Statistically, nine out of ten home-buyers use the internet during their home search process to research properties.  While websites such as www.domain.com.au and www.realestate.com.au are excellent sources of information, there are certain aspects regarding the buying and selling process that a real estate professional will know that can't be found online.

Appraising a property

Appraising property requires research into the current market value of a property.  While it is possible to get a general idea of the property prices in an area, setting a fair market price requires in-depth, working knowledge of the area and current market conditions. A real estate professional considers several factors when setting a maximum purchase price, such as market trends, suburb demand over time, neighbourhood development, and the latest buyer preferences, to name a few. Although there will be an average price per square metre in a certain area, each and every home is unique and will need to be priced accordingly based on its distinctive offering.  Factors such as aspect, views and proximity to the main road and transport will impact the price.

Offline marketing

Even though online marketing and social media have become a valuable part of the property marketing process, there are many properties that actually never reach the market: they are sold either off-market or pre-market.  Real estate selling agents and buyer's agents know one another well, and buyer's agents are generally the first to know about these pre-market and off-market properties, enabling their clients to be placed ahead of the competition.

Negotiation

Buyers agents are skilled, experienced negotiators, which is valuable when a buyer is trying to trying to reach a fair price for the property they're hoping to buy.  While a website will be able to provide an estimate of how much a home should cost, it won’t be able to evaluate whether that is indeed a good deal or not.  A skilled buyer's agent will be able to access, analyse and interpret a range of information to determine a fair purchase price - and negotiate this with the selling agent.