Case Studies and Testimonials

We have bought hundreds of houses for all sorts of people.

Toorak, 78 Clendon Road: $4.35 million. Paul Castran as the buyer would see him!

From our survey’s around 95 in every hundred are very happy with our service and the other 5 we are unable to find exactly what they want. In the section below are a large number of case studies testimonials.

We also invite you to view our case studies by downloading our case study document below.

7 September 2009

Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy reading your website and your insights into the bayside, boroondara and stonnington markets.

I'm ex Melbourne and have followed the above areas for the last 10 years. Since moving overseas I'm always pestering my family to read out the auction results from the Sunday Age and give me a rundown of what the property market has been doing as most of them live in these areas.

Since I discovered your website my conversation with my family in Melbourne is not solely focused on property!

The information on your website is spot on for any prospective buyer and property follower and your commentary is great - Keep up the good work.

Cheers
Mubeen

28 August 2009

Dear Mal, Kristen and Adam,

Well it took longer than we anticipated but your email said it all "right people, right house, right money". Living overseas and purchasing property (not just any property - our first home) online and with the help of family and friends is quite a daunting prospect, we couldn't rely on online photos etc and didn't want to put pressure on family and friends helping us out (what if they got it wrong?). We knew that for the amount of money we were going to invest this option just wasn't good enough. We enlisted Mal and his team to help us through.

The process and guidance that Mal and his team provided meant that we didn't rush into something that wasn't quite right for us. Mal and Kristen were patient with us, we were purchasing our first home and didn't really know what we were after, both Mal and Kristen helped narrow it down and from there it became a waiting game for the right house (well that's not quite right either, we waited while the team looked at all the houses that fitted our criteria and looking back on our email trail they put in plenty of hours). We were purchasing a house that needs some work and Adam was great with his ideas for renovation.

With being such a long way from home, we were concerned that we wouldn't know a good deal from a bad deal, Mal and Kristen made this analysis a lot easier, providing their experience and good comparatives to ensure we knew what constituted a good deal and what would be to high a price to pay.

On auction day the team prepared well, used their experience and the result turned to our favour. After the auction Mal and Kristen took care of the paper work and ensured there were no irregularities and continue to ensure that we are doing everything we are meant to.

In the end Mal and his team were well worth the investment, we have a beautiful home in a great location and at a good price.

Thanks again for all your hard work and honesty - we really appreciate it.

Thanks
Brook and Kate

Toorak, 78 Clendon Road: Our job has its moments! The absolute joy of buying a dream!

27 February 2008

To Whom It May Concern:

My parents referred me James Buyer Advocates, who were happy customers of Mal James a few years ago, enlisting his services to purchase a new family home. Incidentally, they are still very satisfied customers with a recent valuing of the home resulting in a large amount of capital growth on the purchase price.

Adam Woledge was assigned to the purchase of my first investment property. After an initial meeting with Mal and Adam, my specific wants and needs were clarified, with all options, the approaches to be taken, what the process entails and costs involved, all explained in simple, easy to understand terms. This included an introduction to property investing verbally, also utilizing visual aides.

I had the privilege of accompanying Adam (though was not mandatory) to physically inspect numerous properties in various areas as he gauged all the necessary information, as well as my personal opinion.

Adam's years of experience as an Architect and conducting building inspections, proved invaluable when it came to assessing the potential for renovations, additional costs that may arise and recognising the cardinal aspects of what will be most profitable and advantageous for me in the future.

This process educated me along the way to be able to see through the superficial aspects, to the fundamentals of what makes a great investment property and with Adam always keeping me well informed and maintaining regular contact.

When financial limitations were placed on type of property I could purchase, JBA were empathetic, and started the search from scratch again, to accommodate my needs.

I ended up purchasing a property in a great area, for less than the asking price. As the property required some renovations, Adam provided me with some great ideas and even recommended tradespeople to carry out the works. All of the above services were provided for a very reasonable fee, though you cannot put a price on the knowledge and experience you receive when securing the services of JBA.

