- Being Outplayed by Selling Agents
- Wasted Time, Fatigue, and Missed Opportunities
- Lack of Access to Off-Market Properties
- Overpaying at Auction
- Buying Non-Compliant or Poor-Quality Properties
- Falling in Love with the Wrong Property
Being Outplayed by Selling Agents
Real estate agents are highly trained negotiators — and they don’t work for you. That’s one of the most underappreciated risks buyers face when going it alone.
“A lot of people believe everything that they're told. And I'm not saying that real estate agents are liars — there are rules around disclosures — but people are really naïve. They can be eaten alive,” says Carly Susic of Select Property Advocates.
Carly notes that buyers often disclose too much.
“Agents are good at asking questions and getting things out of people. Buyers unknowingly give away their budget, their urgency, their emotional investment. That weakens their position.”
One common trap?
Being pressured to make an offer before auction.
“If we’re getting pressure to offer early, we often know it’s better to wait for auction, let the property pass in, then negotiate hard,” Carly says.
Wasted Time, Fatigue, and Missed Opportunities
Many buyers don’t realise just how time-consuming and draining the search process can be — especially if they don’t fully understand the market.
Michael Sier of BuyerX Mornington sees this regularly.
“A lot of buyers are working full-time or managing families. To do it well, you need to be speaking to agents, going to opens, understanding values street by street.”
Carly Susic shared a recent example involving first-home buyers who started by searching alone.
“They were looking at everything on the market — totally overwhelmed. We worked through their spreadsheet, taught them how to rule things out, and ended up buying them a fantastic long-term home in Prahran,” she says.
Lou Lihari of LP Advisory echoes the same pattern.
“The majority of our clients that come to us have been searching for quite a long period of time… in excess of 12 months.”
Lack of Access to Off-Market Properties
Many of the best properties never make it online — and unrepresented buyers often don’t even know what they’re missing.
“We have a dedicated off-market team,” says Lou.
“The competition is very little or next to none. The property doesn’t go public, and we have the opportunity to buy beforehand, which is very appealing to clients.”
Michael Sier adds that localised relationships are key.
“We’re entrenched in the Mornington Peninsula. Agents know us, and we often get the first call when something’s coming up — before it’s listed.”
🔍 Learn more: What are off-market properties and how do you access them?
Overpaying at Auction
Bidding at auction isn’t just about budget — it’s about strategy.
Former auctioneer Lou Lihari uses his experience to make confident calls that most buyers would hesitate on.
In one recent example, he opened at the top of the quoted range — $1.3 million — to set the tone.
“It eliminated a lot of competition and kept us in control... We were in the driver’s seat the whole time,” he explains.
Unrepresented buyers may not know when or how to bid, or how to read the room — and that can be an expensive lesson.
Buying Non-Compliant or Poor-Quality Properties
Michael Taylor of Specific Property recalls inspecting a Windsor apartment that had just been renovated. A throwaway line from the agent raised red flags - the fire sprinklers had been removed.
“Most buyers wouldn’t even register that as a concern,” Michael says.
“But it meant the property likely wasn’t compliant — which could void insurance and create major risks. We walked away.”
Carly shares similar concerns.
“Agents will tell buyers they don’t need a building inspection on newer homes. That’s just not true — new builds often have more defects than 100-year-old ones.”
Falling in Love with the Wrong Property
Emotional bias is a common — and costly — mistake.
Michael Taylor says buyers often fixate on kitchens and bathrooms while ignoring poor layouts, lighting, or liveability.
“They buy sub-par homes because they fall for the surface polish.
“That can limit capital growth and lead to regret.”
Carly helped steer one couple away from a South Yarra property with major functional flaws.
“You had to walk through the bathroom to get to the third bedroom,” she remembers.
“They didn’t even notice.”
