​Expert tips for buying property Off-Market

How can you search for a potentially perfect property that isn’t even advertised? Buyer’s Agent and founder of Your Australian Property, Zac Newbold, shares advice for Buyers thinking about going ‘outside the box’ in this Q&A.

What does it mean to buy a property Off-Market?

Buying Off-Market means purchasing a property that’s not widely advertised. This is often referred to as a ‘silent sale’ or ‘hidden listing’. Real Estate agents generally target individual buyers whose criteria match up with the specific property and organise private viewings.

An Off-Market property may be advertised on an agent’s website, on social media and in their brochures but, in general terms, if it’s not being advertised on one of the major real estate advertising websites then it’s referred to as an ‘Off-Market listing’.

Why might vendors choose to sell Off-Market?

The need for privacy, timing, seasonality, stock levels and marketing costs are some of the reasons why properties are sold Off-Market.

1. Privacy

The vendor may be a private person and not want a crowd of people, including neighbours, inspecting their home. They may rather sell privately and have the world find out when the removalist truck shows up.

2. Timing

A vendor might want to sell but not for another three to six months. In this case their agent might recommend their property be put on the market quietly to potentially attract a buyer who may be happy with a delayed settlement.

Alternatively they may be in a rush to sell, meaning they don’t have the time to run a full marketing campaign. It takes a while – on average six to eight weeks – to prepare a property for sale and organise marketing. If, for example, a vendor has just purchased a new property with an eight week settlement period they may want to sell quickly.

3. Seasonality

The time of year can influence selling strategies as well. Many estate agents may caution a vendor against launching a full property advertising campaign in mid-December, for example, when real estate typically winds down for a month or so, instead recommending an Off-Market approach.

One exception might be if the agent is hoping to find a vacationing buyer for a property in a holiday destination.

4. Stock levels

If there are lots of similar properties for sale at the same time then there may be little point adding another comparable property onto the general market. This might only add to an already oversupplied sector thereby potentially lowering likelihood of a sale.

Selling Off-Market can add an air of allure and desire to the property in this case.

5. Motivation

Real Estate Agents may encourage a vendor/s to sell Off-Market if they have unrealistic price expectations or are not highly motivated to sell. The vendor will save on a full marketing campaign that may be unlikely to result in a sale.

6. Costs

The cost of marketing can be quite expensive. With the two main online sites being realestate.com.au and domain.com.au charging several thousand dollars to advertise for a few weeks, some vendors and agents may choose to avoid them where possible.

By the time vendors pay for a floor plan, photos, copywriting, styling, signboards etc. they may already be spending around $10,000, so many vendors may want to minimise or avoid such expenses.

What are the possible benefits and risks of buying Off-Market property?

A major benefit of buying Off-Market can be having the opportunity to view and acquire a property before it’s seen by the wider public. By employing a Buyer’s Agent, you may be able to take advantage of the vendor’s cost savings and negotiate a beneficial price for both you the buyer and the vendor.

Risks are higher for buyers who don’t know the local real estate market well and who cannot unemotionally assess the value of a property, so they can then negotiate strategically with an agent. A Buyer’s Agent will know the accuracy of the vendor’s asking price and understand a vendor’s motives due to their close relationship with the agent.

How can buyers find Off-Market property if it’s not advertised?

Potential buyers can join the database or Off-Market buyer’s lists for relevant agents. This may include individual agents in the same agencies, as many operate separately and run independent databases. It can be a good idea as a buyer to remind agents of your requirements regularly to ensure you stay ‘top of mind’ if any suitable properties come up.

What are some tips for buying Off-Market property?

• Understand that market value is critical. Put to one side the vendor’s expectations and do your own independent research on value in an unemotional manner. This is where a Buyer’s Agent can do the work for you.
• Keep in mind that it’s the agent’s job and legal obligation to represent the vendor and to achieve the highest price possible for them so again this is where a Buyer’s Agent represents you the Buyer
• Consider engaging a Buyer’s Agent who knows the area well to help you. This will give you an advantage as an experienced Buyers Agent will have access to historical sales data, future market projections, etc.
• Obtain an independent valuation to assist with negotiations. This can help to set a price expectation as you are bringing the opinion of a third party with no vested interest into the mix.

Why Use a Buyer's Agent in Melbourne?

Your Australian Property Buyers Agents lives and breathes property and knows the Melbourne Property Market! We at Your Australian Property Buyers Agents offer comprehensive end-to-end support from identifying and analysing your selected properties to dealing with selling agents, attending property inspections, purchase negotiations and / or auction bidding on your behalf. 

Our Independent Buyer’s Agents in Melbourne, will take the time to understand your situation and work out what your individual needs, specific requirements and property goals are, so we can begin searching for your next property. 

