It all starts here

Episode summary Vanessa knocked $2,500 off the price of her first home because it didn’t have a heat pump, then spent the savings putting one in. She never lived there, and she still owns it. Rishi made the decision to buy and renovate a home with a mate after a 30-minute chat in the car. And Sarah spent a fortnight painting over a very yellow interior. In this bonus episode, the three people who usually ask the questions on It all starts here answer them instead. realestate.co.nz Chief Executive Sarah Wood, GM of Sales Rishi Ankus and GM of Customer Vanessa Williams sit down at the same table as their guests. They talk about what home meant growing up, from a renovated country villa to a house that was always full of family. And of course, what their dream homes would look like if they won Lotto tomorrow. Highlights Vanessa was a rentvestor before she’d heard the word. Her first home was a house in Napier she bought to rent out because she couldn’t afford to buy in Auckland, where she lived, and she negotiated $2,500 off the asking price to cover a heat pump. Rishi saved for a rental property while living at home at 23. After the building inspection, he and the builder friend who’d done it sat in the car and decided, in about 30 minutes, to buy the house together. They went on to buy and renovate more properties as a team. Sarah and her husband bought their first home at 26, negotiating after it passed in at auction. The interior was very yellow, so she spent a couple of weeks painting the whole thing, and she still thinks of that house fondly. Rishi took on the painting in that first renovation, thinking he’d landed the easy job. He hasn’t picked up a brush since. If Lotto came good, Sarah wants somewhere warm and quiet looking out to Lake Wānaka or the sea, Vanessa needs a four-storey shoe wardrobe and a bath with a view, and Rishi is heading for a Manhattan penthouse over Central Park. Timestamps [00:00] Welcome, and meet Sarah, Rishi and Vanessa [00:15] What home meant growing up: a country villa, Mum’s cooking and a house full of family [01:48] Vanessa’s first home: rentvesting in Napier [02:41] Rishi’s first property, and a 30-minute decision in the car [04:11] Sarah’s first home and a very yellow interior [04:41] Why painting is the hardest job in a renovation [05:31] Lotto dream homes [07:19] Thanks for listening Links realestate.co.nz: https://www.realestate.co.nz Sarah Wood on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahjanewood Vanessa Williams on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessaritawilliams/ Rishi Ankus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishi-ankus-926b1489/ Now you’ve met the people asking the questions. Follow. It all starts here, wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode summary Richard Thode didn’t recognise the address at first. Then he looked it up and realised he’d been asked to appraise the Meadowbank A-frame he lived in as a teenager. Richard is Ray White’s number one salesperson nationwide, but his first sales gig started much closer to home, with budgies bred in an aviary he and his dad built in the bush behind their home. He talks to host Rishi Ankus about a family that kept moving up, the first home he and wife Kate renovated themselves, and why he’d keep working even after a Lotto win. Highlights Walking into the appraisal, his first thought was “that was my bedroom there”. The house still had its two A-frames, set among the bush. As a teenager he bred budgies and sold them for about $10 each, then moved on to doing up second-hand bikes, hand-painting them and selling them on. His family moved every three or four years, with his mum improving each house before they stepped up to the next. The first home he remembers is where his father started the family business from the garage. The first home Richard bought was a stucco house, bought for about $160,000. They painted it, put in a new kitchen, redid the bathroom and garden, then subdivided with the neighbour and sold.Guest bio Richard Thode is a licensee salesperson at Ray White Epsom, where he leads Team Thode. Ranked Ray White’s number one salesperson nationwide, he brings more than 30 years of residential, commercial and high-end development property experience. Host bio Rishi Ankus is General Manager of Sales at realestate.co.nz, New Zealand’s longest-standing property portal, running since 1996, before Google even existed. Today it connects millions of Kiwis with homes, rentals and commercial spaces every month. Rishi leads the team that works directly with real estate agents, offices and property managers right across the country, which keeps him close to the industry’s day-to-day pulse. Links realestate.co.nz: https://www.realestate.co.nz Richard Thode, Ray White Epsom: https://rwepsom.co.nz/agents/richard-thode/111117 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richardrealestatenz/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teamthoderealestate/ If Richard’s story has you thinking about the home where it started for you, follow It all starts here wherever you get your podcasts.

