What makes Josh Tesolin one of Sydney’s highest-earning real estate agents, and leaves his clients cold

What makes Josh Tesolin one of Sydney’s highest-earning real estate agents, and leaves his clients cold

Auction day is always a busy one for the man touted as Australia’s leading real estate agent, and Saturday, May 9, last year was no different: Josh Tesolin had nine properties set to go under the hammer for an average of $1.1 million in what was to be a frenzy of fast-paced deals and showmanship.

The high-energy action and the day’s results were being chronicled by Tesolin and his Ray White Quakers Hill team in a group SMS chat, billed as “an earthquake of auctions and incentives” and offering a rare glimpse into a day in the life of a sales agent. But amid all the hoopla and emojis in the chat are revelations that raise serious questions about Tesolin’s ethical conduct and shed light on a unique incentive scheme that helps turbocharge his commissions, making him one of Australia’s highest-earning real estate agents. Despite operating far from the trophy home markets that surround Sydney Harbour, Tesolin earned more than $9 million in commissions this financial year, his own social media post notes.

Indeed, as he told his team in the SMS chat, his commissions totalled $420,000 for that one day’s worth of auctions – roughly matching the annual salary of federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers. For good reason, Ray White’s commitment to their most profitable agent remains unwavering, as shown by the long list of awards and accolades showered upon their top earner.

In a slew of industry podcasts, Tesolin has made no secret of his success. There are the Gucci shoes, custom-designed suits, Rolex watch and comical socks that he says make him relatable. There’s also the more than $15 million property portfolio and a Bentley Bentayga as a family wagon.

But it isn’t just aspiring agents and Ray White’s head office paying attention to the Tesolin business. So too is the NSW Office of Fair Trading. In an official statement, Fair Trading confirmed it is investigating Tesolin and the Ray White Quakers Hill office following a proactive compliance blitz into underquoting and complaints from affected parties. Given the investigation is ongoing, Fair Trading offered no further comment.

Tesolin’s own clients have been more forthcoming, sharing their concerns about his incentivised sales commission, sprung on them in the days or night before auction under the claim that it would lure new buyers. According to Fair Trading, an incentivised, or structured, commission is not common practice but is allowable if it is agreed at the start of the sales campaign and signed into the agency agreement. It usually involves a bonus 1 or 2 per cent extra commission if a sale result hits an extraordinarily high level, but it can equally mean the commission is cut to a minimum for a low result. Pertinently, it is invariably driven by the client, not the agent, said long-time industry trainer and boss Matt Lahood, chief executive of real estate at The Agency.

Tesolin’s approach appears to be different. It is framed as an incentive payment for other agents to introduce new buyers at the last minute who will turn up on the day of the auction and either buy the property or potentially push up the price. In texts and messages seen by this masthead, the extra commission, most often of 20 per cent on top of his usual 2.75 per cent (excluding GST), is pitched to the seller after their reserve has been set. “That’s like placing a bet at the end of a horse race,” Lahood said. “And if you’re dealing with vendors who might be elderly or uneducated in the norms of the industry, then it could be seen as coercive.”

It’s also profitable, as Tesolin’s own team made clear in their SMS chat. Take the top sale result on that busy auction day in May 2024 when a house in Acacia Gardens sold, setting a then-suburb record of $1.78 million. What would have been a commission of $48,950 ended up being $75,300 thanks to the bonus 20 per cent.

Then there was the three-bedroom house on Calandra Avenue in Quakers Hill. Thanks to 17 registered bidders, it sold for $1.55 million – 20 per cent more than the reserve. Given a 20 per cent commission was baked into any result of more than $1.35 million, it resulted in an $82,625 cost to the sellers – almost double the $42,625 they would have paid without the incentive. “That’s illegal” was the tongue-in-cheek response from one member of the SMS group chat. “That is certainly unethical,” said Real Estate Institute of NSW chief executive Tim McKibbin. “As for whether it’s illegal, I would say that there isn’t a good smell about it.” Further, McKibbin said the agency agreement is usually signed between the vendor and the company, not the agent, so everyone in that company and all the resources of that agency should already be working towards the sale.

