Buyers Agency

You appoint a Property Acquisitions Consultant under a Buyers Agency Agreement. This agreement will incorporate the amount of the consultant’s commission, some time frames and a property description. Most importantly as soon as this agreement is signed, guess what? Yes the consultant is working for you. The consultant’s duty of care is to you, the buyer. The consultant’s first responsibility is now to the buyer not the seller.

There are a number of strategies that a good Property Acquisitions Consultant can employ to serve the buyers interests. By signing the Buyers Agency Agreement form, the buyer has now given the agent the best possible advantage to actually drive the price down. This is the reverse of the normal method (where the consultant is obliged to secure the highest possible price) but surely is a better method for the buyer.

Reasons to appoint a buyers agent

The rewards from choosing the right methods of buying or selling real estate in New Zealand can be startling. Most people drift into buying or selling and take the normal or traditional route on the way to their sale or purchase. Whilst this can have good results, normal and traditional is not always the best.

Usually real estate consultants work for the seller. The normal method is for the seller to list the property with a consultant and sign an authority to sell. This authority to sell usually incorporates the agreed amount of commission the seller will pay to the consultant.

As soon as this agency agreement authority is signed the agent has a fiduciary (a responsibility to act in confidence and trust) duty of care to the seller. Put simply the consultant is working for the seller and not the buyer. The buyer does have rights and protections under the Consumers Guarantees Act but the fact is the consultants first responsibility is to the seller.

Therefore if you are a buyer the normal or traditional method is not necessarily the best way to proceed. It is in fact illogical to enter into a transaction which puts you the buyer at an immediate disadvantage.

Request a memorandum

Fill out the form below to request a copy of our buyers agency information memorandum.