It seems like buyer’s agents are popping up everywhere these days. It’s a far cry from a decade or so ago when there were hardly any in Australia.

In fact, B.Invested founder Nathan Birch was likely the nation’s first buyer’s agent.

But do you need a buyer’s agent? And now there are more of them out there, how do you choose the right one for you?

Some of the benefits

Good buyer’s agents can be very helpful when shopping for investment properties. For example:

– They know and are known to many real estate agents if they have been in the game for any amount of time. They know which agents are likely to strike the best deals with minimum fuss and game playing.

– They often have access to off market properties, where real estate agents give them an early heads up ahead of listing a property.

– Buyer’s agents can not only find you one property, but can look for multiple pieces of a portfolio puzzle, with assets in different price ranges and geographical areas that will complement each other.

– They are great at filtering the many listed properties out there and doing the research for you, before presenting you with only the most suitable properties for your situation.

– The savings on the purchase price will often outweigh the money you spend on their fees.

Why are you using one?

Ask yourself why you want to use a buyer’s agent and what you hope to achieve by doing so.

Are you an investor looking for great value in a market far away? A good buyer’s agent can earn you hundreds of thousands of dollars by accessing future growth, big returns and securing a price that will allow you to create instant equity to use to keep growing your portfolio. They can be the difference between reaching your goals sooner than planned, or not reaching them at all.

Once you know what you want, be it one or 101 properties, it makes it easier to find a buyer’s agent that matches your needs.

Picking the best

A good buyer’s agent should be able to extensively research an area, plus the properties within it.

They should have a track record of good results for clients over a number of years and during up and down markets. These results should be across a range of property types also. Be wary if a buyer’s agent only negotiates new off the plan properties for clients, as there’s a good chance they may be taking commission from a developer.

They should be able to refer you to providers of the other services you may need, such as finance, accountancy, legal advice and so on.

Finally, they should be able to teach you a thing or two. Rather than just buying a property on your behalf, a good agent will be prepared to coach or mentor you, engage with you on the reasons that certain decisions do and don’t make sense. So you are not just getting a service, but an ongoing educational partnership.

The B.Invested difference

B.Invested has a long history of helping thousands of clients achieve their goals. B.Invested has benefited from Nathan Birch’s decades of experience sourcing properties all over Australia on his own investment journey.

And it’s all on the record. Nathan has been transparent with his philosophy all along: he buys properties for below market value, with an upside for capital growth and a strong cashflow.

Forget the spruikers who promise unrealistic deals on purchases that seem light on the details, Nathan has built his own portfolio of more than 220 properties using his methodology. He practices what he preaches and he shows clients how they can do the same.