From war zone to open homes: How Namir Mikha turned survival into service
To mark Refugee Week, we spoke to Namir Mikha, whose journey from war-torn Iraq to Australian real estate reveals the power of resilience, reinvention and unwavering loyalty.
He may have escaped the Iraqi army, a teenager determined to survive a war, but one military principle followed Namir Mikha into his new life and a career in Australian real estate: “Never leave a person behind.”
For the Adrian William agent, who came to Australia as a refugee in 1995, that principle is about showing up for people.
In the military, it stands for not abandoning your fellow soldiers when they’re injured, missing or in danger.
When it comes to real estate, Mikha says it’s about looking after your clients through thick and thin and seeing every deal or relationship through to the end.
He says “the hospitality associated with my Middle Eastern upbringing, and how my parents raised me” helped him stand out as an agent.
“I think what really helped me is that army mentality of never leaving a person behind – I shifted that towards my vendors and ensured I gave them incredible service,” Mikha says.
“I belonged by their side, holding their hand and just always being there no matter what day or time it was.”
A life uprooted by war
Mikha’s path to real estate success in Australia has been anything but conventional.
Born and raised in Iraq and Kuwait, depending on where his father’s work dictated, Mikha says his mother also took him and his siblings to the US for a short time before returning to Iraq in 1986.
“I was about 16 and a half years old,” he recalls. “At that time, at 16 or 17 years old, you went straight to the army and the Iraq and Iran war.”
Mikha recalls that he spent a bit more than five years in the army, but did escape on more than one occasion.
“They caught me and threw me in jail for about a year,” he says. “But then Saddam [Hussein] decided to take over Kuwait, and we were repositioned, and everyone got out of the jail and went to the front line. Or I was on the second line on the Saudi border.”
Determined not to die in the war, Mikha escaped again, and in 1991 he fled to Jordan, where he was homeless for months.
“We were living on bread for seven months,” he says. “Then mum caught up with us and she gave me some money and I managed to escape to Albania and then to Greece. In Greece, all of my money and my passport were stolen.”
While he was down on his luck, what Mikha didn’t know was that everything was about to change. He met his now wife, Juliette, in Greece.
From Greece to Sydney
Despite having little understanding of English, Mikha developed a strong connection with Juliette.
“She said, ‘I’m from Australia,’ and I, barely speaking English at that time, said ‘Where’s that?’” Mikha laughs.
They came to Australia in January 1995, “and basically the grind started at that time, making a life here”, Mikha says.
“Every day it was like a tornado, trying to learn the language, learn the culture, trying to bury the old soldier and trying to get all of that anger out.
“It took years. I had to actually build another human inside me. I had to build another person and bury the old person. It took years to master it.”
Mikha’s first job in Australia wasn’t in real estate, but as a cleaner.
He tried personal training and PC network support and even sold insurance to farmers – but that didn’t go smoothly.
“They didn’t pay their claims, so someone ended up chasing me with a knife, and I decided not to work there anymore,” Mikha says.
“So then I worked in printing, selling those big printers before, in 2000, I said to Juliette that there was an ad for a real estate agent.
“I told her I want to work in a role where people want to talk to me, because I’m sick of chasing people.”
Mikha started working with a national brand in Sydney’s Redfern, before switching to another high-profile agency about five years later.
He says that being able to speak English, Arabic and some Greek gave him a point of difference in the city’s increasingly multicultural market.
“I also wanted to learn from a lot of brands,” Mikha adds. “That was my mission, to learn from the different brands and to make my mind very adaptable, yet heavily experienced in real estate.”
One call at a time
As a new agent in Sydney’s Inner West, Mikha built traction in the market by becoming what he terms a “call machine”.
Not one for door-knocking, he says he grew his business by making call after call, outworking his competition and leveraging each sale to turn every deal into multiple opportunities and listings.
He also tapped into motivational coaches from the US, explaining that, back then, Australian real estate coaches were not as prominent as they are now.
That motivational training, combined with a diligent work ethic, helped him regroup if he missed a listing, as did engaging a business coach.
Mikha says he wanted to become known for his tireless commitment to his clients, the results he generated, and the highly professional but warm and friendly approach he brought to selling.
“I didn’t believe in the ‘real estate language’ that was around at that time,” he says.
“I wanted to speak to everyone as though they were a friend. I wanted to avoid ‘sales speak’ and bring true energy and knowledge to every interaction.
“Even if someone missed out on a property with me, I wanted to ensure that the next time I rang them, they still wanted to talk to me.”
It’s an ethos that has served Mikha well, enabling him to sell more than 900 properties and work with over 100,000 buyers over the past 25 years in real estate.
When he joined Adrian William Real Estate, Mikha says he did so having long wanted to work with William Pereira, Adrian Tsavalas and Joseph Ferreira.
“And I haven’t looked back,” he says.
Hotel-style service
While he has crafted a successful real estate career, Mikha is not ready to rest on his laurels.
Rather, he’s always looking for new inspiration, particularly when it comes to creating a better experience for his vendors and buyers.
This includes adopting a similar approach to the customer service he experienced when staying at hotels in Hong Kong.
“When you book into a hotel in Hong Kong and you walk through the door, if you booked premium, the manager will greet you, and they will take you to your room and check you in,” he says.
“I was so amazed at the customer service that I thought, ‘How can I bring this back to Australia? To my business?’”
Mikha notes it’s the little things he and his team do that make a big difference, such as greeting buyers at open homes, introducing themselves and offering to answer any questions they may have about the property.
Crucially, Mikha says it’s imperative to remember if a buyer has visited another of your open homes.
Even if you can’t remember their name, he says remembering a detail about them will help create an instant connection.
“Have great eye contact, have a conversation, explain about the property to the buyers and ask them about their real estate journey,” Mikha advises.
“Some buyers may not want to talk, but really help the ones that do. Make people feel good about all the interactions they have with you.”
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