The secret to Mark Larmer's success in real estate

Before agent Mark Larmer became a familiar face on Canberra’s property scene, he was a young traveller selling kids’ books door to door.

These days, when he crosses a home’s threshold, it’s for a very different reason.

Larmer’s own career could fill a book about the winding roads that lead people home. For Larmer, that is at the helm of the respected Canberra agency Suburbia, where he is a principal, partner and auctioneer.

He moved to Australia from New Zealand in the late ’90s, with qualifications as a geologist and resource manager. After his degree, he embarked on a year-long thesis, working in the field. When the contract ended, Larmer decided to travel.

His first foray into sales was, by necessity, to fund his adventure, but it exposed a critical insight: the importance of the Great Australian Dream. Buying a home mattered more to people than what was in his suitcase.

“People weren’t buying the kids’ books – they were either saving for a house or paying off a house,” Larmer says. “So, I thought I’ll sell houses, which everyone wants.”

He entered the property industry in late 1999.

Those months prior, knocking on doors, taught Larmer to go the extra mile.

“I learned to hustle,” he recalls. “If you’ve got to see someone at the time they want to see you and you want the deal, you go and see them at nine o’clock at night.

“I brought that across to real estate, so I’d be taking appointments at times when no one else would.”

Suburbia was founded in 2023 by Larmer and his business partner, Aaron Lewis, on the tenets of visibility, communication and fairness.

“Look after people properly and communicate relentlessly, that’s how you build trust in real estate,” Larmer says. “Transparency isn’t a strategy; it’s the standard.”

The enduring success of Larmer and Lewis’ business partnership – combining 50 years of experience – is based on mutual values.

“We’ve worked together for 16 years, and it is one of the longest running real estate partnerships in Canberra that’s not a husband and wife,” Larmer says.

“We grew from two agents to a fully-fledged business unit because we shared the same work ethic, the same standards and the same desire to do things properly.

“What’s kept the partnership strong is that we’ve never tried to be the same person. We bring our strengths to the table and let the other person do the same.”

The difference between a good agent and a great one is the desire to seek, not sit back and wait. Larmer’s time as a bright-eyed book salesman embodies this mindset.

“Very few agents are actively hunting down every single buyer,” Larmer says. “They wait for the three or four core buyers to call them. Low-hanging fruit is waiting for someone to call and say, ‘I want to make an offer.’

“A great agent communicates with huge volumes of people and records that information to help the buyer and the seller.”

Innovation and tech are core priorities for the agency, enabling it to create tools that enhance the buyer’s experience.

“We found something called a web book – we now call it a digital brochure – and it houses everything about the property and the purchase process,” Larmer says.

“We also do descriptive long-format walk-through videos, and they’re not just 30 to 45 seconds with music. We walk around and explain the property, and do that for every property, even a one-bedroom unit.”

Processes at Suburbia are designed to take the guesswork out of buying, which results in quicker, stronger offers presented to sellers.

“Every single one of our properties has a solicitor allocated for any buyer that requests it, and they provide that contract review for free,” Larmer says. “The solicitor only invoices the eventual buyer, so prospective buyers aren’t out of pocket.”

Long-term client care is a pillar of Larmer and Lewis’s approach.

“Every single buyer we’ve ever sold a property to receives a personalised phone call each year,” Larmer says. “It’s not about a transaction; it’s just to ask, ‘How’s life going? Hope things are well.’

“And every five years, we drop off a very elaborate gift box to celebrate the anniversary.”

It is a ritual that not all agencies have the systems or consistency to pull off. For Larmer, it shows clients they are not forgotten, years after the ink on the contract dries.

“It’s not about selling – it’s about staying connected,” he says.