My experience with Adam and JBA resulted in a great start to my investment portfolio, giving me the potential to acquire additional properties in the very near future, for all of which, I will be seeking Adam's expertise.

You can always rest easy with the knowledge that you have the backing of Mal's staunch enthusiasm and the unequivocal, logistical fortitude and determination of Adam Woledge, when making such an important purchase.

Sincerely,
Glenn Lockwood

Saved $50,000
Mal, how you actually saved $50,000 off the asking price in this boom market while my client's picture was splashed across the papers will to me always remain one of the great mysteries of real estate private sale negotiation.
James Lewis - Solicitor
Queen St Melbourne

Dear Kristen,
Thank you for the great photos of our family outside our "new Purchase." Melissa looks particularly happy, and we are happy for her.
Thank you also for your kind courtesy, and a great deal of your time, personally and professionally. It was appreciated by all of us.
We admired the way you conducted the auction and also for your personal compassion and understanding of all of us in the time up to, and, after the auction.
We could not have asked any more of you or Mal, and we would highly recommend you both singly or together to anyone who would seek our advice.
We will be reading all the advice you sent through also, and must say, that so far, this has been the easiest purchase Ron and I have ever done in our years together
Kindest personal regards,
The Browns.

Mal,
I understand Matt has expressed his thanks for your efforts, I wanted to do the same. Not having dealt with a buyers advocate in the past I was a little unsure as to the process and what to expect, but your communication, knowledge and impeccable negotiating skills helped us secure the property we wanted at a good price.
We will not hesitate in recommending you.

Many thanks,
Sarah and Matt
Canterbury

Gerald Delany of Kay and Burton bringing the hammer down.

Dear Mal,

It is with great pleasure that we write to express our appreciation for your assistance in acting as our advocate both on the purchase of our new home and the sale of our previous home.

With the extensive research you did on comparable sales in our area, we were able to gauge realistic expectations of what our property was worth.

Your methodical approach to the daunting task of selecting an agent was rewarded with the excellent attention our property received and ultimately the above expected sale price achieved.

You equipped us with knowledge that gave us confidence in the decisions we had to make in the emotional and stressful environment of selling our home and purchasing a new one.

We believe that you were instrumental in the successful purchase of our home in Camberwell as the competition for the property gathered momentum quickly. You put much thought into developing strategies and your negotiating skills, under pressure, were outstanding. Your calm disposition was employed to our advantage while being reassuring to us. And you were always willing to “go the extra mile tor us”. We truly believe that we would not have been successful without your expert counsel, especially at the crucial moments.

We were thrilled with the sale of our home in Glen Iris and were ecstatic with the purchase of our now home in Camberwell. It has been a pleasure doing business with you and we look forward to future associations.

Yours sincerely,

Lisa Ring & Stephen Ring.


Sunshine Investment Property	Glen Iris Sale	Camberwell Purchase

We don’t buy them all

Dear Mal,

We would like to thank you for your time, effort and valuable information you gave us during our attempted purchase in Gray Court Beaumaris. To be able to talk to someone who had no emotional attachment to the situation was of enormous benefit in helping us make our final decision.

After much deliberation about the “value” of the property we decided to attend the auction with the intention of purchasing or at least negotiating as the highest bidder. After numerous discussions with you, we felt comfortable with our situation, basing our decision on a more financial level rather than an emotional one.

The information provided by you and your knowledge of property made us see that we were perhaps limiting our future financial options entering into an overpriced purchase figure. We therefore discussed, sometimes at great length, the “worth” of the property, our existing property, and the other options available.

We were extremely impressed with your professionalism and your ability to channel our thoughts away from our emotions and focus on the property from an “investment” point of view. The advice you gave was clear and to the point and made sense in every way.

We are very happy with our decision and shall contact you shortly to pursue further investment opportunities. We would not hesitate in recommending your skills to assist in the purchase and sale of properties.

