If you were scrolling property listings and happened upon an agent dressed as Julie Andrews surrounded by sequinned showgirls and singing in the bush, you might wonder what on earth was going on.
If that agent was Josh Horner, it would be business as usual.
“I’ve got two showgirls. I dress up as Indiana Jones and The Sound of Music — it’s quite epic,” Josh says.
“It’s not to say I’m definitely going to get a result. But the vendor’s already said, ‘I feel so much more loved, so much more energised. I feel like you’re actually putting energy into it.’”
Josh is, quite literally, putting on a show. But it’s more than theatrics.
For him, injecting personality and humour into real estate isn’t a gimmick — it’s how he builds trust, interest, and emotional connection.
Josh didn’t set out to be a real estate agent. He spent years dancing professionally, choreographing the Disneyland, and performing on stage — including as a judge on Dancing With The Stars.
The transition into property wasn’t exactly smooth.
“I went to one of those real estate seminars — free tickets — and this guy’s up on stage sweating, saying, ‘You know what works? Eye contact. People trust you more with eye contact.’ I was like, what the hell am I in?” he says.
“I looked around the room and everyone was writing that down. Eye contact. Like it was a revelation. I thought, if that’s what this industry is, I’m going to do it very differently.”
His instincts were right. When he handed over the keys for his very first sale, he expected something — anything — to mark the moment.
“She was this lovely older lady picking up the keys, and I’d just come from Disneyland where, when something magical happens, there’s fireworks. There’s streamers. There’s fanfare. And here, there was silence. Nothing. That’s when I thought, okay, this needs pizzazz.”
Since then, Josh has been bringing theatricality to suburbia — but always with care. It’s not about turning every campaign into a pantomime. It’s about listening.
“This vendor with the acreage, she brought me in saying, ‘I love your videos. I love your energy.’ She’d had the property listed before, but no one had really marketed it — no staging, no emotional pull. It was just photos of a tired house,” he says.
“I looked at it like a rundown theatre. It needed sparkle. So I thought: right, we need to sell a feeling. The adventure. The dam. The bushland. Not just the house.”
It’s a mindset that runs through all of Josh’s work. “I literally see homes as stage sets. I walk in and I think, what scene could we play here?” he says.
“I’m the kind of person who walks into IKEA and starts doing scenes with the fake furniture. I’ll be in a kitchen pretending I’m on a cooking show. That’s just how my brain works.”
But it’s not just performance for performance’s sake. His approach is also practical.
“The goal is to entice people — to get them off their phones and into the open home. You’ve got two minutes, max, to catch someone’s attention while they’re scrolling in bed. So don’t waste it walking silently through a house.”
And that’s how his “sold dancers” were born — short, playful clips of Josh and his clients doing a bit of choreography outside their new home.
“I’d just set my phone up on a garbage bin, hit record, have a laugh, and then cut it into something that looked semi-produced,” he says.
“It wasn’t about going viral. It was about showing that real estate can be joyful. That it should feel like a celebration.”
Josh’s humour is dry, often self-deprecating, and always laced with theatre references.
He name-drops Kath and Kim, throws in drag show terminology, and will often resort to interpretive dance if words fail him.
“Sometimes I’ve got Asian buyers who really appreciate that I take the time with them. And if there’s a language barrier, I’ll just act it out,” he says.
“Like, I’ll do a little dance: ‘Flooding? Ooh. Toilet broken? Ahh!’ And they’ll just burst out laughing.”
It’s that combination of warmth and effort that makes him stand out. And his results back it up.
“That’s when it all works — when someone says, ‘That was stress-free and fun, and we still smashed a record.’ That’s the goal.”
Of course, not every campaign lands perfectly. He’s had listings sit too long, sellers with unrealistic price expectations, and moments where he’s questioned whether a more traditional approach might have helped.
“Sometimes I do think, ‘Was that too much? Should I have worn a blazer instead of skipping around with a garden gnome?’
But then I remember the parents at Disneyland, losing their minds trying to buy their kid a $50 Mickey Mouse. People respond to feeling. They remember it.”
Still, he’s mindful of not going too far.
“I’m always walking that line. You want to make the home feel exciting, but you don’t want to ruin the tone of the campaign. I’m in suburbia. I’ve got to keep it grounded.”
And finally, when asked what category he’d like to win in the (sadly fictional) Real Estate Oscars, Josh doesn’t hesitate.
“Best actress in a supporting role. In a supporting stressful role,” he says without missing a beat. “Or maybe Best Musical Comedy. I’d take that too.”
At the heart of it, Josh believes fun — used wisely — is a serious asset.
“Everyone wants to feel like they’ve won. Whether it’s the seller or the buyer. If I can help them feel that, and they get a laugh along the way, then I’ve done something right.”
And as long as there are listings to be launched and buyers to impress, Josh will keep finding ways to make the campaign memorable.
Especially if it involves a gnome.