Buyers Agents for investors

Frequently Asked Questions

• Do you only buy in Melbourne?

  Absolutely not! If we are looking for clients who are buying a home, it’ll be an area where our client wants to be. If it is for our investors clients, we believe that the best area to buy are areas that will provide them with the best returns for their specific strategy and circumstances. Not only do we buy outside of Melbourne area such as Ballarat, Geelong and more, we will also board a plane and get an interstate investment property if that’s for the best interest of our clients.

• What are the best suburbs?

  Clients often ask us this. The answer is different depending on whether the property is a home or an investment.

  When it comes to capital growth prospects, (and this is usually the ‘hot button’ which comes up in frequently asked questions), we are happy to talk about suburbs and hot locations but we carry out extensive research, manual calculations, data collation and careful analysis on individual pockets, streets, and property types. The most naïve thing a buyer can do is categorise a property on suburb alone. As responsible Buyers Advocate, we do take into account historical performance of the asset, area, surrounds and infrastructure changes but more importantly, we focus on demographic shifts in the area to determine which areas are likely to outperform the market.

• How would you conduct your due diligence?

  We are big on teamwork and education here at Empower Wealth. Our teams have a strict regime when it comes to training and industry updates. So, apart from the combined practical experiences of our Buyers Agents we also have a very thorough process prior to any negotiations or auctions. With the support of our Property Research Division, this process include analysing the historical data of the location which includes median data value trend, clearance rates (by property type), lifestyle drivers, economic activities and so on and also the performance and prospect of the property such as sales history, rental history, targeted tenants profile, building and pest inspections and more. We don’t want to be buying just any assets, we want it to be investment grade and fits our client’s unique investment strategy.

• How do investors deal with all the tenant issues?

  They interview their property managers like any other employee who they would entrust with the running of a business. It’s always a shame to see an investor meticulously select and buy an investment property, only to hand it over to the first managing agent who comes along. Investors should realise that they have a going concern when they buy a property. It’s akin to running a business with poor financials and a bad accountant if it’s left to chance.

• Why would we pay you or a Buyers Advocate to negotiate for us when anyone can buy a property?

  That’s right… anyone can buy a property. We find out about terrible purchases all the time and sometimes we have to patch up bad mistakes people make, or worse still – just deliver them the bad news after their mistake has been realised. The biggest mistake anyone can make in property is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why not talk to a professional and see what help they can offer? After all, when we search through properties, we reject just over 98% of them. Would an inexperienced person know which ones to reject? Between us we have over four decades of property buying experience and we intimately know so many pockets in the market. To compound that, we deal with agents around the clock and we negotiate every day. Not many people have this level of skill and experience in residential property.