Home buyers · How it works
Buying a home isn't complicated.
It's just full of ways to get it wrong, and most of them happen on a Saturday between the open and the auction. Here's how we keep you out of them.
Tried the DIY research route before finding Dan.
Didn't think a buyer's agent was useful. Then came the conversation with this one.
Works in the mortgage industry and still chose Dan for their own investment purchase.
Skeptical at first, then found Dan went above and beyond to find the right property.
Was reluctant to use a buyer's agent until recommendations from friends won them over.
Found Dan helpful and supportive through their first investment purchase.
Found Dan's communication easy, professional and efficient.
Says Dan's commitment to clients is second to none.
Says Dan did an amazing job securing their first investment property.
Refers clients to Dan without hesitation.
Praised Dan's integrity, care and clear strategy.
Says Dan supported them through every stage of the purchase.
Calls engaging Dan one of their best decisions. Professional throughout.
Recommends the agency to selling agents with off-market properties.
Excellent to deal with, and will use Dan again.
Thanked Dan and Kate for the help purchasing their investment property.
Thanked Dan for helping secure a heritage home in regional Victoria.
Genuine, honest and knowledgeable.
Dan secured their first investment property and handled all the agent comms.
Tried the DIY research route before finding Dan.
Didn't think a buyer's agent was useful. Then came the conversation with this one.
Works in the mortgage industry and still chose Dan for their own investment purchase.
Skeptical at first, then found Dan went above and beyond to find the right property.
Was reluctant to use a buyer's agent until recommendations from friends won them over.
Found Dan helpful and supportive through their first investment purchase.
Found Dan's communication easy, professional and efficient.
Says Dan's commitment to clients is second to none.
Says Dan did an amazing job securing their first investment property.
Refers clients to Dan without hesitation.
Praised Dan's integrity, care and clear strategy.
Says Dan supported them through every stage of the purchase.
Calls engaging Dan one of their best decisions. Professional throughout.
Recommends the agency to selling agents with off-market properties.
Excellent to deal with, and will use Dan again.
Thanked Dan and Kate for the help purchasing their investment property.
Thanked Dan for helping secure a heritage home in regional Victoria.
Genuine, honest and knowledgeable.
Dan secured their first investment property and handled all the agent comms.
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We work out what you can actually do
Before we look at a single property, we look at you. Borrowing capacity, deposit, and what the repayments look like on a bad month rather than a good one. Tom models it properly, so you can see what this purchase does to your position in ten years, not just what it costs you now. If the honest answer is wait six months and save, you will hear it. What that produces looks like this real one, names withheld, numbers intact.
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We put your suburb list next to the data
You will have a list. Everyone does. We run every suburb on it against ten years of price, rent and vacancy, and where it sits in its cycle right now, before you fall in love with a house in a market that has gone sideways since 2016. The same data is free on this site: every council area carries twenty years of it. If a suburb on your list has gone backwards for a decade you hear that from us now, in writing.
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We find the market, then the house
Most people fall in love with a property and then reverse engineer a reason. We go the other way around. The economics of the area first: jobs, population, supply, incomes, what's being built and what isn't. Then the layer an investor never has to care about: the commute to each of your jobs, the school zone, the second bathroom that is actually non-negotiable. Then the actual property, on market, off market and pre market, and every contender comes with a comparable sales analysis so you know what it's worth before the price guide tells you.
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We negotiate like it's our money
Home buyers get worked over at auctions more than anyone, because agents can smell the emotion. By auction day we have a number the comparable sales support and a number we walk away at, both fixed before anyone stands on the lawn. The person bidding is not the person who has to live there, so we stop at the number instead of at the point the other bidder stops. Private sale, we handle the offer, the terms and the back and forth.
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We get it to settlement
Conveyancer, building and pest, finance dates, keys. Building and pest never gets skipped on a home, whatever the fear of missing out is doing to you that week. We keep the dates on track and chase the people who need chasing. You end up with a home and a purchase you can explain to yourself in ten years.
Then, a year on, you get a written check-in on your own home. Where the suburb went, what the equity looks like. No pitch in it.
Head of Strategy
The bloke behind the modelling
Step one is run by Tom, a CPA who cut his teeth as a property strategist at InvestorKit, one of the biggest buyer's agencies in the country. He runs over 1,500 strategy sessions a year and models cashflow like it matters, because with five kids it does. For a home, the question he answers is not "how much can you borrow" but "what can you carry on a bad month, and what does this purchase set up for the next one".
The obvious question
"Couldn't we just do this ourselves?"
Honestly? Yes. There's no secret licence for buying a home. Dan taught himself, and you could too.
Here's what teaching himself actually looked like though. A few years of weekends. A couple of mistakes that cost real money. A long stretch of learning to tell a genuine growth suburb from a nice brochure. Most people buy a home two or three times in their life, which is not enough goes to get good at it.
Where it usually comes apart is the last week. The price guide that turns out to be a hundred thousand light. The auction where the other bidder wanted it slightly more than you could afford to. The building and pest that got skipped because you'd already missed out three times. That's the week we're for.
What DIY usually costs
- Buying the suburb that feels safe because your mates are there. The data rarely agrees with that feeling
- Paying the emotional premium at auction because you'd already mentally moved in
- Skipping the building and pest to win the deal, then finding out what you won
- Two years of "waiting for the right time" while your suburb list moves out of reach
One overpay at auction can cost more than the $20k fee. Twice.
Before you ask
The questions that come up on nearly every call.
How long does the whole thing take?
4 weeks on average from signing on to a secured property. Some run longer, because we stop when you’re happy with the buy, not when a clock runs out. A home has more non-negotiables than an investment, so it can take a few more inspections to land.
Do I get a say, or do you just pick a house?
You get the suburb shortlist as a written report, with the data behind each pick and the ones we rejected. Then you get every property with the comparable sales behind it. Nothing gets bought until you’re happy with it. It’s your home.
What if the suburb we love is the one the data says no to?
Then you hear it from me early, in writing, with the numbers. Plenty of people buy the suburb anyway and that’s a fair decision to make with your eyes open. What I won’t do is let you find out from a valuer in five years.
Who actually does the work?
Tom, a CPA, runs the strategy modelling. Dan and the buying team do the hunting, the inspections, the negotiating and the phone calls. Nobody gets handed to a junior.
Do we need finance sorted before we start?
No. Step one is working out your borrowing capacity and cash position with Tom before we look at a single property. If the numbers say wait, we’ll tell you to wait. Grants, the deposit scheme and duty concessions sit with your broker and conveyancer, and we loop them in.
Want the process pointed at your suburb list?
Book the free call. Worst case, you leave with a clearer read on the suburbs you're already looking at and it costs you nothing but 15 minutes. Or see what the fee actually buys first.