Using a Buyers agent

Hi Guys,

New member here, and have decided to buy an vestment property in the $400K range.. I have been talking to some buyers agents who have been pointing me in the direction of south east queensland (redbank plains or caboulcha)

1 Agent wasnt $10K for his services, the other charges nothign as he gets paid a commission by the estate the land is bought from..

any advice on which to go with?

Also, does buying in a housing estate like redbank plains pay off? I understand tax advantages for sure, but whats peoples experience like with re-sale values?

any help for this eager newbie is much appreciated
 
Hi Guys,

New member here, and have decided to buy an vestment property in the $400K range.. I have been talking to some buyers agents who have been pointing me in the direction of south east queensland (redbank plains or caboulcha)

1 Agent wasnt $10K for his services, the other charges nothign as he gets paid a commission by the estate the land is bought from..

any advice on which to go with?

Also, does buying in a housing estate like redbank plains pay off? I understand tax advantages for sure, but whats peoples experience like with re-sale values?

any help for this eager newbie is much appreciated


Like you Simon, I am only new to the investment scene and can only offer very limited advice however I would be a little wary of a buyers agent who is profiting directly from the vendor (such as the second you have suggested)
At the very least, I would like to know what the % commission is based on his recommendations! Without this, I believe you cannot accurately assess his/her impartiality and validity of recommendation.
In simply terms, you could almost say they are no different from the REA selling the property as they have a vested interest on what you buy so instead of looking after your best interest, they may be more concerned with the commission. I hope that makes sense???
Call me paranoid and I'm sure others here could put it into more simple terms but at the end of the day as they say, "there is no such thing as a free lunch" and these guys needs to make their money from somewhere.
If they are working for you, then you need to ensure they have your best interest's at heart so make sure you do you DD and not just purchase the first offer that comes along..

Good luck
 
Like you Simon, I am only new to the investment scene and can only offer very limited advice however I would be a little wary of a buyers agent who is profiting directly from the vendor (such as the second you have suggested)
At the very least, I would like to know what the % commission is based on his recommendations! Without this, I believe you cannot accurately assess his/her impartiality and validity of recommendation.
In simply terms, you could almost say they are no different from the REA selling the property as they have a vested interest on what you buy so instead of looking after your best interest, they may be more concerned with the commission. I hope that makes sense???
Call me paranoid and I'm sure others here could put it into more simple terms but at the end of the day as they say, "there is no such thing as a free lunch" and these guys needs to make their money from somewhere.
If they are working for you, then you need to ensure they have your best interest's at heart so make sure you do you DD and not just purchase the first offer that comes along..

Good luck

Hi Simon

Bird Dog is spot on and, in fact, buyers agents cannot act for both parties in the transaction with exclusive BA's only ever taking a fee from their client ie: the buyer. Of course the agent in this case stands to make a profit from the vendor/developer and you end up paying for it. Why would it be in your best interests for him to negotiate the price down when he's receiving a cut of the commission?

You may like to take a read of this fact sheet from the REBAA (Real Estate Buyers Agents Assoc) site explaining what a BA does and how they can help you. Just scroll down to the second article. If you want a recommendation for QLD there are lots of posters here who can help- just ask. Best of luck.

http://www.rebaa.com.au/index.php/media/fact-sheet-for-media
 
Hi Simon

Why would it be in your best interests for him to negotiate the price down when he's receiving a cut of the commission?

You may like to take a read of this fact sheet from the REBAA (Real Estate Buyers Agents Assoc) site explaining what a BA does and how they can help you. Just scroll down to the second article. If you want a recommendation for QLD there are lots of posters here who can help- just ask. Best of luck.

http://www.rebaa.com.au/index.php/media/fact-sheet-for-media

There you go, I knew someone could articulate it in real world terms...(thanks jacque)..:)
This is not to say that BA's aren't a good idea! In fact many would argue the contrary as any worthwhile professional (on your side) can more than pay for their services in the long run.
EG: A good accountant can save you many times their bill at the end of the year in tax strategies / investment advice / gearing etc..
The same rule applies to just about every profession however the art is identifying the right individuals and leveraging off their skills to maximise your returns.
I'm sure someone on here could recommend a reputable BA that understands your journey and will add value to your strategy and subsequent purchase.

