A property buyers agent (or buyers advocate) is a qualified real estate professional that works exclusively for the purchaser. A traditional selling agent works for the seller and is intent on achieving the highest possible sales price for the seller.

With today’s hectic lifestyles, more and more people are choosing to use a buyers agent to help them buy their home or investment property. According to the Real Estate Buyers Agents Association of Australia (REBAA), approximately 50 firms in Australia act exclusively as real estate buyers agents compared with 2 a decade earlier.

As professional property buyers agents, Prosper Group are often asked about the role we play in the property buying process and also what advantages we can provide.

So why are more people choosing to use a buyers agent?

1. Professional property buyers agents are property experts and have detailed information on the areas that they specialise in. They can advise you on the best streets, the most sought after types of properties, properties that have better potential for capital growth and those to avoid.

2. A buyers agent searches and reviews the details of hundreds of properties each week and inspects dozens of short listed properties on your behalf, saving you hundreds of hours of legwork contacting all the selling agents, trawling the internet and sacrificing your weekends viewing properties – you are taken straight to the best properties.

3. Buyers agents use their contacts in the real estate profession to obtain details of properties before they are even advertised on the open market (often called silent sales). This suits some sellers who may be reluctant to allow their home to be open for invasive home inspections and who may not wish to pay for the advertising costs to market the property. The advantage for buyers is that you are not competing against other buyers to purchase the property.

4. Because your buyers agent is doing this full-time they are able to search across a wider and more extensive range of properties than you would be able to yourself. This ensures that you have a wider and better selection of properties to choose from.

5. A buyers agent does all the research and due diligence for you, liaising with property valuers, building and pest consultants, engineers, surveyors, architects and other consultants as required to ensure your property represents value in every respect.

6. Buyers agents are experienced negotiators. They will negotiate on your behalf to secure the property at the lowest possible price. Also, they know the right tactics and strategies to use when dealing with real estate agents and remain objective at all times without becoming emotionally attached to a property.

7. Because property buyers agent refer a lot of business to building and pest inspectors and solicitors, they tend to be more responsive. This allows the purchase to proceed more quickly, before other buyers have even started the process. In today’s competitive market, this becomes a real advantage.