To get in touch with us today, please complete our Enquiry Form so we can discuss your objectives and outline our process in clear and simple terms.

What our Clients are Saying about Your Australian Property Buyers Agents

Your Australian Property Buyers Agents is a five-star rated independent boutique Buyer’s Agency in Melbourne. Our success comes from prioritising our clients' unique needs first and consistently delivering exceptional results.​ We promise to be responsive and to truly listen to what our clients need. We're surrounded by noise in the property market – Our goal is to cut through it.

From the CBD to Melbourne’s outer suburbs, Your Australian Property Buyers Agents helps Melbourne home buyers and property investors secure the right property with independent advice, proven strategy and expert negotiation.

We don’t sell property. We don’t answer to developers. We work for you and only you.

With over 30 years of real estate industry expertise, we know what it takes to buy property seamlessly. Patience is key, but never at the compromise of confidence and our clients’ end game. We’re professional in every facet of our work, dealing with our clients with the utmost integrity and honesty.

When clients engage Your Australian Property Buyers Agents, they can expect Buyer’s Agents that are proactive and passionate. Combining a hard work ethic with passion and attention to detail, we help clients achieve their property goals with ease.

Next Step

If you’re Serious about Purchasing the Right Property at the Right Price, then Working with an Expert Buyer’s Agents is the Smartest Purchasing Strategy There Is!

Simply fill out the Enquiry Form below to get Started.

Melbourne’s property market awakens from long winter slumber…

Selling agents right across Melbourne are expecting a massive short-term boost to the local property market with home inspections booked solid from Monday 28th September onwards after the ban on inspections was eased on Sunday 27th September 2020.

Many selling agents were taking phone calls from the Sunday afternoon when Premier Daniel Andrews started easing restrictions to allow one-on-one property inspections, which had been banned for the past 8 weeks under stage four lock-down restrictions.

Within minutes of the announcement, some selling agents even reported they were receiving calls from buyers and vendors – some stuck in limbo, looking to move on. and begin their buying and selling journeys again.

Finally, in our opinion it is far too early to be making any bold predictions at this point in time, in terms of which direction the Melbourne property market will take. Just remember the Melbourne property market has just re-opened. But, give it a few weeks and we should have some sort of indication of the ‘state of play’ as Melbourne will be deep into Spring.

Why Use a Buyer's Agent in Melbourne?

Your Australian Property Buyers Agents lives and breathes property and knows the Melbourne Property Market! We at Your Australian Property Buyers Agents offer comprehensive end-to-end support from identifying and analysing your selected properties to dealing with selling agents, attending property inspections, purchase negotiations and / or auction bidding on your behalf. 

Our Independent Buyer’s Agents in Melbourne, will take the time to understand your situation and work out what your individual needs, specific requirements and property goals are, so we can begin searching for your next property. 

To get in touch with us today, please complete our Enquiry Form so we can discuss your objectives and outline our process in clear and simple terms.

What our Clients are Saying about Your Australian Property Buyers Agents

Your Australian Property Buyers Agents is a five-star rated independent boutique Buyer’s Agency in Melbourne. Our success comes from prioritising our clients' unique needs first and consistently delivering exceptional results.​ We promise to be responsive and to truly listen to what our clients need. We're surrounded by noise in the property market – Our goal is to cut through it.

From the CBD to Melbourne’s outer suburbs, Your Australian Property Buyers Agents helps Melbourne home buyers and property investors secure the right property with independent advice, proven strategy and expert negotiation.

We don’t sell property. We don’t answer to developers. We work for you and only you.

With over 30 years of real estate industry expertise, we know what it takes to buy property seamlessly. Patience is key, but never at the compromise of confidence and our clients’ end game. We’re professional in every facet of our work, dealing with our clients with the utmost integrity and honesty.

When clients engage Your Australian Property Buyers Agents, they can expect Buyer’s Agents that are proactive and passionate. Combining a hard work ethic with passion and attention to detail, we help clients achieve their property goals with ease.

Next Step

If you’re Serious about Purchasing the Right Property at the Right Price, then Working with an Expert Buyer’s Agents is the Smartest Purchasing Strategy There Is!

Simply fill out the Enquiry Form below to get Started.

Well, I thought I would try something a little different this time with new post.

I am sure you have been bombarded over the years with articles about how to bid at Auction.

Today, I ‘m recommending a few simple tips you can implement and then show you how it plays out at a LIVE Auction!

This could go one of two ways!

In this video I am bidding for one of our overseas clients on an amazing property in one of Melbourne’s blue chip suburbs. The suburb where this property was situated in was “Caulfield South”.

The property was a brand new 4 bedroom double-storey townhouse and there was a decent crowd looking on.

So, we had to bring our A game, which brings me to my first tip!

HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY  BID AT AUCTION

Tip 1 — Bring you’re “A” game

Look like you are there for business – dress for success. 

Most purchasers at the Auction are casually dressed but it’s important to take it up a level.

I had previously met the Selling Agent as part of my Buyer’s Agent service. When I first met the Auctioneer on the day he instantly said, “Hi you must be the Buyer’s Agent”. I responded confidently with “yes I am, I’m here today to buy this property for my client.”

I always make a point of meeting the other agency staff and importantly I always take the time to introduce myself to the Auctioneer and have a quick chat. I do this in front of the auction crowd.

Body Language and image play a big part at any Auction and even the slightest edge will put you in a strong position.

It’s like a good bluff in poker!

Tip 2 — A quick, strong opening bid

I don’t understand why Auctions take a while to get going sometimes; after all they all want to buy right? As a popular property in a great location, it was never going to sell for a bargain!

I didn’t make an opening bid at this point at the auction as I really wanted to see how many and who were my direct competitors at this auction. The selling agent had previously been quoting an estimated selling range of between $1.8M to $2M to prospective buyers. I knew this property was worth considerably higher than this figure. 

So the bidding started at $1,800,000 which was where I expected the bidding would start. As a lot of inexperienced bargain hunters who don’t really quite understand how the quoting selling works always seem to be the one’s who bid in the selling range where the selling agents are trying to ‘woo’ the buyers. Anyway, at this stage I’m remaining quite calm and just monitoring the bidding at the auction. 

There were 2 other people bidding for this property, including the person right next to me who was the highest bidder at $1,975,000. I then decided that now was the perfect time to enter the auction bidding as the bidding increments went from $50,000 to $25,000 which is often a good sign that the other buyers are approaching their limit. So I confidently called out a bid of $2 million dollars so just about everyone in the auction crowd heard it. And did they hear it. They most certainly did hear it!

However, a competing buyer has different ideas and decides to place a counter offer of $2.25M. It was at this point I needed to send a clear message to these bargain hunters and emotional buyers that I’m here today to purchase this property and nothing was going to stand in my way!

I went up by $75,000 on a bid at $2.1M. I did this to show everyone at this auction that I was here not as a spectator, but I was here to do business today and ‘WIN’!

There were no further bids at this point so the Auctioneer declared he will refer this bid to his seller referred to his sellers. The common ‘Australian slang’ term is known as the ‘auction half-time break’. 

For those few brief minutes whilst waiting for the Auctioneer, I felt extremely self-assured that the auction bidding strategy was working well. In fact, it had worked so well that I had managed to knock out 90% of the competition and it was down to just a couple of other bidders and myself.

Tip 3 — Avoid a bidding war

Shortly after, the property was then on the market on my bid and that’s where it started to really heat up!

Avoid bidding in increments of $1,000 if you can, even towards the end.

As you see in this video, our bidding increments were much higher than the other bidders we were directly competing against. Additionally, some of our bids were at different increments. Typically, at other auctions we intentionally vary the bidding increments to keep the other buyers guessing on what we will do next – it’s a bit like playing a game of ‘poker’.

So, I went up in considerably higher bids and more importantly, showed no signs of weakness or indifference.

Bids must be instantaneous and strong. There should be no sign of slowing down. And never give any negotiation opponent an inch and always keep them guessing about what your next step is… 

Of course, our client did not have an endless budget, but that is the impression you want to give, whether you are $20,000 from maxing out or just $2,000.

In the end the $10,000 increment was the final straw to our opponents to outbid with their $1,000 increments and we got the result that we were after.

SUMMARY

There are some little things you can do that make a big difference when you are bidding at Auction.

• Dress to impress and for success – stand out!
• Look like a professional: talk to the selling agents and Auctioneer, it will send a strong a message that you are not just another number in the crowd. 
• Once the Auction is underway a strong opening bid can set other bidders back and knock out the competition. But you do need to be careful deploying this particular strategy as really depends on your due diligence and how confident you are researching and analysing the sales data. 
• You are now in control and have other potential buyers on the back foot.
• This will also take some of the bargain hunters and emotional buyers out of play.
• Avoid a bidding war by increasing your increments at a higher rate.
• $5,000 or $10,000 bids are harder; take more thought and hesitation than $1,000 increments.

So let’s see how it played out

Our client was an overseas buyer and by using our services he ended up saving over $300,000 on his chosen property.

Head over to our website to learn more about how we can help you whether it’s our Buyer’s Agent Service, Auction Bidding Service, Commercial Property Service or Vendor Advocacy Service.

Or Email:   Zac Newbold zac.newbold@youraustralianproperty.com.au

Why Use a Buyer's Agent in Melbourne?

