'The chance to change people's lives': Lauren Laing on her unique path to real estate

When the owner of a house in Canberra approached agent Lauren Laing to sell the former long-time family home that had been rented out for the past few years, Laing went around to look. What she found horrified her.

There were holes in the walls, the kitchen was lined with cracked tiles, the rooms were dark and dingy, every carpet was worn and disgustingly dirty, and the garden was buried in rubbish.

Laing shook her head. “I told her it was so depressing, that even if we managed to sell it, we’d probably only get the improved land value for it,” she says now.

“If we were lucky, that might be $650,000. Or people might just take one look and then decide it was only worth knocking it down and starting again.”

As a result, Laing asked the owner how much she could afford to put into the property to have it improved. She replied that the most she could raise would be $100,000.

“All right,” Laing told her. “Let me go through again. I know all the trades and I’ll project manage the whole thing. Give me three months to see what we can do.”

By the end of those three months, the house at 173 Kosciuszko Avenue, Palmerston, looked like a completely different place. With a total spend of $95,000, the interior had been reconfigured to become much more open plan, the carpets had been replaced, there were new splashbacks and cupboards in the kitchen, the tiles had been renewed, and all the windows were properly dressed.

It was unrecognisable.

At auction, it sold for $1,050,000.

“So she was able to sell the house for a lot more than she’d thought, and then became debt-free,” says Laing. “And that’s what I absolutely love about real estate: you have the chance to change people’s lives. That’s what makes me get out of bed every day. It’s just so amazing.

“That owner was so happy, she cried tears of joy, and I was so happy for her. It makes it all worthwhile. You have amazing opportunities in this job, and no day is the same.”

Laing, now working at The Property Collective in Kingston, didn’t actually enter the real estate industry until 2013, after a disparate career.

Originally from Sydney, she moved to Canberra at eight-years-old, when she was offered a place at the Australian Institute of Sport as a promising gymnast and ice skater. She was one of the few athletes who was flown back to Sydney when the Queen visited Australia in 2000 and had lunch with the Olympic hopefuls.

“I was only young, but it was amazing to be in the same room as the Queen, eating a three-course meal,” Laing says. “We all got up and bowed when she came into the room. But sadly, I didn’t make the next Olympics in Athens in 2004.”

Laing went on to win the Miss Top Model competition and then modelled for a while before moving to work in retail, ending up an area manager for a men’s clothing store. She soon became disillusioned with the long hours, however, and rarely being able to take a day off.

Then her thoughts turned to real estate. She’d always been interested in interior design and renovation, so she wondered if a property career might be for her. As soon as she began, she realised it was a match made in heaven.

“I’d always wanted to work in an area that meant I’d be working with customers and decided to give this a red-hot go,” says Laing, now 36. “I love people, I love houses, and I love interior design, and I always want to provide the best service ever.

“It was tough at first. Reputation in business is everything, and I wasn’t known in the industry at all. But I worked my butt off seven days a week and gradually everything fell into place. Canberra is a small place too, so you can become known for the level of service you give.”

In the last 12 months, Laing has sold 46 properties, with an average sale price of $789,000 and total sales valued at $35.5 million. Her highest recorded sale price was for a four-bedroom house at 36 Highland Close, The Ridgeway, NSW which sold by private treaty for $1.6 million.

But still Laing’s greatest thrill is when someone approaches her and asks for her opinion on what they need to do to make their home the most saleable possible.

“That’s my real passion,” she says. “Whenever they ask and obviously have no idea, and then they ask me to tell them what to do, or advise them on what they can do, I love, love, love it!”