Q&A with REBAA Treasurer Matthew Ward from Aspect Buyers Agency:
Q: How long have you been a buyer’s agent?
A: Four years although providing acquisition advice for 20 years.
Q: What are you qualifications are why did you decide to become a buyer’s agent?
A: Bachelor Commerce (Property Economics), Certified Practising Valuer (CPV), Associate Member of the Australian Property Institute (AAPI), Member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors England (MRICS) and Licenced Buyers Agent NSW and QLD.
I decided to become a buyer’s agent to offer our experience to the general public and to help guide people through the process of finding and acquiring property. We saw so many people making poor property investments, we just wanted to get involved in the process earlier to try and prevent that from happening.
Q: How does being a qualified buyer’s agent help you in your business and in your client relationships?
A: It has helped us add value to our client experience by allowing our clients to leverage our experience in property dealings, to a much greater extent than just providing a value. Being tertiary educated and formally trained through the valuation industry, we offer a much broader base of understanding on different asset class’ and markets.
Q: What locations of do you specialise in and who do you buy for?
A: We like to think of ourselves as a conduit between the city and country. We help country people buy in the city and the city people buy in the country. We purchase across all property class’ including residential, commercial and rural.
Q: What were the main challenges to becoming a buyer’s agent?
A: Knowledge of the service and industry. We were not completely aware of the industry in the beginning, or that there would be demand for the service in our coverage area.
Q: How did you find out about REBAA?
A: Once the decision was made to start our buyers agency branch, we went looking for the industry body. Having been members of the API and RICS for 15 – 20 years, tapping into the support and industry network was crucial for us.
Q: How does REBAA support your business?
A: Networking and referrals are the main benefits, and to have a sounding board to bounce around ideas or to deal with situations. There is so much experience in the membership body and of people who genuinely want to do the right thing by their clients, so learning from and being part of that is extremely beneficial. It gives us faith that if we pass a client onto another member that there is high level of professionalism and competence with that firm.
Q: Why did you nominate to be REBAA treasurer?
A: To do my bit for the industry. It’s a small role, but I feels it helps in the overall running of REBAA. There is a lot going on behind the scenes and the REBAA Executive are always facing challenges. It’s great to be part of that process and see first hand what it takes to keep the REBAA wheels turning.
Q: What are your business goals for 2018?
A: To develop the awareness and benefits of using a buyer’s agent in regional areas. With the Sydney markets starting to soften, regional areas are now coming into their own, so we are really focusing on that wave of interest for 2018.
