$650K Budget Looking to buy in Lane Cove Older 2 Bedroom Apartment (approx 15-20 years old) Would this be something reasonable to aim for? Investment wise and also as a PPOR? Planning to live there first 6 months to take advantage of First Home Buyer, then move back in with parents to use as an investment property. I wouldn't mind doing some minor renovations as well myself. In the future, I would be planning to use it to live in. Does anyone have some good resources to read on buying a place? Particularly for apartments in Sydney? Anywhere to learn about the whole selling and buying motion? Steps to take? I'm starting from 0 here, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Yes and yes. Oh boy. By your own admission you have zero experience: Buying a property Specifically buying an apartment In what could be considered to be one of the most difficult markets to navigate through: Real estate selling agents Other buyers - they're back in droves The auction process Negotiating techniques Forget the books, although some are helpful. This will take you years to learn and finesse to a point where you can successfully purchase for the 'right' price. As buyers agents who do it for a full time career, even we find it difficult........it really is like swimming with sharks. You need to spend 6 months going to Open Homes, auctions, reading contracts, reading strata reports, understanding what adds value when renovating and what does not - knowing what to look for BEFORE you even think of buying any apartment. I know this is shameless self-promotion, but you may be better advised in this case to use a really experienced buyers agent who you can trust to guide you through the process. There are many good ones and there are some useless ones (as in any profession). What they charge does not seem to have any bearing on their skill level. Spend some time researching them before meeting with them to see who you might like to work with. Otherwise, go observe and learn and be diligent.
Thanks Alan, self promotion is great at times if done well. May I ask what sort of fee is charged for this type of service? For the buyer's agent expertise and also to move from where I am now to securing a property? A ballpark figure is fine, feel free to PM me if you prefer.
Some BAs charge a % of the purchase price - under $1M that would be approx 2.2%. So for your $650K purchase it would be $14,300 say $14K. You could expect a $4K non-refundable retainer followed by a $10K success fee on unconditional exchange of contracts. For BAs that charge a flat fee those numbers would be approx the same in Sydney these days.
There are some awesome podcasts which really helped me starting out. - The Property Couch - Smart Property Investment - Investing Insights with Right Property Group - Elephant in the room The boys from Property Couch run an an investment advisory/buyers agency called Empower Wealth which I've heard great things about, same with Right Property Group. RPG are based in Sydney so may be more relevant to yourself. Just consume as much content as you can (Podcasts, forums, articles, books) and you'll get a good idea of the process, how to analyse an area and asset etc. Talk to BA's and advisors and get boots on the ground - open days, auctions etc and learn your market.
Isn't this a flawed model? Wouldn't this incentivise the BA to increase the property price so they can make more commission?
That's why my personal preference is for a flat fee. It is transparent. However, I have also worked for some clients who preferred a % of purchase price. I don't ever recall thinking that I would not go in hard and negotiate like I usually do, just to make a few dollars more in buying fee. It would be unprofessional if I did and ultimately counter-productive for our business IMO.
Thanks for this. Had a quick look at this over the weekend and it appears most of them are geared for investors. I'm looking for a resource to help me understand how to buy a PPOR. I'm a value for money person as I'm sure many people on here are, if there are resources on how to properly value a home I'll be interested in that. Much like purchasing any asset, I would search for and purchase properties below what their market values are.
