How to have a successful buyer’s agent relationship

An investor and his buyer’s agent have shed light on what makes their relationship work in a way that is mutually beneficial.

agent buyer working together spi

Speaking on a recent episode of The Smart Property Investment Show, investor Alex Whitlock and his buyer’s agent, Paul Glossop of Pure Property Investment, provided insight into how the two of them have worked together in building Alex’s portfolio.

“I think the way we work well together is we set a very clear brief initially,” Mr Glossop told host Phil Tarrant.

“But the key with setting a brief, I think, from an objectives and strategy position, is it has to be reviewed regularly… One thing that's very obvious is, over the last one, two, three years, things have evolved. [There has been] change in [Alex’s] life personally, financially, and it’s made us have to make changes within this portfolio. But it’s still intact, and that’s the key.”

Mr Whitlock puts the successful relationship between him and Mr Glossop down to this consistent reviewing, noting that it’s important to re-evaluate one’s goals as circumstances change.

“I think why this relationship works, just with you and I, is first of all, you have to start from somewhere. So, you start out by saying sort of, ‘What are your goals?’ And I told you what I was looking to achieve, you understood that,” Mr Whitlock explained.

“We started building the portfolio around those particular goals. And we’ve stayed true to that largely. But it has evolved as markets have changed, you know? There have been some areas of opportunity. There are some areas of change and some areas of decline. So, we’ve kind of sort of evolved it.

“But I think starting from scratch, knowing kind of where you’re going, you understood that. And we bought initially around that particular goal. And I have to say, those initial properties, they’ve gone very well and they’ve gone to plan.”

Commenting further, Mr Glossop shared how the pair work together in identifying the right assets to maintain a healthy property portfolio.

“When we first had that discussion, the questions that we wanted to figure out is: What is the current assets-liabilities position? What’s the current overall income? What’s the available surplus income? And what do these properties have to do? And what’s our time frame that we have to hold this true to?” he said.

Mr Whitlock added that it’s important to maintain discipline when embarking on the property journey, noting that having a buyer’s agent by your side can aid significantly in the process.

“You learn discipline with investing in property, you know? And I think knowing where you’re going, having discipline, having a reasonable measure of risk versus return, understanding the identifying factors of greed and then applying that to property where I work with Paul [is important],” he said.

“There’s one property where I said, ‘I want to buy in this particular area’, and Paul went away and found the asset. Paul’s also recommended areas to buy. But I just love the whole concept of being able to create a better financial future through something so tangible and accessible for everybody.”

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