Sarah Wood’s first job in property was holding the other end of the tape measure while her dad, a property valuer, measured up houses by hand. Property was what got talked about around the kitchen table, in the countryside villa her parents renovated.This time the tables are turned. The CEO of realestate.co.nz takes the guest seat opposite Vanessa Williams, who jokes that interviewing her boss could be a career-limiting move. Sarah talks about a Laura Ashley bedroom where everything matched, working in her dad’s valuation business at 17, and the little Remuera house she bought with her husband after ten years of flatting, the first place where she could close the door and keep the outside world out.She also owns up to a competitive streak she didn’t notice until she was 20, the push to launch AI image search first, and a Spotify age of 21. As realestate.co.nz turns 30, it’s a chance to hear where the person leading it started.HighlightsHer dad was a property valuer, and back when it was all done manually Sarah held the other end of the tape measure. At 17 she worked in his valuation business, collecting debtors and tidying up reports before heading to university in Auckland.Her bedroom at five was Laura Ashley from wallpaper to curtains to cushions, maroon and white with flowers, all matching. “I like a bit of consistency,” she says.After ten years of flatting, including a big Epsom villa full of flatmates and fun in 1996, the year realestate.co.nz launched, she and her husband bought a three-bedroom weatherboard in Remuera. It was sunny and quiet, and it was theirs.She didn’t realise she was competitive until she was 20 years old. At work that shows up as wanting to be first, which most recently included leading the team to launch AI image search before their competitors, a tool she’s since used to help a friend with finding a rental property to buy in Taupō with lake views.Timestamps [00:44] Turning the tables: Vanessa interviews her boss[01:08] A matching Laura Ashley bedroom and a childhood on the farm[03:18] Holding the tape measure for her valuer dad, plus a fairy photo shoot[05:06] The Remuera house that was finally theirs[06:15] Becoming CEO, and being told she’s not the CEO at home[08:35] 1996, a competitive streak and being first with AI image search[15:56] A Spotify age of 21 and what tells her she’s home[18:37] Advice to her younger self and the Lotto houseGuest bio Sarah Wood is the CEO of realestate.co.nz, New Zealand’s longest-standing property portal, running since 1996, before Google even existed. Today it connects millions of Kiwis with homes, rentals and commercial spaces every month, and she’s leading its move into AI-powered property search. She is a regular commentator on the property market and the economic conditions shaping it, including the Official Cash Rate (OCR) and what each decision means for buyers and sellers.Host bio Vanessa Williams is General Manager – Customer at realestate.co.nz, New Zealand’s longest-standing property portal. She’s one of two voices behind The New Zealand Property Report, realestate.co.nz’s monthly read on the market, alternating as spokesperson with CEO Sarah Wood, and she’s the resident property expert on Frances Cook’s Making Cents podcast. With more than a decade at the company, she’s known for translating realestate.co.nz’s own listings, stock and price data into practical guidance for buyers, sellers and renters.If Sarah’s tape measure took you back to the house you grew up in, follow It all starts here wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode summary “Let’s not romanticise poverty. It sucks.” Sam Stubbs grew up on Seymour Road in Sunnyvale, West Auckland, where two teacher salaries and the street’s first colour TV made his family the well-off ones. Watching neighbours do it hard taught him that enough money is what buys you choices and a dignified life, and it fed his ambition.His mum, a primary school teacher, fought for the kids in her class, and Sam grew up believing that anyone with money or power has a moral obligation to look after people with less. It’s why the boy who left Sunnyvale went on to co-found Simplicity, a not-for-profit KiwiSaver manager, and why a Lotto win would go toward getting other people into their first homes.With host Sarah Wood, Sam also owns up to being a closet interior decorator since he was eight, revisits the freezing Wellington merchant’s house that was his first home, and explains why Simplicity is building long-term rentals built to last.Highlights Seymour Road was a tough part of West Auckland, and with two teacher salaries Sam’s family were the well-off ones. Seeing how hard life was without enough money left him with real ambition, and little patience for films that make poverty look noble.His mum, a primary school teacher, knocked on doors to get truant kids to school and found shoes for the ones with bare feet. Sam says that’s where he learnt the strong should look after the weak.A self-confessed closet interior decorator, Sam was borrowing decorating magazines from the library at eight and redecorating his bedroom almost every year, once turning it red and black the week before Christmas.His first home was a big 1880s merchant’s house in Wellington with not one bit of insulation. The first winter’s gas bill just to heat the kitchen was $1,400 a month, so Sam climbed into the roof himself, cleared out the rat droppings and put the insulation in.With no money for advertising in the early days, Sam rang Simplicity’s first 10,000 members himself to say hello and thank them for taking a bet on it.Timestamps [01:03] Growing up on Seymour Road in Sunnyvale[02:08] A closet interior decorator at eight[03:30] Why poverty taught him the value of money[05:44] His mum’s fight for the little guy, and how it shaped Simplicity[08:16] Building long-term rentals in Queenstown and Auckland[17:31] Starting Simplicity