Buyer’s agents used to be reserved for the rich and famous, they serviced the posh suburbs of America. If you have seen an episode of the reality TV show, ‘Million Dollar Listing’ you know what I mean. It’s an American based TV show of the day-to-day dealings of professional Buyer’s Agents and Selling Agents.
These days, it’s not uncommon to deal with a buyers agent when buying property in Australia. Advocates can be found from regional areas and outer suburbs, to the inner city.
Price negotiation can vary during a real estate transaction, and it makes good sense to hire a buyer’s agent when spending millions of dollars. Negotiating at this price range could make a difference of tens of thousands of dollars in your pocket.
What about at the lower end of the market? Where prices are in the $400,000’s, already it seems very costly to use an expensive buyer’s agent if they’re charging upwards of $15,000 per transaction.
We look at a few tips on how to find a good buyer’s agent that doesn’t charge an arm and a leg to help earn you the best deal when buying real estate.
Fees Are Negotiable.
Just because a fee is quoted it doesn’t mean it’s the final price. Like with everything, you pay for what you get. It’s important to not go too low, or there is no point of hiring help. You want your buyers agent to be a motivated worker.
In real estate, everything is negotiable, from house prices to agent’s fees.
Save Money & Only Use Them For The Important Parts.
You can save money on a buyer’s agent by reducing the services provided. Most fully-serviced buyer’s agents will offer you a face to face meeting, conduct an in-depth property search, negotiate, close a sale and even help you on the final inspection before settlement.
If you’re willing to do some of the work, you could reduce the asking fee by 50%. For instance, conduct your own property search.
How do you find a Good value buyer’s agent?
Some good old fashioned cold-calling will always do the trick. Create a top 20 list of buyer’s agents from Google and call each one. Once they quote their fees, tell them what you’re prepared to pay and see what they have to say.
Ask your local real estate agent. No doubt every real estate agent has dealt with a buyers advocate in his or her local area. Attend an open for inspection and ask the agent at the property. This also insures they service the local area.
Fixed Rate, No Commission.
To make sure buyer’s agents are not incentivized to spend your money, make sure the fees are fixed. A percentage on sale or commission could earn a buyer’s agent a nice bonus.
For more information on buyers agent’s fees check out our fees page.
Buyer’s advocate fees can vary from $3,000 to $40,000 per transaction. So it pays to do your home work.
Code Of Conduct.
Make sure they’re part of a governing body that sets an ethical standard of behavior or a code of conduct. In Victoria the governing body is the Real Estate Institute Of Victoria.
Area Of Operation.
Ask your buyer’s agent about their last five purchases. This is normally a great indicator of where they operate. If your really savvy, cross check the prices of their last sales against similar sales in the area, this will show you how good they are at negotiating.
Where do they rank on Google? If they appear within the suburbs you’re interested in you know there doing business there.
Reviews
Look for buyer’s agents that have many reviews as this demonstrates customer satisfaction with the service provided. Remember, it’s hard to get a five star review a dissatisfied customer will go out of their way to let the public know of a bad experience.
Tax Benefits.
If you’re buying an investment property, you might be able to claim the cost of hiring a buyer’s agent against your tax. This would be considered a professional service fee. For more information check out our page on claiming a buyers agent’s fees.
Buyer’s agents are skilled professionals that have the knowledge to find you a great property that will minimize your exposure to a bad purchase.
They’re trained to save you money and make your life easy. This applies to any suburb at any property price range.-
