Answers to some of the common questions we are asked about Metropole’s Property Acquisition Services
Here are some of the questions you may have about Metropole’s Property Acquisition Services.
To help you better understand this service, please click your question in the menu system below to be taken directly to our answer or check through the common questions by reading the balance of this page.
What can I expect in the process of you searching for a property for me?
Using the investment criteria in your personal Strategic Property Plan, or the brief you gave to us if you’re a homebuyer, we will narrow our search to a group of suburbs that fit the strategy that we have agreed upon.
Even though you will have one buyer’s agent as your primary contact moving forward, all members of Metropole’s buyer’s agency team will working be working on your behalf looking out not only for those properties on the open market, but off market and pre-market opportunities because we will be alerting our Real Estate agency contacts of your requirements. Once you explain to us how frequently you like us to keep in contact, and which the best method of communication is for you, we will make sure we keep you up-to-date with the progress of our search for you.
How long will it take to find my property?
While we’re not in a hurry to find the right property, once we find the right property we will be in a hurry to secure it on your behalf.
On average our property searches take 3 to 4 weeks.
Sometimes, because our team of buyer’s agents are in the market seven days a week and are aware of not only all the properties currently on the market, but all the new listings as soon as (or even before) they come on the market, the time frame to find your ideal property could be shorter. On the other hand, at times when there’s a shortage of good properties the search for your property can take longer. We have very strict criteria that a property has to fulfill, and if nothing suitable crops up then we will need to extend the search timeframe.
How do you determine which suburbs you will be searching in?
Our search revolves around:
- Your budget –
- The suburb location
- The type of property
We have found that almost all our clients have to compromise on one or the other of these.
Your budget will have been determined by your loan preapproval. We are not prepared to compromise on suburb location, remembering that location will do the majority off the heavy lifting of your property’s long-term performance. When we commence your search our research department has will have narrowed down a group of investment grade suburbs which are likely to outperform the averages, based on your budget.
How many properties are you going to recommend to me?
You’re probably familiar with how some selling agents entice buyers to fall in love with a property. They will often show them three or four secondary properties and then show them the best property they are selling, which in comparison to what they’ve seen looks significantly better than if it was seen in isolation.
Our job is to save you the time, hassle, emotion and stress; and that’s why we only present one property at a time to you – the best property amongst all those available on the market at that time.
Interestingly over 90% of our clients are happy for us proceed with this first property that we recommend to them – after all, they recognise all the hard work, due diligence, time, effort and perspective brought to the party by our buyer’s agent.
Of course, we don’t buy all these properties, even though our clients tell us to proceed. At times somebody smarter than us, or maybe dumber than us, is prepared to pay more for the property that we recommend; or sometimes the vendor is unrealistic in their price expectation. But the point is, we will only offer one property at a time for your consideration, being the best property available on the market based on your requirements and our research.
Are you going to inform me about all the properties you inspected but rejected?
At the beginning of our property search we will ask you for your expectations and how you would like us to communicate with you.
Most of our clients are very busy and trust us to do all the hard work and only want to be shown our final recommendation. This is particularly the case as many of our clients have already used Metropole’s services for previous property purchases.
However, other clients want to know about some of the properties that have been considered and eliminated. While we won’t go into significant detail, we would be happy to give you general overview on these properties.
Remember our buyer’s agents are in the property market all day every day. They not only scour the property portals online, but are regularly communicating with local Real Estate agents. Because they know their “patch” well, they bring a level of experience and perspective that allows them to eliminate many properties without even seeing them. Your buyer’s agent understands why one side of the street is more valuable than another and why some streets in a particular neighbourhood are no go zones. They also have access to multiple industry research databases, as well as our own internal database.
What level of due diligence are you going to provide me?
Our final recommendation will include suburb level due diligence plus significant due diligence about the property we recommend.
We will also advise you as to what other due diligence we may have to undertake before making a final recommendation. This could include obtaining minutes from the Owner’s Corporation or conducting a building and pest inspection to ensure the integrity of the property. In some cases these will come at an extra cost to you, so we won’t undertake this level of research until we obtain your approval.
How does the Metropole determine the price of the property they have recommended?
