Buyers Advocate

Buying your first home or investment can be a difficult process that many find over whelming, hiring a buyers agent can increase your chances of owning property portfolio that will help you achieve your financial goals sooner. For a consultation free meeting on getting into the property market contact us via email or call us on 1300 00 WISE.

Mark Ribarsky.

Senior buyers agents at Wise Real Estate Advice. 

Why apartments are a risky investment.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has reported Melbourne’s apartment approvals were 75 per cent above the long term average. Approximately 50% of the approvals where within 5km of Melbourne’s CBD.

BIS Shrapnel’s Angie Zigomanis said much of Melbourne’s new housing approvals are attached dwellings, especially high rises with a “long gestation period”.

“So while we may not oversupply now, what is being approved now will come on the market in two or three years,” he said.

Zigomanis​ also said declining population growth and waning migration levels also threatens to throw out the balance of supply and demand.

“That means some investors may struggle to attract tenants,” he said.

Why choose a property that the banks don’t like? 

There are several property types that are considered ‘risky’ by banks. These often include serviced apartments, student accommodation, defence housing, small apartments, commercial properties and properties in a business or mixed zoning or in country or outer coastal areas.

If the major banks don’t want to lend against a certain property or will restrict loan to value ratios (LVR’s), these types of properties should be seen as risky and purchased with caution. If it’s not good enough for the bank’s money, it shouldn’t be good enough for your hard earned cash.

Properties in certain postcodes or suburbs also have finance restrictions. For instance, highrise apartments in Melbourne’s CBD (postcodes 3000 and 3004) and surrounding areas including Southbank, Queens Road and St Kilda Road, Docklands, Port Melbourne, South Melbourne and Carlton are generally seen as riskier properties for the banks and will have finance restrictions.

Buying your first home or investment can be a difficult process that many find over whelming, hiring a buyers agent can increase your chances of owning property portfolio that will help you achieve your financial goals sooner. For a consultation free meeting on getting into the property market contact us via email or call us on 1300 00 WISE.

Mark Ribarsky.

Senior buyers agents at Wise Real Estate Advice. 

How a Buyer's Agent Can Help You Buy The Right Home

Assess your purchasing criteria

Firstly, a good buyer's agent determines what you would like to achieve with a property purchase as this is fundamental to developing a strategy that’s right for you. For example, do you need a property for tax deductions, future land development? Turn over a quick dollar buy flipping the property or buying a dream home.

Taylor a strategy to your criteria

A buyer’s advocates help's you formulate a realistic strategy eg:

• ‘Yield Based Strategies’ where the majority of your investment is in the actual ‘bricks and mortar’ that offer stronger rental, bigger depreciation, low maintenance and low capital growth.
• ‘Capital Growth Strategies’ in more sought after areas where the majority of the cost of the property is the land value and where the opportunity for capital growth is greater.

Search the market for the best property

A good buyer's agent conducts an extensive suburb search choosing the best available properties. The client will be presented with a ‘short list’ of properties and prioritise the best opportunities. The agent will then physically inspect the short listed and choosing a select few. The client will have the option

Asses the property
The next step is physically assess the property in greater detail searching for any ‘potential problems’ or hidden cost's, factoring them in to the overall cost.

Establish the market value of the property

This step will make sure you don't pay to much for a property. A buyer’s agent will take a look at comparable sales data to help us assess the property’s true worth.  The agent will help the buyer understand the difference between the asking price and its true market value.

Closing the deal

Once the potential property ticks all the boxes based on the original criteria the buyer's agent will submit a written offer to begin negotiation. A great buyer's agent will utilise all the tricks of the trade, ensuring the deal is closed at the best possible price. Importantly, a good out come for the buyer will see a number of conditions that protect's them eg: finance / building and pest clauses, early lease clauses, release of deposit or property repair clauses etc. 

Bidding at auction? Some useful tips.

The auction process can be stressful however being armed with a solid strategy may help you to come out a winner on the big day. Every auction is different, hence you need to adapt quickly to the environment. Depending on the market some common strategy’s people use are:

• Know you budget and bid aggressively; increase bids by $1,000 more than your previous bid.
• Send the message that you have plenty of money with a knock out punch.  If the agent has been quoting $800,000 plus and you know the property is worth $950,000 – $1,000,000, open the bidding at $950,000 or let somebody start off at $800,000 and when the auctioneer calls for a rise of $10,000, offer $950,000. Not everyone will be ready for this and often knockout bids can have the desired effect of eliminating the competition hence try to quickly win the auction when it starts.
• Offer a bid on the agreement something is included e.g. you might be happy to go $5K more if the out door spa is included or the current owner(s) might want to lease back the property.

Consider making an early offer and try and bypass the auction process completely.

If you know the true value of a property there is no harm in trying to negotiate before the auction.

Some tips:

• Make the offer time conditional to place pressure on the vendor.
• If you want to make an offer before auction day, make the conditions appealing to sellers.Unconditional offers (that are not subject to finance, building inspections etc) are always tempting.

Should this strategy fail you can still attend and bid at auction.

Professional bidding assistance.

If keeping a poker face and bidding at auction is outside your comfort zone, or you simply want to secure expert advice consider using a buyer’s agent.

Buyer’s agents don’t sell houses like normal real estate agents they only represent buyers. Their job is to secure aproperty for the best possible price negotiating favourable conditions to their client. Buyer’s advocates bid at auction on a regular basis within your area, which will improves your chances of success.

Buying your first home or investment can be a difficult process that many find over whelming, hiring a buyers agent can increase your chances of owning property portfolio that will help you achieve your financial goals sooner. For a consultation free meeting on getting into the property market contact us via email or call us on 1300 00 WISE.

Mark Ribarsky.

Senior buyers agents at Wise Real Estate Advice. 

Why I need a buyer’s agent?

Buyer's agents are experienced real estate agents that work only for property buyer's. There are many set backs that could have major financial implications that a buyer needs to consider when purchasing hence a buyers agent is the 'expert in your corner.'

Some reason why I recommend a buyers agent: 

1.  In a hot real estate market, new listings move out the door quickly. Having access to property's that are yet to be listed could give you the buyer a great advantage. 

2. Ever had an opportunity to bid at an auction? The feeling is quite nerve racking. A buyer's agent is not emotionally attached to the property hence will never over spend and tick to a winning strategy. 

3.  Hiring a sharp negotiator that knows the market vale of a property. This will ensure the buyer does not pay to much for the property. 

4. Maximise capital growth buy selecting a property in the right area with promising capital growth. 

5. A skilled buyer's agent spots real estate buying opportunities across a whole market rather than a single suburb. 

Buying your first home or investment can be a difficult process that many find over whelming, hiring a buyers agent can increase your chances of owning property portfolio that will help you achieve your financial goals sooner. For a consultation free meeting on getting into the property market contact us via email or call us on 1300 00 WISE.

Mark Ribarsky.

Senior buyers agents at Wise Real Estate Advice.