You’ve made the decision to get professional help. After all, purchasing a property is costly and carries huge risks. So how do you find a buyers’ agent and then decide which one will do the best job for you?

Ask the local selling agents – they will tell you who is active in the area, who has the best local knowledge and who are the best negotiators. Possibly more importantly, they will tell you who they respect, which means that they often give a better quality of information to these advocates.

Look for an agent who takes the time to ensure that their clients are very comfortable with what the market is doing and what they can expect to get for their money. Sometimes this means that early opportunities aren’t grasped as the client may not be ready at the time, however they will be prepared so they can be confident when they do buy.

We think that past performance is the best predictor of success. Don’t rely on written testimonials, ask for the phone numbers of past AND PRESENT clients so you can get a sense of the way they work and the quality of advice and service along the way.

Don’t go with the cheapest. There are a variety of operators out there, and a range of pricing structures. Personally, I do not understand how a buyer’s agent can charge a percentage of the purchase price, so my advice is to ask for a fixed fee. Beware that there are low budget operators who may feel the financial pressure to push you to buy and get you off their books quicker than a professional who has quoted you based on the work they believe will be involved in getting you the best outcome.

Beware of those who impose time limits and postcode restrictions. In our experience many clients’ briefs are adjusted and sometimes completely rewritten as we go through the purchasing process with them. You can’t expect to buy what you initially thought you wanted before you knew what you didn’t know!! Sometimes it is a straightforward process, but not always…

Lastly, if you live in the same city, meet with them. How do they come across? Do you like them? Most importantly, do you TRUST them?

It is difficult when you have found two properties that you like and they are both on different timelines. For instance, if one is for sale by private treaty and the other by auction.

The temptation is to think that the private treaty property will be more straightforward since there is an asking price. However in it is not uncommon to have numerous offers on a well priced property, sending the ultimate sale price way above its original advertised price. Also, in this scenario, if you wanted to make an offer on this property you would have to move like lightening as it could be expected to sell very quickly.

While auctions may appear scary due to the unknown factor of where the final bid will end up, the great benefit of this method for the buyer is that you know exactly what your competition is prepared to pay. In a blind auction, as can transpire with a private treaty sale, a buyer has to decide whether to believe what the agent is telling them regarding other offers - assuming the agent even discloses what they are!

Back to the timing dilemma. It comes down to a toss-up between letting the first property go in the hope of getting the second one, or grabbing the first one and losing the opportunity of buying the second. Or you could simultaneously make an offer on the first and also make a pre-auction bid on the second. There is no right answer. It comes down to which property suits you better, the affordability of each, being honest about the probability of securing the second property and, finally how risk averse you are.