Call in the big guns to buy a property in Sydney in 2025
There is an unexpected hack that Aussies are exploiting, which has uncovered “secret listings” in some of the country’s most high-demand areas.
By William Tuck
The property is in the right location, it’s in your price range and the exterior is presentable.
But inside it’s small, the kitchen is outdated, the living room is too narrow, there’s no terrace or balcony and there are steep stairs to the front door.
It’s yet another disappointing viewing. There’ve been weeks, maybe months of open homes and negotiating with agents and you’ve lost several bidding wars.
So a smart move would be to enlist a buyer’s agent, an independent expert who can dedicate time for property searches, provide purchasing skills and apply their knowledge to help you find the right property.
You may have already contacted several real estate agencies, but it’s their job to represent the vendor — they’re getting a commission to sell the property.
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What buyers need is someone to act in their interests and that’s where buyer’s agents come in.
They fill the gap providing skills that help buyers in negotiating and finding the right property, using their knowledge to search widely through many selling agencies and markets, pointing out the benefits and pitfalls of properties.
They can also give advice on property prices, make an offer, separate the wheat from the chaff and cut through red tape to finalise a sale.
And because a buyer’s agent personally represents you, they are more readily available in the purchasing and inspection process.
Employing a buyer’s agent begins with important face-to-face briefings to establish your needs and specifications for a new home.
They’ll access all suitable properties, talk to sales agents in your selected locations and execute wider search patterns than regular punters.
One of the bigger bonuses is that buyer’s agents have access to properties not listed on the open market — off-market properties.
These secret listings could be vendors testing the market ahead of listing them publicly, trying to avoid media scrutiny or other privacy concerns.
Additionally, buyer’s agents can provide strata reports for apartments, organise due diligence such as building and pest inspections, review contracts and consider local development applications.
They can even do the bidding for you at auctions.
My wife, Jacqueline, and I called on the services of a buyer’s agent last year after we moved back to Sydney from Orange.
Our sales agent for the Orange property, David Medina of Sotheby’s, had recommended Spencer Tsang, who operates across Sydney’s North Shore and eastern suburbs for Goldman Brothers.
We were no slouches in property purchases. Overall, in several countries, we have built and purchased 15 properties of all kinds including a large brick built farmhouse personally built on acreage in Mittagong, a schoolhouse apartment in the Cotswolds in the UK and two French houses including a rebuild of a Maison de Maitre in the Dordogne, and many other homes.
But in Mosman last year, the real estate atmosphere was a testing experience.
Houses and apartments were selling quickly in early 2024 and prices were racing ahead, not matching the actual value of the property.
We needed help, but using a buyer’s agent was something new for us.
Before we met Spencer, we had been going to inspections where rooms were packed with potential buyers where you couldn’t get a feel for the place at all.
After we started using Spencer, we inspected many suitable homes free from other buyers.
If the property met our preset requirements, we immediately felt more in the hunt.
Jacqueline, who brought a special interior design touch to the search, appreciated that Spencer was always available, advising comments for and against a property and giving us the lowdown on what he felt was the real value and locational benefits of a prospective home. “Spencer took us on our own to many properties we had selected and although some of them were very suitable, size was always an issue,” Jacqueline said.
“Some older properties were tempting but the penalty was that kitchens were a bit tardy and bathrooms not up to modern standards.”
It was Tsang who nailed the size issue for us Tucks.
He took this size issue and made it a target requirement. In late February 2024, he contacted us and said he thought a three-bedroom, two-bathroom and garage, townhouse property in the heart of Mosman was worth a look.
Although it was an older-style home, it was a good size — in fact, the lounge and dining area was larger than a previous Mosman house we owned.
We said we were interested and after an immediate individual inspection we decided to buy it.
But it was close to 5pm on a Friday and we feared we would lose the sale because we could not meet the deposit deadline during the weekend and other buyers may have come in the last hour to make a bid on the property.
Our solicitor broke records finalising legal details over the weekend, but we couldn’t access our deposit from the bank until Monday. That’s when the use of our buyer’s agent kicked in.
Tsang had picked up the property during one of his regular scrutinies of available homes and this one was mysteriously not heavily publicised.
He solved the deposit problem using a specially arranged Goldman company cheque to ensure the property was secured.
Tsang relayed all the correct buying information to the selling agent, having all contracts signed on the Tuck’s side including a 66W certificate which waves the cooling-off period, and gives confidence to the vendor to agree to sell.
The deposit was finalised on the Monday and the property was secured.
The action came in the nick of time. A prospective buyer inquired on the property on the Monday and Tsang was informed by the selling agent that a buyer had offered another $50,000 for the property.
The vendor, however, said the deal had been set and we escaped a last minute challenge.
As Jacqueline said: “We were extremely grateful to Spencer Tsang for the professional help he provided.
“His attention to detail and ability to cover all available properties made the difference in finding our new home.
“It backed up what our former real estate agent said would bridge the purchasing gap, the use of a buyer’s agent.
“We believe that on the open market and perhaps an auction, the property would have sold for much more than the buyer’s agent fee we paid.”
Buyer’s agent fees are generally between 1 and 2 per cent of the purchase price of the property that’s found.
Originally published as Call in the big guns to buy a property in Sydney in 2025
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