from the kitchen table[26:21] Taking on the big banks, and calling the first 10,000 members[28:22] The freezing Wellington house that was his first home[30:00] Advice to his younger self, and what he’d do with a Lotto winGuest bio Sam Stubbs is the co-founder and Managing Director of Simplicity, New Zealand’s not-for-profit, low-fee KiwiSaver and Investment Fund manager. Simplicity 100% funds Simplicity Living, which is developing thousands of build-to-rent homes in Auckland and Queenstown. Simplicity donates 15% of its management fees to the Simplicity Foundation, which has given more than $14 million to charity over the past decade.Prior to launching Simplicity in 2016, Sam was CEO of Tower Investments, Managing Director of Hanover Group and worked for Goldman Sachs in London and Hong Kong.Sam has an MA (Hons) in Politics from the University of Auckland and is a father of four adult children.Host bio Sarah Wood is the CEO of realestate.co.nz, New Zealand’s longest-standing property portal, running since 1996, before Google even existed. Today it connects millions of Kiwis with homes, rentals and commercial spaces every month, and she’s leading its move into AI-powered property search. She is a regular commentator on the property market and the economic conditions shaping it, including the Official Cash Rate (OCR) and what each decision means for buyers and sellers.Links realestate.co.nzSimplicity: simplicity.kiwiMoney Made Simple, Sam’s book on personal financeIf Sam’s story has you thinking about what your own childhood home taught you, follow It all starts here wherever you get your podcasts.

Sharon Donnelly can have one conversation with a buyer and know which property they’ll buy before she’s shown them a single one. Host Sarah Wood, Chief Executive of realestate.co.nz, talks with the Bayleys’ number one salesperson who has spent 25 years selling across Central Otago. Sharon grew up with three brothers, and she learned early how to read a room. She talks about the one-bedroom house where she raised four kids, why some mansions feel empty, the home her grandchildren now let themselves into to enjoy her pool, and why, 25 years in, she still wakes at 4am wishing she was at work. Highlights Growing up in “the party house” with three brothers and a relaxed mum meant a constant stream of different people. Sharon says it taught her to speak her mind and read the room, which has helped her career in real estate. She knew as a child she’d be an agent. Location, Location, Location was the programme she remembers most, and she was “completely in awe” of the presenter, deciding that one day she’d be that person. Her favourite home was the smallest: a board and batten house that was basically one bedroom, with four kids. The family slept in the open-plan lounge, her eldest had a room the size of a cupboard, and they stayed there for ten happy years. Her read on buyers is uncanny. From one conversation she can tell which property someone will buy before she’s had them in her car, a skill she traces back to the house full of people she grew up in. Her tip for first home buyers is to research the agent, and to look at how many listings they hold rather than the sales shown online: “the more listings an agent has, the more buyers, the more they sell.” Guest bio Sharon began her real estate career 25 years ago while raising four children, driven by determination and a commitment to succeed. That same work ethic continues to underpin her business today. People remain at the centre of her approach. “I build relationships by being curious about people on a personal level,” she says. “I love hearing their stories and making them feel comfortable in their own home.” Across residential homes, lifestyle properties, luxury estates, development opportunities, and everything in between, Sharon has built a reputation for tailored marketing, trusted advice, and consistently exceptional results. Year after year, Sharon Donnelly continues to set the benchmark, not only for what success in real estate looks like, but how it is achieved. In 2025/2026, she was named Bayleys’ #1 salesperson nationwide for the second consecutive year, marking an extraordinary fourth time holding the overall national title. Her results have placed her ahead of not only her peers, but entire teams across the country. Sharon’s success reflects deep experience, high standards, and quiet determination behind the scenes.Host bio Sarah Wood is the CEO of realestate.co.nz, New Zealand’s longest-standing property portal, running since 1996, before Google even existed. Today it connects millions of Kiwis with homes, rentals and commercial spaces every month, and she’s leading its move into AI-powered property search. She is a regular commentator on the property market and the economic conditions shaping it, including the Official Cash Rate (OCR) and what each decision means for buyers and sellers. Links Sharon Donnelly at Bayleys: bayleys.co.nz/agents/sharon-donnelly-2855

Stacey Morrison's parents were 17 and 18 when she was born, and they never knew if they'd be able to buy a house. When they finally cashed in what they could for a deposit, it was a big deal.Host Vanessa Williams sits down with Stacey, the broadcaster who's been waking up New Zealand on radio since the 90s. She saved for her own first home by working three jobs and living off one. Then she walked into a central Auckland townhouse, got goosebumps and knew it had to be hers (even if she wasn’t quite sure how it would be).The conversation moves through whenua and the family homesteads that hold generations, learning te reo Māori as an adult, Matariki as a mid-year reset and a neighbourhood auction that felt like a festival. Stacey also makes the case for talking about owning a home in a way that doesn't assume everyone starts from the same place, because what makes a home is how people feel inside it.HighlightsAsked