Ben came to us wanting to use a buyer’s agent, but he had been put off by the cost. Other firms had quoted him upwards of $20,000, and he was not convinced the value was there for the kind of purchase he was making. He had already bought his first investment, a high yielding unit in Queensland that was running cash flow positive, and he wanted his second property to work alongside it.
The brief for the second purchase was clear. It needed to be a house, and the combined position across both properties had to land as close to cash flow neutral as possible. That meant the rent on this purchase had to do real work, without sacrificing growth potential to chase yield.
Given his preference to stay in Queensland and the rental return we were targeting, we split our focus between Cairns and Townsville. Both markets were in a strong phase of the growth cycle, which meant we had to move fast, but with discipline, so we did not overpay in the heat of the market.
The pace of the search reflected that. We missed out on a handful of opportunities along the way, some attracting more than ten competing offers, but we held the line on price discipline. The right property would come, and when it did, we would be ready to move.
That property turned out to be in Burdell, Townsville. There was one caveat, the existing tenancy was sitting below market rent. However, with the tenant moving on in six months, we knew this was a short term pain, longer term gain scenario. The reduced rent also meant the competition was noticeably less intense, which gave us room to negotiate properly. We secured the property below our estimate, locked in the future rental uplift, and gave Ben exactly the second leg of the portfolio he came to us for.
For a buyer who had been hesitant about engaging an agent at all, the outcome spoke for itself, a disciplined purchase in a strong growth market, a clear path to cash flow neutral across the portfolio, and a foundation he could continue building from.
