Alexandra Martelli: Buyer's agents are for everyone

Buyer's agents. They're projected to grow in popularity in the coming years, so what are they and who really needs one? 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
It'd be some about made Two ways of plan po
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Speaker 1 (00:46):
Well within the text man come to the job, No
listener warm, welcome to you, welcome in a welcome back.
This is the Weekend Collective. I probably you know, I
don't want it to turn her to music station, but
I do quite kind of like it when my producer
Tire picks a nice, energetic, sort of familiar number to
just to get you know, I had to get you
in the mood for it. Doesn't this I ssure really
get you in the mood for any particular subject, but

(01:07):
you know, anyway, Welcome back to the Shame Tim Beverage,
And this is for this hour, the one roof radio
show where we want your calls on eight hundred and
eight ten eighty. Excuse me. You can also text on
nine two nine two. We have a new guest I'm
going to introduce in just a moment, but We've had
this one mentioned a few times on the show, and

(01:28):
we haven't really dug into it too much, I guess
probably because we haven't had someone in this particular role
on the show. And that is the role of the
buyer's agent. Now that is I'll dig into the definition,
but my crack at it is basically, it's an agent
who works for the buyer. They're not just a mate
of the seller who happens to be sort of giving

(01:48):
you a bit of extra advice on the side. They
are your agent as the buyer. And apparently they are
projected to grow in popularity in the coming years. So
we're going to dig into what they are and who
really needs one. And once you've heard about that, would
you be like, oh God, I wish i'd had a
buyer's agent. My southward love that? And how does it work,
how do they get paid, who pays them, how where

(02:08):
does it all come from? So we're going to dig
into that. But also if we have time during this hour,
there have, as you know, and I probably rely on it.
I don't probably rely on it, of course, I go
on it because the projections sometimes on a properties value
that we look at. On the one roof website. AI
is in the house, should I say? And so look,

(02:31):
a lot of people, whether they know it or not,
they've opted for AI advice in their property searchers. And
in Australia there's been an article in real estate dot
com dot Au I think it's called where they are
being warned that it could end up costing your thousands
to rely on AI. And I think the question around
that is we use AI to get information, how do
you get good information? And is there an analog way

(02:55):
of going about it? Is that preferred? What I mean analog,
I mean sort of a I know what I mean,
I mean not AI, not digital anyway. So yeah, that
will be discussing that as well. But have you used
a bias agent? Would you? And or not? And would
you why or why not? Would you or wouldn't you?

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Right?

Speaker 1 (03:14):
I think before instead of me tying myself in notts linguistically,
we just want to say we want to know what
you think going on we eight one hundred eighty ten
eighty or text nine two nine two and joining me
to discuss it. She is a bias agent. She's founder
at Martellian Coo and her name is Alexandra Martellian. She's
with us for the one rufradio show. I think we
can call her Alex and Alex Hi.

Speaker 4 (03:35):
Thank you so much, Tim. Hi.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Hey, how did you How long have you been in
the real estate game?

Speaker 4 (03:41):
A long time?

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Okay, let's not.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
God uh No, I used to. I worked for Barfetts
when I was at school and university and then basically
my mum bllied me into it because I went home
and said I want to be a chef because that's
what the careers advised atoll miics like baking. She said, no,
you're not, you going to real estate Cirika. So I
worked for Barfoots when I was at school in Union,
then lived in Australia, in the UK and Hong Kong,
but always work for real estate firms.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
So when the shift come? Did the shift come because
you wanted to change or it because you recognize that
there's a gap in the market, there's a role for
buyers agent. How did you end up becoming a buyer's agent?

Speaker 4 (04:17):
So I'd been a buyer's agent Sydney years ago when
so I studied here and when I lived in Sydney,
I worked for a company called Cohen Handler it's a
pretty large buyers agency. When I moved there, we were four.
There was Simon and Ben and then two other guys
and I had it on, so we became five, and
then over three years that I worked there, I watched
it just blossom into a team of thirty. So Simon
ran a really really good business. And then when I

(04:40):
was in London, I worked for cb they incorporated, well,
we ended up incorporating a buyers agency, and then out
in Hong Kong we had a buyer's agency CBRE.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
What do I know that name is just because they're
a big real estate because it seems to must pop
up in some of my real estate searchers.

Speaker 4 (04:54):
I guess largest real estate firm in the world.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Oh, my producer's dad worked for CBR CBRI. I've read
this like it's the name of the company. She said
to me from my producer attire, and it says on
the screen my dad worked for CBR E OEMG the oemgs.
Oh my goodness? Or am I god?

Speaker 4 (05:17):
Everyone's got one in the family someone who's worked for CBURI.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
Yeah, we were as OMG, I was thinking, but of course, yes,
we know what that means. So he look, I'll ask
you the hot question. Is it just for rich people
buyer's agent? You've got lots of money and go, I
look an extra few thousand for a buyers agent.

