Buying a home can be one of most stressful exercises for a couple. I feel like I can make an authoritative claim on the value of using the services of buyers advocates. Melbourne markets are dog eat dog worlds. I’ve been in both situations; firstly without the assistance of a buyers advocate and secondly, with the assistance of such a person.
I’m not normally one to derive much meaning from an n=1 study, but there is no reason for me to doubt just how helpful it was to have someone drive my decision the second time around.
Here’s why i knew I needed to talk to a buyers advocate before purchasing a home in Melbourne.
The first time I bought, I wasn’t that worried about making a dud purchase. I’d always been lucky, however, any luck I possessed seemed to have run out the second I moved in. I was unpacking my collection of ceramic ducks and happened to notice an alarmingly tattooed man (presumably my new neighbor) open the garage roller door to let four other gentlemen out, who all seemed to be…very much under the weather. He saw me looking and wasn’t happy about it, a barrage of insults flew in my direction across the balcony. There would be no friendly exchanges, I realised, and things escalated from there.
I learned from other apprehensive neighbors in the block that the area was rife with undesirable community behavior, and that I’d moved into a crime hotspot. My heart sunk a little further each day.
Flash forward through those very unpleasant times, and to my next property purchase, with which I enlisted the help of an absolute angel. Buying agents are grossly UNDERRATED. I sourced the help of my buyers advocate through some careful research, with the understanding that things can go terribly, horribly wrong without really knowing the area. How nice it was to have an insider on my side this time around. He was perhaps the closest thing to having insight into the future- would I hate my new home? Would I be surrounded by crooks? Not this time- I had a superhero on my side, protecting me.