A lot of people believe that a Sunshine Coast real estate agent is working for both parties in the home buying process, but it’s not the case. Real estate agents are paid by their client – the seller – and their primary interest is to secure a sale for the highest and best price and conditions they can for their client.
A buyers’ agent is paid by the buyer – so we represent only you on your property journey to help secure you the best possible property under the best price and conditions.
We’re often involved in a house search and purchase when someone is time poor or not local to the area. Buying a property is a whole job in itself and most of our clients don’t have the time, intimate knowledge of the local market or the experience to dedicate to a significant purchase. Clients can also have a range of other reasons for engaging us. They may be:
- needing particular local knowledge for a second home purchase
- relocating or moving to the Sunshine Coast
- frustrated in dealing with real estate agents
- sick of missing out on properties
- unfamiliar with the buying process
- concerned about making a mistake (eg. buying the wrong property, or overpaying)
- simply preferring to outsource the property search to others
Buying property is our sole job, and our goal is to secure the best property for you that your money can buy. In all cases our knowledge of the area, our experience of the buying process, and our time and dedication mean you are more likely to find a better property for a better price and terms than if you did it on your own. Once you engage us, we are working hard on the job to find you your best property and don’t stop searching or hustling until we do.
We have also experienced the whole range of dynamics and pitfalls in the property purchase process, that we can help to iron out problems so you don’t lose the home you’ve fallen in love with.
These are your benefits if you decide to use a buyers’ agent. We will:
- Bring all our local knowledge of the area you’re planning to move to.
- Spend time understanding what you’re looking for and why.
- Search the market for properties that meet your needs and tastes.
- Track down properties that may be available even if they’re not on the market.
- Proactively contact agents and contacts to identify pre-market, off-market and on market properties that suit you brief.
- Spot properties in the best locations. Research both the vendor and the property to ensure they are in the strongest position they can be to negotiate the best price and terms on your behalf. This can include:
○ Using comparable sales and market indicators to determine what price range represents value for a given property and at what price you’re at risk of overpaying.
○ Assessing the situation of the vendor to establish their motivations and drivers for selling.
○ Considering other aspects of the local area to ensure you’re buying a property will continue to meet your needs in the future.
○ Negotiating the best price and terms on your behalf.
○ Bringing objectivity and impartiality to your property search – we don’t let emotion impact judgment and risk of overpaying.
○ Often saving you money well in excess of our fee.
○ Overseeing the entire purchase process and saving you significant time and hassle.
○ Liaising with conveyancers, mortgage brokers, building and pest, etc to ensure a smooth and fast process on your behalf.
○ Negotiating with Property Managers to manage the property for you (if you are buying an investment property).
○ Being there even when you’ve settled to answer questions and hand you the keys!
That is our aim! Here are just some of the ways you will save money using us as your buyers’ agent:
- We do all the legwork on the ground to find the best properties for you (this can take hours and hours and months of your valuable time so you can leave that part to us while you focus on other things that are important to you).
- We use multiple market, pricing and property research tools to determine low, medium and high price ranges for a given property so that you can be confident you won’t be overpaying.
- We work hard to identify and negotiate best conditions for you (eg. we recently saved a client almost $10,000 in stamp duty alone through negotiating a preferred settlement date to minimise tax obligations).
- We find negotiation points and use them to battle hard for you to achieve the best terms and price.
When you engage us, we will work on an exclusive authority agreement. This agreement generally lasts for 3-6 months and it is our responsibility during that time to work hard for you to find you the best Sunshine Coast property so that you don’t have to do this yourself!
If you do find a property in Noosa on your own or through anyone else during this time of our exclusive agreement, you still are required to pay our fees. The balance of our fees after the initial engagement retainer of $1,950 are entirely at our risk, so if we haven’t secured your property within the terms of our exclusive agreement, you have the option to extend our agreement or part ways without any further payment obligation.
We will inspect every Noosa property or Sunshine Coast real estate on your behalf, and take detailed video and photography for you. If you want to be shown through the property as we inspect it, we would be happy to walk you through it virtually – we often do this for clients, particularly owner occupier clients. As part of our analysis, we also do detailed investigation of the surrounding properties and street, as well as neighborhood demographics. We work with you on your preferred approach to inspections.
Definitely! In Queensland, you need to complete an “Authority to Bid” form which allows us to bid on your behalf at auction here on the Sunshine Coast. We work with you to develop a strategy for the auction, pricing limits in line with your motivations and comparable sales, and document this so that we are all in agreement as to how to execute the auction strategy on the day.
We regularly work for interstate, overseas and regional clients to help them secure their Sunshine Coast property. Being local and having grown up in South East Queensland, we know key suburbs so well, so can quickly narrow down area/s for you based on what you’re looking for and the lifestyle you’re seeking. We work around your parameters and availability to make the search as easy as possible for you.
Of course! We are flexible in our buyers agent service arrangement so you can use us as much, or as little, as you need. Some clients love to negotiate, but need help finding the property first – so we are happy to work around your specific requirements to make your purchase as easy as possible.
