Episode Details

A buyers’ agent is a real estate professional that will help you identify and negotiate the purchase of a property according to your specifications. They typically work for property investors but can also be engaged to purchase owner-occupier homes. This blog discussed whether you should use a buyers’ agent and if they are worth the money?

Don’t forget, I’m independent!

I have no vested interest in whether my clients engage a buyers’ agent or not. I am completely independent.

The advantage I have is that over the past 18 years since starting ProSolution, I have seen the performance of many property purchases resulting from advice provided by many different buyers’ agents. Also, like in many industries, the buyers’ agent industry is small. You quickly learn what types of properties different agents are buying, and what the outcomes have been. In short, I have the perspective of being an “independent umpire” for over nearly the past two decades.

These are my musings – hopefully they help you and give you some insight.

Mostly used by investor

Most buyers’ agents aim their services at investors. There are a few buyers’ agents that will work for home buyers. However, buying a home can be a more difficult brief because there are many considerations to take into account as it tends to be a more of an emotional purchase. For the sake of this blog, I’ll focus on investors only.

It’s what you don’t know (or can’t see) that could hurt you

Selecting an investment-grade property can appear deceptively easy. You would be excused for thinking that all you need is a checklist of items/characteristics to run each property through. However, as I have written about previously, identifying a quality investment-grade property is part-art and part-science. A good checklist and some financial analysis should satisfy the ‘science’ bit. However, you typically need years of experience to fulfil the ‘art’ component.

I recall discussing a property with a reputable buyers’ agent a few years ago. The property seemed (to me) to tick all the boxes. However, the buyers’ agent didn’t like the property because the street was renowned for car break-ins. As such, tenant turnover was higher than usual. No checklist will ever tell you that. Similarly, buyers’ agents have previously told me that sometimes a particular side of the street just won’t work from an investment perspective. Sometimes there’s no logical reason for an anomaly such as this – it comes down to experience.

A professional advisors ‘experience’ should never be underestimated. In fact, as an independent financial advisor, I know it’s the most valuable attribute that I have to share with my clients. Of course, technical knowledge such as tax and super laws are important. But experience, such as knowing what strategies work in what situations, how markets behave, when to act and when to sit tight and so on are invaluable.

It is far cheaper to learn from people’s experience than learn from your own (i.e. trial and error).

You only have to be a little bit wrong to miss out on a lot of the investment return

The difference in investment returns between an average property and an investment-grade property can be significant, especially over the long run. That is, making a few compromises on a property’s quality/attributes will likely result in a lower capital growth rate. A lot of property in Australia exhibits a growth rate at,