Congratulations. Not looking forward to competing with you though on the better properties
GULP! I'm coming out. I'm a Buyers Agent...
- Thread starter knightm
- Start date
Thanks Kesse - I have just redone the headings weebly auto converted them all to caps so i got lazy when entering them. Obviously ok on a desktop but not mobile.
How did your family take it when you came out?
Good luck with the business.
It took them a while to adjust I come from a family with very strong values. We all went to uni and got respectable jobs that don't sell anything. Entrepreneurialism was a taboo subject growing up.
Thankfully mum and dad still make it clear that they love me anyway
So what suburbs / areas do you specialise in and what can you tell us about them?
Ok so today I succeeded at fixing 1 spelling error and in the process deleted a page and stuffed the order of the rest! All fixed again now. My love/hate relationship with Weebly is slowly settling down.
Back to property questions...
I obviously specialise in this stretch of south coast, with Nowra, Ulladulla and Batemans Bay being my local. I live in the Ulladulla area. I have had interest from clients in Canberra and Sydney wanting local expertise to purchase on the coast and I see this as my core business. Rentals are tight, prices haven't moved much for years and we usually see a big ripple of Sydney money head down as the boom culminates up there. This has begun. When you add all the boomers who delayed retirement a few years with the GFC(I know some) thinking about finally retiring and they have the extra 200k on their house value than a year or 2 ago, I actually think we will see a decent amount of sea changers heading down over the next few yrs (the estate I built my house in is filling up with them and they all talk about their friends so its a trend I can see first hand)
For example Mollymook mid priced stock close to beach in the 400-600 range is moving much faster and has seen some growth. Other market segments haven't moved as much yet.
Yields on the whole south coast are at the low end due to limited incomes and industry down here, so you need to value add or holiday let or ad a GF if you want bigger cash flow. On the plus side prices and rents haven't ever been inflated by some mining boom or speculation. The next few yrs I see some fairly easy CG down here. I will be happy to have more extended posts in time about the south coast if anyone is interested.
Further afield I have family in Wollongong (currently helping them with research to sell and buy a suburb across) and have made 2 recent client purchases there. I like Wollongong/Shellharbour markets right now vacancies are really low and happy to recommend clients invest there as I feel its very low risk where its at in the cycle, yields just a little low but otherwise good, and I enjoy working there.
I have had 1 client insist on a place in Sydney, which he bought the other week. He is happy but I don't really want to push working in the Sydney market, there are a good number of high quality BA's there (including a number on this forum) and for my money the market has had more than half of its run in the current cycle.
Hope this helps?
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Thanks, I thought long and hard about the fees. I am aware that Sydney prices run at circa 10k average and upwards for premium suburbs. I think for a good one thats a fair price and if you get a great property and a good deal its pretty easy to recoup especially in the higher price brackets. There is a lot of work in it for a BA so I can see why thats the going rate. I don't have high overheads with renting shopfronts etc, so I want to keep prices as reasonable as possible. BA's used to be for the wealthy, but more average income earners are using them because they are time poor and know they don't have the expertise. Besides a lot of my work is in the 200-400k range and its pretty hard to justify such a big percentage of the purchase price. My smallest property purchases for clients have even been under 150k so at that price you certainly need to be finding the value and trimming entry costs (as a buyer). In time I will obviously need to raise fees as the operation grows but I want to keep the value in there as much as I can for now and would rather build a bit more momentum and a happy trail of customers even if it means some hard work and a few less $ up front.
Hi Matt
Welcome to the industry and I wish you every success in your future. You certainly come across as passionate and genuine
Just a few things that I'd look at changing for the site:
1. Ensure you have more detail on the ABOUT US section specifically about yourself, your background and professional details etc. Consumers like to know who specifically they're dealing with so it's important that you (and any staff/team members) are profiled. After all, buying others property is a huge privileged position to be in and very much relationship-involved.
2. Consumers (including those on forums like SS) will google you and want to find out more so putting your licensing details online (numbers or link to OFT site) may assist as well as any memberships of industry bodies such as REINSW or REBAA. I notice you're mentioning working in other states- just ensure you are licensed appropriately in each state/territory as you cannot act for buyers without a licence.
3. Photos- I'd consider adding one of yourself if possible- when we meet clients for the first time it's much easier if they know who they're watching out for even if we don't know what they look like!
Best of luck with it all and I can relate to the uni bit and family background hehe mind you I find my degree very useful in this field
Welcome to the industry and I wish you every success in your future. You certainly come across as passionate and genuine
Just a few things that I'd look at changing for the site:
1. Ensure you have more detail on the ABOUT US section specifically about yourself, your background and professional details etc. Consumers like to know who specifically they're dealing with so it's important that you (and any staff/team members) are profiled. After all, buying others property is a huge privileged position to be in and very much relationship-involved.
2. Consumers (including those on forums like SS) will google you and want to find out more so putting your licensing details online (numbers or link to OFT site) may assist as well as any memberships of industry bodies such as REINSW or REBAA. I notice you're mentioning working in other states- just ensure you are licensed appropriately in each state/territory as you cannot act for buyers without a licence.
3. Photos- I'd consider adding one of yourself if possible- when we meet clients for the first time it's much easier if they know who they're watching out for
even if we don't know what they look like!Best of luck with it all and I can relate to the uni bit and family background hehe
mind you I find my degree very useful in this field In a hot market with a set budget, how do you manage to secure a property for your customer??
Hi Mwac,
Firstly - for my own investing and for clients who want help I try and avoid buying into hot markets where possible. I generally advocate counter cyclical investing which means trying to get in the quieter "cool" to "warm" stages. (I actually like "warm" the best as once you see a little turn the momentum has just begun to build) Once its hot the best bargains are gone. As a result if a market is overly hot I usually discuss the ripple effect and do some analysis re what markets nearby have not yet grown so much and look for the value as most of my buyers are also quite keen to maximise their yields. If location is particularly important for a client or its for ppor then obviously we need to buy in all markets.
I like set budgets as the brief and the range of properties I am inspecting is clearly defined. Its tough when the brief is "anything, anywhere, for any price, as long as its a good deal!"
Having regard to above comments my methods for purchase involve the following:
1 Thorough research to know what a property is worth so we don't overpay
2 Maintaining good relationships with agents who know my buyers are qualified and not tire kickers so they prefer to deal with me (as I bring more buyers over time and manage the interpersonal part of the buyer relationship they really like it as Im doing half their job, if a regular buyer with no agent comes along they have to make sure they don't get cold feet, make sure they are getting their finance on time etc etc) I have a few agents who send me stock sometimes weeks before its on re.com.au.
3 Due diligence (fast) I have relationships with a few good solicitors and build inspectors in my area so when I ask they can usually turn an offer into exchange rapidly when required.
4 Being honest with the buyer about value, the state of the market and the offer required to realistically purchase the property. I have made plenty of low offers for clients but I will tell them clearly if I think an offer has no hope of getting accepted and of the likelihood that a particular property will probably sell for $X in X timeframe (usually have been pretty close).
5 Different negotiation tactics are called for in a hot market as the long drawn out negotiation doesn't work but one example is to use short clear sunset clauses on offers
