Bailey Sims was 19 when he landed pest control contracts with the Queensland state government. At 26, he runs Pine Property Partners in Beerwah on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, built under the Plum Partners model founded by Daniel Lee, which allows agents to operate under their own brand while the company handles support functions behind the scenes.
Bailey moved to Australia from the UK in 2017 and joined a Beerwah agency in 2019, becoming his own agent after six months as an associate. The catalyst for the move into real estate was his fiancée’s pregnancy.
“I had a decision to make that if I was going to take a step back in my sales career and learn a new industry, I had a six-month window to do that before the baby came,” Bailey said.
After establishing himself at the franchise, he looked at the Plum Partners model.
“I’d had good experience at the franchise. Things were going well. But I just wanted more,” he said.
Having a young daughter without family support nearby pushed him to think about the business’s long-term future.
“I realised if I, god forbid, got hit by a bus, that was it. I was as good as my next sale,” Bailey said.
“I thought, I can’t do this forever. I’m working too hard, too long to not be contributing to the future.”
Pine Property Partners, based five minutes from Australia Zoo, serves the Glasshouse Country hinterland, selling semi-rural blocks of around half an acre to an acre, as well as farms and larger acreage properties.
“We sell semi-rural property. The average block size that we sell would be that half acre to an acre,” Bailey said.
Bailey puts the business’s growth down to work ethic.
“My biggest strength is my work ethic. That’s what I built the business on,” he said.
“My first couple of years in business, I’m talking 80-hour weeks, seven days a week, non-negotiable.”
The agency’s tagline, “property done properly”, reflects that approach.
“It’s not about reinventing the wheel. It’s doing what has worked for hundreds of years, but doing it properly the first time,” he said.
The business employs a team of six, including Bailey’s fiancée, Aiesha Anderson, who heads the property management division. When the couple’s son was born three months premature, weighing 850 grams, requiring a six-month stay in the NICU at Sunshine Coast University Hospital, the team kept the business running.
“Amanda Regan just handled everything, so she’s a very integral part of our business,” Bailey said.
The Plum Partners model has let Bailey focus on the parts of the job he says he’s best at.
“I’m not a graphic designer. I’m not an accountant or a bookkeeper, and I can work to my strengths, such as being with people, marketing ideas, doing deals,” he said.
“I’m 26, I run this multi-million-dollar business somehow, and they’re always open,” he said.
“I can always call Dan and talk about what I want for the future and how I’m going to get there.”
He said the model also stacks up financially.
“I still couldn’t employ the same members of staff on a full salary within the business for the cost of what it costs me to work with Plum Partners,” he said.
Pine Property Partners is an ambassador for Give Me Five for Kids, a Sunshine Coast initiative supporting children in hospital, a cause Bailey connects to his son’s premature birth. He is also secretary of the Beerwah Chamber of Commerce, as the town prepares for a new train line to the coast ahead of the Olympics.
“There’s such a negative connotation with our industry, and I’m not here to change it per se, but I’m here to show that it’s not all about commissions and money,” he said.
Bailey said the business has reached number one agent and agency status in its respective markets, and his focus has shifted from scale to sustainable growth.
“I couldn’t do it without Plum Partners. From a business logistical sense, yes, I could not do it without them. But also from a support level, it’s been so important having somebody backing me in my corner,” he said.