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Business View Australia - July 2015 81
yer
urchaser
Buying a home is usually the single
largest financial decision that a
person makes in his lifetime and
the usual approach is to take a real
estate agents help. But the real
estate agent usually works on behalf
of the seller as well, and this could
result in a conflict of interest. Even in
a situation where the agent plays an
absolutely impartial role, the buyer
may not get the best possible deal.
Back in 2001 Rich Harvey,
founder and managing director of
Propertybuyer saw an opportunity
to work exclusively for the buyer in
home buying and property investor
transactions. He decided that he
would remain completely independent
of selling agencies to maintain
his focus on representing only the
buyer interests as a “Buyers Agent”.
What’s more, the revenue model
he adopted consisted of an upfront
retainer fee collected from the
buyer and a success fee payable
upon completion of the transaction.
Hence his income was entirely from
the buyer and it was a fixed fee and
not a percentage of the purchase
value. This transparent structure
made it very clear that Propertybuyer
was working only for the purchaser.
Describing the inception of the
business, Rich Harvey says, “Our
REAL ESTATE