Thank you all, especially Benny. Really appreciate the effort you put in. Your advice is really good and it makes a lot of sense. Actually the first company I crossed off the list after one meeting was one on the Gold Coast. They only wanted to steer me to one area, which was Pimpama, and immediately challenged ideas of buying closer to Brisbane. These were of course all to-be-built homes in a new development. Furthermore there was a sense of pressure in the language around the next step which would involve the in house broker and making sure I had a deposit handy that day?!? It didn’t help that the poor bloke wore a hideous be-jewelled Rolex which sent all the wrong messages (dot get me wrong, I like Swiss watches, just ones with class) and couldn’t pronounce the word boutique, though used it multiple times in the conversation. The other two firms both use their own finance brokers but work on finding the right property in multiple different areas, rather than pushing you into one development. There is no fee and they haven’t been pushy. They make their money by getting a clip on the finance, a kick back from the sale and property management if you opt to do everything with them. All three though have pushed the notion that building new makes the most sense for an investment as you get the depreciation aspect and reduce your stamp duty paid, plus build equity faster if you build in the right area that is on a growth trajectory. I haven’t yet got beyond initial discussions with any of them so have not yet gone looking at any of their suggested properties. I was always going to compare whatever they show with anything similar sold in whatever area we look at…this is why a development in Pimpama that has not yet been developed was off the cards as I couldn’t compare anything if there was nothing to compare it against. The due diligence on a making sure I get a fair price was always going to be a priority for me and if they start pressuring me before I’ve had a chance to do this, I will walk immediately. I figure there is still enough sales commission in a house sale that they can make good money without inflating.