Your Australian Property Buyers Agents lives and breathes property and knows the Melbourne Property Market! We at Your Australian Property Buyers Agents offer comprehensive end-to-end support from identifying and analysing your selected properties to dealing with selling agents, attending property inspections, purchase negotiations and / or auction bidding on your behalf. 

Our Independent Buyer’s Agents in Melbourne, will take the time to understand your situation and work out what your individual needs, specific requirements and property goals are, so we can begin searching for your next property. 

To get in touch with us today, please complete our Enquiry Form so we can discuss your objectives and outline our process in clear and simple terms.

What our Clients are Saying about Your Australian Property Buyers Agents

Your Australian Property Buyers Agents is a five-star rated independent boutique Buyer’s Agency in Melbourne. Our success comes from prioritising our clients' unique needs first and consistently delivering exceptional results.​ We promise to be responsive and to truly listen to what our clients need. We're surrounded by noise in the property market – Our goal is to cut through it.

From the CBD to Melbourne’s outer suburbs, Your Australian Property Buyers Agents helps Melbourne home buyers and property investors secure the right property with independent advice, proven strategy and expert negotiation.

We don’t sell property. We don’t answer to developers. We work for you and only you.

With over 30 years of real estate industry expertise, we know what it takes to buy property seamlessly. Patience is key, but never at the compromise of confidence and our clients’ end game. We’re professional in every facet of our work, dealing with our clients with the utmost integrity and honesty.

When clients engage Your Australian Property Buyers Agents, they can expect Buyer’s Agents that are proactive and passionate. Combining a hard work ethic with passion and attention to detail, we help clients achieve their property goals with ease.

Next Step

If you’re Serious about Purchasing the Right Property at the Right Price, then Working with an Expert Buyer’s Agents is the Smartest Purchasing Strategy There Is!

Simply fill out the Enquiry Form below to get Started.

On Sunday 27th September Melbournians received terrific news with some COVID-19 restrictions easing which included private inspections for real estate now a permitted activity.  This is fantastic news for vendors, buyers, landlords and tenants. 

However, there are strict safety requirements that must be adhered to with private inspections limited to one agent and one prospective purchaser or tenant who may be accompanied by one other person from an existing household or their partner.

The agent must confirm with the occupier of the property prior to the inspection to ensure they are not symptomatic, self-isolating or under quarantine prior to attending the property. The person who is occupying house must leave the property for the inspection for one of the four reasons under the stay at home directions during the inspection.

There are also changes coming up in lending soon, as the Federal Government last week announced they will be reviewing lending regulations with the aim to simplify the lending process. These changes will definitely have a positive impact to increasing buyer demand especially in the low interest rates environment we are currently experiencing. 

Hope everyone has a great week and stay safe!

Zac Newbold – Managing Director

For further information and updates about Victorian Government Coronavirus Restrictions, please go to:

https://www.vic.gov.au/

Take care fellow Victorians. Stay safe, stay healthy!

Why Use a Buyer's Agent in Melbourne?

Your Australian Property Buyers Agents lives and breathes property and knows the Melbourne Property Market! We at Your Australian Property Buyers Agents offer comprehensive end-to-end support from identifying and analysing your selected properties to dealing with selling agents, attending property inspections, purchase negotiations and / or auction bidding on your behalf. 

Our Independent Buyer’s Agents in Melbourne, will take the time to understand your situation and work out what your individual needs, specific requirements and property goals are, so we can begin searching for your next property. 

To get in touch with us today, please complete our Enquiry Form so we can discuss your objectives and outline our process in clear and simple terms.

What our Clients are Saying about Your Australian Property Buyers Agents

Your Australian Property Buyers Agents is a five-star rated independent boutique Buyer’s Agency in Melbourne. Our success comes from prioritising our clients' unique needs first and consistently delivering exceptional results.​ We promise to be responsive and to truly listen to what our clients need. We're surrounded by noise in the property market – Our goal is to cut through it.

From the CBD to Melbourne’s outer suburbs, Your Australian Property Buyers Agents helps Melbourne home buyers and property investors secure the right property with independent advice, proven strategy and expert negotiation.

We don’t sell property. We don’t answer to developers. We work for you and only you.

With over 30 years of real estate industry expertise, we know what it takes to buy property seamlessly. Patience is key, but never at the compromise of confidence and our clients’ end game. We’re professional in every facet of our work, dealing with our clients with the utmost integrity and honesty.

When clients engage Your Australian Property Buyers Agents, they can expect Buyer’s Agents that are proactive and passionate. Combining a hard work ethic with passion and attention to detail, we help clients achieve their property goals with ease.

Next Step

If you’re Serious about Purchasing the Right Property at the Right Price, then Working with an Expert Buyer’s Agents is the Smartest Purchasing Strategy There Is!

Simply fill out the Enquiry Form below to get Started.