Speaker 4 (05:33):
I think there's been a perception of that. You asked before.
What made me think about setting up a buyer's agency?
When I worked in all these different countries, we had
a big, big buyas agencies in each firm, and I
incorporated them into each place when I lived between London
Hong Kong. And what I realized when I came back
is a couple of people had tried setting up a
buyers agency, but they thought it was for wealthy people.
And you would hear these people and they go, oh, yes,

(05:55):
I helped a buyer and you know, we bought a
ten million dollar home. But it wasn't sustainable. There isn't
a model that just caters for enough clients. No, And
I think also they're not the people who really need
a buyer's agent. And each category of person needs a
buyers agent for a different reason. But in twenty twenty five,
fifty percent of the deals that we did as a business,

(06:16):
and I've got a small but growing team were first
time buyers. And investors. The biggest proportion of buyers that
we have and the ones who I think really need
a lot of help. We're actually from about two and
a half million to four million, Mum and dad time, poor, frustrated,
highly competitive, trying to get into a good school zone.
And then above that almost everything we buy off market

(06:37):
above five million. So people go, look, I'm disappointed with
what I'm seeing online just because I'm rich. The one
thing I'll say about wealthy people, just because they're rich
doesn't mean they're fancy being ripped off. In fact, typically
the wealthy archlyting as.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
I always think that if you're looking for someone to
drive a hard bargain, it's probably the people who who
you think have more money to spend because and it's like, well,
you don't get you don't get wealthy by being careless
with your money would be less than number one. So
what do you do? Because I have I could come

(07:11):
up with a few ideas. I think what he might
help me find something, But probably if I was using
a buyer's agent, I'd be thinking the negotiation would be
a big thing for me huge. So what do people
come to you for? What do they think they're getting
So people.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
Contact us because they say, typically, I am worried about
how much time and stress the search has already taken
and is going to continue to involve. I am scared
that I'm going to overpay for a property, or even
more so, I'm worried I'll buy a lemon and it's
going to cost me a lot of money down the track.
The thing about buying real estate is that you don't

(07:47):
know what you don't know. So a lot of people
come to us and say, I'm really scared about the
due diligence. A lot of people who are worried about negotiation.
Remember we had a client couple of years ago, rang me,
very prominent businessman. He said, look, I'm great at negotiating
business to yours. I said, yes, I know, he goes,
but I don't like negotiating property. This isn't a market
that I am an artists?

Speaker 1 (08:05):
Is that for his own home?

Speaker 4 (08:07):
It was his own home.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
It's emotional, I guess, And maybe yeah, there is. It
is such a personal thing, isn't it It is?

Speaker 4 (08:13):
It is? And people do they get emotional. They get caught,
you know, they follow one property down the path and
when they get burnt a couple of times they get
deeply frustrated. One of the classic ones is people come
to us and they got I've missed out. I say,
how many times you missed out on? They start going,
They go off five, you know, three four, five homes.
I said, what's that cost you? Okay, six hundred dollars

(08:33):
building inspection or eight hundred dollars lawyers. I said, but
what hasn't really cost you? They said time? Energy? My
wife hates it, so moving out on golf, yeah, sanity.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
What about the some of the first home buys, what
do they want from you?

Speaker 4 (08:47):
Their budget is tight, so they you know, this is
all of their savings, and what they're scared is that
they go, this is all the money I have. I
don't I can't afford to find out they actually need
to put a new roof on it, or discover that
there's a problem with I don't know, you know, a
development next door that's actually going to impact my property.
Typically also working really really hard. Our first time buyers

(09:09):
are such a mix of ages. We have more and
more first time buyers coming to us who are in
their forties and fifties.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Sounds surprised me at all.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
No, our oldest first time buy that we've ever worked
with was just shy of eighty. So it is not
just was there a lot of one of thet you know,
people who are now saying, you know, I'm ready to
get on the ladder, but I've never done this before,
and someone's not there to hold my hand through the process.
Where do we start? Who do we trust?

Speaker 1 (09:31):
It's a funny one, isn't it. Because I've had a
close friend who's recently bought his first house at first home,
whether for his family, and he, I mean, look, because
of a few connections I have on this show, he
did get some helpful advice I think from someone who
wasn't a bar's agent, but just from someone in the business.

(09:51):
But you know, part of it is a lot of
buyers in And I don't mean this to be a
slight on anyone, by the way, It's just a fact
of life. It's worth reminding people that, you know, you
can get a real estate agent who's helping you, who's
can with the seller's agent, and they can be very helpful. Sure,
but I always have to I mean, and I can
understand through my friend, I saw how you can easily

(10:13):
get sucked down a path of suddenly thinking, God, I
don't know if we're paying too much for this or
what to offer to make but I know, and I
sort of said, you just have to remember that the
agent is maybe helpful and maybe they're going to do
a good job for everyone, because when you sell, they'd
like you to go to them and all that, but
they are not working for you. They're working for the seller.