Yours sincerely,
R & K Hatt

Dear Mal

RE: Property Investigation Hawthorn

As the dust has settled I take this opportunity on behalf of Helen and I to thank you and your team for all of the assistance you gave us through the pre-auction period and the support on the auction day itself.

It’s an ironic thankyou, as we were unsuccessful in procuring the property. We thank you for your considered and accurate advice, from the very beginning you gave us an accurate range of the likely selling price, for the extensive research you provided in assessing the property and indeed the assistance and the process you established to interview agents in order to assess the reasonable market value of our property.

We were also particularly appreciative of your early arrival prior to the auction time and running us through the strategies and expectations of the process that would lie ahead. Although I think we remained in denial for a lot of the pre-bid phase it can only be said that your advice on the ultimate selling price was always accurate.

After talking to the selling agent, Jellis Craig they were also complimentary of your professionalism and approach throughout the pre-auction phase whilst representing our interests.

There is no doubt that when we gather ourselves and re-enter the process, we will be reaching out to yourself and to your team to assist us in the next campaign.

All the very best with your business and we understand why it continues to go from strength to strength.

Our warmest thanks.

Lyndon and Helen Hayward

PS We have since bought for them

Buying an Investment
To whom it may concern

A number of years ago, I returned from living overseas and decided to make Melbourne my new home. After living here for two years, I decided it was time to get back into the property market and purchase my second place in the inner suburbs of Melbourne.

Having little to no knowledge of the property market in Melbourne, what sells, prices, floors plans, etc… So when a friend told me he had used a buyers advocate and how they helped get them the best deal, then I decided it was my best option, to ensure I didn’t get taken for a ride.

Using the buyers advocate services of Mal James, did more than just ensure I got the best deal. In summary these are just a few of the valuable tips I learned along the way:

Price estimation of land in selected area (Mal was always on the money for the selling price, he did not sugar coat or get my hope high when it was not feasible)

Floor Plan; what to look for, what sells best and is most conducive to family and renting market

Land Price / size ratio

What to look for investments

Best places to look, suburbs, closeness to transport

Style of home differentiation in Melbourne compared to my home town

I sat down with Mal initially to discuss my needs and budget and from there Mal went in search of the ideal property. I heard from Mal daily to update on progress and findings. I did not leave it completely up to Mal, I regularly searched the property guides and when I saw something, I thought would be it, I would call Mal and he would liaise with the agent to find out price range and details before I even looked at it.

Buying a property is a lengthy and trying time, and normally you feel alone and defeated when you miss out on the property you want. It is easy to become disheartened and give up, or even take a break, however when you have “a friend” looking out for you, keeping a eye on all movements in the market, it is like having your own Real Estate Agent on tap. Many more properties came up and rather than me racing around town to get to open houses and making appointments to see them, Mal did the ground work. Narrowing down the field, and saving me so much time.   I appreciated Mal’s regular contact, advice and assistance.   In the nine months of searching, when I needed time out / break, it was good to know someone was still on the hunt with my best interests at heart, and I was not being hassled daily by the vultures of Estate Agents.

I won’t sugar coat it, I went after three properties before purchasing a place in Malvern East. The first place I fell in love with, it had the perfect floor plan, ideal location and stacked up in all the building approvals (I agreed with Mal, if you are planning on spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, you must not scrimp and save when it comes to building reports and pest analysis – they are a must and can be your savour/decider). Come auction day, it was a case of auction hype and the price blew out – above expectation $60k in fact. Mal and I debriefed, discussed strategy forward and continued to search.

You know the cliché’ when it is right you will know! That is it. After three auctions, complete with building reports etc… We found it. A place we expected to go above my limit (approx $50k above) was passed in at Auction.   Due to this fact, I had not given this place a second thought, as I believed it was out of my price range. Mal, with a keen eye and a passion for what he does, when checking the auctions results he noticed the property was not sold, and immediately got on the phone to the agent to find out why and to ensure I was given priority to view and bid if required. After receiving the call from Mal at 7.50am that Monday morning, I was viewing the property with the agent by 11am. The place was great, just what I wanted. Mal and I discussed strategy to secure it, and made a once only bid. Mal went hard line with the agent and said, we will make one offer only, and we would not be played off against other bidders, in order to prevent a playoff and tactics from the agents.