what she'd tell her younger self, Stacey asks for something else: that we stop talking about owning a home as if everyone starts from the same place. Phrases like "the bank of mum and dad" can shut people out.In their te reo Māori classes, people often come up afterwards to ask what their street's Māori name means. Stacey sees it as another layer of story that connects you to a home, whether you own it or rent.Her husband is the CEO of washing in their house, and the first thing he looks at in any property is the laundry. Stacey once saw one with two drying cupboards and calls it "a utopia of washing."For Stacey, a home isn’t about how fancy it is. The chipped walls and the pile of Uggs and Crocs blocking the front door are signs of a home that’s lived in and loved.One of the best compliments she's had came from the back seat of the car, when she heard one of her daughter's friends say how much she loved being at their house.Timestamps[01:07] Growing up with teenage parents in Christchurch[02:42] Homesteads, whenua and the houses that hold generations[08:58] The goosebumps moment and a street auction that felt like a festival[12:29] Thirty years of property data and how much prices have changed[17:43] Matariki as a mid-year reset[23:00] Stacey's first home, a townhouse she bought on her own[25:25] Advice to her younger self[29:13] The Lotto dream houseGuest bioStacey Morrison (Te Arawa, Ngāi Tahu) has been waking up New Zealand on radio since the 90s. A broadcaster, MC and author, she learned te reo Māori as an adult and now champions it alongside her husband Scotty.Host bioVanessa Williams is General Manager – Customer at realestate.co.nz, New Zealand's longest-standing property portal. She's one of two voices behind The New Zealand Property Report, realestate.co.nz's monthly read on the market, alternating as spokesperson with CEO Sarah Wood, and she's the resident property expert on Frances Cook's Making Cents podcast. With more than a decade at the company, she's known for translating realestate.co.nz's own listings, stock and price data into practical guidance for buyers, sellers and renters.Linkshttps://www.instagram.com/stacedotcom/?hl=enHomesteads, the TV series Stacey mentions https://www.maoriplus.co.nz/show/homesteads If Stacey has you thinking about the home that started something for you, follow It all starts here wherever you get your podcasts.

Steve Maserow has spent nearly forty years in real estate, but he traces his whole relationship with money back to a belief formed at home: that there was never quite enough of it, and it had to be worked hard for. Host Rishi Ankus sits down with the Barfoot & Thompson Howick branch manager to talk about growing up in a hard-working, cash-tight family in Johannesburg, and how responding to a classified job ad led him to becoming a commission-only agent at nineteen. Steve talks candidly about selling real estate through the end of apartheid, including the first time he sold a home to a Black buyer in a neighbourhood they'd once been barred from, and about starting over from nothing when he emigrated to New Zealand in 1998. It's a conversation about the values that get set at the kitchen table and how they make an impact throughout your life. HighlightsSteve grew up believing there was never quite enough money to go around, right down to never leaving a light on in an empty room to save power, and that belief has shaped how he viewed money throughout his life. He fell into real estate in Johannesburg almost by accident, taking an unpaid, commission-only assistant role in a suburb where nobody knew him, and went on to outsell his own lead agent.Selling through the end of apartheid, he remembers the first time he sold a home to a Black buyer, in a neighbourhood they'd once only been allowed to walk through, not live in.He calls himself a financial refugee for a stretch after emigrating to New Zealand in 1998, negotiating for a desk and a phone and starting his career again from zero at thirty.Six months after joining Barfoot & Thompson's Meadowbank branch as an unproven "new boy", he was the branch's top agent, missing the year's overall top spot by less than $100 in commission.Growing up he learned one rule that still runs his business today: if you say you're going to do something, do it.Timestamps[01:02] What home looked like growing up in Johannesburg[02:46] The belief about money that started in that home[04:27] Falling into real estate almost by accident[09:11] Selling through the end of apartheid[12:03] Emigrating to New Zealand and starting over at Barfoot & Thompson[18:42] The one rule he grew up with, do what you say you'll do[21:53] Buying his first New Zealand home in Mount Wellington[23:43] Advice to his younger self, and the Lotto property questionGuest bioSteve Maserow has been Branch Manager at Barfoot & Thompson Howick since 2005. He joined real estate in Johannesburg at nineteen, answering a classified ad for a commission-only salesperson with no real idea what it involved, and spent a decade building a business there before emigrating to New Zealand in 1998. Under his leadership, Howick has been named Branch of the Year multiple times. Steve himself has ranked among Barfoot & Thompson's top branch managers nationally every year since 2022.Host bioRishi Ankus is General Manager – Sales at realestate.co.nz, New Zealand's longest-standing property portal, running since 1996, before Google even existed. Today it connects millions of Kiwis with homes, rentals and commercial spaces every month. Rishi leads the team that works directly with real estate agents and agencies right across the country, which keeps him close to the industry's day-to-day pulse, shifting sentiment on the ground, who's moving where.Links• barfoot.co.nz/our-people/smaserowIf Steve's money mindset had you nodding along, follow It all starts here wherever you get your podcasts.