Sue Roughley and her husband, Glen, were the first sellers whose house was up for auction in the Tesolin SMS chat. She says a few days before auction and with a reserve of $1,395,000 already set for their north-facing family home, Tesolin broke the news that he didn’t have interest at this level yet. But Tesolin had a plan. As he told the Roughleys, to push the price as hard as possible he was going to involve his whole office and eight other agents. The cost was a 10 per cent incentive bonus to apply to any offers of more than $1,450,000. “It’s optimistic but worth a shot,” Tesolin said. It worked, according to Tesolin. He said it sold to a database buyer of the team. “Incredible.” But when the Roughleys went to congratulate their home’s new $1,515,000 buyers, they were told the buyers had liked their home since the first day they saw it, and even more on each subsequent inspection in the following weeks. “They weren’t last-minute buyers,” Sue Roughley said.

“I was warned not to complain too loudly because Josh [Tesolin] has a strong legal team and that’s just the way he works, but I don’t care. I don’t like being ripped off.” Ultimately, the Roughleys’ extra commission was returned.

A few weeks later, and still smarting from their treatment, Roughley rang to have the billboard removed. But when a truck turned up, she was incensed to be told they weren’t going to remove it. Instead, they were delivering another, larger billboard to go on the front lawn to give Josh more advertising for the sale. It was never erected.

The incentive scheme was still a feature of Tesolin’s business model months later when it was pitched to Jamie and Susan Lynne as a way to drum up buyers for their Quakers Hill home. Given plans for a tree change to Kurmond, north of Richmond, the couple had listed their four-bedroom family home with multiple living areas and a pool with a $1.3 million reserve. But on the Thursday before their Spring auction, Tesolin warned them the expected eight registered bidders had dropped to two or three.

Again, Tesolin presented his incentivised commission scheme as a way to drum up extra buyers at the last minute, this time slapping an extra 20 per cent commission on any result of more than $1.55 million. As it turns out, the auction was a huge success. About 60 people were in attendance to see the result land at $1,651,000. The couple later discovered that the buyer had not only inspected their home before Tesolin’s request for extra commission, but had also ordered a pest and building inspection. What should have been a $45,000 commission ended up at more than $65,000.

“If I had my time again, I would definitely not go with Josh,” Susan Lynne said.

In the days after questions about these sales were sent to Tesolin, a member of his team contacted the Lynnes and Roughleys to inquire if they had been approached by this masthead. Not all vendors have been as confident to speak out against Tesolin’s conduct. One of the parties who were charged a 20 per cent commission on that fateful auction day declined to go on the record for this story, saying they preferred to go to Fair Trading with their complaint.

“The area that Josh is operating in has a lot of buyers and sellers who are often uneducated about the whole sale process,” said Omid Rahmani, a final year law student at the University of Technology and son of one of the buyers on that fateful auction day. Rahmani’s father, Niamat Rahmani, paid $1,015,000 for a house in Marayong with the aid of a Persian translator from the Tesolin office. “People rely blindly and completely on the advice coming from the agent.”

Ray White Group’s NSW chief executive, Tim Snell, acknowledged that a bonus scheme must be fully transparent and agreed upon in advance with the vendor. “We understand that Josh Tesolin does not have a standard template of an incentive bonus and each agreement is unique to the circumstances of each sale,” he wrote.

A spokesperson for Tesolin said his incentivised commissions are agreed at the start of an agency agreement, but correspondence and texts seen by this masthead show that, at least in those instances, they were introduced to the seller only in the days, or night, before the auction.

Tesolin adds: “What is important about an incentive commission at Ray White Quakers Hill is that, ultimately, the vendor decides whether they want to pay it, and in circumstances where they do not wish to pay it, it is not charged”.

That will be news to Jim Del Rosario. “It was the night before the auction, and we were willing to say yes to anything if it meant we got a better price,” he said. Del Rosario and his siblings were helping their late mother sell their long-held family home in Quakers Hill when Tesolin introduced his scheme. A reserve of $870,000 had been set, but a bonus 20 per cent commission was slapped on any sale over $950,000. “It’s optimistic but worth a shot,” Tesolin texted. “He even made up the vendor bid in the auction, and we hadn’t even set one. It had already hit the market by then,” Del Rosario said. In fact, bidding started at the reserve. It sold for $1.18 million, earning a total commission of $78,450.