Speaker 4 (10:35):
In fact, they legally are required to. They have a
fidustry responsibility to the vendor.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
Because cynically, I also say, look, ultimately, they're not worried
about whether you get whether the seller gets an extra
hunt thousand door dollars or so. They just want the
thing to sell, because that's one the commission. And that's
a very cynical take for me.

Speaker 4 (10:51):
Well it's and it's a reflection it is, and it's
a reflection of an industry that has a lot of agents.
It is a highly highly competitive, low barrier to entry industry.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
Okay, So I mean is it how do I don't
know whether we want to dig into money and things,
but what is it for a first time buy? How
do they work out whether they can afford you or
how do you how do they make that decision.

Speaker 4 (11:15):
I think they make so to be completely frank, we
charge a retainer up front, and we charge a success fee,
and each fee varies according to the client, to the
complexity of the search, to the area, So we don't
just have a one size fits all the budget. The
fee that we charge has to fit within their due
diligence costs. It is a significant cost for them to
add on. But the query for them is am I

(11:36):
actually going to save this in peace of mind? I've
bought a good home for the right price, and I'm
very happy to discuss, you know that that argument of
what is the correct price? That is a really interesting
It's a different topic.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
It's what's a huge it's a huge part of the
equation because I mean everyone thinks, okay, what if my
fee is so many thousand dollars or something, and then
that am I going to get that off the price?
But then what's that worth? And where am I saving it?
And I can imagine them time themselves and not just
on that decision.

Speaker 4 (12:02):
Yeah, we tend to say to a lot of our buyers,
do you say, look, you welcome to speak to my
previous clients. See what they see? What the experience for
them was and typically they'll say the fee for me
was that peace of mind. It was the ability to
see all properties, you know, because we obviously go out
and find everything that's off market and pre market. We
look at all the properties.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
So if I decide that I want to buy a
house and I've sold mine and I want to buy
a new house, I want to engage you. How much
work do I have to how much work do I
have to do? I mean, obviously you would I can
imagine you'd say as much or as little as you want.
But how how much an engagement in the process will

(12:41):
I have to have? If I imagine the most important
time is what I spend briefing you on what I'm
looking for.

Speaker 4 (12:49):
It's a really good question because I think a lot
of people think, oh, a buyers agent, I go to
them and I tell them the unicorn property I want,
and then they go out and find it. One of
the first things we do when we speak to buyers
is we really qualify them and we make sure that
what they're looking for is actually achievable. And some times
buyers actually just need you to come in and give
a little bit of a and I don't mean it's
in in a negative way, but a bit of a

(13:10):
reality check. Here's what's actually important, and you know what,
those other things that we thought were important aren't important
given perspective precisely and reality and say, okay, well let's
really get down to what's important and then we'll adjust
the search around that. So qualification is one of the
biggest things. So in terms of your time commitment, our
first meeting, our brief meeting, you know, to just have
a chat is only half an hour. Then we have

(13:30):
another meeting that's usually an hour. Then throughout the search
you're refining and refining. But typically and we should have
a very good grasp on a what you want, but
b an agreement on what's achievable for our clients. We
have a weekly meeting with them. We just do an
online video meeting. We do it day and night. You know,
quite a few of our clients are key he is
living off shource seven in the morning at eight o'clock

(13:51):
at night. The majority actually here in New Zealand, and
the vast majority of those are here in Auckland. So
we have a meeting with them. And the biggest thing
is that if we are doing a good job. We
are qualifying the homes that are actually suitable, and the
qualification of those homes on our part is is this
a good quality home? And this sounds a bit woo woo,
but I've always said to my team, would you buy

(14:14):
it yourself? If you were the client, it was your money,
would you feel secure and safe buying this home? Is
the price realistic? Forget what the agent is telling us,
forget what the appraisal is. What is this home actually worth?
And you know, there's quite a few ways that you
end up assessing value. And then one of the big ones,
particularly in this market, is is the vendor realistic? How

(14:36):
motivated are they to actually sell? What does it mean
to them to sell? And at what level? Because otherwise
we could just all be wasting our time. Added into
that is has the agent and this is not a
christm of agents, but have they appraised it correctly? Have
they overcooked the price? And therefore the vendor is going
to have high expectations, in which case we might just
have to wait, you know, five weeks, to let it
pass an auction and then we can go back and

(14:58):
negotiate it. Or actually, is the vendor really realistic? Has
the agent priced it really well?

Speaker 3 (15:02):
So?

Speaker 1 (15:03):
How many? So? Oh gosh, I've got so many questions.
Do you narrow it down two choices for a client?
How as you say? You go off and you do
your homework. Once you've had the meetings and you've you
know what there after? What do you present to clients?
Do you find a handful of properties or do you

(15:25):
find look, here's one we're found to start with, and
then we'll have a dig if we've got this right
or wrong.

