Property investment isn’t just my career, it’s also my passion and what I love. I’m always looking for opportunities to help people like you build a strong financial future. That’s why I’ve made it my mission to focus on property research, selection, and support tailored to my client’s needs and finances, enabling them to build investment property portfolios and save money on tax. 

When I tell people what I do, they often assume my role is similar to a buyer’s agent or ask if I’m a financial planner. I’ve heard this so many times I thought I’d share with you the differences between how I help my clients, and the roles of a financial planner and buyer’s agent and let you in on how I can set you up for better tax returns year on year whilst increasing your wealth.

I’m not a buyer’s agent

A buyer’s agent, also sometimes called a buyer’s advocate, is a licenced professional who searches for properties that meet their clients’ requirements, evaluates the best options on the market, and then presents their top picks to the client. They can also bid on or negotiate on behalf of the client and are often used by time-poor house hunters. 

The key thing to keep in mind with a buyer’s agent is that they’re acting on specific instructions from a client. For example, a young couple who are busy professionals may wish to buy an apartment in Broad Beach. They let their buyer’s agent know their maximum budget, that they want to be within 1km of the beach, that they’d be happy with two or three bedrooms, and that they’d like a place that will suit a baby in the future. 

The buyer’s agent scours the market looking for suitable options, and compiles a shortlist for their client, who then purchases one of the recommended properties and pays their agent (either an upfront fee or a percentage of the property the client purchases). 

What I do differs greatly from this. To begin with, I work with my clients before they even start looking at specific properties, to help them determine if they can invest, and how much they can afford to spend. I look at their goals and requirements, and it’s only once this has been established that I start looking at specific property opportunities. 

Clients come to me with specifics about their situation, rather than the type of property they want. For example, a client might come to me and say they’re 55, starting to think about retirement but only have the house they currently live in, and want to build a property portfolio to help them get ahead. 

By looking at their situation and needs, I can then give them the specifics on where they should buy, what they should buy, and how much they should invest (in conjunction with advice from a financial advisor or mortgage broker). 

Another important difference is that while a buyer’s agent may specialise in specific areas, I operate across Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia, and have local knowledge of, and a network of contacts in, each of those states.

I’m not a financial advisor or financial planner

A financial advisor, or financial planner, helps their client make decisions regarding finances and the future, covering all kinds of things like budgeting, superannuation, investing, and tax. They’re tightly governed specialists, and importantly they cannot recommend specific properties to clients. 

Financial specialists are unlikely to have specific property knowledge, so while they may recommend that a client buys an investment property, they won’t be able to advise on where or what to buy. 

In many cases, clients come to see me after they’ve spoken to a financial advisor to kickstart their property investment plans; in other cases, I will send clients to chat with my recommended financial specialists to get advice before we proceed. 

So, what DO I do? 

I specialise in property, including specifics about the property market and local demographics – I walk my clients through the what, where, why, and how of property investment. 

After referring clients to a trusted mortgage broker to assess their options for borrowing and buying, I work with my client to determine their goals and develop a roadmap of their property investment trajectory and timeframes. From here, I can make a property recommendation. 

A helpful analogy for this part of the process is to think of me as the broker of investment properties. When you see a mortgage broker, they have access to loans from all the different banks around Australia, and different loan types from all of those banks. At any given time, I have access to 20 to 30 of the best investment builders and developers around Australia, and a couple of hundred different investment property options from those builders and developers. 

Once I’ve helped you select the right investment opportunity, I will support you through the sale and approvals process. I’ll even oversee construction if you’re building a new property, and for the final step be involved in the leasing process to get your property tenanted as soon as possible – leaving you free to start reaping the benefits of your new investment. 

I don’t charge a commission and you won’t be left out of pocket 

I don’t charge my clients to work with me; instead, I get paid in a similar way to mortgage brokers. I get paid by builders and developers for bringing clients to them and this means my clients won’t be out of pocket like they would if they used a buyer’s agent. 

I’ve answered some more frequently answered questions about what I do on my website, however my best advice if you’re thinking about investing in property is to give me a call!