Why I don't use buyer's agents

I paid well over 10k and didn't think it was worth it for the price I paid them. I thought for the price I would get value and advice but definitely wasn't the case, if your going to use BA speak to at least 3 people that have used that BA.

 

Yeah 100%. Like every other service or product you will get good and bad

 

Who did you use?

Cheers

 

Hi I am a Hobart local and although all of my IPs are on the "mainland" I would be happy to give you my thoughts on the market here. Kingston and most parts of Northern Hobart wouldn't be on my list. It depends what you wanted. For capital growth there are a few pockets of relatively high demand in the inner ring of Hobart (West Hobart, Battery Point, Upper Sandy Bay, Mount Stuart, certain specific parts of North Hobart and New Town) but as a state the economic factors don't bode well for population increase and a squeeze on demand. Rental yields however are quite acceptable particularly in certain areas where there is a scarcity of quality rental stock.

Cheers

Pipeclay

 

@Pipeclay - how do you view Hobart and other parts of Tasmania as a place for doing add-value developments. E.g. Larger block converted to townhouses. I saw a few developments in Kingston going on 3-4 years ago when the shops were being upgraded. Entry cost for this sort of thing would be lower than other states due to lower land values, although build costs would likely be higher.

 

My SS experienced tells me that many BAs market views are actually biased and not fact or number based.
They also happily peddle media stories that come from the RE industry instead of forming their own opinion.

Is the REBAA running a price fixing scheme?
And since when does rebaa hold a monopoly on skilled negotiations or local knowledge. Or any knowledge?
"24mths operating as a BA" eligibility? Lmao.

Though I can see why some people would want to use a BA, specially high wage earners who can't leave their jobs.

Are you insinuating that using BAs guarantees profits on RE projects?
Who "guaranteed" your client the 100k profit?
Are you assuming that your client would have made 100k profit if they used a BA?
Do you have a factual basis for such assumptions?

 

OK, I just checked REBAA website. Is there a list there of BAs who have been deregistered or reprimanded for unprofessional conduct?

 

BA licensing is a restricted real estate license and is administered by fair trading/dept of commerce in each state. They would be your first port of call.

 

Agree Rolf.

I need to add here that I have met many folk who have the servicibility, the money and the drive to invest. They just completely suck at negotiating, their too soft and English is a barrier for them to effectively negotiate. BAs have a great role here to fill in.

 

I read alot of propertunitys post he has put a lot of input into this forum and somersoft so would def give him a call if I was gunna use a BA

 

This one time, my buyers agent used a buyers agent to get me a property I needed.

 

I am not an expert in terms of small developments in the Hobart market but my thoughts are that the market and demand for these townhouses are less than would be on the mainland in terms of capital cities. The reason being there is a large supply of affordable smaller character homes close to amenities in the inner city suburbs and the average Hobartian would most likely prefer these to a new development in terms of purchasing. For rental yield this is different but varies in regards to where you are. Ie near the Uni/North Hobart restaurant strip/Bellerive etc. This may be different in Kingston however as this area is akin to the outer suburbs in the bigger equivalent capitals the demographic would most likely be looking for the suburban style 4X2.

Townhouses close to water/some of the restaurant strips would do well so some of the areas around Kingston may be viable.

Once again I am not an expert in this field, I have friends who are full time developers here (larger scale) and have done well but interestingly one of them now only concentrates on "Mainland" properties.

Cheers

 

Thanks @Pipeclay - great post!

 

Just came across a friend of a friend recently using a BA from Victoria to purchase a property in QLD. The BA flew up there and told them about a standard apartment and was pushing it as a buy. It was a deal anyone could find and really, they should of used someone who was familiar with QLD locally. No value at all there for the $10k they outlaid. They also made the mistake of paying the full service fee up front.