Good luck.
 
Let me save you some money.....google Redbank Plains and Caboolture on Real Estate.com.

There is no way I would pay $400k for a property in that area.

If you do your due diligence.....given the softening of the Qld market you sould be able to buy a reasonable second hand older brick veneer for 250-300k any day of the week with hard negotiating.

The newer stuff will not give you any CG for many years. The land value in both these areas is about 170k-190k......the closer you are to land value the better.

Hi Guys,

New member here, and have decided to buy an vestment property in the $400K range.. I have been talking to some buyers agents who have been pointing me in the direction of south east queensland (redbank plains or caboulcha)

1 Agent wasnt $10K for his services, the other charges nothign as he gets paid a commission by the estate the land is bought from..

any advice on which to go with?

Also, does buying in a housing estate like redbank plains pay off? I understand tax advantages for sure, but whats peoples experience like with re-sale values?

any help for this eager newbie is much appreciated
 
Thanks

Thanks guys.... some great advice here... so glad i found this forum...

Has anyone here used a buyers agent before? and what was your experience like?

I am hesitant to pay 10K, but at the same point - they know much more than i do and can negotiate prices down as you say...

FYI - the investment agent was very open in saying he got 2.5% commissionon the value of the land he sold..

Thanks

Simon
 
I have engaged the services of a BA in Brisbane.
Fee for a 600k property will be around 8k.
I'm very happy with the service so far and could not do it myself due to being very time poor as well as being interstate.
It could be a very costly mistake purchasing the wrong type of property.
Local knowledge, town planning experience, future development and planned infrastructure knowledge is so important, which not everybody has the time or ability to research.
 
I have many clients who use buyers agents and there is some great ones on this forum. I have never used one for my purchases however I think with anything the old saying s**t in s**t out is true.

So be clear and concise on what you want and understand that they can only do something with what you tell them - and be realistic.

Saying I want a $400k property with a 15%pa CG and 10% rental return in a capital city is unrealistic unless we go back to the 70's.

So be clear up front what is your long term financial goal, what type of PI strategy will help you achieve that and then determine what criteria you need for that strategy.

Once you have done that you are armed with the right info and right questions to ask your BA and they can get you the right product sooner. If you choose not to act then weigh up 6 months out of a rising market compared to being in it now and how their fee weighs into that equation.

Hope this helps
Jane
 
As with anything Simon, it is not always anout saving a bit of money on fees (although I understand that they have to be a consideration).

There is an interesting article in next month's - July 2010's API Magazine that I was reading about BAs and their levels of experience and fee structures. It has some good Qs to ask a BA. Perhaps this would be a good read for you before deciding?
 
dont bother

hi

I contracted a buyers agent for my ppor in Sydney and paid them 3k deposit - I cant remember the exact deal but it was something along the lines of 2.5% of the value of the property. We were looking for something around the mil mark so a good chunk of money. The buyers agent was based in neutral bay from memory they were called EPS.

Anyway to cut a long story short they were useless, showed us unsuitable houses and didnt as far as I could see give any value and the lady was very vague about how she was going to save us the fee she was charging so after a month of no results and frustration I started looking myself.

We found a great place ourselves in the northern beaches - did the deal and was very happy. I told my buyers agent that I found a home myself and didnt need there services anymore and out of the blue they sent me a bill for 25k - for doing nothing they wanted 25K!!!.Apparently because I didnt give them thirtty days notice I had to pay the maximum fee.

Needless to say I was furious and got my lawyers involved who wrote them a letter and I didnt hear from them again but I was eeething - they got my 3k which in hindsight i should have chased but lawyers arnt cheap so I left it. Maybe I should have taken them to court out of principle.

Anyhow in my opinion if you want a house look yourself and save your money - that said if your not in the area and time is valuable then it could be good for you and Im sure most are not like these guys who I dealt with. For us it was a nightmare and these chancer con artists shouldnt be allowed to operate.

Surely they cant bill you if you find your own house and do the negotiations yourself.
 
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EPS I aggree with you

EPS:mad:: I also used them and also found them not very professional, also lost 3k and walked away. I found them not really interested in finding good investments, just wanted to push the easy deals which involved units in high rises that where just around from their office.

