How James Baker went from life in a sleepy English town to the northern beaches property scene

A childhood love of building things in the backyard led to a degree in structural engineering and architecture for James Baker. After working around the world in recruitment, IT and telecommunications, he has returned to his passion for buildings – this time as a real-estate agent. The principal at McGrath Avalon specialises in northern beaches waterfronts.

I’m not hearing an Australian accent.

I grew up in Sudbury in England, a sleepy little farming town in Suffolk. As a child, I was always building models and tree houses. I decided to study structural engineering and architecture at university.

Did you work in structural engineering?

For one year. When my 12-month contract was up, I was interviewed for another job. The recruitment agent quickly worked out I was a people person. She said I should be doing what she was doing. I started working in IT recruitment and worked my way up through the ranks in London before managing an office in Amsterdam.

How did you end up in Australia?

After living in Amsterdam, where it rained for nine months of the year, I decided to move to Sydney. I lined up a job as managing director of an IT and telecommunications company. I ran the business for about six years, turning it around from making a loss into a $50-million business. About 12 years ago, I decided I wanted a change of profession.

Why real estate?

It was the perfect combination of my experience in sales and my passion for architecture and structure. I cut my teeth selling prestige property for Raine & Horne in Palm Beach. I’ve been with McGrath for three years.

What’s the most underrated aspect of house design?

When people don’t engage a good architect, it can go badly wrong. Plenty of people build amazing houses in amazing locations but they fail to get the floor plan or sense of space and light right. It can cost a lot of money in terms of resale. Sometimes the mistakes can’t be fixed.

The recruitment industry must have given you plenty of insights into human behaviour, too.

It helped me understand how to negotiate, the psychology of sales and how to get along with different demographics, personality types and nationalities. In terms of running a business, understanding culture is a huge thing. We’ve recruited incredibly well. Everyone gets along. We would rather not have one gun agent working in our office who disrupts the culture.

Is there a recent sale that sticks in your mind?

We took 96 Iluka Road at Palm Beach to auction. The house was a log cabin on the waterfront. It was pretty much land value. Typically on that stretch, people put their houses up for sale by private treaty. They can sit on the market for a long time.

We managed to put together a great strategy and managed to sell it above the $8-million guide under the hammer.

What do you get up to outside of work?

The water is a passion for me. I’m down at Avalon Beach a few times a week, either with my dog, training, or surfing. I also play golf and I’m really into sport.

I do boxing and I recently discovered yoga. I live in Avalon with my wife, Vanessa, and our four-year-old daughter, Tahlia. I also have a 16-year-old son, who lives in New Zealand.