Why I co-founded Kura Cares — and what it taught me about selling real estate

Kura Cares started in Papakura. A small team, a community need we couldn't ignore, and an idea that grew faster than any of us expected. Today, the charity supports whānau across South Auckland with essential resources — kai, school supplies, the things families quietly need in the weeks when nothing else lines up. I co-founded it, and I still spend time on the floor every month. The work has changed how I do real estate.

Why community trust translates to vendor trust

The first thing Kura Cares taught me is that trust is built in the lowest weeks, not the highest. Sitting with a family who can't put dinner on the table, listening before talking, doing what you said you'd do without making a thing of it — that's the shape of trust. It doesn't matter what you're selling, where you're selling it, or how much it's worth. People can tell when you're really there.

When a vendor invites me into their home for an appraisal, I'm walking into one of the biggest financial decisions of their life. They want straight talk. They want someone who's going to tell them what their home is actually worth, not what they want to hear. They want a campaign run with care. None of that is different from sitting with a Kura Cares family. The skills are the same.

A buyer database doesn't grow from cold-calling

Real estate has a habit of pretending the buyer database is built on phone scripts and Google Ads. It's not. Mine isn't. The buyers I bring to auction day are people I've met at school events, at community fundraisers, at the markets, at Kura Cares packing days, at family gatherings and church on Sundays.

Showing up in the community — actually showing up, week after week, year after year — is how the database grows. Cold-calling is a sign you haven't done the work. The people who buy and sell with me, the people who refer their friends and family, are people who've watched me show up for South Auckland over the long run.

Connection to the Pat Lapalapa Group team

I joined Pat Lapalapa Group because the values lined up. Pat and the wider team have built something across South Auckland that runs on the same principles — community first, straight talk, results that hold up. Kura Cares fits inside that picture, not outside it.

The team scales what one agent can do. A Mangere or Manurewa campaign run by Pat, an Ōtara campaign run by Paul, a Papakura or Karaka campaign run by me — different patches, same standard. When you list with one of us, you get the database, the marketing weight and the auction-room experience of the whole group behind a single home.

What I take from the charity to the open home

A few specific things:

1. Listen first. Vendors usually tell you what they need in the first ten minutes if you let them.
2. Do what you said you'd do. Every time. The campaign timeline, the call backs, the auction day prep — all of it.
3. Bring the right people into the room. A buyer database is only as useful as the relationships behind the names.
4. Tell the truth about the number. Not the number that wins the listing. The number that holds up at settlement.
5. Stay long after the deal closes. The community is the same one whether you sold a house there or not.

Next step

If you'd like an appraisal — Pahurehure, Karaka, Papakura, the wider South Auckland patch — get in touch. I'll come through, walk the home, and give you an honest read. No pressure to list.

And if you'd like to support Kura Cares, the team would welcome it. Every koha helps a family in South Auckland this week. The work hasn't slowed down.