{"id":4907,"date":"2015-07-05T01:00:52","date_gmt":"2015-07-04T15:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realestatetalk.com.au\/?p=4907"},"modified":"2015-07-05T01:00:52","modified_gmt":"2015-07-04T15:00:52","slug":"buyers-agents-cohen-handler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/channels.realty.com.au\/realtytalk\/buyers-agents-cohen-handler\/","title":{"rendered":"Buyer\u2019s Agents – Simon Cohen"},"content":{"rendered":"

 
\nIn today’s show we\u00a0talk to Simon Cohen<\/strong>, a partner in Cohen Handler. He and his good friend, founding partner and young entrepreneur, Ben Handler, started the agency some time ago, and it\u2019s one of those great buyer\u2019s agencies in Australia.
\n <\/p>\n

Transcript:<\/h4>\n

Kevin:<\/b>\u00a0 I love talking to buyer\u2019s agents, because I see that buyer\u2019s agents in Australia are really a great emerging trend. If you look overseas, in fact, some of the figures we\u2019re going to share with you are staggering to me, and I\u2019m sure they will be to you, too. About 80% of property buyers actually engage an agent to help them buy a property in America, but who pays the commission? This is the interesting thing.
\nI\u2019m talking now to Simon Cohen is a partner in Cohen Handler. He and his good friend, founding partner and young entrepreneur, Ben Handler, started the agency some time ago, and it\u2019s one of those great buyer\u2019s agencies in Australia.
\nGood day, Simon. Thanks for your time.
\nSimon:<\/b>\u00a0 My absolute pleasure. How are you?
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 I\u2019m fantastic, thank you. Simon, in the States, the commissions are a lot higher than they are in Australia. Who pays over there?
\nSimon:<\/b>\u00a0 Typically, the commissions are around 6%, and the seller pays that, and it\u2019s split between selling agent and buying agent \u2013 a bit of an interesting model, but all paid by the selling side.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 That is incredible \u2013 6%. When you look at the average in Australia, it\u2019s around about 2.5% to 3%. I know some agencies actually charge more than that, but that\u2019s quite staggering, that figure.
\nSimon:<\/b>\u00a0 Absolutely right.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 I want to talk to you about a couple of trends that you\u2019re noticing and also help me dispel a myth. I commonly am asked whether there are good or bad times to sell and buy property in Australia. What\u2019s your view on that?
\nSimon:\u00a0 <\/b>Typically, everyone says springtime is the best time to buy \u2013 everything comes on the market then. I think definitely, over the past two years, we\u2019ve seen that that hasn\u2019t been the case. The markets across the Sydney and Melbourne markets have been dry, and there hasn\u2019t been a lot of stock.
\nPersonally, we found at Cohen Handler some of the best times to buy are December, January, and July, when most of the other buyers are out of the market and you actually are competing with fewer buyers.
\nTypically, if you\u2019re looking to buy, always find the times where there are fewer people that you\u2019re competing against, but most people do think that September, October, November is the time. But in the last couple of years, it hasn\u2019t really been the case.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 It\u2019s easier to take that general view, and I think, even, if you look at some of the micro-markets around Australia, too, you look at the Gold Coast, you wouldn\u2019t buy a property on the Gold Coast, I wouldn\u2019t have thought, in that Christmas period because that\u2019s actually when most of the stock is actually on the market.
\nSimon:<\/b>\u00a0 Absolutely, or in Palm Beach. You\u2019ll pay a higher price because everyone falls in love with the glowing water, but if you buy in winter where it\u2019s damp and miserable, you\u2019re likely to get a better deal.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at a similar situation, whether or not you should buy in a seller\u2019s market, because you\u2019d assume that in a seller\u2019s market, all the momentum is for the seller, not so much the buyer.
\nSimon:<\/b>\u00a0 Yes. Look, it really depends. In every market, people have to buy and sell for different reasons. People have kids, they get married, they get divorced. Unfortunately, people pass away; that\u2019s just life. If you know where to look and you work with the right people, there are always opportunities.
\nSellers buy themselves in seller\u2019s markets, so they have pressure to sell themselves. There are a whole number of reasons why you can get good opportunities. It\u2019s just making sure you\u2019re aware of them and you know where to look.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 When you\u2019re looking around for clients, Simon, do you look for things like how long the property has been on the market, how negotiable these sellers might be, and even what their motivation is?
\nSimon:<\/b>\u00a0 I think the first thing is what their motivation is. If we can figure out why they\u2019re selling, and if we can try and match up terms that benefit them that might not necessarily mean paying more money, that\u2019s an ultimate win for our clients, and also for them, if they\u2019ve bought and now they want bridging finance or they need six months in the house and we can give them a long settlement. Those are really, really helpful things for us.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 The Internet, of course, has opened up real estate to a worldwide market, and we\u2019re seeing a lot of interest coming from overseas. Technology like virtual reality \u2013 is that helping us sell properties in Australia to overseas buyers?
\nSimon:<\/b>\u00a0 I think we\u2019ve seen video and smartphone, being able to send our client photos and videos in real time straight away. We were one of the first companies to adopt the Google Glasses. Unfortunately, Google have had a few technical issues with those, but we\u2019re always looking to adopt these new technologies to help people overseas see property as if they were looking through their own eyes when they were here, if that makes sense.
\nAbsolutely, as technology gets better and as smartphones get quicker and pixels are greater, and all of that, it makes it a lot easier for people to buy sight unseen.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 Yes, indeed. Mate, it\u2019s great talking to you. We are out of time, unfortunately, but I thank you. We\u2019d love to have you back in the show in sometime in the future.
\nSimon Cohen from Cohen Handler has been my guest. Simon, thanks again for your time.
\nSimon:<\/b>\u00a0 My absolute pleasure. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  In today’s show we\u00a0talk to Simon Cohen, a partner in Cohen Handler. He and his good friend, founding partner and young entrepreneur, Ben Handler, started the agency some time ago, and it\u2019s one of those great buyer\u2019s agencies in Australia.   Transcript: Kevin:\u00a0 I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176692471,"featured_media":4908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,13,25],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-4907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kevin-turner-sponsored-channels","category-latest-story","category-sponsored-channels","tag-podcast"],"yoast_head":"\nBuyer\u2019s Agents - Simon Cohen - Realty Talk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/channels.realty.com.au\/realtytalk\/buyers-agents-cohen-handler\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Buyer\u2019s Agents - Simon Cohen - Realty Talk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  In today’s show we\u00a0talk to Simon Cohen, a partner in Cohen Handler. 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