It all starts here: Growing up with more month than money
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, General Manager of Sales at realestate.co.nz, 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 immigrated 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.
Highlights#
- Steve 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 immigrating 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.
Steve Maserow reflects on his modest Johannesburg childhood to running one of Auckland's top real estate branches.
A happy home in Johannesburg#
Steve grew up as the youngest of three children in what he describes as a modest but happy home in Johannesburg.
Some of his strongest memories are simple ones, such as spending time with his two older sisters and sitting down together as a family for dinner every night.
For Steve, taking time to sit around the table without phones or television and talk about the day became one of the values he carried into his own family.
His parents worked hard, but money could be tight. Even small habits, like never leaving a light on in an empty room to avoid wasting electricity, reinforced the idea that money was hard to earn.
"I think a person's concept of money is created in the home when you're a child."
Finding real estate by accident#
Steve didn't grow up planning a career in property.
While studying at university, he needed a job to earn money over the summer break. He had taken real estate as part of his business economics studies and, after spotting advertisements looking for real estate salespeople, he decided to apply.
He soon discovered the role was commission-only and not the casual, hourly paid job he had initially been hoping for.
However, a sales book he was reading at the time changed his thinking with an important piece of advice: if you knew how to sell, it was a skill you could take anywhere in the world.
Steve decided to give it a go.
Working as an assistant to an established agent, he put what he had learned about prospecting into practice. His first listing came from a flyer drop and was a small house in Johannesburg, marking the beginning of a relationship with real estate that would eventually follow him across the world.
Selling property through a changing South Africa#
Steve's early career in real estate began during apartheid, a system of racial segregation in South Africa that restricted where Black South Africans could live and own property.
He remembers selling his first home to a Black buyer and the experience of working with a new group of purchasers entering areas and opportunities that had previously been closed to them.
It was a formative period in his career and one that gave him an early understanding that property is about far more than a transaction.
Starting fresh in New Zealand#
At 30, Steve and his family left South Africa and moved to New Zealand in search of a safer place to call home.
He arrived in January 1998 and describes himself during this period as a “financial refugee,” recalling having to negotiate for a desk and a phone as he worked to rebuild his career in a new country.
He completed his New Zealand real estate licence and joined Barfoot & Thompson's Meadowbank branch. With no local network, he returned to the basics of real estate.
“I just spoke to people in the neighbourhood and knocked on doors.”
Within six months, he had become the branch's number-one agent. By the end of the year, he finished second by less than $100 in gross commission.
But rebuilding his life wasn't easy. Steve describes those first few years in New Zealand as humbling and, at times, frightening. Looking back, the advice he would give his younger self is simple.
“The sky ain't going to fall down and it will all be okay in a few years.”
The first place to call home in New Zealand#
After immigrating, Steve and his family were initially living in Remuera, but buying in the area wasn't within reach. Instead, they found a house on a full site in Mount Wellington for just under $200,000.
At the time, Steve needed a 5% deposit. He had around half of what was required, so a colleague lent him the remaining money while Steve waited for a commission payment to come through.
From salesperson to leader#
Steve's first management role presented an immediate challenge. When he arrived at the Pakūranga branch, much of its core team had already moved elsewhere.
He focused on rebuilding the team through recruitment, beginning the next stage of a career that would eventually lead him to become branch manager at Barfoot & Thompson Howick.
One principle has remained particularly important throughout his journey: do what you say you're going to do.
What makes a house a home?#
Asked what he would buy if he won Lotto, Steve dreams of properties in some of his favourite places around the world, including Bali and Tel Aviv, but there's one home he wouldn't want to give up: the one he already has.
“We love the space. We've got dogs, and it's just a happy home... I think a house is a house, but it's the vibe and the happy times and memories that get made there.”
If Steve's money mindset had you nodding along, follow It all starts here wherever you get your podcasts.
Guest bio#
Steve 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 immigrating 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 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 and agencies across the country, which keeps him close to the industry's day-to-day pulse, from shifting sentiment on the ground to who's moving where.