Speaker 4 (15:31):
What we tend to do We set up a spreadsheet
and we say, okay, we've been out and looked at
say let's give an example. Let's say you're looking for
a two million dollar homet and you're looking in Lower
north Shore, and we'll say, okay, we have been out
and looked at very closely ten properties, and of those
ten properties, there's only two that we really like. And
it does tend to be that type of a pipeline

(15:52):
of a funnel of properties, and you go, here are
the reasons I've discounted these ones. I've discounted these ones
because actually there's a lot of moss in the back corner.
We know that there is some sort of trickle of
water coming through from the neighbor's property. We've heard that
the neighbors are having a spat or you know, and
you learn a lot. I mean, one of the beautiful

(16:13):
things in our job is that we've got to know
the real estate agents really, really well. And it's a
lovely thing because they I think they their.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
Teeth when they say you're coming, they smile, They.

Speaker 4 (16:21):
Tend to smile. They tend to smile. And I've actually
now to the point where we went out. I went
out and presented to most of the real estate officers
to be able to tell them this is what you know,
this is what we do, and they're like, you've been
qualified buyers to us, this is the dream. So no
agents fortunately tend to greet us with why smiles when
we come in, which is fantastic, But that's taken me

(16:42):
a couple of years to build up those relationships.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
What are most so, I mean, your experience, what are
the what's how much time do people waste without realizing
it if they are doing the search themselves. What are
the things you know that what's one of the easy
things that you go, well, we save your time on,
you know, just making sure you're not wasting time on
properties that you're need are going to buy.

Speaker 4 (17:05):
Yeah. I think one of the interesting things when we're
speaking to buy is the thing the suburbs they tell
you in order are their preferences. So if they if
the first thing they say is Mount Eden, that means
Mount Eden typically is the hot property that the area
they weeded want to be in. And what they tend
to do is they start doing the sticky tour around
the place, understanding that your budget meeting your home requirement

(17:29):
is different according to the architecture and the style of
the properties. So when people come to me and I go,
I've got one point three million dollars and I want
to buy in gray Linn, I say, that's lovely, except
gray Linn is made up of villains. Now, the good
quality villas typically on you know they're going to be
three beds or four in a square meters of land.
So you are wasting your time. You're going to compromise.
You if that's your budget for that suburb.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
So would you do you sometimes try and work out say, Okay,
they've said they like Graylan and they like Grayland because
the villas et cetera et cetera, and then you go, well, okay,
your primary objective is the type of villa and gray lin. Therefore,
we can find you that property, but it's going to
be in a slightly different area, and that saves them.

Speaker 4 (18:07):
A huge amount of time, a huge amount of time
and energy because the problem with searching for property. I
often compare it to if you ever go into David Jones.
You go to try on colognes, and the first few
you try, you're like, oh, that's nice, and that nice.
But what happens people go to look at too much
real estate there actually becomes a tipping point where they go,
I sree, yeah, I've seen too many and now I'm
not entirely sure how much I should pay what they're worth.

(18:29):
And you get this. The word I would use is
this overwhelming frustration from buyers. You know that I've worked
really hard, I've saved up this money and I am
not able to secure the home that I want. What
is going wrong here?

Speaker 1 (18:42):
Who makes the Actually I've got more questions, but tell
you what, we'd love your cause. If you've got any
questions for alex Martelli, Alexandra, should I say she is
a buyer's agent? Would and if you you might be
curious or would you use a buyer's agent? And you
still think, oh, nah, I don't know, I don't know
explaining spending any money on anything extra that I have
to what do you reckon? Eight hundred and eighty ten

(19:04):
eighty text nine two. But also when you look back
at when you bought your property, do you think God,
I could have saved myself so much hassle by getting
someone else to do the legwork for me? Give us
a call eight one hundred and eighty ten eighty. There's
lots of things that alex and I can dig into,
but we'd like your calls, so we'll be back in
just a moment. It is twenty six past four. News

(19:24):
Talk said B. Yes, News Talk said B. This is
the one roof excuse me, the one roof radio show.
And my guest is a buyer's agent. First time we've
had one of one of those on sounds like, I
don't know, doesn't seem the right way to describe it,
but anyway, she is Alexandra Martelli. She's founder in Baya's
Agent Martellian Co. And basically, would you get an agent

(19:46):
to work for you? And actually, let's put it in
what in what circumstances would that sound like a good
idea for you? Because I actually, Alex, I have a
friend of mine who's, as I mentioned, he bought his
first property and he ended up in that's the situation,
and I think it's it's almost there should be a
law against it because it just feels so wrong. So

(20:06):
he put an offering and then apparently there was another offer,
and so it's a multi buyer situation, and it's it's
like an auction, but you don't get to see what
everyone else is bidding, and they say what's your best
offer and forward? And it's it's rope as all hell,
isn't it? How do you? How would you deal? How
do you as a bars agent? Do you end up

(20:27):
in those situations where.

