Our Client Say:

“We have no hesitation in recommending the services
of Kieran as a buyer’s agent.”
Jim & Julie Smith, Kingscliff

What is a Buyers Agent

Buyers agents are licensed real estate agents who work exclusively for the buyer. Traditional real estate agents work exclusively for the seller/vendor. Therefore the key difference is who the agent works for.

Many buyers make the mistake when buying property of believing that the selling agent is also looking after their welfare. This agent can’t, by legislation, look after both the seller and the buyer. The selling agent must try to achieve the highest possible price for a property. It is not possible to look after the interests of the buyer and achieve the maximum possible price at the same time.

A buyers agent on the other hand is trying to achieve the best possible deal for the buyer. In other words this agent is looking exclusively after the interests of the buyer.

Why use a Buyers Agent?

Most people when selling their home have very little hesitation in using a real estate agent. In fact 95%-98% of Australians use an agent in one form or another when selling. The selling process is in fact quite a simple procedure: work out how much your property is worth, advertise it and sell it to the highest offer made. We realise that this is an over-simplification but it is basically not much more. Agents are very good for this practice, particularly working out what your property is worth i.e. the selling price.

Buying on the other hand is much more complicated. You must research the area you wish to buy in, work out what median prices are for that area, find areas within areas that are better than others, find the right house and then negotiate with the selling agent. All of this takes many hours of work and if you do it right, will cost you many thousands of dollars (see Cost of Buying later on). On top of all of this, about 80% of all mistakes made in real estate occur at the buying stage, not at the selling point.

Despite the logic of what has been mentioned above, only 2% of Australians use buyers agents. Consider, also, the following:

• Buyers agents are used extensively in both Europe (45% of property transfer use a buyers agent) and the USA (at least 60% use a buyers agent. Some commentators put the US figure as high as 80%). Remember, it was bank greediness that caused the global financial meltdown, not the system for trading real estate
• The trend in Australia for using buyers agents, whilst starting from a low base, is strong as more and more realise the benefits
• You save time and money by using a buyers agent. Normally, the fee is recouped from the savings in the sale price, not to mention the savings in time and frustration
• You will have a professional working on your behalf to attain the best possible price. We at MyBuyersAgent are true professionals who have had many years of experience that we allow you to become part of as a component of our service

Using MyBuyersAgent’s service has a fee attached to it but when you weigh up the benefits (costs, time, the negotiations and the fact that you have a professional working for you), you will in fact save money.

The Cost for you to Buy Property

We have been involved extensively in the property industry for many years as mentioned previously. Over that time we have seen many mistakes made by people in property purchases that have been so costly that they never make up the financial loss.

These mistakes range from paying too much for a property, buying in the wrong area, through to getting poor advice. In the last 25 years we have seen everyday folk pay for not knowing what they were doing. In one instance, we met a lady who paid $390,000 for a property not worth more than $320,000. We have numerous examples of people paying $30-$40,000 too much for a property. It takes years of capital growth to get that back. Going back a bit further let’s not forget the Kellyville disaster from the middle of the last decade where some of the prices paid for property in the suburb were hundreds of thousands too much.

Compare these losses with what you will spend to get it right. The following is a list of things that we believe are absolutely essential for getting the property purchase right. These are fundamentals that we at MyBuyersAgent do as a matter of fact:

• Familiarise yourself with good areas
• Familiarise yourself with good areas within locales
• Know what to look for within a district
• Know what to look for within a property
• Purchase property data
• Research individual properties
• Inspect properties (say 12)
• Negotiate with agents
• Sundry costs such as maps, phone, petrol, stationery
• Find a good property manager
• Establish a good team (accountant, mortgage broker, solicitor, quantity surveyor etc)

A lot of the above costs are time related. We estimate that doing the above for one property, will cost close to $9,000. We have calculated your time as a conservative $20 an hour. If your gross work rate is worth more than $20 per hour then you must increase this bottom line. Some of the costs are one off costs such as establishing a good team. Other costs can be spread over several properties such as the purchase of property data. This is a per annum cost in excess of $3500 p.a. and can be spread over the number of properties purchased in a year but how many properties do you purchase in one year?

Compare the above costs with employing someone like MyBuyersAgent who will do it all for you. Makes economic sense to employ a professional to do it all for you, doesn’t it?

How do we as Buyers Agents do our Work?

We have a process to find you what you want that we are sure you will be very pleased with. It is a step by step approach developed by MyBuyersAgent which has proven to be very successful. Basically, we carry out the following:

1 Initial meeting

We meet with you to ascertain what it is you are after. This includes a needs analysis. This meeting does not cost you anything. Remember, we don’t collect our fee until we perform what it is you are after. From this meeting, we determine the type of property you are after and the areas that are most suited. It could be that what you are after is impossible e.g. buying a strata unit in Elizabeth Bay in Sydney showing a 10% return. We will advise you so. If you insist upon the impossible, it may be better that we part ways after this initial meeting, saving us both a lot of time.

2 Research

After the initial meeting, we conduct research to try to find the exact match for your needs. We also research areas within an area that may offer better capital growth or a better return. This research costs a lot of money and takes considerable time (mentioned earlier). These costs are absorbed by us.

3 Preparing a shortlist

After the research is completed, a shortlist of suitable properties is prepared and presented to you. The pros and cons pre-inspection are presented as well. After this discussion we may narrow this list down further.

