I don't get involved in politics. I think that it is a waste of time and money because very often a politician cannot do much, and if you give him money, you embarrass him, so he can't do anything.
I deal in volume. To sell volume, it must be affordable. So that's my whole life, is to make it affordable.
People have lots of money in super, but they have no money in the bank, and the super funds are not built to help people buy property.
In this business, you don't have to be an architect or an engineer or a brick layer. But you have to understand how the money flows. That you can only understand if you're on the site.
My interest is in the Wests Tigers. Nobody can support a team that is all the time on the bottom; that's a waste of time.
Land values are going up a lot in Sydney, but it's feasible to build because prices are going up, too.
I tried all my life to make housing affordable. The more affordable the house, the more money I make.
We looked into and tested the Airbnb website and found the inquiries generated were at price points substantially lower than the market is prepared to pay us directly. It was clear that there were no real synergies between the level of our offering and what Airbnb clientele is looking for.
This is a lifetime job. You don't look at it, you know, now and then. It doesn't really matter. When the market comes down, then I buy my land very cheaply, so I make my money on that.
The Chinese were good to us. The war years for us Russians in China were very good years.
The newspapers were always against me in the beginning because they thought I was depriving people of what they wanted.
We can't express ourselves always at the time we should. Sometimes it takes time.
The government should spend more time on promoting tourism in Sydney.
I'm easy. Very easy. I'll tell you why I am easy. If someone is no good, I get rid of them. It is no good being tough on somebody who can't do the job. If he can do the job, then there is no point in being tough with him.
I fire very little because I try to be very careful when I select people. If you know how to select, you don't fire often.
My properties are very good income-producing buildings, so I will have a very good stream of profit even if I can't sell.
It's a very difficult business, and I'm very interested in the future of it after I'm gone, and I thought that if I can't produce a strong management team here myself, and I can find better management elsewhere, then I should sell it.
I would consider selling the whole company; I wouldn't like to sell just part of it, but on the other hand, I have a grandson intent on following my footsteps and another grandson in another couple of years.
I looked around, and I saw cottages everywhere. I thought it was time they lived in apartments.
I've changed Sydney. It's my city, my people. I'm theirs. We belong to each other.
