Hi ,

Do you know of any off-market properties?

This is the first question raised by many buyers when looking to engage a Buyer’s Advocate. The answer is yes, we do have access to homes for sale off market. However, an off market purchase is not always the best way for a buyer to secure a property. As a Buyer's Advocates, we also cannot be reliant on just this purchase option alone. 

So what is an off market property?

In short, an off-market property is a property that is available to be purchased, however it is not publicly listed on real estate sales websites, such as realestate.com.au or Domain.  It's a 'secret' sale or unadvertised. 

As much as buying a property yet to be advertised may sound like you're "in the know" when others aren't, there are disadvantages to buying a property this way.  The main one that we've seen crop up three times just this year alone for one client, has been the lack of committment by the vendor to the sale. This happened again on Friday, just two days ago. 

Without having made a commitment to proceed with the sale, usually in the form of paying for marketing (which can be many thousands of dollars), vendors can be fickle. We've seen three instances where a vendor has said they'll sell, our client has inspected the home, we've advised the agent we wish to proceed to buy it, then the vendor wakes up the next day with cold feet and either takes the home off the market or presses the pause button.

This is frustrating for our clients and also wastes the time of all involved - our client, us and also the real estate agent.

We receive messages daily regarding homes for sale off market. However, just because a property is off-market, doesn’t mean it is a good buy or is the right fit for you as a home buyer. The usual due diligence must still be followed, such as a building & pest inspection, like we would for any other type of property purchase.