As featured in Your Investment Property.
Dan Sofo weighs in on the topic;
“Many people use buyer’s agents when they’re buying a home to live in, but when it comes to their investment property, most choose to go it alone because there’s less emotion involved.
But in many ways, buyer’s agents are even more important when buying an investment property.
A well-connected buyer’s agent can provide off-market opportunities and give the buyer the extra advantage in their search for the right property.”
Unicorn Buyer’s Agents director Dan Sofo shared, adding that there really appears to be an increase in the demand for buyer’s agents among investors.
“Anecdotally, during the height of the pandemic, perhaps less than 20% of our clients were investors. That has since changed with the tide shifting in the last quarter of 2021 and now perhaps 25-30% would be investors,” he told Your Investment Property Magazine.
“The average investor or homebuyer purchases five or six properties over a lifetime. A seasoned buyer’s agent purchases fifty or sixty properties a year – that is thousands of properties inspected and hundreds of hours spent negotiating with agents, and reading contracts, and building and pest reports.”
In his practice, Mr Sofo said he spends considerable time understanding his clients’ needs, distilling a brief, and assisting to secure finance.
“It may take weeks, or months of support and relationship building to get a buyer ready to purchase and, in that time, we’ll also ensure that the buyer is a good fit to work with us,” he said.
“We make our sharpest most profitable property deals working with clients we have a great rapport with and who trust our process from day one — if we can’t build rapport and trust early on, we would not sign them up.”
Mr Sofo said savvy investors and buyer’s agents are taking advantage of the market uncertainties to score sharp deals.
“Uninformed buyers, unfortunately, are probably overpaying at September 2021 prices. Right now, a property investor’s best asset is an experienced buyer’s agent who is very in the know about local sales, how long properties have been on the market, and the level of fatigue or distress there may be on the part of the seller,” he said.
Mr Sofo said buyer’s agents can help investors identify locations that are not necessarily considered “hot” by using both macro and micro lenses.
“Look at the macro factor first: location. Stick to the fundamentals — buyer’s agents have knowledge of locations that have great transport, amenities, and planned infrastructure but where supply is constrained by geography, heritage, and zoning,” he said.
“Then go micro — a low maintenance property with a good land component, a great floor plan and high liveability. Buy on fundamentals and avoid the ‘bargain mentality’”