Paula Bennett was five when she started sitting out the front of her parents’ dairy in Kinloch, chatting to every customer who came in. By six or seven she was pedalling grocery deliveries to elderly locals who’d feed her home baking in return. Host Vanessa Williams sits down with the former Deputy Prime Minister for a conversation that runs from that tiny, five-or six-hundred-person Taupo village through seventeen house moves before she turned twenty-two, a baby at seventeen and the shame that came with it, and a first home at nineteen with no working oven for seven months. Paula talks candidly about using moving house as an escape hatch in her twenties, the rest home dishwashing job that pointed her towards university and then fifteen years in politics, and the dinner table joke from John Key that eventually led her to Bayleys. HighlightsGrowing up living above her parents’ Kinloch dairy on the shores of Lake Taupo, a village of five or six hundred people; at five she’d sit out the front chatting to every customer who came in, and by six or seven was pedalling a bike basket of groceries to elderly locals who’d bake her something in return.Moved house seventeen times by the time she was twenty-two, and says she later used moving as an escape hatch in her twenties, "fresh start, move house," whenever life wasn't going right.Grew up at a strictly patriarchal dinner table where she couldn't speak until spoken to and watched her brothers get freedoms she never did; that "innate sense of unfairness" is what turned her into a feminist.Had a baby at seventeen as a solo mum in 1987, wasn't allowed to see her daughter's ultrasound scan in case she still chose adoption.A move to Auckland after her brother's death became her reinvention: washing dishes at a rest home surrounded by professional women who told her the alternative was minimum wage and struggle, and who pushed her towards a university degree in policy.Fifteen years in politics, including serving as Deputy Prime Minister, ended with a dinner table joke from John Key, "who's going to employ Paula?", that led her to Bayleys, where she now works in client engagement and strategic advisory.Guest bioIn November 2020, Paula Bennett joined Bayleys in the commercial division. Paula has been promoted to National Director of Customer Engagement and Advisory. She leads Bayleys' engagement with select corporate, government, large developer and private wealth clients, excelling in building relationships, understanding client needs and tailoring a property plan across Bayleys' offerings, including transacting large property deals. Paula is also integral in supporting leadership across women in commercial property.During her 15-year career in politics, Paula Bennett served as Deputy Prime Minister and a Cabinet minister with portfolios including social development, associate finance, state services, police and local government. She is currently Director of Strategic Advisory at Bayleys Real Estate, Pharmac Board Chair and Board Chair of Sea Cleaners. Paula has a podcast with the NZ Herald, now in its 9th season. Paula is Māori, with Tainui ancestry.Host bioVanessa Williams is General Manager – Customer at realestate.co.nz, New Zealand's longest-standing property portal. She's one of two voices behind The New Zealand Property Report, realestate.co.nz's monthly read on the market, alternating as spokesperson with CEO Sarah Wood, and she's the resident property expert on Frances Cook's Making Cents podcast. With more than a decade at the company, she's known for translating realestate.co.nz's own listings, stock and price data into practical guidance for buyers, sellers and renters.Links● https://www.bayleys.co.nz/paula-bennett ● https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-bennett-56983886/Follow "It all starts here" on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart or YouTube so you don't miss the next one