Simon Cohen is CEO and founder of Australia’s number one buyers’ agency, Cohen Handler, and one of the stars of Amazon Prime’s reality TV series, Luxe Listings Sydney. He joined us on the First Act podcast to share the lessons he’s learned on his journey from a young teen with a passion for property to the top-rated buyers’ agent for the wealthy elite.

Simon Cohen has always had a keen eye for property. It’s an interest his parents encouraged by driving their teenage would-be property magnate around Sydney’s suburbs to look at homes for sale. So it’s no surprise he’s turned his childhood special interest into a successful career finding the most extra homes for the ultra-rich.

“I had this real love and passion for property,” Simon tells First Act hosts Cec Busby and Adam Bub. “On the weekends, I used to get my parents to drive me around the Eastern suburbs, looking at the houses. That was my favourite thing to do. It was always something I wanted to be a big part of my life; I didn’t want to be my age now and have any regrets.”

“There’s nothing to be scared of”

For Simon, the way forward was crystal clear. He quickly turned hot property into a way of life, joining the Ray White Double Bay team and cementing himself as a young gun to watch, entering the top three per cent of successful real estate agents in Australia.

“I was young and inexperienced,” he admits. “The first deal I ever did as a 20-year-old was knocking on the door of a house on one of the best streets in Sydney. I ended up listing it and selling it for $9.8 million. This was a long time ago when $9.8 million bought you more than a two-bedroom unit in Bondi. And I learned very young that there’s nothing to be scared of. The worst thing that could have happened is the door could have got slammed in my face – and it did many, many times – but I learned that unless you try, you’re not going to succeed.

“That was a good lesson for me at the beginning of my career – to know that the worst outcome is not bad at all, but the best outcome is incredible.”

After heading to the U.S. for a year to study real estate, Simon realised that Australia lacked a vital piece of its property market puzzle – someone to represent the buyer – and the idea to launch his own buyers’ agency was born.

“80 per cent of people use buyers’ agents in America,” Simon reveals. “It’s a very different model, but everyone typically has representation as a buyer. I kept seeing this need for buyers to be represented in Australia. People never took buyers seriously, but without the buyer, there was no transaction.

“Working at Ray White, I could only sell the stock that Ray White had. It got to a point where I thought, I’ve got nothing to lose, and if I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it. So I took the leap of faith, jumped out, and did it.”

Simon Cohen, CEO and founder of Cohen Handler

Culture = success

Since launching Cohen Handler in 2009, Simon has built the company into the number one buyers’ agency in Australia, dealing with the wealthiest and most discerning clientele – a feat which he says is thanks to choosing his team and clients wisely, as well as having a solid and ethical work culture in the business.

“I had this desire to start a brand and business with a culture that I would want to be part of – a place where people can come and absolutely thrive,” says Simon. “I get no greater joy than seeing my team succeed, grow, and become the best of the best. I combine that with having fun – those two things are our culture.

“I hire people who are very passionate about what they do. This is more a lifestyle than a job; everyone works hard when it’s time to work hard, and they have fun when it’s time to have fun. We’ve been doing this for a long time; we have relationships with real estate agents that are unlike anyone else. Our team is chasing agents and owners all day long to access these properties, which is why we have such great success.

“We’ve also learned that you don’t just take on anyone for the sake of it. The thing we did wrong years ago was thinking that the more bums on seats meant the more successful your business was. That isn’t the case at all. I have fewer people at a higher quality now, and our business is a lot more profitable than having more people at a lower quality.

“We work with people who are serious, who are legitimate, and people we have mutual respect for. There’s nothing nicer than working with someone who’s grateful and appreciates the hard work and blood, sweat and tears that goes into it.

“It’s taken a long time to get here, but I am very lucky. I do have the cream of the crop and if you are one of my clients, you really are one of the best people around. I’m very lucky for that.”

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On changing the buyers’ agent’s reputation

While the idea of an agent to represent a buyer in a property transaction sounds like common sense, Simon says buyers’ agents labour under some reputational misconceptions he’s keen to change. In particular, the idea that a buyers’ agent will cost you money, or that they take a cut from the selling agent’s commission, too.

“An ethical buyers’ agent should only work for and only represent the buyer,” Simon insists. “A good buyers’ agent should save you money, find you properties you can’t find on your own, and do all the research to ensure you get it for the absolute cheapest price. Learning your market back-to-front, being ethical and being a good negotiator – that is what a good buyers’ agent should do.

“We do the right thing by our clients; we fight hard for them and we get them great deals.”

More positive exposure for the industry was one reason Simon decided to accept the offer to join the cast of Luxe Listings Sydney.

“[The show] created a great awareness for what buyers’ agents do and who we are. It also created brand awareness for Cohen Handler, and those two things combined were the reason I decided to do it.

“It was a great eye-opener for a lot of people who didn’t know buyers’ agents existed or didn’t know about Cohen Handler. And from that, we’ve had some incredible clients come on board – so it has been very beneficial.”

The confidence game

When it comes to finding confidence and success in business, Simon has a few wise tips to share, learned from his years of experience wheeling and dealing with the fortunes of highly successful people.

Firstly, he says confidence is all about perspective and knowing your own worth.

“One thing you realise is they’re all human. It makes you understand you can do what anyone can do – I think it’s just learning that anyone can do it, you just have to be thick-skinned and tough. It’s also realising that there’s a reason why people are coming to us and that’s because they see us as experts in our field; we give them the advice and guidance that they’re expecting.

“Another thing I’ve learned over the years is that everyone’s different, so it’s important to embrace them for who they are. You have to understand that people see things differently, they understand things differently. Your job is to work together to try and get the best outcome. You can’t let a personality clash get in the way, or take things personally. You have to respect everyone.

“I made so many mistakes,” Simon admits. “I’ve spent money when I didn’t have enough; I’ve hired people I shouldn’t have. But I feel like all those things have taught me what to do right.

“What worked for me was knowing my market incredibly well – these were the days before Google Earth, so I had to use a thing called RP Data. I memorised every phone number in the Eastern suburbs, every owner’s name. And I dealt with people ethically and morally and clients started coming back to me time and time again, and that slowly kept building up my business.”

To hear more of this enlightening conversation with Simon Cohen about confidence, the art of negotiation and building a lasting business, listen to the full First Act episode now!

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This article was originally published in September 2022.