We help make you money by buying the right property that will appreciate and grow in value. To maximize your options in the future you should want to achieve a growth rate on your investment that is better than the market, or a similar house in the same street.
What are some of our money-saving tips?
Don’t confuse saving money with buying the wrong property.
What happens if it's not the right place and you have to sell again in two years? An average Melbourne home in a good suburb will cost you $50,000 to $100,000 in stamp duty and agent fees, not to mention the cost of moving and stress.
We all need expert advice, strategy and tactics sometimes.
Would you go to court without a lawyer? Or would you handle the court case yourself and just call a lawyer in for sentencing? It's a bit like that getting somebody at auction to put their hand up when they have done no research into worth, the seller, the agent, other buyers or more importantly, your needs. We have the experience to know what, when and how to make an offer.
Paying the right price is about establishing the value of the property.
Are you happy getting $5000 off the asking price when you could have got $50,000? Do you know how to make a low offer and not risk losing out to another buyer? Are you paying $80,000 too much for the wrong place? It may take you ten or 20 years to recover from these decisions if you are wrong.
You will save the most money by matching the correct property to your needs.
You don’t want to pay $1.5 million when a house is worth $1 million, but similarly you don’t want to not pay $1.1 if it’s the right property for you. Understanding your needs can take less than 48 hours to do, but it needs to be done.
Renovating or re-building will not always save you money.
Say there’s a 10,000 square foot property and the price is more than $2 million. The house is arguably a knock-down job. If you had $2.5-$2.7 to spend, would this be a good buy if you could put a new home on the block for $500,000? The answer is probably no. You couldn’t put a half-decent home on the block for that money that would be viewed by new buyers as value when it came time to sell.
Buying property is all about achieving capital growth.
There’s no point saving money on the asking price if you don’t make money in the long-term. The major part about buying property is that it is all about making money. None of us have money to waste, and we can stop you spending more than what is fair.
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Case Studies
Over-capitalizing may create your very own “Money Pit”.
You buy what looks like the perfect home, but the house has many problems; structural, plumbing, layout and electricals…and before you know it, you have a house that’s a proverbial “Money Pit” on your hands.
Below are two houses that sold incredibly well, one at auction and one after a failed auction from last year. Both are beautiful properties, with period features and in a great position, but both, in reality, need a lot of work and money to make them good homes. In turn, that expenditure will put the vendors into a bracket where, in our opinion, they will be seriously over-capitalised.
The inner city property has a good façade but only one bedroom. The en suite has been renovated, but the rest of the house needs major work. Purchase Price - $870,000. Renovation estimate - $350,000. Total = $1,220,000 (not including stamp duty and holding costs while it is being renovated and you couldn't live in it). Hello? $1,220,000 without a car park (in a area where you need car parks) -- it makes little sense. There has been only one other sale around that price that we are aware of and it had multiple car spaces and was fully renovated.
The Domain Road, South Yarra property has a good position and the agents did get a good price for this place. But the layout was all wrong -- the living areas were upstairs but there was no access to the rear yard and the views were restricted. The bedrooms were downstairs and were small and pokey. The house also had a sloping yard and freeway noise. You could build a third storey or you could seriously rework the plan, but this would cost $500,000+. Even in South Yarra, people want to get something for $3 million. It is not as obviously wrong as the above inner city scenario, but all that effort and money would still result in a place worth less than what you have put in. This is why you need to be careful with what you buy.
Identifying the right buying zone takes tactics
What is a property worth? Is the asking price fair value? And is the property a good buy?
These are questions we always get asked, and all buyers should be asking themselves - especially when they are dealing with skilled selling agents - and even more so if they find themselves isolated by agent tactics.
Good buying usually occurs when you give a little and the agent gives a little. The problem is when you are negotiating well above the right or good buying zone, and well above what the vendor would have accepted. This is a zone many inexperienced buyers find themselves in. But don’t take our word for it.
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“The fact we paid $75,000 under the asking price as a direct result of Mal’s property valuation and negotiation means my initial concern was invalid.”
When my husband first suggested we use a buyers agent I was sceptical. Why did we need to spend more money in what was going to be an expensive exercise anyway? And didn't we know what we wanted in a house better than anyone else? However due to the difficulties of house hunting while living interstate and our need for some haste I reluctantly agreed.
I am pleased to say the experience with Mal James exceeded all our expectations. He was well informed, knowledgeable, communicated in a friendly, open manner and enjoyed a good coffee. He was remarkably perceptive and facilitated us in clarifying our needs and desires. His knowledge and resources allowed us to be able to compare values of different homes and different areas very quickly without months of our own "trial and error research". This enabled us to confidently purchase a new home less than 2 weeks after moving to Melbourne. We could then make sensible decisions re schools, kindergartens etc which was very important to us. The fact we paid $75,000 under the asking price as a direct result of Mal's property valuation and negotiation means my initial concern was invalid!
Overall the whole process was actually enjoyable and we would not hesitate to recommend him to others.
Paul and Sue Bilston
Nevis Street
Camberwell
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Skilled agents play a game of snakes and ladders to push the price up
Bait markers, conditioners and floor price are just a few of the ploys agents use, that put you on dangerous negotiating ground.
