Sometimes you have to spend money to save money

Buyers Agents are increasingly common in the Australian property market.  The good bit is that they can:

• Find you good investments
• Negotiate on your behalf
• Source properties that may not be publicly be available for sale

The bad news is that you will have to pay them a fee.

Some (naïve) property buyers struggle with the logic of paying an agent a fee and so choose to try to source a property themselves.  And yet, these buyers understand that they have to pay a lawyer to settle the property.

But astute investors appreciate what buyers agents bring to the party; they save you money and find a damn-fine investment.

I recently used a buyers agent and my experience  was positive.  I wanted to buy interstate and realised that I did not know the Brisbane market well- enough.

In my initial conversations with my buyers agent, we agreed on possible growth suburbs, then she narrowed it down to a few properties.

Once we agreed which properties I was interested in, I left it to her to negotiate on my behalf.  Even once I had agreed a price, she was even able to get $10k knocked off the sale price later (pretty-much covering her fees).

I wanted to buy a property that has strong rental returns but also the possibility of good capital growth (something which is hard to find together).  I also wanted the space where I could create equity by building a granny flat. My buyers agent was able to do some site inspections for me (sending my photos and videos of the properties) so we could discuss how we could increase equity in the property.  There’s no way I could have done all that from interstate.

Sure you have to pay a buyers agent a fee.  But the risks of not doing so are high – how do you fancy over-paying for a property in location which is  a dud investment?  That loss will be way higher than the fee.

Next step – start the build on the granny flat!