Aus Property Professionals?
I want Aus Property Professionals to be the go-to company for anyone looking to build wealth and have the proper education, knowledge, and fundamentals in place. We already have a footprint overseas with many ex-pats and international clients, and it would be my ambition to grow in that space to help as many people as possible to achieve their goals, this includes developing global offices and finding qualified staff to work in several areas, particularly areas like Singapore and the US.
One of my goals has always been to assist third world countries such as Africa and Nepal in building schools and developing their education systems. As the company grows, I plan to achieve those goals. At this stage, we contribute to many charity organizations in Australia, so I want to continue this to the next level.
As a leader, I am all about mentoring and assisting those looking to build wealth or even those looking to venture into real estate.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the real estate sector?
Always seek advice and do careful planning. Find a mentor you are inspired by and see if they will assist you in learning and growing. It is also essential to seek advice and assistance from those who have achieved what you are trying to achieve, so be sure to do your due diligence on any person or organization. It is also essential that you are open to learning and taking advice. We are all here to learn. I am still learning now.
Stay humble and constantly improve yourself and your skill set.
Awards and Accolades
Lloyd’s dedication to his work has been awarded multiple times, motivating him to continue providing unmatched services. These awards are:
- APAC Australian Enterprise Awards Property Investment Strategists of the Year 2022.
- Real Estate Business Awards finalist for best buyers’ Agent in 2019, 2020, 2021.
- Real Estate Business Awards finalist for best buyers’ agency (company) in 2020 and 2021.
- Positively Geared won an award in the Australian Business Book Awards (ABBA) in the year it was published (2020).
- Your Investment Property: Property Investor Awards, Top Buyers’ Agent 2018.
- Real Estate Institute of NSW awards for excellence finalist for best buyers’ agent 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021.
- Real Estate Institute of NSW awards for excellence finalist for best buyers’ agency (company) 2019 and 2020.