By 8pm, the place was mine! The months of looking and expenses paid out were all worth it. I imagine searching for myself, in the hard, fast and very competitive Melbourne market, I would have either given up or paid too much for an average property along the way.

I am please to report, an auction in the same street two weeks later, showed that I purchased the property at the right price and have room for growth.

It is two months since my purchase and Mal is still at the end of the phone if I need him have questions or want to discuss anything.   The investment of using buyers advocate such as Mal, was priceless for the time, money, stress and results.

Yours faithfully

Scott Jarred

PERSONAL INVESTOR MAGAZINE
"Correct weight on property"
By Karin Derkley

Investor of the month
Many small business people don't get around to diversifying their investments beyond their own business. But in the past few years, hotelier Ian Macdonald has managed to branch out from a focus purely on hotels - either as owner or leaseholder - to investing in residential and other commercial property and a share portfolio. …………….
Now a firm proponent of the "buy-and-hold" approach to property investment, Macdonald wishes he had hung on to the Star. "We made a good profit, but we could have made that up in rental returns in three years." But that was a lesson he would learn further down the track. At the time, property investment was something he was falling into, without a great deal of method or strategy. ……………………..
Another early buy was a nightclub in Geelong where he was also the licensee. Because he and his sons regularly travelled up and down to the venue, Macdonald bought a townhouse in Geelong. "There was a point where I realised that we weren't using it much and I decided I should sell it.

I never assumed it was worth hanging on to." His accountant recommended he ask buyers and sellers agent Mal James of James Buyer Advocates to help him sell the property. "James told me not to sell. He said he thought Geelong was going to do really well over the next few years. At the time I wasn't sure, but I hung on anyway." Property prices in traditionally slow moving Geelong have since rocketed, along with many other regional areas in Victoria. The townhouse he bought for $260,000 is now worth $360,000 and returns a tidy rent.

The experience of successfully letting out residential property and the fact the Melbourne property market was "flying" piqued his interest.

Born and bred in the inner western suburb of Footscray he believed (and still does) the whole inner west was undervalued. "I think it's a great area that isn't over priced like some of the other inner suburbs." His first purchase there, with the help of James, was in Yarraville in 2001. Soon after he snapped up another property in nearby Seddon, a $340,000 house that commands $210 a week. Recently he bought another property in Yarraville.

Robert Vickers-Willis of Abercrombys getting 41 Henry St over the line at $1.036 million.

Dear Mal

Re: Letter of recommendation

I write to offer our recommendation for the service you provide, especially in our purchase of a commercial property.

It was the first time we had purchased commercial property, and we greatly appreciated your guidance, frank and straight forward explanation of the processes involved and especially your patience in dealing with both us and real estate agents acting for vendors.

In our particular case, we had in mind a certain area and type of commercial property. We looked at a number of properties, with your guidance and assistance. We even made an offer on one property, only to miss out due to the (unpredictable) actions of the vendor’s real estate agent. We felt quite ‘low’ at that time, but you provided a great deal of encouragement, and we persisted. Eventually, we found another property, which provided an even greater opportunity than we initially planned for. With your assistance, we obtained the necessary advice to determine the viability of this new opportunity.

Ian and Mal, you ‘came into your own’ when we began negotiating with the vendor’s agent who was very difficult to deal with because, for example, he not indicating an acceptable sale price. This made our determination of what would be a reasonable offer very difficult. In the end and with your help, we purchased the property at a significant discount to the valuation we had received.

In recommending you, Mal, we found you very professional in your dealings with us, we highly recommend you, we wish you all success in your future business dealings and are happy to provide a reference for you in the future.

Yours faithfully

Richard Smoorenburg

Dear Mal and team,

We would like to confirm our overall happiness and pleasure in your efforts and success in not only finding, purchasing and outbidding a bunch of enthusiastic buyers for our new house in Surrey Hills, but as well, the invaluable assistance and expertise you afforded us in selling our home in Eltham North for a record price in the area.

