The agents of change

Todd Selwyn thinks using a buyer's agent is the way to go. Photo / Herald on Sunday

A new breed of estate agents is aiming to turn the tables on the traditional seller-agent relationship - and get the best deal possible for buyers.

Buyer's agents are not a new phenomenon but several firms have set themselves up to act solely for shoppers.

New Zealand Buyer's Agent launched last year. Agent Adele Keane said it charged a flat fee to act for the buyer in all aspects of purchasing.

They include finding properties, researching sales, dealing with mortgage brokers and lawyers, and bidding.

Keane said most of her company's clients were overseas, but it also acted for Kiwis.

She refused to reveal the flat fee but said it was a lot cheaper than the commission a vendor would pay on a $600,000 sale.

Real estate agent and property manager Thomas Baseden began promoting his buyer's agent service two years ago.

Like Keane he acted for a lot of overseas clients, but his domestic business was growing, he said.

"It is a bit of a change in thinking, a shift for people to think, 'Well I'm going to pay money to buy a house'."

But he said a buyer going into negotiations with a seller's agent was immediately at a disadvantage because that agent's job was to "extract the largest amount of money they possibly can for their vendor".

"I do the opposite," he said.

Baseden charges 1.5-2 per cent of the purchase price for a full service, but will also represent a client at an auction for a flat fee of about $500.

Waipu-based agency goodGround Real Estate has begun offering a buyer's agent service. It charges an engagement fee plus 4 per cent of the agreed value of the property, and 10 per cent of every dollar it saves the buyer under the agreed value.

Founder Martin Albrecht said he was aiming at the upper end of the market.

Ray White New Zealand chief executive Carey Smith said his agency had buyer's agents in its offices, but didn't offer it as a retained service.

Where it did act on behalf of the buyer it would charge a percentage of the sale price.

However, he felt the market for buyer's agents was limited in New Zealand.

"The majority of people are sellers before they're buyers ... they're in the transaction for a certain amount of time and generally they've done a lot of research and they know where they're moving to."

But the service might suit people looking for holiday homes, he said.

Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson said his firm also acted as a buyer's agent when clients wanted it.

"There is a small need for them but the traditional one would be still predominantly the seller agent rather than the buyer agent."

He knew some specialist buyer's agencies had set up but did not believe there was a growing demand for the service.

House hunting made easy

Todd Selwyn and his partner initially hired New Zealand Buyer's Agent because they were overseas and needed someone to inspect properties for them.

But as time went on the firm proved useful in other ways.

"As we moved into the purchase process it was really great to have an objective second opinion.

"We probably had an unrealistic view of the market in terms of what you got for your money, so it brought us back into what we could realistically achieve with what we wanted to spend."

The 34-year-old got agent Paul Mead to do the bidding at the auction for their Remuera property so he "didn't go crazy and end up spending millions of bucks on a house".

Selwyn says it's hard to quantify how much the buyer's agent may have saved them, but they got the house for less than they were prepared to spend.

"They were working for us for virtually a year, it comes down to peanuts."