Ep 125: Examining the Traditional Buyer’s Agent Model in Australia, with Scott Aggett. Part 2

In this week’s episode of the Geared for Growth podcast, host Mike Mortlock welcomes back Scott Aggett, the Founder of Hello Haus and a seasoned property negotiator, for part two of their candid discussion on the current state of the Buyer’s Agents model in the Australian property market.

In this continuation, Mike and Scott explore the potential pitfalls of the emerging wave of Buyer’s Agents and the critical questions purchasers should ask before engaging their services. In today’s world of Instagram marketing, there is significant promotion of off-market deals and winning at auction, but does that always translate to the best deal for the consumer?

Being a proficient Buyer’s Agent involves much more than simply buying a property. After all, anyone can land a deal if they’re willing to pay the highest price, yet this seems to be a common marketing tactic among new entrants to the field. Scott highlights why it’s unrealistic to win at every auction and why such claims should raise concerns.

Scott and Mike also tackle the issue of developer kickbacks and emphasize the importance of these behind-the-scenes payments being factored into the overall equation. They discuss why it’s crucial for consumers to benchmark the properties proposed by their Agent, ensuring they align with the client’s brief and represent the best available options.

Mike concludes this insightful conversation by asking Scott about the best strategies for purchasers to protect themselves in this evolving market and how they can ensure they are receiving the best value from their Buyer’s Agent. Scott wraps up by discussing how the size of an agency can influence the level of oversight and diligence as the business expands.

While this topic may be contentious, it is not intended to criticize Buyer’s Agents as a business model. On the contrary, both Scott and Mike advocate for purchasers having a real estate professional in their corner. Scott’s aim is to ensure that in a market with low barriers to entry and the potential for significant earnings, consumers are protected, and their best interests are prioritized in every deal.

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In this week’s episode of the Geared for Growth podcast, host Mike Mortlock welcomes back Scott Aggett, the Founder of Hello Haus and a seasoned property negotiator, for part two of their candid discussion on the current state of the Buyer’s Agents model in the Australian property market.

 

•  Signs that a Buyer’s Agent is paying too much for property
• Just because a deal is off market doesn’t make it good value
• Questions clients should be asking Buyer’s Agent before they are engaged
• The type of information that should be disclosed upfront
• How do consumers benchmark the properties that the Buyer’s Agent is presenting?
• Why purchasers need to have their eyes wide open throughout the transaction
• Does the size of the Buyer’s Agency impact the level of oversight and rigour being applied?

“Anyone that says, you know, 83% of our deals are done off market, or whatever the stats are, says to me that they are rushing to buy properties with no competition, they’re paying a premium to do that and then not allowing the client to see all of the opportunity so that is fundamentally flawed for me but it’s used as a marketing tool to sell off market…There’s absolutely value in buying off market if you buy the right property from the right seller in the right circumstances, there’s fantastic value in doing that and there are some great tools to use” 27:28

“I believe that the client needs to be in control of their money and needs to be in control of the deal flow so we built a system where we do all the professional work but the client has the ability to see all of the property options and then short list what they believe meets their brief” 36:05

“I believe that’s the number one problem with that broken model, is that that the client is never in control of their money. They’re outsourcing it to someone else and then only seeing a short list of the potential options that are available to them” 36:44

“Benchmarking that five years later, seven years later, against everybody else is really hard because we might have done a tremendous job representing the client to achieve the goals that they wanted but that might not see the same level of capital growth or return that Buyer B had for another customer from a different business” 44:14

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