A former high school “dropout” who left school at 15 and launched a café on a credit card by 18 has emerged as the chief executive of a fast-growing real estate business, after scaling from solo agent to network leader in just a few years.
In his life before real estate, Robbie Lofaro spent his 20s launching and exiting small businesses. It’s where he developed his foundation in entrepreneurship that would later shape his approach to agency growth.
“I wasn’t academic. I wasn’t polished,” he said, reflecting on his business story. “I was ambitious before I was mature.”
But an encounter with a business owner while selling his home made the young small business owner shift his focus to real estate sales, and within 18 months of joining the industry in 2020, Lofaro had sold approximately 150 properties.
He had well and truly established himself as a high-performing sales agent.
Despite early success, Lofaro said the traditional model of operating within a small suburban office quickly revealed its limitations.
“I realised the ceiling wasn’t in how many properties I could sell,” he said. “The ceiling was in how many high-performing agents we could build.”
That realisation marked a turning point, with Lofaro redirecting his efforts away from personal sales volume and toward building a scalable business platform with his own local agency.
According to Lofaro, he prioritised recruitment, retention, and operational systems, reinvesting revenue into people, marketing, and infrastructure rather than maximising personal income.
The strategy drove rapid expansion, with the business growing beyond the constraints of a standalone suburban office.
As the group scaled, the agency’s leadership began exploring independence, with systems and structures already in place to support a standalone operation.
However, the team ultimately reconsidered, opting instead to align with a larger network to accelerate growth.
“We weren’t looking for a logo; we were looking for leadership, services and structure that would allow our people to perform at a higher level.”
That search led Lofaro to Place Estate Agents CEO Damian Hackett, and a decision to integrate into the group’s centralised HQ services model.
“Big ambition requires backing, and Place already had the systems, support and operational infrastructure that would have taken us years to build ourselves,” Lofaro said.
The move proved pivotal.
Lofaro stepped into the role of chief executive officer of Place Purpose Group, now overseeing ten offices across Greater Brisbane.
Under his leadership, the business has adopted a model that challenges traditional agency structures, shifting the focus from individual agents to a broader performance platform.
“We’re a performance platform for ambitious agents. They don’t work for us – they partner with us. Our role is to remove friction, raise standards and help them perform.”
Lofaro said the shift reflects a broader evolution within the industry, where scalability, systems, and support are increasingly critical to sustained growth.
“Hustle got me started, but systems, structure and people are what build a real business.”
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