What Does a Buyer's Agent Do?
Precium Buyer’s Agents can help you get your weekend back
A buyer’s agent works for the buyer, and only for the buyer.
Every other professional in a property transaction is paid by the seller. The selling agent’s job is to get the highest price the market will bear, and they are good at it. For most people, buying a home is something they do three or four times in a life. For the agent across the table it is Tuesday.
A buyer’s agent is the one person in the room whose job is the other side of that.
In practice it means finding the properties, including the ones that never reach a portal, working out what each is genuinely worth, finding out what is wrong with it before you commit, and then negotiating or bidding so you do not pay more than you had to.
Precium has done that more than 450 times across around 15 years, on the NSW South Coast and in the Illawarra. Matt Knight has been interviewed about this market on national television and in the property press, and you can see that coverage on our media page.
Why pay for this service?
Most people assume the hard part is finding the house. It is not. Finding it is often the easy part.
The hard part is knowing what it is worth, knowing what is wrong with it, and knowing how hard to push. That is where the money is won or lost, and it is the part you cannot do from four hours away on a Saturday morning.
What happens, step by step:
1. The strategy session
Before anything is searched for, we work out what you are actually trying to achieve and what is genuinely constraining you. Budget, timing, who else has a say, what you will not compromise on, and what you think you need but do not.
Most briefs change in this conversation. People arrive certain they want one thing and leave looking for another, and it is far cheaper to discover that here than after six months of Saturdays.
If your brief is not realistic for the money, we say so at this point rather than taking your fee and letting you find out slowly.
2. The search
We search the whole region rather than one suburb, and that includes stock that never reaches realestate.com.au or Domain.
Off-market is not a secret database. It is agents ringing us before they list, because we buy repeatedly in the same small market and we do not waste their time. On this coast that is a relationship built over fifteen years, not a subscription.
You keep complete control. We shortlist, you choose what you want to look at and what you do not.
3. Inspections, during the week
We inspect in person and send you notes, photographs and video, so you are not deciding off one rushed Saturday with six other couples in the hallway. There are examples of the walkthroughs we send clients on our videos page.
Midweek matters more than people expect. A street at 3pm on a Thursday is a different street to the same one at 11am on a Saturday when the agent has staged the morning. School traffic, parking, road noise and who is actually around only show up when nobody is selling you anything.
If you want to come, we inspect jointly. Plenty of clients never see a property until the shortlist is down to two.
4. The read on value
This is the part people underestimate, and it is the part that costs the most when it goes wrong.
A price guide comes from the seller’s side. We tell you what a property is likely to actually sell for, built from comparable sales in that specific pocket rather than the suburb, and we tell you before you have emotionally moved in.
For investors we also run a cash-flow model, so you know your holding costs before you commit rather than after.
5. Due diligence, before you offer
Flood and bushfire mapping on the actual block rather than the suburb. Easements and sewer mains. Steep sites and what the engineering costs might be. Planning, zoning and what can be built next door.
We organise your building and pest inspection with someone we know is good. That is at your cost, and we take no commission on it, which is exactly why we can tell you plainly what the report means for your offer.
The free report the selling agent hands you is not the same thing as one you commissioned yourself.
6. Negotiation, or bidding
We negotiate against the same handful of agents every week and we know how each of them runs a campaign.
At auction, Matt bids personally. Not an associate. The person holding the paddle is the same person who read the contract, walked the block and worked out the number.
You set the limit in the calm of a weeknight. We hold it on the day, we help you stay calm and focussed on what counts.
7. Settlement, and afterwards
Daily support through offer and exchange, so you know what to do and when. Liaison with your finance and legal team so nothing stalls. A final inspection just before settlement, so you do not inherit someone else’s rubbish or a surprise.
If you are investing, we help you interview a decent property manager, which is a harder job than it sounds and makes more difference than most owners realise.
Then we check in a few weeks after settlement to see how it is going.
Everything the full service includes
The full list, so you can see exactly what you are paying for.
Before the search
- A strategy session to establish your goals, your constraints and your real brief
- Help clarifying your own strategy, so the search is not reacting to whatever listed this week
- Communication with your finance and legal team, so you only look at what you can actually buy
- Licensed and insured representation. Licence number 20047905
During the search
- Access to on-market and off-market stock across the whole region
- Current market research behind every shortlist, not a general impression of the area
- Inspections by our team, with notes, photographs and video
- Joint inspections with you whenever you want them
- Complete control over what stays on the shortlist and what comes off
- Regular updates through the research phase
- A cash-flow analysis model if you are investing
- Feasibility estimates on small development sites or a future granny flat
- Renovation advice where instant equity is the strategy
Buying it
- An experienced negotiator, so the agent’s tactics meet someone who has seen them before
- Auction bidding, with Matt bidding personally
- Daily support at offer and contract exchange
- Due diligence support, including organising your building and pest inspection
After you buy
- Liaison with your property manager and trades around settlement
- Access to our interview process for choosing a better property manager
- A final inspection immediately before settlement
- A check-in several weeks after settlement
What is not included
Being straight about this matters more than the list above.
- Building and pest, engineering, geotechnical and similar reports. We organise them and we know who is good, but they are billed to you directly. We take no commission on them and we are not liable for their work. That independence is the point.