Speaker 4 (20:29):
You're we proactively try to avoid them, because there they
are when I look at the form of the ways
in which we buy real estate. Multi offer is absolute
worse situation because you are going into a blind option.
And then it's suddenly you know, the agent says something
really helpful like put your best foot forward, and you
know that they are being genuine that you have I mean,
I want you to put yeah, but you at least
an option. I get so many buyers go, I hate auctions.

(20:50):
I hate auction that I understand it because everyone's terrified.
People go into auctions. They're scared they're going to be
led along and they're going to overpay and they're going
to come back to regret it, or they're going to
miss They're afraid of their.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
Own emotions and the emotion of the situation costing them
an extra fifty grand precisely.

Speaker 4 (21:04):
So you know, people are terrified. But I also say,
never forget it is the open market. Those are your
competition in terms of your unconditional buyers. And yes, agents,
oh we've got tons of conditional interest in the in
you know, hiding in the corner. But that is your
market right there. And it's usually a really good opportunity
to buy a property as in an auction, even for
it passes in that room, because what you do not
want to end up in is a multi offer on

(21:26):
Monday or Tuesday.

Speaker 1 (21:28):
See, I must say, I think it sucks, but I
can I mean, do you have you managed do you
always managed to avoid them, or do you sometimes end
up in a situation. Well, this is what we're what we've.

Speaker 4 (21:37):
Got they're the least it's the least likely form of
purchasing will ever end up in. And one thing I
always say to our buyers is because we always decide
very early on as a buyer's agent, here is the
value of the property, and here's what we're going to
pay for it. And that is the absolute last figure,
and we call it your your what the money where
we go, especially when we go into auctions, So let's beteen,
we're going to auction, which we do from time to time,

(21:59):
and we say, okay, this is the amount that we're
going to pay for it. And if someone wants to
pay one dollar more, fine, let them go because the
home's just not worth it.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
So, oh, that's a big journey to take someone on,
isn't it. It is?

Speaker 4 (22:12):
It is because most people and for buyers listening, if
you want to tip, always go into an auction deciding
what your price is. Because what happens is people go
into auctions, they go they decide the budget based on
what they want to pay for it, and what you
want to pay for it doesn't really matter if there
are other buyers in the room. What matters is what's
the home worth in the market. What does it mean

(22:33):
to you to miss it? But what does it mean
to overpay for it?

Speaker 1 (22:36):
If I'm an auctioneer, I say, well, look the buyer,
the property is worth what somebody's prepared to pay for it,
and it is you need to be and you need
to be ready to do that. And so how do
you work? How do you decide where the client how
much they should be bidding for the house of their dreams.

Speaker 4 (22:52):
So we always go And I was on a podcast
last week and they said, how do you decide the
correct value of a property? I said, it's a really
interesting one. And I know that one roof of sponsors
here and they have their own algorithm, and they say,
you know, you've got this a measure that you can
look at the value of the property, the value of
a home. And this is Alex's great philosophy. There's no
proof here, but my theory on the value of a property,

(23:14):
having done this for many years, is that it is
a combination of what is the position of the market
right there and there. So if you're open homes this
weekend and that weekend, who are you competing with? If
you're looking at a nice home and only hunger and
there's sixty groups going through. Well, that's because it's a
really really popular property, and the other properties that have
only got ten or fifteen groups, so they are not
as desirable. So that is going to drive value up

(23:35):
for that property, and that's not a bad thing. The
second thing.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
Sounds like a bad thing to me if I like it.

Speaker 4 (23:41):
Well, unfortunately, it's a desirable property. Also means though, that
when you go to sell it one day, chances are
other people are going to find it desirable as well.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
So you're not buying a dog at least.

Speaker 4 (23:50):
Well I've seen some popular dogs.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
Don't put that in your business card. We make sure
you don't buy a dog anyway. Sorry, carry on.

Speaker 4 (23:59):
So it's the market value. It is comparable sales. Now,
the thing about comparable sales is that they are historic,
and each comparable sale has a reason as to why
it's sold. That is why I'm so critical of algorithms
and cvs. And people start talking to me about cvs,
I just lose the plot slightly because they are an
algorithm designed for setting rates. So the value of the

(24:23):
property is what's happening in that period of time. Then
it's a combination of that with what is the vendors expectations? Well,
where do they realize, you know, what does it mean
to them to sell at that level? And where is
the agent pitch the property as well? And then what
are the comparable sales? So on your original question, how
do you decide what you're going to go into auction with?
We will run all the information and said, this home

(24:45):
to us is worth one point six to one point
seven million dollars based on all of this information, and
we are comfortable to bid up to one point seven
o five whatever it's going to be to say, because
we can we can see the value there. But if
someone wants to pay one seven oh five and a dollar,
let them because there are better properties that are going

(25:06):
to come up, or more suitable ones without you stretching
your budget out. So many people go into auctions regretting later.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
I've got more questions and I'm going to file them
because we've got a call to go. So but yes,
something about regret on the pro and we'll get onto
that on the second. But anyway, let's take some calls. Louise, Hello, Hello,
how are you good? Thanks? You're with Alex and me?

