Rich Harvey

It's really like using someone who's got that incredibly good knowledge and expertise to do the right work.

Great.

Well, this, I guess, is one of the cons.

One of the cons is, look, you've got to not so much give up control, but you've got to be accountable for your actions in choosing the right property.

So a buyer's agent will keep you both honest and on track.

that's not so much a con but the con i guess is the cost what does it cost well we charge a fixed fee rather than a percentage of the price but we have a scale of fees which ranges between one and a half to two percent but it's a fixed fee per price band and the reason we do fixed fees craig is we don't want there to be any perception of bias in the way we negotiate so we charge between three thousand to five thousand up front as an engagement fee and then the balance of the fee is only payable once the contract goes unconditional

And we have a six-month agreement.

So we're generally very, very safe to buy a property.

And we know we won't take on a client unless we can deliver within that time.

And look, in this market, we're able to actually save a lot more than our fees.

So it's a very clear advantage to using a buyer's agent in that regard.

I think number one, Craig, is firstly they've got to be licensed in the state that they're operating in.

So if you're buying in Queensland, you need someone who's licensed in Queensland.

The second thing is they've got to have significant experience, not just one year's experience or just done some random course.

They need to have significant experience.

So all of my team have a full real estate license and been operating for many, many years.

Secondly, they should be a member of the Real Estate Buyers Agent Association of Australia.

So that's an association which has a strict code of ethics.

I was the president of REBA for four years and I volunteered my time over that period to improve the ethics and standards within the industry.

Another thing the buyer's agent needs to have is extremely good connections.