4 Physical Inspection 

We will physically inspect the shortlisted properties. If you wish to come on this physical inspection then that is entirely up to you. However, we do believe that your time is precious and that it is better left to us. We may narrow the shortlist down to two or three properties that, after the physical inspection carried out by us, you may wish to inspect pre-offer. This is why you have hired us after all: to save you time and money.

5 Selection of one property  

We will evaluate all properties on our shortlist and let you know of this evaluation. It will include what the sales’ evidence for the area is showing us, what the median prices for the area are, what the predicted capital growth for the area is, the expected return and the pros and cons of the individual properties. From this we are able to narrow the selection down to one or two properties, which you may wish to inspect pre-offer if you haven’t already inspected this property.

6 Negotiation  

After narrowing it down to one or two properties, we can start negotiations with the selling agent. One of the big advantages of using a buyers agent is that we are real estate agents and we know what selling agents are thinking. It is a huge advantage for us/you. We are professionals, with no emotion attached. We have a bottom line and we are prepared to walk away if we can’t negotiate down to that bottom figure. Because of our extensive research, we know the market we are negotiating in as well as the selling agent and in some cases, better. You have a competitive advantage over other buyers and are protected from making a mistake by paying too much.

7 Pre-settlement  

We always advise our clients to get a pest and building inspection. We do research these for you. You may already have one in mind so you don’t want our advice. However, most investors buy in areas not necessarily known to them i.e. outside of where they live. We research who are the best to use like we do with other professional such as solicitors. We always recommend having the contract reviewed by professionals such as solicitors. A few people still do their own conveyancing which is ok if you are prepared to take that risk. Legal advice on contracts is strongly recommended.
We keep in contact the whole way leading up to settlement and keep you informed the whole way of any issues that may arise. These can be from the conveyancing process such as settlement dates or could be from the pest and building reports.
If you are an investor then we can recommend good agencies for you to use as the letting agency for your property. It is good to have this in place at the time of settlement which will minimise the time you are without a tenant.

Why Use MyBuyersAgent

Right now you could be thinking: Using a buyers agent makes sense. Why should I use MyBuyersAgent?

This is an admirable question and we put forward the following answers as excellent reasons as to why you should use us:

• We refer you back to our philosophy on the About page. This is something we live by and are not just words that we use to try and entice you to use us.
• We involve you the whole way: as little or as much as you want
• We are truthful in all our business dealings which keeps our clients coming back to us for their 2nd, 3rd, 4th....or even 10th properties
• We are professionals with multiple property qualifications in multiple states
• Besides being fully qualified with the regulatory authorities, we also carry full insurances
• We spend large amounts of money on research ensuring the best possible outcome for you
• We have a proven system of work that has been established for many years
• We guarantee our work. What better guarantee can you get by us saying that if we don’t get you what you want then you don’t pay a cent? Compare this with most other buyers agents charging an upfront fee, which can’t be based on performance

Overseas Buyers and Ex-patriots

There have been recent changes to what is allowed as a foreigner buying real estate in Australia. We strongly recommend that you get the correct legal advice from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) which governs the rules and regulations for those buying in Australiafrom overseas. New rules came into force since 2009 which made it easier for foreign investors to invest in real estate in Australia.
Some of these rules include:

• Foreign persons are limited to 50% of new dwellings to be sold “off the plan”
• A new dwelling definition will extend to those dwellings that have not been sold but rented for up to 12 months
• Student visa holders and temporary residents can buy second-hand properties but with conditions
• Foreign companies can buy second-hand properties with conditions attached
• Foreign-owned companies and residents can buy vacant residential land but must build within 2 years

Caution is strongly recommended and all foreign investors and companies should visit the FIRB on the government website.
www.firb.gov.au

An extract from this site states the following:

“You do not need to submit an application for approval to acquire real estate in Australia if:

• you are an Australian citizen living abroad;
• your spouse is an Australian citizen (not a permanent resident) and you are purchasing residential real estate in both names as joint tenants (not tenants in common);
• you are a New Zealand citizen and you are purchasing residential property;
• you hold a permanent resident visa and you are purchasing residential property;
• you are a temporary resident and you are purchasing certain residential property as follows:
  • single block(s) of vacant land;
  • new dwelling(s); and/or
  • a second hand dwelling to be used as your principal place of residence (including if it is going to be demolished first then redeveloped);
• you are purchasing new dwelling(s) from the developer, where the developer has pre-approval to sell those dwellings to foreign persons;
• you are acquiring an interest in a time share scheme which does not permit you (and any of your associates) more than 4 weeks entitlement per year;
• you are purchasing certain residential real estate in an Integrated Tourism Resort (ITR);
• you are acquiring an interest in developed commercial property valued at less than $50 million or $1004 million (indexed annually) for US investors, or $5 million for heritage listed properties where the acquirer is not a US investor;
• you are acquiring an interest in developed commercial property where the property is to be used immediately and in its present state for industrial or non residential commercial purposes. The acquisition must be wholly incidental to the purchaser's proposed or existing business activities;
• you are acquiring an interest by will or by operation of law (such as, a court order regarding the division of property in a divorce settlement, but not if both parties simply agree to transfer property without a court's intervention); or
• you are purchasing property from the Government (Commonwealth, State or Territory, or local).”