Speaker 3 (25:34):
Right? Yeah, okay, yeah, My story is my daughter is
living and working in Sydney, workfuly else you can couldn't
afford to of course, get on a property letter in Sydney,
so she wanted to buy an investment property. I came
over and we lit into it and very hard. So

(25:56):
she decided to try contacting property agents property so sorry
a buyer's agent. We went on zoom calls with about
four different lots and it was going to cost her
from like fifteen to eighteen thousand, just you know, to
get them to find a place for her. And I

(26:20):
just said to her, this is ridiculous. I'll come over
and I'll race around and try and find you something.
So I went over and having done a whole lot
of research back here, I decided that the best place
for her to buy would be Gladstone, which is in Queensland.
Went up to Gladstone and what I've been experiencing looking

(26:43):
online from New Zealand was that the minute a property
went up on the market, it was already had an
offer on it straight away virtually. And I found that, wow,
that's not exactly what was happening in Gladstone. So I
started to get really frustrated because I was just spending
all this time in a motel online trying to get

(27:04):
in at least talk to property agents. Got in touch
with a few of them agent no, no, no, the
property agents like who are selling the houses? And some
of them admitted to me that, oh, well, yeah, these
they do have a special relationship with the bios agents

(27:26):
and they tend to get to know about the properties
before they even go on the open market.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
Oh so are you wondering about how are you wondering
about how the relationship between the sellers and the buyer's
agents works here?

Speaker 3 (27:41):
Well, I'm assuming it's the same as it will over there,
or if it's not now, then it will be in
the future, Which is to me that aren't ethical. That
means that nobody out in the open market has a
chance because everything's already sewn up before.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
Are you making a statement or a question, I'm just
curious to what Well, it's.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
What I believe, because that's what I.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
There's your question or observation is that the buyers and
the seller's agents are on the cahoots and you want
would like a response from Alex on.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
That, Well, they're not supposed to be. I know that
it seems to me that they.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
Are okay, well, what do you say to that, Alex.

Speaker 4 (28:26):
Luise, thanks for pointing out that story. I actually have
heard about this in Queensland, where there are the buyers
agents and they're so prominent over there. The sales agents
will deal with the buyers agents first, and there is
a reason for that. It's that the buyers agents do
a lot of due diligence on the property and they
will go out and say I've actually got a qualified buyer.

(28:47):
Now for sales agents, a lot of them will say
we could stand around in the open home for four
weeks and do lots of opens, but we could also
just bring in a qualified buyer. Should they be taking
the property to market to do the best thing by
their vendor potentially, but they might also say to their vendor,
you've got a really good bye here. You know, they've
got the cash, they're ready to go. Would you like

(29:09):
to do a deal. And for some vendors who go, actually,
I don't want people walking through my home. I'm very
happy to do a deal. Now that might be something
they're more interested in. So your point is valid and
it is actually quite unique from what I have heard
to Queensland. When I worked as a buyer's agent in
New South Wales and Sydney. That wasn't the case. You know,
you're qualifying your buyers, you're doing a lot of due

(29:31):
diligence on behalf of your buyers for those properties, and
then you are you're up against you know, all the
other buyers. So it really comes down to the agent's
going what is the best thing. What they should be
doing is saying what is the best thing for my vendor,
because that's where they're fidutry responsibility lies.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
How did your daughter go buy in the property there, Louise.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
Well, I did find one. It just happened that it
was one of the ones we were really interested in.
When I got there, it already had no off for
on it, so I just gave up on that, spent
a whole week going through a whole lot more. Then
I called up. It was the agent, the property agent
who had that one listed, asking about a couple of others,

(30:12):
but they already had offers on them, of course, and
then she just suggested there, oh what about this one,
But no one's already someone's pulled out good stuff.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
So your daughter sort of had a buyer's agent just
with no fees anyway, Well done, Louise m It's interesting
because Louise was obviously doing it for her daughter, but
it just shows how that does sound interesting. But I
guess I'm not sure if it's an ethical question. It's
just the agent's working to get a price that they

(30:49):
want for their sellers and everything. And I think her
suspicion is it's all about cozy averon Gladstone.

Speaker 4 (30:54):
Yeah, and maybe it is, but I'm certainly not here.
The thing is is that. And one thing I notice
in real estate is it's very quick for people to
go things are unethical. It is unethical to have a
multi offer. It is unethical to have a you know,
for the vendor to sell quietly. There's a lot of
people who feel a who are annoyed by the process.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
I think unethical. Is I'm sorry, I think a multi offer.
I just think it's so up I'll just say unfortunate
because it seems that it's the situation that arrives for
first home buyers and it's a way of squeezing, and
it just happens to end up being a way of
squeezing them to give all their money. Here's what my
finances will allow me to go to here's my best
offer as opposed to god. I wish I could just

(31:35):
go to an auction and go oh.

