Making aspirational home ownership easier

Determined to take the pain out of purchasing homes for high-end aspirational buyers, start-up buyer agency, BuyerX, is streamlining the current highly fragmented buyer model while also combining the ‘cream of local area specialists’ with highly disruptive technology.

“In short,” says BuyerX Corporate General Manager, Dustin Cracknell, “we’re making the home buying process easier, quicker and more efficient for time-poor professionals, delivering them a much better result.”

Underpinned by highly-regarded, nationally based blue-chip property investment specialist, Performance Property Advisory (PPA), the agency kicked off in Melbourne in January and will progressively roll out nationwide.

Rather than purchasing properties on behalf of both home buyers and investors, Buyer X will only source properties for people buying their primary place of residence.

Also rather than having agents spread themselves too thin by purchasing properties for clients across an entire city, state, even the country, its local area specialists will focus on very specific suburbs.

These local area specialists are former real estate ‘super-stars’, with a long history in real estate sales and an intimate knowledge of their local areas.

“They know every street, every home, every nook, and every cranny. They already have great relationships with all local estate agents, which is so important. They know which properties are on the market, which are off market and which haven’t yet been listed … they are across every transaction at any point in time,” says Mr Cracknell.

“They know which properties sell well and why. They also know what a realistic price for a home is and what’s not, which means they are in a perfect position to negotiate the best possible deal for the client!”

Operating as a joint venture arrangement, BuyerX will partner with these real estate super stars.

While agents will manage all customer-facing activity and take care of the day to day operations of their businesses, BuyerX will handle all marketing, training, furnish leads and provide the front and back-end technology.

Mr Cracknell says the new venture was borne out of a demand to better address the needs of the prestige home-buying market while also simplifying the purchasing process in a changing technology environment.

“Prestige buyers (CEOs, top level executives, business owners, doctor, lawyers, even expats) don’t have the time or inclination to search for property, let alone manage the purchasing process.

“They’re too time-strapped to trawl through the myriad of real estate portals, platforms and websites out there, neither do they want to be pestered by real estate agents trying to sell them something.

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Former partner at Melbourne-based premier real estate agency Kay and Burton, Tim Picken, is the first of these hand-picked, high-profile specialists to partner with BuyerX, with others to follow progressively over the course of the year. He will be the local area specialist for the City of Stonnington and the City of Boroondara - covering iconic suburbs such as Toorak, Armadale, Malvern, Hawthorn and Camberwell.

To further simplify the purchasing process, BuyerX clients can access the company’s   innovative property inspection review portal, airopens.

Here BuyerX agents and clients as well as real estate agents more generally can view and review properties on the market at a given point in time and in specific locations.

“Something of a Trip Advisor for prestige properties, it enables would-be purchasers to get the warts and all of a property, not just what selling agents want them to see - if neighbouring properties overlook the backyard, if there’s road noise, if the property is suitable for downsizers or growing families, the condition of the building, if it can be improved and so on.

“It also furnishes people struggling to choose between multiple properties, with a ready checklist and tools - both novel and critical - to facilitate the decision making process.”

Mr Cracknell says what this means for time-poor purchasers is that they can expedite the property shortlisting process and better understand what should be guiding their decision making process.

“Buyers can easily compare properties, refine their search and buying criteria and more easily collaborate with both family and trusted advisors.

“Bottom line, they can get into that ‘forever home’ faster!”

More about BuyerX … BuyerX is a highly specialised national buyer agency focussed purely on sourcing and purchasing prestige property for high-end buyers looking for their primary place of residence. Unlike other buyer agencies, the company has partnered with local area specialists (former real estate agents) who focus their search on specific areas and suburbs rather than an entire city, state or all of Australia.