Services and Fees

Unlike other Sydney buyers’ agents, we believe that the fee you pay shouldn’t increase just because the property price is higher. After all, our aim is to secure your property for the lowest possible price. Our Fixed Fee Advantage ensures that we are working as hard for you as the next purchaser, and are not influenced by price.

House Search Australia provides the following service options:

• Option 1 » Full Search, Evaluate and Negotiate Service
• Option 2 » Evaluation and Negotiation
• Option 3 » Bidding at Auction
• Option 4 » Appraisal Reports

Our Comprehensive Search, evaluation and negotiation service includes the following:

Brief - Once you’ve established your budget and are ready to buy, we conduct a thorough briefing session with you to fully understand your property needs, discuss your requirements and expectations and build a comprehensive wishlist. This can be done in the comfort of your own home or office, as we offer a mobile service.

Search - We then extensively search across the Sydney market for all available properties that match your criteria. We aim to deflect the stress that can accompany dealings with selling agents, as we contact every selling agent in the target area, as well as private sellers to ensure that we have the opportunity to view the widest range of properties possible. With our continual presence in the current market, we are also able to gain access to “silent listings”, which are often not advertised to the general public. We also research and identify any relevant facts about the property that may affect the future value. If you are keen on a specific area, we can also arrange to individually canvass the area for private sales for you as well.

Shortlist - After narrowing the search to the potential properties that fit your criteria we arrange inspections at your convenience. If required, we are able to provide digital photos/video if you are unable to inspect or are purchasing from interstate or overseas.

Evaluate - Once you’ve identified a shortlisted property that suits your needs, we conduct an extensive objective market analysis to determine the current market worth of that property. With access to agent only databases and comparable sales within the area, we are able to determine an appropriate price for the property. This ensures you don’t overpay or allow emotion to enter the purchasing process.

Negotiate - We commence negotiations assertively on your behalf with the seller/selling agent, with the intention of obtaining the best possible price, terms and conditions for the property. This process can sometimes occur over a period of days, up until formal exchange of contracts.

Acquisition - Once an offer has been accepted, we recommend that your solicitor/conveyancer reviews the contract of sale to verify that all legal requirements are met.

Contact - We maintain contact with you until final settlement, to ensure all is running smoothly.

Extra Services - If required, we are happy to also refer and/or arrange the coordination of related services, such as solicitors/conveyancers, building and pest inspectors, financiers and independent valuers. All such external consultants’ fees are at the client’s personal expense.

Fees

For our most popular full service option, our fixed total success fee starts from $5,990 (inc GST) for a standard residential property purchase.  Please contact the office or fill in our online wishlist form for a fixed quote within 24 hours. Please note that fees will vary according to the search area,  complexity of the individual brief and the type of property sought.

House Search Australia charges an initial retainer fee of $1,750 (inc GST) upon engagement for this option, with the remainder of the success fee then payable upon exchange of contracts. Please note that an option for delayed payment upon settlement is also available, upon request.

If you prefer to search for your own property or if you have already located a property and would like House Search to conduct a market evaluation and then negotiate on your behalf, we will provide the following service:

Evaluate - Once you’ve selected a property we conduct and provide you with a thorough and written market analysis to determine the true market worth of the property, using our local knowledge and agent only databases.

Negotiate - We commence negotiations assertively on your behalf with the seller/selling agent, with the intention of obtaining the best possible price, terms and conditions for the property. This process can sometimes occur over a period of days, up until formal exchange of contracts.

Acquisition - Once an offer has been accepted, we recommend that your solicitor/conveyancer reviews the contract of sale to verify that all legal requirements are met. Should the property proceed to auction, however, the contract review and searches will need to be carried out prior to auction.

Extra Services - If required, we are happy to also refer and/or arrange the coordination of related services, such as solicitors/conveyancers, building and pest inspectors and financiers. All such external consultants’ fees are at the client’s personal expense.

Fees

For an Evaluation and Negotiation package, we evaluate, provide you with a written individual property analysis and negotiate the individual property purchase on your behalf and/or bid at auction.

For this service, we charge a total success fee of $2,640 (inc GST), with an initial retainer of $750 due upon appointment of our services, for each negotiation. Please note that the retainer fee is then rebated from the success fee, with the remainder of the success fee ($1,890) then payable upon successful exchange of contracts.

House Search offers an auction bidding service to take the stress and emotion out of purchasing property at auction. This service can save you money by using an impartial licensed buyers’ agent who is familiar with auction tactics. It also serves to remove the pressure that often accompanies auctions and causes overbidding to occur.

We develop a clear auction strategy with you before the auction day and decide on a maximum purchase price. This service also includes any negotiations should the property be passed in.

Fees

For our Auction Bidding service we charge an auction attendance fee of $330 (inc GST). If our bid is successful at the auction, we charge a standard total success fee of $1100 (inc GST). Should the bid be accepted and the property acquired, the retainer fee is then rebated from the success fee, with the remainder ($770) then payable upon exchange of contracts.

If you prefer to search and locate your own property, but are unsure as to it’s true market worth and require assistance we will provide an appraisal report which includes the following:

• Physical inspection of the property and surrounds, which includes digital photographs
• Thorough description of property features and our opinion on positive/negative aspects
• Thorough CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) of the individual property, including sales
  history, recent comparable sales and marketing history, compiled from RPData
• Summary and appraisal of property’s worth in the current market
• Suburb demographics including current median prices and rental yields
• For investors: a rental appraisal letter from a local property manager

This report is ideal for those home buyers and investors who have done all the searching but are unsure as to what maximum price to pay for a property. Having a second opinion before you buy can be invaluable in ensuring emotion doesn’t overcome commonsense, when it comes to purchasing what is often the largest investment you will ever make.

The report is available in both PDF format (via email) and is also posted to you in a bound hardcover format. At a special introductory price of just $495 this report represents great value for money and is highly recommended for those buyers who are not confident with current values or who wish to secure an expert opinion on the property prior to beginning negotiations themselves.