Surrey Hills

On both occasions, there is no doubt in our minds that you were solely the difference in buying our new house and helping organize selling agent to sell our home for the price beyond our absolute expectation (a record price for the area - Sunday Age 26/10/03). The ease of finding our new house was incredible, considering we had been looking for the past eighteen months on our own. You were able to get us into an ideal home within two months of employing your company. We just cannot believe it!! We had been the under-bidder on at least five occasions and no doubt this would have occurred again without you identifying the interest the property was attracting and of course your effective intimidation tactics when bidding at the auction.
Eltham Your technique was the difference in us buying and not buying.

It was so pleasing to not only obtain our property within our maximum elected price range but to also knock out a bidder from Sydney who was obviously very annoyed with your tactics as mentioned to us by the selling agent.

Our selling agents came through as you said they would. Thank you for convincing us that we needed to employ the "right" person and company rather than the 'nice' bloke we knew and liked for the past fifteen years. Without your selection input we would have definitely chosen the wrong person and company. Not only did we get a record price for the area but the way you negotiated the agent's incentive bonus meant James Advocacy did not cost us a cent!

Mal, thankyou once again. We know who we will be calling when we have to buy again.

Janine & Ken Franklin

Eltham North

Mal,

As you know doubt remember, just over a year ago you negotiated the purchase of our little place. One of the units opposite ours (ie with the back courtyard backing the railway line and the crossing about 3 units up - the side you said you wouldn't let us buy on), which is exactly like ours, recently went on the market and sold at the first open inspection for considerably more. Thought you would like to know, and another very big thank you from the Happy Hippies.

Regards
Anita Mullett

Dear Mal

As promised we wanted to put some of our thoughts together regarding our “adventure” with you & eventual purchase of 42A Langridge St, Middle Park.

Well where do we start. Andrew & I both being in sales expected this super slick, salesy cowboy to walk through our door some months ago. (We had already convinced ourselves that we wouldn’t like him!!!!!) Instead we were greeted by Mal. (An imposing character for midgets like the Petersons) Mal’s style clicked with us immediately. Straight down the line, open, genuine, laid back, confident but most importantly honest. Mal did not baffle us with promises of immediate purchases in the best suburbs at low prices – we knew we had some work to do.

So we set off with Mal over the course of many weekends driving around the suburbs, looking at properties, comparing our opinions & drinking decaf coffee. It became clear very early on that Mal’s was prepared to tell us if he thought our opinion was off the mark, not within market conditions or just simply over exaggerated. We looked at a lot of properties & quite often the three of us had different opinions about places which made for all the more fun. Buying a home is a completely emotionally charged event & there was plenty of laughter & tears along the way.

Our eventual purchase was not without some hurdles which Mal was able to help us navigate through & we are very happy with our purchase. Overall we are 100% confident that we would not have been able to secure our home without the assistance of Mal. We trusted him completely & have full faith in his ability to advise & direct on one of the biggest purchases that we will ever make.

We are extremely positive about our experience in partnering with Mal & would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending his work. We are more than available for prospective clients to call should they require any additional information about our experience.
Thank you again Mal for everything that you have done for us. All the best with business this year & we will look forward to having you over for a bbq in Langridge Street !!!!
Andrew & Michelle Peterson
Middle Park

Dear Mal

You were right it was (almost) the best week of my life!!! Thank you SO much for your help & guidance and tremendous professionalism. I have really appreciated the way in which this whole process has progressed. Of course the outcome is wonderful and to have it all happen so smoothly without any fuss or drama is an added bonus. I certainly have been singing your accolades to everyone who comes within Cooee of me. So from the bottom of my heart thank you very much. Have a great break over Xmas & once I am settled I hope you & Janet will come for drinks.

