Is a Buyer’s Agent Worth It? Our Client Patrick’s Story

Patrick works in finance for an IT company. His first property was a unit in Melbourne that he bought to live in. At the time he had been in Australia for a couple of years, was starting a new family, and simply needed a place to stay. He says he did not know better.

This time he wanted to invest. He had never bought an investment property, and he had never worked with a buyer’s agent.

Patrick’s biggest fear was not knowing which property was the right one to buy. He had not been able to do much research himself, and that is the main reason he reached out for help.

It is a common fear. Searching listings is easy. Knowing which suburb, which street and which property fits your goals is harder, and a wrong guess can cost you years.

Patrick describes the difference clearly. When he bought his first property, he was buying to live in it. With Prime Pursuit Properties, he was shown the data behind which location to invest in. That gave him the assurance it was the right property to put an offer on.

A home you plan to live in is a personal decision about lifestyle. An investment property needs evidence: growth drivers, rental demand, and how the property fits your budget and cash flow.

Before he bought, Patrick did a strategy call with our team. He says it was really valuable and was a big part of the confidence he felt going into the purchase.

In a strategy call we start with your goals and your situation, then work out what kind of property and strategy fit. For Patrick, that conversation gave him a clear view of what he was looking for and why - before any property search began.

Patrick points to the level of detail in the research as one of the things he valued most. We ran the data search and analysis, then narrowed it down to the street level - looking at how close the property is to schools, train stations and retail.

That detail is what gave him the confidence to go ahead. A suburb can look strong on paper while one street within it is a poor fit, so the checks go down to the individual property.

Patrick says he had seen buyer’s agents advertised on social media. What made him choose Prime Pursuit Properties was that he had followed Shabab’s journey - from when he first shared it on a podcast, to later becoming a buyer’s agent and sharing how the process works and how he identifies properties.

That openness gave him confidence in us before he ever reached out.

Patrick says he was new to the buyer’s agent process, and that our team took him through it step by step. When he had questions or spotted gaps, we answered quickly, which gave him the assurance that everything was flowing.

After settlement, we also helped him find a property manager, who then found a tenant.

Patrick’s view, from his own experience, is that there is no right time to invest in property. He believes the capital growth on a well-chosen property can far outweigh how fast you could save from your income. He also plans to reinvest the equity in another property, because he sees that as the way to build wealth.

If he could go back, Patrick says he would probably try rentvesting before buying a property to live in. Rentvesting means renting where you want to live and investing in a property elsewhere.

It is worth weighing up if you are choosing between buying a home to live in and investing first. The two strategies lead to very different financial positions over time and for some buyers, investing first gives you access to better markets than the one you want to live in.