Thanks guys..

What is the best way to go about finding a independent buyers agent? I have targeted a few areas which I'm interested in buying in, so now i need to find buyers agents who deals in these areas.

I guess there would be no point contacting the major estate agents in the area as they generally act on behalf of the seller?

Thanks!

Question: If you are a buyers agents and you source a property from a seller, who isnt using a sales agent, how do you lock in the seller?

For example, if a BAs finds a property where the seller doesnt have an sales agent, then the BA offered this property to a buyer, what is stopping the seller from accepting offers from other BA's or private buyers?

I think this term is refered to a 'gazumping'

Why would a seller sign a form 22a with a buyers agents when he could sign one with a normal agent, who would be looking after his interests better?

So the only real difference, in terms of costs, is the flat 1.6% rate for land tax?

So by purchasing property around $150k, the land value could be around $100k, which is $1600pa ($133pm) for land tax. For one property its not so bad, but if you have 10 it might quite high.

On the same note, if the value of the land is going up, im sure the value of the property is too (good sign).

I guess you would need to weigh up the land tax (1.6%) versus the potential savings in the medium term (tax) as land tax will be applicable for property bought in your own name once its reaches the threshhold.

If you also plan to only buy positve cash flow properties (from day one), wouldnt it make sense to use a trust structure to avoid having to pay tax on the addtional infome your properties are making?

So with a fixed trust is the tax free threshold applicable?

Silly question, but who decides on the value of your land and how do they determine this value? Is it a simple calculation done by multiplying the size of your land by the value (per squate meter) of the land? Might get tricky if different suburbs have differnent values in terms of the land vlue?

Lets say you land value was just below the threshold, is it up to you to alert the tax office that its now over the threshold or is this something done automatically by the tax office?

I think what i was refereeing to is agents (working for agencies) who advertise properties on sites such as Doman / RealEstate will always be representing the seller, which means they always going to try get a much a possible for their clients property, so you never really going to get a good deal buying property through these kinds of agents. 

I guess a better use of an agent would be a buyer’s agent. I guess a buyer’s agent would represent and have the interests of the buyer at hand. I guess a buyers agent would need to work independently? My next question is.. if a buyers agents represents the buyer, how does he lock a seller into a deal with no mandate in place and does the buyer pay for the agents commission? What commission do buyers agents usually charge?

Thanks Navid, ideally you want to be dealing with a lawyer who is an investor himself and works with other investors.

I will send you an PM, but also happy to hear about other memebers recommendations.

Cheers,
Robbie

Thanks Michael, this clause was just a quick thumb suck to try prove a point or an idea i was trying get across with regards to get creating around your contract escape clauses.

Do you have a good lawyer I can use? The ones I have used back home in South Africa have generally been the smaller firms with less of a big, powerful reputation.i.e you paying for their service and not their name.