The television guy who now does real estate

Tim Gossage, tv presenter turned real estate agent

Many people raise an eyebrow when they discover Tim Gossage has made the move from television sports presenter to real estate salesman.

And because his phone number is now easily discovered he gets his share of weird phone calls from people who want to say they’ve spoken to the former sports presenter.

“I have a lot of people messaging me asking if I’m the same Tim Gossage off the TV? I say, ‘yeah, that’s me’,” Tim says.

“There’s a bit of ‘Oh, he’s selling real estate now, what’s next, selling used cars? I think there’s a bit of an issue, I don’t know if shock’s the right word, but there’s a little bit of a pause in their thinking.

“When they realise they can actually talk to me, because my number’s out there, I’ve had a lot of people making random phone calls, saying they saw me on the website: ‘I just thought I’d give you a call just to say I’ve called Tim Gossage’. They don’t even want to sell a house.

“But there’s some weird connection that they like to think they can talk to someone who was once on the telly or had a media profile. But whatever that is, I’m happy to do it.

“People don’t really know how the real estate industry works.

“There’s a lot more to it and I’ve had to hone my skills in a lot of those areas in real estate. It’s not just a matter of getting someone to sell the house and then bring it up and make some commission. You’ve actually got to go through the whole legal process of it and market it and basically piece it all together.

“In real estate you do have to communicate very honestly. I’m working incredibly hard on being that because you’ll get found out if you’re not.”

Tim says the foundations for his real estate career lay in doing charity auctions while he was still at Channel 10, where he was spotted by The Agency’s Paul Tonich.

“Paul suggested I should do real estate auctions, and even though WA doesn’t have a big auction scene, I moved into that sort of area,” Tim says.

When after 31 years at Channel 10 in Perth his television career came to an abrupt end, Tim who is heading towards his 60th birthday, had to work out what he was going to do with himself.

His television career had been the fulfillment of a childhood dream.

“I just always wanted to be on TV. It was all I ever wanted to do as a little boy, I’d play sport out in the back, I’d come in, I’d type out the match report, I’d grab a tie out of Dad’s cupboard, I’d grab a hairbrush out of the bathroom and stand in front of the mirror and I’d do the match report, whether it be footy or cricket.

“Then I worked at the West Australian newspaper as an office boy and got my cadetship there. I worked six months in Port Hedland. I worked two years in Sydney with AAP Reuters. And then the Channel 10 opening came up. Channel 10 was only in its early stages when Ian Brayshaw contacted me and gave me my first weekend work and one thing led to another. 

“I always wanted to be on TV, I always wanted to do sport. So, I lived the dream for more than 30 years. I loved it.

“Then it ended suddenly. It took me a while to come to grips with that. Channel 10 made some big decisions around the network in regards to hosting and who was doing what and financial decisions. Sadly, I was one of those.

“It took me a while to not be bitter and twisted.”

Tim had already done a real estate course during COVID so when his TV days came to a sudden halt, he got his ticket.

Tim says the change wasn’t as hard to make as one might imagine.

Both jobs are about communication, and getting to know people. 

Tim says The Agency was willing to back him and he was slowly repaying their faith in him.

“I think there were a lot of people who initially thought it was a bit of a gimmick, but I think the more sales I’ve got and the areas I’ve travelled – I’ve sold a farm in Williams, I’ve had a lot down in that Peel region. I’ve branched out everywhere. 

“I think people have now realised that I’m 100 per cent committed and determined to make a dollar and have an income. 

“I just love the communication. I love the thrill of it. I think there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. But eventually, I think people are starting to warm to the idea that this is what I do. 

“Certainly, the responses I get wherever I go, I think people are very comfortable with it and yeah, I think this is the next phase of the TV guy doing real estate.

“I didn’t do it because I got desperate. I did it because I was actually intrigued by it and that intrigue has now led to passion and hopefully people can see that,” he said.

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Allen Newton
Journalist and public relations specialist Allen Newton has worked across major media organisations in Western Australia and PR locally and internationally. He and wife Helen Ganska operate Newton Ganska Communications. Allen started his journalism career at the long defunct Sunday Independent and went on to become the founding editor for news website PerthNow, Managing Editor of The Sunday Times and PerthNow and then Editor-In-Chief of news website WAtoday. As well as news, he has been an editor of food and wine, real estate, TV and travel sections. He’s done everything from co-hosting a local ABC television pop show, to editing a pop music section called Breakout with Big Al, and publishing his own media and marketing magazine.