Why buyer’s agents were key in this investor’s journey

But as a busy engineer and a doting father, Mr Carmody recognised that a buyer’s agent would be key to his investment success.

“I’m an engineer by trade, so that’s 11-hour days. [I haven’t really got] much time to do research when you’ve got to spend time with family, and I just had a little boy recently as well,” Mr Carmody said on a recent episode of The Smart Property Investment Show.

His first investment was a $295,000 three-bedroom house in Launceston, which he purchased in August 2018 with the help of an experienced buyer’s agent. Now valued at around $400,000, the property is renting for $340.

“It’s performed really well. Just got a valuation done actually two weeks ago and it’s come out at about 400 grand,” Mr Carmody said.

A year later, and again with the help of a professional, Mr Carmody cashed out on a $367,000 four-bedroom house on a 700 sq m block in Townsville.

“That was September 2019. So again, it’s a four-bed house, decent size block. That’s currently rented out for $400 a week.”

Next, he made a rather COVID-defiant purchase of a $426,000 three-bedroom townhouse in Thornlands, in Brisbane’s south east, in September 2020.

“It’s all going pretty well so far. Mostly, I’m a long-term buy and hold property investor, so I’m looking at getting some equity out between the principal place of residence and the Launceston property now.”

At the moment, Mr Carmody is in the process of inking the deal on his fourth investment, with a long-term goal to possibly change career paths.

“To be honest, my long-term goal is to have a career in property, not sure what exactly, but I just love listening to these podcasts and reading books and I want to potentially get into developing down the track as well,” Mr Carmody said.

Pre-purchase research

Speaking about how buyer’s agents have steered his journey, Mr Carmody explained that while he has an analytical mindset, he falls victim to an “information overload”, which is where professional help was key.

As such, he explained that having a buyer’s agent helped him redirect his focus on the data that would ultimately drive growth.

“Too many spreadsheets, I think, is what my problem is… [although] I do enjoy the level of detail and I like to understand everything they put in front of me before I make a decision, because I don’t really want to go into something willy-nilly, especially when you’re spending a lot of money and a lot of your future depends on it,” the investor said.

“They were quite good at explaining a lot of the reasons why they were buying in that area, and I just felt really comfortable with the information they provided. I went away and did my own fact-finding just on the information they provided to me,” Mr Carmody shared.

Unemotional investing

This hard data also enabled him to remove the emotion and make entirely objective decisions.

“For the first one they suggested, they were quite upfront in saying that they’ve got a set number that they’d purchase that property for. Anything above that, they wouldn’t purchase it.”

This straightforward approach “took all the emotion out for me”, according to the investor. “[They do] a lot of research, due diligence that I don’t have time to do, and the emotion, [they] just take all that away.”

Finally, post-purchase, the buyer’s agents facilitated Mr Carmody’s hunt for quality property managers.

“Through the buyer’s agents, they recommended property managers in each of those locations, so using different agents in Launceston, Townsville and then there’s an onsite property manager for the one that we’ve purchased in Brisbane,” he explained.

Future plans

Looking ahead, Mr Carmody aims to continue working with professionals as he moves forward with his investment journey.

“I want to get into Melbourne from a longer-term point of view. Just [looking at the] demographics down there, once these borders open back up, I can see a lot of people going back into Melbourne,” he said.

Mr Carmody also plans to expand his connections with property professionals to ensure that he’s getting the best services possible and ultimately making smarter investment decisions in the future.

“I’m trying to just utilise them to gain experience along the way and then eventually move out to do it myself or get into developing or potentially use other buyer’s agents down the track to continue purchasing,” Mr Carmody concluded.

Tune in to Liam Carmody’s episode on The Smart Property Investment Show to know more about his property strategy and his long-term objective of turning his passion for property into a full-time career.