Hi Ozbargainers!
I hear that many use agents and buy properties remotely during the covid times and it has worked well (not just because of booming house prices but how convenient it is). I am in a boat where I am looking for a property (Investment/PPOR). I am afraid to make such a commitment with an agent and was wondering if anyone else in Ozbargain community had an experience they can share in buying and managing properties remotely?
First off, how did you find one? What things did you ask the agent? How was the process since the inspection to making the offer to signing the contract? How did it go later when it came to managing assuming you bought an investment property in this fashion?
I looked up a few forms e.g, propertychat, whirlpoot etc.. and there are quite a lot of agents active here from all aspects but still not confident in approaching one. There is a huge amount of trust I believe that is required here but a lot of folks seem to have done it with ease. What is the secret here?
Cheers,
Dr-SL
I would have thought one absolutely necessary way of building trust is by talking to a number of these agents and determining which ones are going to suit your needs based on their approach, the services they offer (and don't offer), and their track record of results.
Remember though, that no agent is ever going to be able to guarantee you a result. If a property goes to auction, it will be sold to whoever places the highest bid. The value of your property after you buy it is dependent on overall market fluctuations. The ongoing return from that (thinking more investment side) will again be a function of a number of variables including the local and overall rental market, the state of the property at the time of purchase, and its overall cost of go forward maintenance.
There's no real short cut to a no/reduced risk purchase. You still have to do a lot of legwork, it's just that you can outsource some of that to an agent in the way you are getting at.