One Mistake to avoid when you work with a Buyers Advocate
There is a general rule of thumb when buying a product or service from a salesperson, that you should never share with the sales person what your full budget is. Often when you are buying a product or service that is negotiable and you share your full budget, you will typically always end up using the full budget when perhaps you could have negotiated a cheaper deal for yourself.
This couldn’t be truer when buying a property. Especially when dealing with selling agents who are employed to work exclusively for the vendor, not you the property buyer. But what should you do when working with a buyers advocate?
Is it best practice to keep your full budget to yourself or share it openly? When it comes to disclosing your budget not being 100% transparent with your property advocate is a recipe for disaster. It is a big mistake which will cost you time and opportunities, and here’s why.
One of the many benefits in hiring a buyers agent, otherwise known as a property advocate or buyers advocate, is the saving of time created when you hire an advocate for a “Full Search and Acquisition” . When you take the Full Search and Acquisition package with a buyers agent your advocate will help you to create a brief that is realistic, narrow down the suburbs that fit your lifestyle and offer the types of homes you want at the budget you have to work with.
This saving of time represents approximately 6 months a buyer would otherwise take to work this out on their own. The crucial part of making this exercise a successful one is using the right budget to begin with.
If you aren’t completely upfront with your property advisor from the beginning you will be wasting your own time, the Selling Agents and your Buyer Advocates time because you will be shopping in the wrong areas or looking at properties that aren’t quiet as well presented or well located as your full budget would allow.
Instead, have an honest and open conversation with your advocate about your budget. Doing this will ensure you are guided toward the right areas and property types right from the beginning of your search, saving you the time you deserve to save and making your investment in an advocate really worth while.
Remember, it takes a buyer an average of 10 months to purchase a home and it is a second full time job when doing it on your own. Your Buyers Agent is going to reduce your time investment down to approximately only 20 hours of your own time when they are working on the right brief and the right budget right from the very beginning.
Working with a Buyers Advocate
A good property advisor will never push you to do anything you are not comfortable with. It is the job of the advocate to be honest with you about what is realistic and achievable for your budget, and then support you to make the decision that is most appropriate for you.
The choice you will have when you work with an independent property buyers agent is endless. A great advocate will listen to your brief and what is important to you and then show you options for you to choose from. These options can include houses and areas at the top of your budget as well as options at the bottom of your budget.
Seeing both sets of options early on in your search will help you identify if you want to stretch to and use all of your budget for the home and area you really want or if you would prefer to save some money and make some compromise on the size or condition of the house or the area.
If you have a fixed price contract with your buyers agent, which is what we offer our clients, there will be no incentive or motivation from the advocate to sway you in any direction. The only focus should be on what is very best for you and your goals for the property.
What if I have a budget range, not a set figure in mind?
Typically when we work with our clients we will ask for a maximum budget and your preferred budget. We will attempt to find you what you want at your preferred budget, knowing that we have a little more up our sleeve should an outstanding opportunity present which is worth stretching for.
At the end of the day it is entirely the client’s choice to stretch or stick to the preferred budget. There is no vested interest from our end, we are only committed to getting you the result that will make you happy.
Is it safe to share your full budget with your buyers agent?
It is safe to share your full budget with your advocate. It is the job of the property advocate to protect your budget and not disclose it to agents.
They also know how to spot the different ways an agent tries to find out how much money you have to spend and have a tool box of clever answers at the ready to ensure that you never spend more than you have to on a home.
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