• About
• Latest Posts

Editor

Founder at The Passive Investor

The Editor is also the Founder of The Passive Investor website. He is a part-time practising General Practitioner (GP) with an interest in all financial and investment-related topics. He is particularly focused on the integrated use of residential property, commercial property and the sharemarket to develop effective financial strategies for wealth accumulation and distribution.

Latest posts by Editor (see all)

• DIY Commercial Property Valuation - March 2, 2014
• Controlling the Valuation Process - March 1, 2014
• Reducing Body Corporate Fees - February 28, 2014

We haven’t used buyers agents in the past as we prefer to buy property directly on our own, though would consider one if buying interstate.

For those who are very time poor, then it may be worth considering too if the alternative is not being able to buy any property at all due to this lack of time.

When deciding on using a buyers agent you need to make sure you choose one that charges a transparent and flat fee-for-service, that is not dependent on the price of the property you search for or buy, and does not use a % or commission-like fee system.

Our main concern with buyers agents is how they manage to prioritise competing client interests, eg. if you and two other clients are after the same general type of property, who gets first go at the best property they find and how do they manage this process?

If one client is more “ready” to make a quick purchase decision then will they get preference over another client who is not as ready, but was engaged earlier on?

Also, if a buyers agent specialises in finding property in a selected few suburbs only, then we think there may be greater potential for conflict due to a reduced pool of properties available for sale at any point in time.

And you also need to be aware of the buyers agents’ philosophical bias, eg. positive gearing, positive “cash-flow” or negative gearing – in our view one is not necessarily better than the other, as the exact approach depends on the individuals objectives and circumstances and a number of other factors.

So before choosing a buyers agent, make sure you get satisfactory answers to some of these key points we have mentioned.