Buyers agent reviews , advice and reccomendations

The saying of it it's too good to be true.

Why are they charging 30-50% of market rate? Is it because they're just good people?

Not being a smart ass, but really think about it. There has to be a reason and until you are comfortable with what they reason is, make sure to do your due diligence on them.

 

or monkeys....

 

I'm curious as to how BAs and agents in general come across properties before going to market... does this mean they are in constant contact with RE agents before properties are advertised...?? might sound a silly questions, but I'm beginning to wonder about all these "off-market" opportunities... is it becoming a trend...? If so, what does it mean...? i.e. isn't this pushing up prices even more by virtue of the "exclusivity" factor of this trend to which only the selected few have access...?

 

What would you like to know?
Of my last 5 property deals 3 were not advertised online.
Of the 3 "off markets" one was direct to vendor no agent (so I call that pure off market) the other 2 had agents but neither were going public with a sale for private reasons.
I do not believe I pushed up prices but perhaps 1 of them you could make that case (it was a premium property). The others definitely not.
I have spent 10 years building relationships with agents along the coast so they call me and I call them (a lot).
There is a lot of "hype" around pre market listings - much of which is just fluff and noise. 80% of it is just "pre market" where an agent will tell a BA about a listing 1-2 weeks prior to going online. I do that too but I don't call it off market.
Much of what we do is just get to the front of the best listings a bit faster than by waiting to view stock on the websites.
Lastly I would say its not a new trend. Agents have been selling to their relationship network for decades and some owners have been selling privately a long time too. Using the phrase as a marketing tool might be new I guess.

 

Neither of them are REBAA members and I don't know them personally so can't comment here, but their fees are extraordinarily low and out of sync with what industry standards are. As per others comments, I'd be asking lots of questions and conducting sufficient due diligence prior to making any decisions here.

Also consider their current client loads and if they take on two clients with the same criteria, who gets preference here? After all, you're paying for an individualised service so why should you be in competition with the BAs other clients for the right property? This can be a real sticking point for these "volume" type BAs who have lots of clients at low prices, but with several clashes...or those who operate on the "first in best dressed" model of BA. Not ideal and certainly not an individualised service.

And, as per others comments, look for and engage only LOCAL BAs. There is no way you can be a nation-wide (let alone state-wide) property expert as it's impossible to build up relationships with that many selling agents and local networks. As per Matt's comments @BuyersAgent the value proposition of a good BA is not to pinpoint where to buy but to assist you in the process of searching, researching, shortlisting and negotiating something that works for your criteria. Good luck.

 

I have seen a lot of points mentioning the BA must be local to the area. However the strong bias that comes with this is undeniable. A BA covering multiple locations is more likely to have more options (there will be some bias regardless depending on volume of supply and their relationships) however this bias is still less with more options. Why would you limit yourself to such a small area to find the right opportunity?

 

Ideally if you're wanting to engage a BA (and imho what you really should be doing) you first have a good idea of the 1-3 areas you're interested and believe have value. THEN you engage a BA in those areas to help you hone into the best opportunities/deals in the area.

The last thing I would ever do is engage a BA who says they look after a massive geographical area and are not on the ground for the area you want to buy in.

 

That seems way too low. The agents are undercutting and most times cheap isn't always better.