Overseas / Expat Buyers

We are accustomed to dealing with people we rarely or sometimes never meet. We know how to buy under power of attorney, and when to advise to go to FIRB. We understand time zones and communicating from afar. And we are used to discussing non-financial, and far more emotive issues such as schooling, with our clients.

Case Studies

The View from Asia No 1 – “What we bought was Melbourne’s best negotiator”.

Dear Mal,
We cannot thank you enough. I've never been in the business of writing testimonials but the results you produced couldn't pass without recognition.
Buying the future "family home" from Singapore
In a word - impossible. Or so we thought. For the past two years, we have scoured the Internet, regularly called in favours from family and friends to view properties, and even bid on a few houses (unsuccessfully).
When we contacted you, we knew what we were looking for - but just couldn't look for it ourselves.
As two busy Singapore-based professionals, we didn't have the time to fly down to Melbourne to view short-listed properties, and wanted someone else to be our "eyes" on the ground when we saw a property that we were interested in via realestate.com.au. Someone who could look beyond the PDF floor plan, the agents' glamour shots, and give us an independent viewpoint (unlike the majority of even close friends or family).
We thought we were buying a photographer - but what we bought was Melbourne's best negotiator
To be quite honest, when we sought your services, what we thought we were buying was someone to take photographs, and more photographs. As overseas buyers and former Melbourne residents, photographs - and the verbal lowdown on interesting properties - were really what we needed.
What we got was something quite different - and unexpected. In you, we found:
Someone who knew the market inside out
Well before the newspapers reported the story, you told us that Melbourne was in the midst of a mini "boom" in the inner east and that prices were "spiking". We knew the market well - but you knew it better.
One of the best strategists and negotiators we've ever met
We really had no idea what a good buyer advocate does, and what we discovered was a simply superb strategist - and negotiator - in you. Your strategy and tactics to buy what would become our future family home was well-considered, smart and ensured that we did not pay more than we had to.
The best service we've experienced in a very long time
I'm a communicator by trade and you communicate better than most professionals I know. It's always difficult doing business with someone you've never met in person, but you quickly won our confidence and trust - and kept it. You kept us up-to-date, well informed and made us feel like we were in Melbourne having a coffee with you.
A straight talker, who knew what we wanted - and needed
By the time we found you, we were frustrated by a long search and eager to close on a property (any property). You forced us to take a big breath, step back, and focus on finding the right property for our family now - and into the future.
An expert who provided skills from search to settlement
The bottom line is that as an advocate, you make it much easier to get a great place, at the right place . You're doing things we didn't know needed to be done - for instance, negotiating on fixtures, handling our pre-settlement inspection, and coming up with a strategy to ensure our current tenant stays on.
We have no hesitation in recommending you and James Buyer Advocates - in fact, I would consider your support critical to any future property purchase.
Warmest regards,
Sarah & Anthony

Sarah Gorman
Director, Spaeth Communications
www.spaethcom.com

Anthony Willmott
President, CAS Systems Asia Pacific
www.cas.com

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Shell Finance Services
Bangunan Shell Malaysia
Changkat Semantan
1:26 PM 26/07/2006Damansara Heights
PO Box 11027
50732 Kuala Lumpur

Mal,
Helen and I want to express our sincere appreciation for the effort you put into helping us find our new home in Kew . You worked very hard, very quickly for a couple of absolute strangers.
As you are aware, we left Australia 8 years ago and have been living the gypsy lives of expatriates across 5 countries in 4 continents. That is a lot of moves buy any stretch of the imagination ­ but it does teach you to be adaptable and accepting of lots of different things in life.
Repatriating to Australia is actually far harder than most realise. For us, the first step was to secure a comfortable place that we as a family could call home. When we came back over winter this year to look for a place, we fully accepted that it was unlikely we would actually make a decision within the 2 short weeks we were there.
But, thanks to your disciplined approach to helping us better understand what we really needed, you saved us a lot of time. The focus you bought helped ensure we were not paying over the odds and your humour helped relieve the most tense of situations. Despite having bought and sold about 6 properties in Melbourne over the last 15 years, we received such an education on how agents work and why offers are accepted or rejected ­ and often not on the basis of price!! That was perhaps our biggest eye opener.
We joked a lot with you about becoming a marriage counselor as you took us and 3 little ones around ­ and there is some truth in that! You have a unique ability to look beyond what is being said and hear what is being felt. And when you couple this with an unnerving sense of ethics and values, you naturally end up running a successful business.
It¹s been a real pleasure getting to know you ­ but more excitingly, we look forward to sharing our future as we re-settle into Melbourne, with you and your family.
Mal ­ thank you from the whole family and keep doing what you so obviously have a passion for. Helping people understand themselves better. And that leads to good decisions.
Ramesh Kana
Head - Asia Pacific
Finance & Management Consultancy
a division of Shell People Services Asia Sdn Bhd

Understanding Expats – “The best part of the whole experience (besides all the money you saved us) was that you took the stress out of buying.”

The games agents play – “Had we not taken your advice by altering our offer in the dying moments we would have lost the opportunity to purchase the property, and undoubtedly would still be looking to this day!”

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Dear Mal
RE: PURCHASE OF 15 PLEASANT AVENUE KEW
Sanjiv and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for producing an outstanding result in purchasing the above-mentioned property, which will ultimately become our new residence next year after construction.
It was an unusual and frustrating situation to encounter whereby the vendors were not declaring their hand to the agents. We acknowledge that your assessment and intuition on the day secured us the property for a marginal $950 dollars more than the next best offer - had we not taken your advice by altering our offer in the dying moments we would have lost the opportunity to purchase the property, and undoubtedly would still be looking to this day! In addition had this property gone to auction there is no doubt in our mind that we would have either been unsuccessful or have to have been prepared to pay a premium of at least $40,000 to secure the property as there were at least half a dozen genuine buyers.
We have no hesitation in using your services again in the future, and would certainly recommend you to family and friends. Feel free to use this as a referee for any of your potential clients.
Sanjiv & Yamini Puri

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