“Josh caught himself out,” Del Rosario said. “He pointed to some agent and said he’d come from Ray White Rouse Hill or somewhere, but when I approached the agent to ask him where he came from, he said he worked at the Quakers Hill office.”

Later, when the Del Rosarios took issue with the extra commission, they were told they’d probably have to go to court for that.

Nonetheless, a couple of family members were asked to stand before the sold sticker for a social media moment, and in the heightened adrenaline rush of the action, they obliged. Such testimonials from sellers are of high importance to Tesolin. Sellers are routinely urged to rate him online, pose for a photo or leave a positive review.

It all helps his ranking in the real estate agents website RateMyAgent, on which Tesolin has been voted Australia’s No.1 agent every year since 2020. “Even while we were complaining about the commission, Josh kept bombarding us with text messages and emails saying, ‘rate me, rate me, we’re going for number one’,” Sue Roughley said. “In the end, people must just rate him to make him go away, but I refused.”

Tesolin’s best buyer

It wasn’t just Tesolin’s alleged approach towards his commissions that has been brought to Fair Trading’s attention.

One of the few lacklustre results of that March day was a four-bedroom family home on 460 square metres opposite Western Sydney Parklands at Bungarribee. It was originally listed with hopes of matching a recent $1.34 million sale up the road, but after buyers gave negative feedback and despite objections from the owners, Tesolin suggested a reserve of just $1 million to get an uplift in price.

The night before the auction there were four or five registered bidders expected, but none turned up on the day, and Tesolin’s spokesperson said it was passed in with no bids.

Instead, the house sold under auction conditions to one of Tesolin’s family members, and a consent form was signed by the vendors agreeing to the agent’s interest in the purchase.Title records show it was purchased by Tesolin’s wife, Sophia, for $1.02 million. Tesolin was paid a $30,855 commission for his efforts. Records show the house was then rented out for $900 a week.

The vendor, Michelle Higson, declined to offer any comment for this story, citing legal threats from Tesolin’s lawyer for making “defamatory imputations” on a Facebook mother’s group page, and alleging that her attempt to get out of the sale amounted to attempted extortion.

But this wasn’t the first, or the last, time that Tesolin was his own best buyer. Of the dozen properties Tesolin and his wife Sophia own, he has been the selling agent for half of them. It’s an impressive property portfolio totalling $15 million in acquisition costs alone, including two purchased on the outskirts of Brisbane when he was 23.

In more recent years, he has concentrated on Sydney, buying 10 more houses, including a $2.2 million house in Rozelle previously owned by his mother-in-law, Dr Christine Howard. Records show the most expensive house in the portfolio is Tesolin’s $2.3 million home in Bella Vista, which was sold by an agency outside the Ray White network.

The Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 stipulates that an agent can buy a property they are selling if they have first obtained their client’s consent, but must not induce another person to enter into a sale given any false, misleading or deceptive statement.

Ray White Group said an internal investigation late last year examined all property purchases made by Tesolin and found that all required disclosures and procedures were followed.

There was a mass exodus of about a dozen staff from the office last year, but of those who were approached, none would comment for this story. It remains unknown if Fair Trading have found any cause for concern in the Tesolin office, but in the two years it has been under way it certainly hasn’t hampered business or slowed the proliferation of Tesolin ads on local bus stops and billboards.

Snell said that since the investigation began, Tesolin has implemented significant compliance improvements, including employing experienced licensee-in-charge Paul Mylott to oversee operations. Tesolin’s own spokesperson said: “Mr Tesolin has been very upfront with the regulator about paperwork non-compliance and the trader’s steps to remedy this issue.”

Tesolin discussed the ongoing investigation in a recent industry podcast with his team’s coach and chief auctioneer Adrian Bo, saying he wasn’t clear on what he’s done wrong.v“I’d like to hear what it is. And I’d like to respond back as fully as possible with the truth,” said Tesolin, known among his contemporaries as “Teflon Josh”.

Lucy Macken & Nigel Gladstone, The Sydney Morning Herald