While most real estate agents have windows lined with screens showing lavish, slick promotional videos, realtor Bob Onofri's shopfront appears stuck in the 1960s.
He does not have a computer, a mobile phone, the internet, or any technology more sophisticated than a landline.
Property details are instead scrawled on pieces of paper and a whiteboard beside printed photos tacked up at the front of his Wollongong business.
A steady stream of locals wave and call out his name as they walk past.
"I'm old-fashioned. I believe in talking to people," Mr Onofri, 90, says.
Old-fashioned service
Arriving at his shop each morning in a three-piece Italian suit, Mr Onofri leaves at lunchtime to eat at the Italian Club, and bet on the horses of an afternoon.
"His hair is immaculate and his shoes are always polished," Wollongong real estate agent Paul Spinelli says.
"It's good old-school personal service."
Mr Spinelli's parents bought their home from Mr Onofri in the 1960s.
"He has relationships with his landlords and tenants and that's what's missing these days," Mr Spinelli says.
Mr Onofri has traded from the same building since 1967, and the shop retains its 60s style renovation.
There is a telephone exchange still mounted to the wall and veneer dividers creating office cubicles.
He says he has probably not sold a property in more than a year and instead relies on about 50 tenants on his books.
Resisting rent rises
According to Core Logic, Wollongong rental prices increased by 12.7 per cent in the 12 months to December 2022.
But Mr Onofri says he is bucking that trend, rarely increasing his tenants' rents.
"I maintain that extra $20 for the owner is an investment, but that $20 for a family to look after their kids is more important," he says.
Tony Piccin owns a house in Wollongong that Mr Onofri has managed on his behalf for 41 years.
He says the most recent tenants stayed there for 20 years.
"It's a win-win for both of us," Mr Piccin says.
"You could have a lot of tenants moving in and out, but there's a cost involved in that."
Mr Spinelli says Mr Onofri's reluctance to increase rental prices could benefit landlords in the long term.
"The landlord doesn't have to pay a letting fee every six to 12 months," he says.
"And it doesn't take much for tenants to do $20,000 worth of damage — he doesn't have that problem."
A tenant himself, Mr Onofri started renting his shopfront from plumber Roy Cleary in 1967, who operated out of the adjoining premises until he died 12 years ago.
Paying just a fraction of the market rate, Mr Onofri's rent has not increased in 25 years.
Post-war migrants
Many of Mr Onofri's customers are from Italian families who have done business with him over several generations.
"In my time in real estate over the past 60 years, I helped a lot of the community, especially Italians who were living in Warrawong, Cringila, near the steelworks," Mr Onofri says.
Mr Onofri, who was born in Italy, paid 20 pounds for a passage to Australia in the years after World War II.
He started work on the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme before moving to Melbourne.
He found work as a boilermaker in the Illawarra before he moved to Wollongong and started trading as a real estate agent in 1961.
"Those days when we first arrived, everyone lived around the steelworks where we worked. There was nowhere else to live," Mr Onofri says.
"I sold them good homes for their kids to go in good schools in other areas, not under the steelworks."
Mr Spinelli says Mr Onofri is more collegial and less competitive than other real estate agents, reflecting how the industry has changed over the past six decades.
"Most people are in it to maximise their profits — Bob's got a heart, he runs his business emotionally," he says.
"The best way to describe him is a real gentleman."
Mr Onofri says he is renewing his real estate agent's licence for another three years and although his family would like him to retire, he has no plans to do so.