Speaker 4 (31:37):
I remember dealing with them. We had some radical clients
of Danish and they came down and they said they
used the most beautiful word to describe it. They said
to us, the process is opaque.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
It was, you know, it's just I think that's a
very kind way to put it. It's totally there's a
worse word. I'm going to think of it an break though.
We'll be back in just a moment. You give us
a call on No. Eight hundred eighty ten eighty. Would
you use a buyer's agent? Do you wish you had
access to a bias agent when you bought your property?
Eight hundred eighty ten eighty it is. We're with Alex Martelli.
She's with haven't got the company's name in front? Yes,

(32:07):
it is Martellian Co. That's easy enough to remember. I
don't know how I forgot back in just a ticke.
It's eighteen and a half minutes two five. Yes, welcome
back to the one with Afradia shook in a few
minut minutes left and we did say we'd talk about
the AI and just getting good information on properties with
Alexandra Martelli. She's a founder and buyers agent at Martellian Co.
Alex How what do you taking? What do you make

(32:30):
of AI as a tool which so many people are
drawn to because you know, AI can be very clever,
but what's it? What are the dangers of it in
the real estate side of things?

Speaker 4 (32:41):
I think people want to be as informed as possible
because real estate is a high value transaction. For most people,
it's all the money they have and or all of
their savings. So everyone's going to AI and being like,
you know, I want to gather as much information as
I can. The risk with using AI, and we've talked
briefly about the algorithm risk, you know, the fact that
algorithms actually mean very very little is that people got
to AI and go, well, you know, what is the

(33:02):
due diligence? But the AI at this point isn't to
pick up on the on the details. When you go
into a house, why does it smell damp downstairs? Why
is their moss in the back garden? Why does it
smell like fresh paint? What's going on next door with
the five rather angry looking dogs? You know there is
in that due diligence piece. And I think most people
are going to AI. I mean, it's one thing to

(33:22):
go to AI and go what are the suburbs to
buy in? And you know AI is somewhat useful for that,
and there's some great data out there. The OPRAA skies
do some amazing research on you know where to invest.
But in terms of if you're looking you know, which
home should I buy and what should I look for
to feel secure and safe and buying this property? No,
I'm not buying a dut AI isn't there to tell

(33:44):
you what you know, what's wrong. The other problem with
AI is that it's most people also wonder how uch
should I pay for the property? Well, that's just taking algorithms.
It's not doing anything that you can't already see online.
It's not gathering further information.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
So if you've I mean you've seen a value of
a property that AI because there I know that there
are certain there's a value at which AI just chunes out.
It doesn't give a value. I think there's there's some
limitations to it in that respect. But what if you've
you've looked at a property AI said, Oh, this might
be in your ballpark. What homework would you do following
that to ascertain you know, how close the ball I.

Speaker 4 (34:20):
Would say, when you're looking at a property and going
what is the value? Firstly, chat to the real estate agent,
ask them outright, you know, what is the value, and
they'll probably say whatever the market's willing to pay. But
quite a few of them will actually give you a
few comparable sales. Look around if the agent is quoting,
if it's in the bracket of one point six to
one point eight on trade Mer, real Estate, dot, QOTA,
and zed, and you're standing at the open home where

(34:42):
one hundred and fifty other people. It ain't going to
sell between one point six and one point million. It's
probably going to go higher than that. So you just
have to use your initiative and go, well, how popular
is this property?

Speaker 1 (34:52):
Well?

Speaker 4 (34:52):
What you know? I go out and do your research,
look around, and I'm talking you know not people who
use a bias agent. If you're going out researching your
own property, really invest the time in getting into the
market and understanding that local market. And that's why there
is a lot to be said of focusing on one suburb,
get out there for two or three weeks look at
the homes, get a feel for what they're selling for.
But everything comes down to what the value is at

(35:12):
that point in time.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
I guess that does beg the first question as to
when you are looking for a property, and as you said,
you gave the example earlier, somebody likes the Grayland sort
of townhouse and you go, well, you get your budget's this.
You're not going to be able to do that. You
need to do the research to work out where you
should focus. That's one of the biggest things for people
is to just work in where do which neighborhood do

(35:33):
I start in?

Speaker 4 (35:34):
Yeah, they do? And you know, there's a lot of
research you can do yourself. And why I help with that,
Like I was about to say, a I might actually
be quite helpful if.

Speaker 1 (35:44):
You go recent sales and such and such.

