What's it like to work with a buyers agent?
Perhaps the best way to describe this is to compare the differences. Before you begin to consider what your time is worth, let's consider two different experiences...
Working all week, juggling demands for time and attention while taking calls from agents - if you're lucky to get your call returned. Swap your lunch break for looking at properties online. Somewhere in the day, squeeze in time to surf the net for the properties that have been uploaded that day, assess them, prioritise them, call your significant other, call the agent, wait for a call back, call them again, plan your Saturday around other things you'd actually much rather be doing, visit a list of open homes including those beyond their budget anyway, your loved ones get fed up of looking at another yet another place, all these properties start to blend in your head (which one had that horrible green bathroom again?). Honestly, I'm exhausted just thinking about that. I really feel for buyers who go through all of this only to finally choose a property, and right at the top of that rollercoaster ride - just when they think they have a chance - it sells to someone else for more than they were told it was worth and it's back to square one. Repeat.
When you're working with a buyers agent, you skip that hard, time-consuming and emotionally exhausting labour. Work smarter, not harder.
When it comes to inspecting properties, I've already done the hard yards for you. I completely understand you don't want to waste time looking at places that don't fit the bill, as I hate wasting my time showing them to you too! After we've established what you need in a property and what you'd like to spend, I've spent my time (not yours) assessing everything on the market plus contacting the right agents for that area to find out what's coming up and what's to be sold off-market. I've assessed every property against your criteria, with pricing guidance and insights for those I've shortlisted. Having done all the preparation for you, I'll pick you up with your favourite coffee ready for you, and we set off to chauffeur you around town in the most efficient way, viewing only the best of the best that actually meet your needs.
If you aren't physically here to inspect or you'd like me to do the initial viewing for you, you can sit back of an evening and be taken through the inspection virtually. You'll have easy online access to my photos and videos (no filters or wide angle lenses here) to allow you to review each property at your leisure in all its untouched glory. The good and the bad (and all the bits the sales listing photos would never dream of showing you!). I'll provide you with analysis on each property so you'll know how well it meets your brief from my objective viewpoint, together with my commentary on the property overall and the general area.
You've now freed up so much time and mental space that it allows you to focus on what is really important - choosing the best property. Clients have said time and again they didn't realise how helpful it was to feel safe knowing I was looking after the process for them, so they could maintain their busy schedule and continue to keep all those balls in the air. By delegating the research, the planning, and using my system of inspections and analysis, you're no longer spending your energy chasing your tail and 'playing the game' with agents. You're free to speak openly with me - I'm working for you, not the seller - and to use my objectivity as a sounding board to come to a decision.
Once we reach that stage, I will prepare a polished, professional offer for your approval - that's the next chapter.