End of the day, BA's are just sales people trying to sell what they offer
Like all services you pay for, some people feel like they get value and some feel ripped off
and with all things, if you don't do your due diligence and get ripped off, its really your own fault as nobody is pointing a gun in your face to sign up to binvested or any other buyers agency
There is nothing Nathan Birch does you can't do yourself. And there is nothing BA's have access to that you can't have access to with the right knowledge. Do a search on the forums on his old posts, watch his youtube videos etc and pretty soon you'll get a general idea on what he did in the early days/strategy to grow his portfolio with very specific examples and its really not that hard at all.
And for those who claim they have no time to do it themselves, would you suddenly have the time if someone gave you $10k (or more if you're buying multiple?)
Thats just a terrible assumption....
In every occupation theres always people who do good and others who don't care.
I've worked with a BA before and I can tell you my experience was exactly the opposite. They took the time to listen and went through options with me, went to property inspections with me, checked under the house, pointed stuff to look out for, walked me through the contract etc.
Then there are other BA's who obviously treat you like crap but that doesn't mean all. The ones that post on these forums seem rather genuine and helpful.
Also just because they posted on somersoft before it means its ok for them to rip people off now? WTF? Hell no. I've read through Nathan's posts before, they really don't reveal much, more of a teaser. The important stuff he keeps to himself.
I also agree that there is nothing Nathan does that one can't do themselves, just some people lack courage and look for support... unfortunately Nathan's company has chosen to exploit that.
Lastly, its not just time poor people who employ a Buyers agents, its those who understand the the simple concept, jack of all trades, master of none as well as the fact that time with their family is worth more than 10k. Remember, this is somersoft where people actually enjoy looking at property, the rest of world hates driving around from inspection to inspection, looking up domain, they simply would rather do other things with their time.