Jan Bokor

Mal James provided a property advisory service of a high professional standard. The ‘Property Report’ was very useful and detailed a broad range of issues and market information on the house we eventually bought. We found Mal’s input into sales negotiations particularly valuable and it was most reassuring to have his expertise in this area ‘on hand’ at the time of auction. We would recommend the services of Mal James to anyone looking for a professional buyers advocate.

Kevin & Judy Mullen

My husband and I moved to Melbourne in June 2005 and by the end of August we’d bought a house. We’d decided in Sydney that we wanted to use a Buyer’s Advocate as we didn’t know Melbourne very well and didn’t want to be out looking every Saturday indefinitely. We decided on Mal James initially because I liked his web site and because of how informative and helpful he was over the phone. He also sent us a very useful CD about real estate practices and that confirmed our decision to instruct him.

We decided on the area that we wanted to concentrate on and gave Mal our brief. We looked at quite a wide range of places and this enabled us to get a feel for what was available for our budget. We didn’t go out every week as we had other things on and there was no pressure from Mal to do so. Early on I asked him to filter out the places that he thought would be no good, as we trusted him to be able to do that.

After a couple of months we looked at a place that Mal had found. It was in a really good location and had a lot of potential. We were quite keen to proceed. Mal talked us through an auction strategy and fixed us up with a lawyer and advised us on inspections etc. However, that night we found a place on the Internet which looked perfect for us but not in such a good area. The next day we did a drive by and we were convinced that this was the house for us. I asked Mal to stop any work on the other place and to see if he could arrange a viewing prior to the scheduled one that we would attend. Mal did that and supported our decision to buy it. He also went through with us the pros and cons of the property versus the house we had initially considered. When we inspected, there were lots of people there and there was a real buzz about the place. Clearly, there was a lot of interest.

The auction was a week and a bit away. Mal suggested we offer early as there was every chance we could not afford the place at a competitive auction. We liked this idea. We decided to follow his advice and take a chance.

Mal met us with all the paperwork having told the Agent we would be making a pre-auction offer. He forced a situation where the reluctant Agent would have to consider pre-auction offers and Mal set a tight deadline for acceptance of an offer.

Mal advised us fully on the nature of the strategy we were adopting and also advised us on the level of offer to make, pointing out that the balance between level of offer and acceptable risk. Our strategy was clear: take the owner, the agent and the other buyers out of their comfort zone on our terms.

To our surprise the next day Mal arranged to go to the Agent’s offices to be there when the offers were opened. It turned out that there were an incredible 5 other bids confirming our views that this property had a lot of interest. Somehow we ended up being the winning bidders by $1500. Everything was done by Friday afternoon from deciding on Thursday evening to buy. You can’t get much quicker than that! We also managed to get the property for a little under our budget with no renovating to do, only minor cosmetic work.

Mal did the entire running around as regards phone calls and paperwork and made a potentially stressful situation completely stress free. In fact, all we did was inspect the property and sign the contract. We are convinced that had we not adopted the strategy Mal advised and tried to buy the house at auction we would not have been successful as we’re sure it would have gone over our budget.

At all times Mal was friendly and helpful. He acted with complete professionalism and was always available to talk things through. We would strongly recommend engaging the services of James Buyers Advocates.

Rachel Kenyon & Max McGrath

Dear Mal,

I write to you expressing absolute joy in having successfully purchased my “dream home” thanks to your guidance and good advice. I enjoyed the process enormously from start to finish. Along the way I came across many properties which I initially thought would be great investments, but your thorough knowledge and expertise of the area soon convinced me otherwise, and we kept looking. Once you identified a property that met your strict criteria, you then proved to me through various methodologies the value of the property, and that it would be make a great investment at the right price. The value you add to the process is not just in what one buys, but also in what one doesn’t buy along the way as a result of your guidance.

In acting as my buying agent at the auction the tactics you employed along with your firm and confident bidding psyched out prospective bidders allowing me to purchase I believe below what I may have done otherwise.

I am over the moon with the house I have purchased, which I have no doubt eventuated because of your involvement. I thank you very much for a wonderful and successful outcome.

Sam Caruso