Embarking on the journey of purchasing your next property can be an exciting yet complex endeavor. 

Enter the unsung hero of real estate transactions—the buyer’s agent.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll unravel the mysteries surrounding buyer’s agents, exploring who they are, the extensive services they provide, the value they bring to the table, how they charge for their expertise, and key considerations when selecting the right professional for your property-buying journey.

What is a buyer’s agent? 

Imagine a property expert solely dedicated to your property-buying success. That’s a buyer’s agent in a nutshell. 

The seller has their own representative – the real estate agent. The real estate agents role is to extract the highest possible price out of the buyer for their vendor.

A buyer’s agent on the other hand is your representative and guide. They’ll guide you through the intricate process of purchasing a property.

They’ll help you find the right property for your budget and requirements, then secure the property for the lowest possible price on your behalf.

Is a buyer’s agent the same thing as a buyer’s advocate?

A buyer’s agent, buyer’s advocate, buyer’s representative are used interchangeably and pretty much mean the same thing.

What does a buyer’s agent do?

Most buyers’ agencies typically offer three different types of services for buyers. 

• Full search service
  
• Negotiation service
  
• Auction bidding

At Property Skills the full search service is called ‘Search and Acquisition’. This is where we’ll help you search and find the right property. This is for buyers who need help selection and guidance around the most suitable property to purchase.

At Property Skills the negotiation only service is called ‘Acquisition Only’. This service suits buyers who have a very specific property in mind they wish to purchase.
We’ll have an initial meeting to discuss your budget, jump straight into due diligence, strategy, and process from there

We offer due diligence as part of this service because we believe this is the only way we can truly represent your best interests by helping you have a deeper understanding of the property, and inform you on what should be a reasonable price to pay.
Some agencies don’t offer due diligence as part of their negotiation only service, leaving you potentially exposed to making a costly mistake or potentially risk overpaying. 

While other buyer’s agencies offer auction bidding services, we don’t offer this service to our clients.
We don’t feel comfortable purchasing properties that we haven’t carried out our unique due diligence process on. 

We believe this process it the only way to truly understand value and uncover what’s happening beneath the surface of a property.

We want to ensure our clients don’t overpay and to not have any surprises after settlement.

The Value Proposition | Why should you use a buyer’s agent?

Having an expert buyer’s agent on your side is like having a powerful knight-in-shining armor winning all your property battles for you.

Here are some benefits you can expect by partnering with an experienced buyer’s agent:

Save Time and Energy

While it’s important to not rush the process, your buyer’s agent can save you a significant amount of time and energy with the purchase. 

The average property-buyer spends about 9 months of riding the emotional property-rollercoaster before purchasing their next property.

Most buyers eventually get burnt-out by the buying process and eventually settle with a property they’re not entirely happy with or rush into an impulsive or unconsidered decision. 

Your buyer’s agent can:

• Give you clarity with where you should focus your search and not waste time doing your own research.
• Save you time not going through listings that aren’t suitable or are likely to sell well beyond your expectations.
• Save you time by carrying out all the research and investigations.
• Liaise with your broker and conveyancer to ensure the process goes through smoothly.
• Help you settle on your next property much sooner. 

Reduce Stress, Anxiety and Overwhelm

Buying property can be a stressful and overwhelming process for most buyers. Even if you have purchased in the past, the buying process isn’t that friendly.

Picture this: you tell them your property wishlist, and they make it their mission to find it. 

No more scrolling through endless listings or dealing with pushy sellers. These pros are your personal navigators, steering you away from potential pitfalls and towards the best deals. 

When it comes to negotiations, they’ve got it covered, ensuring you get the most bang for your buck. 

Plus, all that confusing paperwork? They’ll handle it, leaving you free to imagine your life in your next property, stress-free and excited about the next chapter. Think of them as your real estate sidekick, here to make buying a home feel more like a thrilling adventure than a nerve-wracking ordeal.

Your buyer’s agent can give you confidence that your next purchase is in the hands of an expert.

Save Money

A good buyer’s agent can save you money in many ways.

It’s difficult to quantify exactly how much a buyer’s agent can save as it depends on a case by case basis. 

In some cases we’re able to save tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands off what our clients are prepared to pay for a particular property.

In other competitive situations we’re only able to pay a fair market price the property. However our belief is that it’s better here to pay market value for an excellent quality property than it is to get a ‘bargain’ for a property that is rather generic. 

What is certain  though is that an experienced buyer’s agent will help you spend less than what you could do on your own.

Your buyer’s agent will know the best strategy and approach to purchase your chosen property. Whether that be through a prior offer, negotiation, or auction.

An experienced buyer’s agent will save you their professional fee many times over only through their negotiation and tailored approach to purchasing the property.

This includes bidding for your chosen property at auction. As your buyer’s agent will employ tactics and strategies to help deter competition , tilt the auction dynamics in your favour, be cold and rational with their bidding, and ultimately secure the property for a much better price than you could do on your own.

Avoid Costly Mistakes

A good experienced buyer’s agent should help you avoid making any costly mistakes on the purchase.

At Property Skills we take due diligence very seriously. Our methodology and approach ensures we’ve covered all aspects of the property to help you avoid making any costly mistakes on the purchase.

We encounter about a third of properties listed for sale have a problem with the property or its surrounding environment that the owner is trying to evade. 

So it’s crucial to have the right buyer’s agent onboard to help you navigate away from dodgy properties.

Better future financial position

An experienced buyer’s agent will be able to select a better quality property than what you could yourself.

If you were to pick a property on your own, there is a chance that the property could potentially fall in value or not increase in value at the same pace as another property.

