Freedom Property

A Hybrid Playbook

How an agent-first model, homegrown tech, and community “inbound” keep this Australian brand surging

Born from a top performing Century 21 office, Freedom Property has built a modern real estate ecosystem around flexibility, culture, and a proprietary operating platform—balancing work-from-home freedom with high-energy sales hubs, and turning community giving into a powerful growth engine.

When Josh Sherwood talks about Freedom Property, he doesn’t start with logos or listings. He starts with freedom—the choice to work how you work best, the culture that turns motivated people into market leaders, and the systems that make the whole machine hum.

Freedom’s origin story is rooted in performance. “We were the number one Century 21 office in Australia for about four or five years in a row,” Sherwood says. “Then we decided to start our own brand—and we named it Freedom Property.”

From day one, the team recognized a shift in real estate: the agent’s personal brand was increasingly carrying the weight of the transaction. Freedom leaned into that reality with a model that pays agents more, removes unnecessary friction, and meets people where they are.

A hybrid model built for how agents actually work

Freedom’s structure is intentionally flexible. Agents can work from home on higher splits and “plug in” to centralized services as needed, or they can opt into in-person hubs that trade a little commission and a desk fee for the energy, collaboration, and coaching that come with sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with hungry peers.

“We learned agents are tribal,” Sherwood notes. “They like to collaborate and be in an environment. So we created hubs—and we recommend newer agents and up-and-comers plant themselves there.” Those hubs are sales-only by design, keeping the floor buzzing. Meanwhile, Freedom HQ—a separate central office—houses admin, rentals, marketing, and the brand’s in-house media team. The separation reduces cross-department friction while keeping everyone close enough to move quickly.

The result is an ecosystem that adapts to an individual’s stage of growth. “We’ve got agents doing $3 million in commission and agents doing $200,000,” Sherwood says. “Our job is to support them at whatever level they’re at and guide them from there.”

“We are, unapologetically, a glorified call center. We make phone calls all day, every day—and our systems make those calls count.” —Josh Sherwood, Director, Freedom Property

The platform advantage: more than a CRM

If the hybrid structure is Freedom’s chassis, its technology is the engine. The company built a proprietary platform—more than a CRM—that runs the entire business end-to-end. Listing coordinators, marketing, contracts, and sales collaborate with agents inside a single interface, not by email. Even buyers and sellers get secure logins, keeping conversations, approvals, and updates in one place.

That matters strategically. In an industry where switching brands can feel like “changing shirts,” Freedom’s platform creates real differentiation—and real switching costs. “If an agent leaves some franchises for another, they’re often still using the same third-party systems,” Sherwood explains. “When agents leave us, they lose Freedom’s systems and integrated teams. They don’t want to leave because of that.”

The platform’s visibility also sharpens management. Leaders can see who’s on top of leads, where listing opportunities sit, who needs training, and where deals stall. “It lets us coach in real time and protect our flow,” Sherwood says.

Culture as operating system

Sherwood returns to one idea again and again: culture is the most important thing. Freedom’s hubs concentrate motivated producers; HQ concentrates the support functions. That separation, plus transparency from the platform, helps keep standards high.

Like any people-heavy business, scaling means guarding the locker room. “The wrong people can really affect things,” Sherwood says. “We’ve had strong earners who were negative influences—when they left, others stepped up. No one is bigger than the brand.” It’s a mindset borrowed from elite sport: move a star and a system can still win if the pipeline is healthy and the coaching is right.

Today, Freedom counts 62 agents, plus 10–15 buyer managers/lead qualifiers who are training to become agents. With HQ, marketing, rentals, and support, the brand sits at around 100 people and growing.

Markets in motion: Brisbane to Darwin

Freedom’s footprint is anchored in Southeast Queensland, with Brisbane’s momentum—and the drumbeat of major infrastructure—creating strong demand and a “really good buzz.” The company also runs a large, high-performing office in Darwin, where families can still find quality homes under the $600–700K range, keeping activity brisk.

That demand environment doesn’t blunt competition. Sherwood is candid about an industry pressure point: commoditization from part-time or discount operators. “Some agents will tell sellers whatever they need to hear,” he says. “Lower the commission, skip the marketing—and it can cost the client in the end.” Freedom’s answer is a consistent process. “We call it flow. Every listing is handled the same way, every contract, every buyer. Work with a Freedom agent and you’re going to be handled a certain way.”

Bringing the ecosystem in-house

Another pillar of the model is vertical integration. Freedom already runs in-house media and marketing in Southeast Queensland. The team is building a finance arm to replace external partners and has its eye on conveyancing and other services next. The goal is to reduce friction for clients, improve economics for agents via better deals and kickbacks, and keep the end-to-end journey inside one accountable system.

Freedom Communities: inbound that gives back

Perhaps the brand’s most distinctive growth lever is Freedom Communities, a program where every agent contributes 5% of their income, capped at $6,000 per year, into a shared community fund. Every 8–10 weeks, the company runs a giveaway—for local sporting clubs, “local heroes,” small businesses, and more.

The mechanism is smart inbound marketing. Entrants submit their story and rally votes; voters create accounts to participate. Freedom then nurtures the community not with hard-sell messages, but with storytelling about giving—who won, why it mattered, and what’s next. The goodwill is real (there are tears when the big checks come out), and the reach is significant.

Some entries attract hundreds of votes, each one a local resident newly aware of Freedom’s role in the community.

“We want people to meet us as buyers or community members and then go on a journey that feels seamless. The giving builds trust before anyone talks about property.” —Josh Sherwood

For agents, Freedom Communities also solves a common tension. Instead of handling ad hoc sponsorship requests, they can point clubs and groups to the next competition: the money is there—put in the work, mobilize your supporters, and win it.

The next 24 months: refresh, recruit, and scale

Freedom is mid-stride in a brand refresh that will modernize the look and subtly shift the content strategy toward how the brand makes people feel, not just how it looks. A major agency partner is helping deliver the rollout. Sherwood expects the uplift to translate directly into recruitment momentum.

Freedom Property is very cognizant of the crucial role that collaboration plays in its business growth and values working with key partners including the Property Platform, UEM Group, Sunstate Conveyancing, THL Finance Partners, MyConnect, Designline Graphics, Apollo Auctions.

The growth target is clear: 200–300 agents within five years. The current foundation—systems, culture, hubs, training pipeline, and in-house capabilities—puts that goal well within reach. “We’re 12–18 months away from something really special,” Sherwood says.

An agent-first brand for a new cycle

In a market that punishes complexity and rewards consistency, Freedom Property has chosen a lane: make the agent the star, give them clear options on how to work, wrap them in proprietary systems and specialist teams, and earn trust in the neighborhoods they serve by showing up with generosity.

It’s a simple formula, executed with discipline. Freedom gives agents freedom—then expects them to use it.

AT A GLANCE:

Name: Freedom Property

What: A top real estate performer allowing for flexibility and lifestyle for its agents to achieve marked success

Where: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Website: https://www.freedomproperty.com.au/

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