Using a Buyers Agent – A Good Idea?

Buyers agents are enjoying a resurgence in Australia’s residential property market. Here’s a quick reminder for the terminally naive: normally a real estate agent works for a the seller not the buyer. His job is to sell the property, preferably at the highest price possible. An agent working for the buyer, in contrast, works only for the buyer and is of course therefore paid by the buyer. Depending on the contract you may even end up paying the agent even if you don’t buy a property that the agent has introduced you to. So you need to be sure that property choices he’s presenting you with are the best possible choices in the market.

The agent can save you a huge amount of time particularly for someone new to the country or even locals where everyone in the family works long hours.

Buyer’s agents are more common in the commercial property sector where tenants and investors tend to employ licensed agents to assist with their property needs. A buyer’s agent can do everything for you from selecting a short list of properties for your inspection, negotiating the final contract or bidding if the property goes to auction.

Too Many Choices?

Obviously the service is of the most use for buyers who are maybe new to town and don’t really know where to start with their research.

The risks are that the buyer’s agent may not give you a broad enough selection of properties for your consideration. Its obviously critical to brief your agent properly to get the best service. Make sure you tell your agent:

• what you MUST HAVE in a property: maximum price is the obvious one but also number of bedrooms, outdoor areas and car parking. A good agent should be able to tell you immediately if there is a mis-match between your budget and your want list
• what the MUST NOT HAVE. You won’t buy a property on a busy street, next to a school
• what you would LIKE it a property: you negotiable items: number of bathrooms, kitchen layout, decor locality

Obviously the more research you do on properties on the big real estate web sites and Australian online real estate forums the more informed you will and the better able to work out whether your agent is fairly representing the market to you. Having too much choice can be a problem, but having a biased sub-set is worse. You need to be comfortable that your agent is not padding his selection with his fellow agent’s lemons.

As usual in real estate: knowledge is power and caveat emptor.