Your buyer’s agent will be able to select the best quality property available for your budget. This property will perform much better in the long-run compared to your average generic property. 

As a result, this will put you in a much better financial position in the future – giving you more options and opportunities.

This will put you in a much better position if you decide to sell the property or purchase another propery down the track.

Informed Decisions and Peace of mind

By employing a buyer’s agent, you’re leveraging their market expertise, knowledge, and negotiation skills.

They’re your independent and rational guide throughout the challenging buying process, and can help you make smart and informed decisions on your next purchase.

They’ll help you purchase the right property, help you avoid costly mistakes in the process, and secure the property for an excellent price. 

You’ll have peace of mind come settlement that you’ve made the smartest property decisions for your future, and that you’ve purchased the best quality property possible for your budget. 

The Financial Side | How much are buyer’s agency fees?

The fees for the services vary from agency to agency and the type of service offered.

For the full search service you can expect to pay around 1.5-2.5% of the purchase price of the property.

For the negotiation only service you can expect to pay approximately 1% of the purchase price of the property.

For both these services there may be an engagement fee of $500 – $2500+ to commence the services with a buyer’s agent..

Auction Bidding – typically there’s an upfront fixed fee of around $500+GST to attend, and a success fee.

You’ll need to check with the buyer’s agent to see if other costs involved with the purchase are included or excluded with their service.

Usually building inspections will be an additional charge. You can expect to pay around $500-$700 per inspection. Most buyers use 2-4 building inspections throughout their buying journeys.

Contract reviews should also be included within the service, however it’s best to double check with the buyer’s agent you’re intending on using.

There may be other expenses with the purchase that you may need to factor in with other third party consultants such as – architect plans and pest inspections. 

You should be cautious with percentage fee structures when considering employing a buyer’s agent. Percentage fee structures could potentially disincentivise your buyer’s agent to save you money on the acquisition because they get paid more.

At Property Skills we offer a competitive fixed rate for our advocacy services. Click the link here to book in a free chat to see if we’re the best fit for you.

Why you need to use a buyer’s agent

Your next purchase is one of the largest financial decisions you’re ever going to make. 

The stakes are high, so getting your next purchase right from the beginning is essential.

The scales are unfortunately significantly weighted on the side of the vendor (seller) for two main reasons.

The first reason is that the vendor is employed by a real estate agent. They’re specifically trained and employed to maximise the sale price of the property. 

The second reason is, what the vendor needs to disclose to the buyer about the property is quite limited in most states, including Victoria.

This means its up to you as the buyer to do your own due diligence and investigations before the purchase. You have very limited or no-recourse if you make a mistake and purchase into a problematic issues.

The same way you would engage a mechanic to help service your car, you should also engage a professional buyer’s agent to help you with your next purchase. Rather than trying to figure everything out on your own and run the risk of stuffing up one of your largest financial decisions. 

Is there an alternative to using a buyer’s agent? 

If you can’t afford the services of a buyer’s advocate, then it doesn’t mean you can’t get help.

We don’t believe budget should be the barrier standing in the way of you making informed buying decisions.

If you’d like to learn the skills to confidently purchase your next property then click the link below to learn more about our buying-program:

The Property Skills Program

Navigating a sea of choices | How to select the right buyer’s agent to help you

Buyer’s agency is a quickly growing in field in Australia. There are many new faces entering the industry.

So it’s essential you get the right buyer’s agent to help you with your purchase.

Here are some considerations you should think about:

Level of experience

You should consider the buyer’s agents level of experience and market knowledge.  The more knowledge and experience they have, the better equipped they are in guiding you to make smarter buying decisions. 

We’d recommend at least 5least as a minimum of 5 years of purchasing experience, and at least 10 in the property industry.

You should also consider the type of previous purchases the buyer’s agent has made, and if they can show you similar type of examples in the areas you’re looking to purchase in. 

At Property Skills, we’re less focused on quantity and the amount of property purchases we can get under our belt. 

We’re more focused on better quality purchases for our clients and offer a more boutique buying experience.

Due Diligence

Another consideration is the level of due diligence your specific buyer’s agent carries out. You should look at the exact steps they take when assessing a particular property and compare it with another agent to see who carries out due diligence to a higher level.

The better your buyer’s agent’s level of due diligence, the better informed your decisions will be.

Agency

You also want to make sure the agent that you’re meeting with is the same person that you’ll be dealing with throughout the entire process, and that you aren’t handballed to a lesser experienced agent.

Some agencies are more concerned with turnover. The more employees and overheads, usually the greater amount of clients they need to service. 

Conflicting Briefs

You want to ensure that your specific buying brief doesn’t match with another client within the same agency. This is more likely to happen with larger agencies.

If two briefs align, then it’s more likely that there could be a conflict of interest between clients. 

You should ask how your buyer’s agent deals with onboarding new clients and what happens in the situation where two client’s briefs are similar.

Let Property Skills help you with your next purchase

In conclusion, a buyer’s agent is not just a facilitator of transactions; they are your number one supporter in one of life’s most significant decisions. 

Their expertise, tailored services, and commitment to your interests make them an invaluable asset. 

As you venture into the realm of property-buying, consider the peace of mind and efficiency a buyer’s agent can bring to your experience.

We’d love for the opportunity to potentially help you with your next purchase.

Our process involves filling out a short survey form where we’ll learn more about your current buying situation and future plans.

We’ll then jump on a call to see if we can help you out. We’ll then walk you through our services in detail only if we think we’re the best fit.

Click the link below to understand our advocacy services in more detail, fill out the form at the bottom of the page and you’ll be directed to book in a free chat with us today.

Property Skills Buyers Advocacy Services