Speaker 4 (35:46):
And you say, look, in fact, I've only got eight
hundred thousand dollars, but I want a full bedroom house.
What are my options? And it might say, okay, you
should look at I don't know, out to Henderson somewhere
in the west if you want a bigger home. And
you sort of kept eight hundred the biggest thing from
that and where you would benefit is go to the
And I'm a stickler all about the topic of the

(36:08):
quality of the home. So you go, that's cool. What
sort of home am I going to buy? If it
says a week books plaster? You know, Leka, well don't
buy that house. Yes you can buy eight hundred thousand dollars,
but it's probably going to be a bad decision. So
understanding and researching the quality of the home that you're building.
What are the materials? Is there something I should be

(36:29):
looking for? Speak to your building inspector, you know, does
it have duck squest, has it got weather side? Does
it have overhanging ease? And I know for a lot
of people listening, they might think, oh my god, what
on earth are these terms? But AI can actually text.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
You a lot about that. Funny you mentioned the smell
of fresh plant, which would be is there a that's
a red flag? If you walk into a place you go, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (36:47):
The thing is it could be a red fatter, it
could be a green flag. You could be like, oh,
these people really look after their home and they've just
painted it for marketing and it looks fantastic. But you know,
try to get as much information and really look at
the house, get an underneath, is it damp under there?
What insulation is in there? And again get yourself a
really good building inspector.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
Just quickly, somebody's asked a question, can you ask, Alex,
do the buyer's agent also get commissions from the seller's agent?
That's an easy question to answer.

Speaker 4 (37:14):
If they are, they're corrupt. No, okay, no, absolutely not.
And that is when we talk about You mentioned that
example of the sales agent who's helping, and they often
call themselves buyers agents, but actually the getting a split
of the fee of the commission. You absolutely cannot take
two fees from a transaction, So a buyer's agent is
paid only by the buyer. And to anyone who's who's

(37:34):
thinking about using a buyer's agent, just really find out
how they're being incentivized, if they're giving out referral fees,
how that's working, because a true buyers agent should only
be getting a payment from a buyer.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
Great, Okay, we're going to take a moment because the
one roof property of the week is up next, and
I'm going to give you a bit of time for
you to look at it so you can serve it
as we comment on it. The address is if you
are on the internet, you want to check it out,
thirty eight c Wicklam Lane, Green High. That's wic Lam
And there's a reason I've given it to you because

(38:06):
I think that the real estate agent could have done
a better work at the way they present the property
with the photos that they show. And you can text
your responses if you're really quick, and I'll be getting
Alex's take on it in just a moment. With the
one roof property of the week, which means it's not
so much a recommendation, it's just something we've noticed for
you to check out. Back in attack it's nine minutes

(38:27):
to five. The one roof property of the week on
the Weekend Collective. Yes, the one roof probably the week
is an interesting one. It is thirty eight see Wicklam
Lane Green High, the north Shore City. It's a deadline
sale estimate for well. The one roof estimate is estimate
two point seventy two million. Look, it's a lot of house.

(38:48):
It's five bedrooms, three bathrooms, two car garage and the
description sounds great. Step inside this magnificent executive brick residents
and discover a home. Blah blah, blah, scale, effortless family living,
blah blah blah. Generous bedrooms, family harmony, spacious bedrooms, private
master retreat, the catches. Which is why it sort of
caught our eye is that the photos for it, I mean,

(39:11):
the photos are sort of okay, but at the start
they have seven photos of the front of the house
which are all sort of the same and not particularly
well shot. And then the next photo is of the
two giant water tanks, then one of the retaining war,
then another one of the retaining wall, then the water
tank again, and I've got to go through about fifteen

(39:34):
photos before i see an internal shot, and I'm already
turned off the property. And it's a strange one because
the description Alex is quite poetic, oh it is, and
it's well described. But the photos there's ninety.

Speaker 4 (39:48):
How many, there's ninety one photos, ninety one photos. It's
like you're living there already, and I.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
Think you could probably get the gist of the house
in fifteen photos.

Speaker 4 (39:56):
Moe, Yeah, twelve to fifteen photos. The other thing is
that look look good luck to them. Yeah, I mean
it's a lot of money, it's a lot of photos.
There's a huge amount of power and actually a really
good video, you know, to take up the gap of
all so many photos.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
So they should have got the drone flying around and
then flying into the lounge and then.

Speaker 4 (40:18):
Yes, the nice voice, so maybe you could have done it. Actually,
the other thing is that just going through it like
it's a very substantial home. But I can't find a
floor plan.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
Somebody als mentioned one of my colleagues said that they
get turned off when they don't see a floor plank.

Speaker 4 (40:32):
I understand why what?

Speaker 1 (40:35):
How important? Does a floor plan?

Speaker 4 (40:36):
Incredibly important when I lived in Australia and the UK.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
We'll have to keep this short because I realized we've
got twenty seconds.

Speaker 4 (40:45):
Yes, all properties used to have floor plans. You need
a floorplan. People need to specially understand the property, Alex.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
And people want to get hold of you. They're interested
in Bar's agent. Where do they do it?

Speaker 4 (40:53):
Martelli Byers dot Cot.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
There you go. Hey, gosh, time flies when you're having fun.
Do go and check out thirty eight c Wicklam Lane.
Thanks for your time, Alex, lovely to meet likewise, okay,
we'll be extra for more from the Weekend Collective. Listen
live to news talk ZEDB Weekends from three pm, or
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