Nick Roche will tell you the socks mattered. Not in a mystical, everything-would-have-fallen-apart-without-them way, but in the way small rituals anchor big weeks.
During the seven-day stretch in which the 25-year-old Ray White Ascot agent sold $34.6 million worth of Brisbane property, he made sure each morning began the same way: suit on, phone charged, and a pair of his lucky socks pulled firmly into place.
“They have to be fun,” Nick said. “If I look down and they make me smile, it sets the tone for the day.”
Golden retrievers. Sharks. Tennis balls. Nothing grey, nothing plain. By Friday, the rotation had been exhausted. The results, however, had not.
Across Ascot and Hamilton, Nick closed four major transactions in rapid succession, including two street records broken by millions, three sales completed in under five days, and one off-market deal that never made it online.
The negotiations unfolded almost back-to-back, creating the kind of momentum most agents only see once or twice in a career.
“I wore my lucky socks all week,” he said. “But the truth is, that week was built on years of work.”
The clearest example was 104 Alexandra Road, Ascot – a home Nick first called about as a teenager, during some of his earliest cold calls in real estate.
“I just loved the house,” he said. “They told me what they would consider selling for, and at the time it felt massive. But I believed in it, so I stayed in touch.”
That follow-up lasted five years. A year earlier, Nick had already brought them a significant off-market offer.
The owners chose to wait, confident the market still had room to move.
When they finally decided to sell, nearly every established agent in the area was chasing the listing.
“They could see the consistency,” Nick said.
“They’d seen me turn up again and again, and they’d already seen I could get serious buyers.”
The result was decisive. More than 200 groups attended the first open home.
The property sold in four days for $9.8 million, setting a new street record by millions and ranking among Ascot’s highest-ever sales.
That sale, in turn, became a catalyst. At the Alexandra Road open home, Nick met buyers searching for a modern architectural home.
Days later, a call came in from the owner of 4 Henry Street, Ascot, looking to sell quietly. Within a week, Nick had connected the dots.
“We ran a very short off-market campaign,” he said. “I brought those buyers through, they fell in love with it, and we did the deal.”
The Joe Adsett and Tim Stewart–designed home sold for $10.85 million without public marketing, becoming the highest price ever achieved for an 810sqm block in the area.
At the same time, Nick finalised the $8 million sale of 4 Langside Road, Hamilton – a home that had previously failed to sell with another agency – and negotiated the $6 million sale of vacant land at 11 Dickson Terrace, Hamilton, in conjunction with Ray White Deception Bay.
“All of the negotiations came together in about a week,” he said. “It felt fast, but none of it was rushed.”
Behind the superstition is an agent deeply anchored in data.
Nick has been in real estate since 17, starting straight out of Brisbane Grammar School while studying Commerce at the University of Queensland.
His first sale came at 19, when he sold a Hamilton property for $3.25 million.
“I’m very data driven,” he said. “I remember names, faces, what people paid years ago, land sizes, square metre rates. That side of it has always come naturally.”
The socks, he said, are not about replacing process, but sharpening mindset.
“It keeps things light,” he said. “Real estate is high pressure. If you can control your energy, you perform better.”
That thinking extends to his other rituals. Before auctions, Nick wakes early, runs along the Brisbane River near Tenerife, grabs an açaí bowl, and plays Eye of the Tiger in the car – a habit that started with his first solo auction at 19.
“That song just happened to be on,” he said. “I sold the property for a great price and thought, alright, I’m not changing that.”
At 25, Nick believes his age gives him an edge.
Without family commitments, he is able to be fully present for clients, often outworking older competitors.
“Older vendors often tell me they see a bit of their younger selves in me,” he said.
“They can see how much I care, and that builds trust.”
In the weeks following his $34.6 million run, he completed another off-market sale: a $9 million tennis-court property at 24 Union Street, Clayfield, setting a new suburb record. It was done with little fanfare.
“I tend to keep a low profile,” he said. “I just focus on doing the work properly.”
Still, the socks remain non-negotiable.
“They don’t do the job for you,” Nick said. “But they remind you how you want to show up.”
And in a business where confidence, timing and belief often decide outcomes long before contracts are signed, that reminder may be worth more than it looks.
