As buyer advocates, we dealt with many auctioneers and agents in 2009.

To wrap up the year, we’ve put together a list of Legends, Top Agents, Top Auctioneers and Top Young Guns for your information and for a bit of fun. Please this is as opinionated and about as serious as Mike Sheahan’s Top 50 footballers.

We buy two to five, million-dollar-plus properties per week, assess and visit dozens of million-dollar-plus homes a month and rate thousands of homes every year. We meet a lot of selling agents and see a lot of auctioneers plying their trade. Most are good, and some are very good. The second most common question we get asked at parties or at talks or on the phone is “who is the best selling agent?” Truth is, there is no carte blanche best agent. One agent may be great at selling period homes but not that good at selling little flats. One agent may be brilliant in an “up” market but less than brilliant in a “down” market or vice versa. Another agent may have the best record but just doesn’t gel with the seller. Some potential quality selling agents just work in the wrong company, and so on.

One note: You may think we do little business in Bayside – not true, as we buy a lot of properties – but Bayside was not a trendsetter in 2009 – except for the $5million “off market” market. The auction $1m to $4m market in Bayside lagged behind Stonnington and Boroondara, and Port Phillip’s (St Kilda to Port Melbourne) million-dollar-plus market was almost nonexistent until late 2009. Secondly, yes, the standard of agency practice is different between the Inner East and Bayside.

And now for the awards...............

Highlight pieces from our Market News in 2009

2009 opened gloomily: the million-dollar-plus market was not thriving; pessimists would say that it was drifting, even dead, after 10 to 40 per cent falls in 2008. There was significantly reduced activity on the Peninsulas and only a few million-dollar-plus sales to date in inner Melbourne. But the million-dollar-market passed its first big test on 21-22 February with flying colours: there were big numbers at auctions, big numbers going through opens and multiple bidders at auctions over a million dollars.

By late March and early April, there was a marked improvement in quality stock levels. Clear messages started to emerge from auctions at this time: the market was fickle (up one week and down the next); there were multiple buyers and good prices paid if the market perceived the property to be good; the Stonnington market was bordering on white-hot; and the higher buyers went, the stronger it got.

By May, the million-dollar-plus market was officially spiking. The Federal Government changes to Foreign Investment Review Board rules, which relaxed the restrictions on overseas people buying properties in Australia, meant that overseas buyers, invisible just a month ago, were going through open for inspections in big numbers and bidding strongly. Boroondara was the preferred area for overseas buyers, and sales in that area started to really take off.

In June, the low levels of quality stock – noted by Iain Carmichael of Bennison Mackinnon as the lowest levels of stock, at the top end, in his memory – started to have an impact and buyers were forced to put their hands in their pockets – and pay more than they had to just eight weeks previously – if they wanted to buy.

By July, the market had shifted upwards between 5 and 15 per cent in the past eight to 10 weeks. Many buyers were paying more than February / March 2009 and considerably more than November / December 2008.

In August, we felt that the market was perhaps starting to slow its incline. Stock levels were increasing, interest rate talk by the Reserve Bank was having a desired effect and buyers started being more rational about their options.

But results in September proved that there was no lull: results at auctions showed that the market was, in many cases, back to 2007 peaks. Headlines from our 12 September Market News – “It was hot! Damn hot!” – and 11 October: “What effect did the interest rates have this weekend? Nil” showed how the market had taken off. There were 1000+ auctions on 24 October – Bayside stood still but Boroondara and Stonnington marched upwards, although it appeared that Chinese buyer numbers had dropped.

The numbers continued to be huge in November and December – big numbers of auctions, big numbers of sales, big numbers at opens and auctions.

Strong clearances on incredibly large numbers made for a big finish to a year that had started out promising little. As they say in the classics, a year is a long time in real estate.

Most agents we deal with are straightforward with us, ethical and, like all of us, have had a much better year in 2009 than 2008.

None of us get it right all the time, buyer advocates included. Most really good selling agents are decent hard-working men and women who would much prefer to be truthful; however, often when the truth is given to a cynical world, they are not believed. I will also balance this with the other side of the coin, on one troubling issue; that many selling agents still deliberately underquote to buyers.

Until auction selling agents understand that saying a home has a reserve around $1 million when, in fact, they know the reserve is at $1.5 million is the same as saying the home has four bedrooms when, in fact, it has two, then their relationships with buyers as helpful professionals will continue to be far less meaningful than their selling clients need it to be.

Most high-end selling agents are very good at their job. But, buyers, please note: they are working for the seller, not you, so if you want to pay too much or buy the wrong home, then they will let you do that because it is in their selling client’s best interests. This is not a criticism of them though.

Let’s move on and, in the spirit of Christmas, we have put down our positive thoughts on the best of the best, as we see it. Please also note that this is not an exhaustive list and there are many high-quality selling agents out there whom we do not run into because they are out of our area or do not cover the top-end properties that we report on or buy.

We also feel guilty leaving out many agents who, for whatever reason, we haven’t dealt with as much this year. If you are selling, you would be wise to include any of these agents on your list. We also thank all the selling agents and auctioneers who we have dealt with this year, who have given us unfettered access at their auctions and who have contributed their own words to this article – it takes a big effort to put together thoughts as they have for this Bumper James 2009 Christmas Edition at such a busy time of the year.

We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Mal, Adam, Kristen, Ralph & David