What it's like being a real estate agent on The Block 2024
The contestants on The Block have shed blood, sweat and tears as they’ve transformed an abandoned resort into luxurious holiday homes on Victoria’s Phillip Island – but how have the agents, who have also been thrust into the spotlight, found the experience?
“Oh, working on The Block is unlike anything normal real estate entails,” laughs Krystal Chandler of O’Brien Real Estate Judith Wright, who’s selling House 1 for Maddy and Charlotte.
While a normal campaign traditionally lasts around four weeks, on The Block, agents can expect to be marketing the property for two to three months.
“It’s been a huge amount of fun but it’s been very different in all aspects,” Chandler says.
“Things like how you go to market with a listing is even different. Normally, you’d put all the photos up at once, doing one big write up. You may edit or change things every now and then. But with The Block and the reveals happening each week, you have to edit and add new rooms every single week. It’s a lot of work.”
The 2024 series, the show’s 20th season, is set in Phillip Island’s main town of Cowes, where The Block’s luxe holidays homes sit in a former holiday resort set on a hectare of land.
The median price for a four-bedroom home in Cowes is $817,000, while a five-bedroom home is $1.09 million. The majority of properties on this season of The Block are five-bedroom, with the exception of houses 1 and 2, which are four-bedroom. Despite this difference, they are all selling with a price guide of $1.7 million to $1.85 million.
Chandler says she’s constantly reminded of just how big the show is – it has an audience of over 1.4 million people – with the number of daily enquiries at an all-time high.
“I’ve been surprised by how many people have called from interstate saying they want to have a stickybeak and will fly down to see the site,” she says.
“But we obviously go through a qualifying process and it’s a bit more stringent when it comes to information that we’re allowed to share and the things we’re keeping from the public until the reveals.
“So it’s a bit more of a lengthy qualifying process. People have been pretty respectful, though, when I’ve explained that I’d love to take them through and I’m happy to provide as much information as I can but I can’t actually get them onto the property because of security and privacy reasons.
“But I’ve definitely had a lot of inquiries from prospective, genuine purchasers, so that’s been exciting for the girls.”
Jaime Morris of Stockdale and Leggo Phillip Island has been enlisted to sell House 5 for South Australian newlyweds Kristian and Mimi, and says she has also been receiving a high level of enquiries.
“Higher exposure means a higher number of inquiries,” she says. “We’re only doing private viewings as opposed to open homes so that in itself is just so different to a normal campaign.
“The whole experience has been a whirlwind and it’s been such a learning curve, like having VIP nights! You wouldn’t do that in a standard campaign.”
Greg Price of Alex Scott & Staff Phillip Island says the show has been a “rollercoaster of an experience” and the excitement it’s brought to Phillip Island has been “so much fun”.
“The Block is just a juggernaut of a show,” he says. “From the moment Phillip Island was announced as the location, we saw an influx of people visiting. You just need to walk down the main street on a Saturday to feel the buzz. It’s certainly in the back of vendors’ minds that they’d like to get their property on the market to capture the interest the show has created. ”
Price has been brought on to sell House 4 for Kylie and Brad from Cairns, who he says are “absolutely delightful.”
“People say, ‘I can’t believe you’re selling the home of the green-haired girl. What is she like?’ And I say she’s the most beautiful person you’d ever meet. She’s a hard-working mum of four kids who doesn’t take crap and I absolutely love working for them.”
He says the couple have been “incredibly responsive” to his suggestions and the show has confirmed what he’s always known to be true about real estate: you just need to do your job well.
“It’s about doing the simple things right like following up and getting back to buyers,” Price says. “At the end of the day, even with all the hoopla, you’ve just got to do your job. And you’ve got to market it properly – follow up and get your ducks in a row.”
The enormity of the show hasn’t been lost on Yvette Tancheff of Ray White Phillip Island, who has been brought on to sell House 2 for Sydneysiders Courtney and Grant.
“You only get one shot at selling the property so you want to do everything you can in that time frame,” she says.
“It’s been a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. It can be difficult qualifying people because there are fans who just want to register to view the properties, but we’ve certainly got genuine buyers for the properties, that’s for sure.”
Chandler says that, despite the added eyes that have come from the show, certain aspects of her job have remained the same.
“I’ve tried to operate the way I would with any normal vendor, maintaining that professionalism and treating everyone like I would day to day – there’s just that added pressure of making sure I look pretty enough to be seen on TV,” she says, laughing.
The Block auctions are expected to take place on November 9, airing on November 10 and Price says he’ll be “glad to get to the auction”.
“I just want every contestant to do well,” he says. “Obviously, I want our listing to do well but all the contestants have worked so hard and they’ve put so much effort into it and I want them to hit it out of the park.”
Morris adds that it’s been “such a fun, interesting and exciting experience”.
“It’s been a lot of work and it’s been really good exposure for Phillip Island – it’s really been the talk of the town,” she says. “I try to sit back every now and again and take a look at what we’ve experienced because we’ve achieved so much.”
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