I was just reading a thread earlier about tradies and how people are advising to get a full itemised invoice. This is for a licensed trades person that has done a 4 year apprenticeship plus schooling. Imagine if we went down the same path for a BA? Someone who has done, at a minimum, a 5 days agent rep course in Vic and asked them for a fully itemised invoice of their costs to find you a property. I wonder how that $10k cost would be itemised?

 

Plenty of BA's offer nationwide services, this was one of those shops.

Some results in a property purchase you will not see for years if capital growth is a target of yours. With a traide, the results are instant (good and bad!). $10k is a lot of money to blow without any real showings of what you're getting is my point. Lots of smoke and mirrors.

 

Hi Winston et al

As DaveM has rightly pointed out, real estate agents (and this includes buyers agents as they fall under the same PSBAA and regulations) are highly regulated. See link here for NSW and some commonwealth regs https://www.reinsw.com.au/iMIS15_prod/web/actsandregulations

It is pretty simple to find out if an REA or BA has been disciplined or prosecuted for a particular reason. The governing body is Fair Trading and you can look up anyone licensed here on their public register. I have posted about this several times across the years on the old Somersoft site as I believe it's crucial that you ensure any REA or BA you engage is appropriately licensed and you can also check their experience/years in the industry. All you need is their name- NSW link here for the public register
http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/About_us/Online_services/Property_services_licence_check.page

For example, and as most of you would already know, given the wide publicity of this particular BA, the former director of Property Secrets, Paul Giezekamp, is now publicly listed as disqualified on the same register. This is public information and easily accessible. https://www.onegov.nsw.gov.au/publicregister/#/publicregisterdetails/1475-UY3

Once you have established that the BA (and associated company where applicable) is licensed I would urge you to also consider their other affiliations/professional industry associations such as REBAA, REINSW and related awards (REI the most highly regarded) as well as asking for recent references from clients. Talking to past clients and/or reading their testimonials/feedback forms of a buyers agency service should assist in establishing credibility and finalising your decision.

Re: fees. Obviously every agency is different and so they will vary, just like any service or product cost. The fee guides on sites like REBAA are intended as a guide only, however if you do want a quote it's best to actually talk to the BAs you're thinking of hiring, or complete their online forms.

As for quantifying if the fees are "worth it" that's up to the individual or company engaging the services to decide. Just as you would consider when hiring a selling agent, or anyone else for that matter. As others have pointed out, breaking our fees down into hourly rates is neither practical or necessarily commensurate with what we do and the result/outcome that we achieve for clients. Across the years, when discussing our fee structure with clients, and an hourly rate conversation has arisen, I haven't yet had one search client willing to "hire" us this way. We charge an agreed upfront flat fee regardless of time spent, as it's the outcome clients are hiring us for. Sometimes we find the ideal property in the first 2 weeks of the search whilst other times it can take 6 months... it depends obviously on a variety of factors.

Anyway hope this helps somewhat especially in regards to regulations.

 

I'd like to point out that if you are considering hiring a BA to buy in another state for you please consider and ask the following:

1. Does the Buyers Agency have an actual office and BA staff in the state they're buying in for you? Though this isn't mandatory, I would much prefer to have local BAs working on my behalf rather than fly in/fly out BAs from other states, for obvious reasons.

2. If they are fly in/fly out ensure they have a valid state licence (both individual and corporation licence) for that relevant state. Easy enough to look up as per my previous posts and also here's the link for QLD https://www.qld.gov.au/law/laws-reg...industry-regulation/check-a-property-licence/

3. Ensure the written contractual agreement you sign with them is the state relevant one in which you're buying. In particular, QLD has a specific form that is required for any agent to act on your behalf when you appoint them. If you hire an interstate BA (eg: NSW or VIC) and engage them using a standard NSW or VIC appointment contract then they are in breach and won't be able to act on your behalf in QLD. A lot of clients don't know this so make sure you do if you are going to hire an interstate BA. There are wider ramifications here and there have been case studies of agents having to pay back commissions due to invalid agreements.