I have now to date used 4 BA and have only purchase 2 properties, there are some good BA and some terrible BA's that cost you plenty of $$$ after the purchase.

I personally have found that the higher fee Buyer Agents have lost touch of how to provide professional service and more interested in their systems, i.e. get you in and get you out.

What really bugs me the most about BA's is generally they don't tell you what areas they work in, I personally want to know to make sure that those area agree with my research, I'm not saying that I know better but at the end of the day, it's my investment dollars at work. Just another thing, they don’t like giving you their office address when I ask, so I have an idea how far they need to travel to a particular area I’m interested, Now if they have to travel an hour to view a house, I really don’t think they will see many house inspection before they recommend a “perfect” deal. If you know what I mean. One BA I used was in Sydney (because I wanted to purchase in SYD) and was recommending a house in QLD, only feed back he was getting was from the Selling agent, the recommendation I was getting was to buy it quickly as it’s a really great price, 4 months latter it was still on the market for sale and I have a quick look at it, what a dump, so much work was required. (Thank goodness I didn’t purchase it)

However, because of my situation of working overseas and being time poor when I’m in Australia, I’ll keep on using BA’s and hopefully latter this year I’ll get one that can do what I pay them to do, work on my behalf.
But as to date, the best BA I have used is Jacque from this forum
 
Maybe I should have taken them to court out of principle.

Anyhow in my opinion if you want a house look yourself and save your money - that said if your not in the area and time is valuable then it could be good for you and Im sure most are not like these guys who I dealt with. For us it was a nightmare and these chancer con artists shouldnt be allowed to operate.

Surely they cant bill you if you find your own house and do the negotiations yourself.

A business and life mentor keeps reminding me that

You can be happy or you can be "right", but rarely in a conflicted life can you be both



Understand it grates, and your experience is not unusual ,but is becoming more atypical as the ndustry cleans itself up.
 
Have any of you guys used a group called property buyer? they are who I am talking to right now.. They seem to know their stuff quite well, but again, would love some user feedback rather than written testimonials...

Feel free to message privately if you don't want to comment in public

Cheers
 
I think if people think they will be buying more than a couple of properties in the future, it would be worthwhile to do everything themselves ... the experience will be invaluable and save you $ in the long run.
 
....We found a great place ourselves in the northern beaches - did the deal and was very happy. I told my buyers agent that I found a home myself and didnt need there services anymore and out of the blue they sent me a bill for 25k - for doing nothing they wanted 25K!!!.Apparently because I didnt give them thirtty days notice I had to pay the maximum fee........

Without condoning what they seem to have done here, may I suggest that you read the agreement that you signed with them?

Most BA Agreements have a termination clause and a termination fee payable under certain circumstances. This is to protect the BA from clients who only want to pay a small engagement fee upfront and then proceed to reject every property that the BA finds for them.

Surely they cant bill you if you find your own house and do the negotiations yourself.
In much the same way as a REA will want a commission for selling your house during the agency agreement period, BA's will have the same.

How can you expect a BA to search for a property and risk not being paid for their efforts.? If you want to be able to find your own house and buy it, then either have that written into the agreement or don't hire a BA in the first place.

I'm sorry that you've had that experience, but know where you stand when you enter into any signed agreement and try to get some referrals etc so you can check them out beforehand.
 
Hi Guys,

New member here, and have decided to buy an vestment property in the $400K range.. I have been talking to some buyers agents who have been pointing me in the direction of south east queensland (redbank plains or caboulcha)

1 Agent wasnt $10K for his services, the other charges nothign as he gets paid a commission by the estate the land is bought from..

any advice on which to go with?

Also, does buying in a housing estate like redbank plains pay off? I understand tax advantages for sure, but whats peoples experience like with re-sale values?

any help for this eager newbie is much appreciated
The local saturday paper in Brisbane costs 2 bucks,the real estate section is all you need to start to get an idea of value in those area's,for 400k one would think you will find something on the inner 10-15klm's southside in that range,,most agents would be trying that bit harder in Brisbane now that everything is starting to slow,and the listings are starting to sit,10k is 10k,i don't think you will have any problems finding something in that range yourself,after all it's only price-size-location,add the time factor..
willair.
 
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