- Financial, legal and planning advice. What we give you is general in nature. Your solicitor, conveyancer and broker do their own job, and we flag what needs their eyes.
On buyer’s agency work we are paid by you and by nobody else. We take no commission from any agent, seller or developer.
What it costs, and who it suits
The fee structure
Two parts. An engagement fee at the start, which covers everything up to and including sourcing and discussing properties against your brief. Then a success fee, payable only at unconditional exchange, which means only if we find you something you actually buy.
The engagement fee is the same whatever your budget. The success fee is tiered by purchase price. Every number is published on our fees page rather than quoted on a call, including worked examples at each band.
You can also use us for one piece of it
Not everyone needs the full search. If you have already found the property, we can run the auction bidding or a single-property negotiation on its own, without engaging us for everything else.
That is often the right call for someone who knows their market but does not want to bid on their own home. Our services page sets out everything we offer, including estate property advisory for executors and families.
Who this suits
Buyers moving to the coast from Sydney or Canberra, who get one weekend a fortnight to search a market they do not know yet. We cover Wollongong, Kiama, Jervis Bay, Mollymook and Batemans Bay, as well as coastal Western Australia.
Home buyers who have been looking for months, have been beaten at one or more auctions, and have worked out that enthusiasm is not a winning strategy.
Downsizers and retirees who want to get it right once, because there is no appetite for doing it again.
Investors who want the numbers checked by someone who understands cashflow, holding costs, and upside potential.
Who it does not suit
Builders / developers wanting us to sell a property. We do not sell houses and we never act for both sides of the same transaction. If you are thinking of selling, we can help with vendor advocacy, which is a separate advisory service with its own terms.
Talk to a buyer’s agent
Tell us what you are looking for. Ange or Matt will be in touch, usually by the end of the next business day. No obligation, and no pressure.
Rated 5.0 from more than 50 Google reviews
“Matt was exceptional to work with! Reliable, efficient and so knowledgeable. He had a tricky brief with us and managed to secure a property in a short time frame beyond our expectations.”
Ruth Parker. Bought a family home.
PREFER TO CALL?
Precium Pty Ltd. Licensed and insured. Lic No: 20047905
Frequently Asked Questions
What buyers ask us before they engage anyone.
What is the difference between a buyer's agent and a real estate agent?
Who pays them, and therefore whose interests they serve. A real estate agent is engaged by the seller and paid a commission on the sale price, so their job is to achieve the highest price possible. A buyer’s agent is engaged and paid by the buyer, and never takes a commission from the seller or the selling agent.
Both are licensed, and both negotiate for a living. They simply sit on opposite sides of the table. Without a buyer’s agent, the only professional negotiator in your transaction is working against your interest.
What does a buyer's agent actually do for you?
Seven things. Establishes your real brief, searches on and off market, inspects properties in person during the week, tells you what each one is genuinely worth against the guide, runs due diligence on flood, bushfire, easements and building condition before you offer, negotiates or bids, then supports you through exchange and settlement.
The part most people value afterwards is not the search. It is being told honestly that a property is wrong for them.
How much does a buyer's agent cost in NSW?
Most charge an engagement fee to start the search and a success fee once you buy, so a meaningful part of their pay depends on actually finding you something. Some charge a flat fee, others a percentage of the purchase price.
Precium publishes every number, including worked examples at each price band, on the fees page rather than keeping it for a phone call.
Is a buyer's agent worth it?
It depends on the gap between what you would pay on your own and what you pay with representation, plus the months of weekends you get back.
The honest version is that it is worth most to people buying in a market they do not know, buying from a distance, or buying at a price point where a ten per cent misread is six figures. It is worth least to someone who already knows their street, has time, and is comfortable negotiating.
The average downsizer now spends around 46 weeks searching, and upgraders 45. In 2022 the typical buyer took 23. The search has roughly doubled.
Who pays the buyer's agent?
You do, and on buyer’s agency work that is the whole point. Precium takes no commission from any agent, seller or developer on a full property search, an auction bid or a single-property negotiation.
If anyone were paying us in connection with your purchase, you would know before you decided. That is what independence means in practice, and it is why we can tell you a property is overpriced.
Do buyer's agents really get access to off-market properties?
Yes, though the phrase oversells it. There is no secret listing database. What exists is agents who ring people they deal with repeatedly, before they go to the expense of a campaign.
On a small coastal market that is a real advantage, because the same handful of agents handle most of the good stock. It is a relationship built over fifteen years rather than a product you can buy.
Can I use a buyer's agent for just one property or one auction?
Yes. If you have already found the property, auction bidding and single-property negotiation are available on their own without engaging us for a full search.
At auction Matt bids personally every time, so the person holding the paddle is the one who read the contract and worked out the number.
How long does it take to buy with a buyer's agent?
It depends entirely on how specific your brief is. A broad brief across a region can move quickly. A narrow one, say walk-to-sand with a particular aspect in one suburb, takes considerably longer because the stock does not come up often.
Our engagement runs around six months of active searching. We would rather tell you upfront that a brief is not realistic in your timeframe than let you discover it slowly.