Say, for example, you have seen a property you like – and it's well below your budget of $850,000. The good buying zone is around $720,000 since similar places have sold in this range. On first enquiry, the selling agent says tells you that "it's early days – but we’re thinking $760,000 plus". A little high you think? But what the heck, you’re in.
The red carpet has been rolled out and the agent has put up his first bait marker and you have taken it. At the open for inspection, the skilled agent greets you warmly and informs you the official quote is now $770,000 to $810,000. He lets you know there has been very strong interest - we call that a conditioner. $810,000 is another bait marker.
You're in the game now - you want this place. But let's just freeze our game of snakes and ladders here and give you an overview about markers, conditioners and floor price.
Bait markers, conditioners and floor price are the system names we use to show you how skilled agents put up a price.
Bait markers are test prices put out by the agent to determine your level of interest. Then with good price technique, the skilled agent supports these bait price markers using conditioners.
Conditioners can be positive and simple like a brochure; but they can also be negative like news of another offer (whether real or dummy). They can also be very sophisticated with charts and cashflow analysis tables.
The floor price is the minimum where the agent has stabilized the buyer at a price to do the deal. A skilled agent's aim is to be consistently stabilizing the floor price and where circumstances allow, increasing it.
The process is hard to recognize with skilled agents, but all of us would have seen its crudest form with bad agents. They confuse you about prices over the phone (bait price - the first marker) - they tell you another price at the inspection (second marker) and get pushy with some irrelevant information (for example, the rare maker of the roof tiles or the 'ol favourite "we have another offer").
Anyway back to our game of snakes and ladders.
The skilled agent is now building a rapport with you - another part of their technique. In the second week, after some discussion you 'drag' out of the agent that the vendors reserve is $780,000. The agent says: "I am not really meant to tell you that" and you know the agent is serious because he is whispering to you. Why whispering is associated with sincerity, we are yet to determine…
Next you confront the skilled agent and you want to deal. With feigned empathy, he plays his final trump card. "I have another offer at $830,000 but I reckon $850,000 will buy it today".
"No way" you say - "I am not paying that". You end up pulling the agent back to $810,000 as the other buyer miraculously disappears.
Well done, and great negotiating – but did you buy well? You have bought it under your budget, and got a bit off the final asking price. But look how far you are above the good buying zone of $720,000 you are. It's the real life version of snakes and ladders.
So what about our tactics at James Buyer Advocates?
We use bait markers and conditioners in reverse and we have ceilings, not floors. We also believe strongly in 'win win' deals when the right situations present themselves.
Missing a property because you wanted to screw the agent on a legitimate price is simply a bad tactic. But getting the price down while getting the right property is very acceptable. The trouble is, it's a fine line that only the experienced should walk along. But again, don’t take our word for it…
“We were comfortable coming up to auction with the big decisions already made in advance.”
Coralie and Geoff rang us on Monday wanting to buy a property next door and we bought for them at auction on the Saturday...
Dear Mal,
Re: Yarraville Purchase
Thanks so much for assisting us to buy the property next door. Your professionalism, enthusiasm and expertise left us both feeling confident after our first meeting. In the few short days before auction, you helped us clarify our goals regarding purchasing the property and importantly discussed the worst case financial scenarios. From there we could then understand the sensible price needed to buy the property.
Your attention to detail and thoroughness in preparation of background information and documents prior to a State Trustees' auction meant that we felt informed and left no surprises on the day. At the time of signing, it was great to have a knowledgeable party on our side to catch any errors and to oversee the various steps involved which seemed to occur at a rapid speed.
Your daily update phone calls prior to auction were always positive, cheerful and stress free! Your negotiations with the Vendor were carried out in a confident and friendly but firm way with a fine sense of auction theatre. Your in-depth knowledge of buying and selling property saved us thousands of dollars on the day and we are very grateful. You have been fabulous to work with and have made buying property so easy for us - thank you!
C Lowe
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We wanted to acquire the old house next door for the land when it came up for auction by the State Trustees. We initially felt capable of handling the preparation and bidding and discussed it with our Accountant. He suggested James Buyer Advocates may be able to assist us. Mal James responded quickly to our phone call on Cup Eve and after meeting with him after the Cup we were sure it was the right thing for us to engage his services for the auction in 4 days time.
Mal promptly did a property report, section 32 review by solicitors and made sure we knew what we were getting into and the price range needed to buy the property. He put forward an auction strategy based on his knowledge of property sales in our area and the issues associated with State Trustee auctions. We were comfortable coming up to auction with the big decisions already made in advance.
On the day, we anonymously relaxed and enjoyed the theatre as Mal negotiated with the Agent and Vendor after the property was passed in well below reserve. Mal settled on a price lower than we could have achieved then systematically took us through signing the contract of sale after correcting several errors made by the Agent. Although he has done it a hundred times before, Mal ticked off every step on his checklist as we went. We were confident that everything was in order and had peace of mind.
Mal followed up with a friendly visit with his usual good humour and left us with some reassuring advice on security, insurance and development ideas.
We experienced a good value, professional service and are happy to recommend James Buyer Advocates. We would certainly engage them again in the future.
Yours sincerely
G Lowe
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market, with multiple buyers often pursuing the one property, our experience and expertise allows you to close on the right property, at the right price. This public forum is not the place to tell you all the ways we can save you money, but we do. 