This is a challenging fast moving markets, but our Buyers Agents are experts in their territory, they each specialise in select range of suburbs are in the market up to 7 days per week.
In determining a price we recommend clients pay we use a combination of science (data and research) and art (on the ground perspective- something you can’t buy.)
Of course it starts with as many recent comparable past sales as possible, ones that have occurred within 1km – 2km from the property we are recommending to you.
In the process we consider:
- Land size and values for houses.
- Similar sized complexes and locations for townhouses, apartments and villas
- Similar locations and streets
- The condition of the property, both internal and external
- The number of bedrooms and bathrooms
- The current market sentiment – is it rising or falling?
Our Buyers Agents are professionals and as they are in the market every day they have a deep level of perspective and understand with great accuracy the difference between all properties that have sold.
Generic data house research centres and property portals deliver Automated Valuations but these are only a very rough guide and do not take into consideration the condition of the property, its aspect, which state of renovation.
Most property portals have a data lag, with sold and settled properties taking a few months to hit their records, and they do not take market sentiment into account.
On the other hand, our Buyers Agents have their finger on the pulse of their local markets. Remember we only want to buy you a high quality, investment grade asset.
How do you determine a property’s “intrinsic” value?
We will be advising you of the recommended property’s market value based on recent comparable sales.
Where possible, we will also advise you of the property’s intrinsic value based on the summation of the land value, or notional land value in an apartment building, and the replacement cost of the dwelling.
If you would like us to buy the property on your behalf, we will also discuss with you our preferred method of negotiation.
This will be determined by the conversations and feedback we have with the selling agent. Remember as property professionals the selling agent will be speaking to us at a different level than they would to members of the public, and often divulge information that puts us in a good negotiating position.
Will I be competing with other Metropole clients? What happens if you have another client in the same price bracket as I am?
That’s a great question, as we know many buyer’s agents will send an email round to a group of clients offering them the same property. This means they are more likely to get a deal rather than by only offering it to one client and missing out.
By the way… Metropole definitely does not subscribe to this method of operation.
In other words, we will never compromise your position by offering the same property to more than one client.
Despite being one of Australia’s most active buyer’s agencies, it may surprise you that we rarely have more than one client in the same State with exactly the same investment criteria at the one time. Remember each of our clients has had a customised, personalised strategic property plan developed for them and whilst we have thousands of clients they are all in different stages of their journeys.
Do I have the final say in which property we will purchase?
Of course you do!
We will keep offering you properties until you are happy for us to proceed with the purchase of one on your behalf, and then of course we will keep working on your behalf till we negotiate the purchase of your preferred property.
Should I inspect the property personally? What if I live in a different state?
The preferred option is for you to inspect the property with us prior to negotiations commencing or us bidding at auction.
However, many of our clients live in a different state to where we purchase their investment property. While some hop on a plane to inspect the property, most don’t.
Either way you’ll be given a very comprehensive due diligence package including a comprehensive set of photographs and videos if appropriate. Whilst we advocate against buying a property sight-unseen, you can rest assured that you have a team of independent experts who are paid by you and who will have gone through the property on your behalf as your eyes and ears on the ground.
Will you introduce me to a conveyancer?
Yes, we will introduce you to the panel one of our panel of solicitors who specialise in property conveyancing.
While we recognise that some conveyancing companies can be a little cheaper than solicitors, we only work with solicitors.
You see… when things go wrong in the conveyance, you need a solicitor on your side protecting your interests, rather than just a conveyancer.
The problem is we don’t know which of the 350 to 400 property transactions we conduct each year will have issues. But we do know a small group of them will. Our job is to protect our clients, so we will only recommend a solicitor who specialises in Real Estate conveyancing to look after your interests.
Are you going to abandon me after I purchased my property?
Of course not!
After your property contract has been exchanged, we will still keep working on your behalf instructing your solicitor, communicating with our property management department, conducting a final inspection and answering all your questions.
Our property management will look after your investment property insuring you maximise returns, and you will have an annual review with your Metropole property strategist – we see this is a long-term journey together. And if a renovation or development is part or your property strategy we’ll be liaising with our renovations or development departments so you are aware of what potential costs may be involved prior to making any commitment.