Many savvy buyers wonder why - with all of the information they can access online - they would benefit from engaging a buyer's agent.
There are generally two types of information available: information that is available free of charge (which is often limited and incomplete) and information that is available on paid subscription (this information is used by banks and the Government to set policies, monitor the market and so forth). This is the information that a professional Buyer's Agent will have access to. Even then, there are two main professional data portals: APM PriceFinder and CoreLogic RP Data. Each portal obtains information at different times, from dufferent sources, and uses different algorithms to determine median prices, price movements, suburb demographics and so on. So it is useful to actually use both data portals, which is what I do at Melissa Maimann Buyer's Agent.
What information can I find for a client?
In the course of attending property research and due diligence, I review all of the following:
Listings that have been withdrawn from the market and properties that have even on the market for a while: these are properties that my clients may be able to secure under market value.
Rental history: this is not revealed in strata reports and is essential for investors to know. It means something when tenants never stay longer than a few months!
Sales history: how often has the property turned over? High turnover hints that something may not be right about the home; how long has it taken to sell in the past in comparison to the average for the market?
Sales and rental history of the other units / apartments in the block: this hints of issues within the building, disharmony between occupants, or signals a brilliant block that people are happy to live in.
Previous photos of the property: guides us as to renovations, both cosmetic and structural, to aid in our knowledge of the property and potential issues that may result, eg has a mould problem been concealed? Is there something that indicates there may be a structural issue?
Floor plans
Suburb demographics and median prices ... where does this home sit in comparison to the median and recent sales?
How this property has performed against the suburb's market average?
And so much more!
The value of this information is priceless. It saves people from buying the wrong home and potentially losing thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It saves people from buying the wrong home and needing to sell it again soon, for a loss.
It saves people time and money on unnecessary building and pest reports / strata reports because my research clearly identifies which homes ought to proceed to the stage of ordering reports, and which homes ought to be removed from our search.
Melissa Maimann is a licenced Buyer's Agent in Sydney. She assists home owners and investors alike with an affordable service that empowers you to make smart purchase decisions. Melissa's service is fast, efficient and accurate. If you need a hand with your next purchase, don't hesitate to make contact.