In this episode, Damien and Jeremy speak with Ricky, a friend of Damien's and an Australian expat based in Shanghai, about his real, extended experience searching for and eventually engaging a buyers agent to purchase his first property, in Sydney.
Background: An Expat Buying for the First Time
Ricky explains he left Australia around 20 years ago, spending time in London and other countries before settling in Shanghai for the past eight years. Since he left before buying his first property, Australian property investing wasn't on his radar for a long time, despite having some informal exposure through Damien's own property journey over the years.
The Biggest Hurdle: Lending as an Expat
Ricky identifies lending as by far his biggest challenge, and the main reason the overall process took so long. He explains that Australian banks assess expat applicants partly based on the currency they earn in, expats earning in USD, Singapore, or Hong Kong dollars are generally viewed favourably by the "big four" banks, but Chinese renminbi (RMB) earners are treated far more cautiously, with CBA and NAB not considering RMB income at all during his search, leaving him with only a small number of options: two of the big four (Westpac and ANZ) and three third-tier lenders. An initial attempt with Westpac resulted in a very limited borrowing offer, well short of what he needed.
Ricky also found that trying to borrow jointly with his wife (who isn't an Australian citizen) added further complexity, eventually leading him, via a mortgage broker's referral, to first hear about buyers agents as a path forward.
Discovering and Shortlisting Buyers Agents
Ricky describes starting his research informally through Google, noticing buyers agents are a much more established, longer-running category in the US market than in Australia. He found candidates through Instagram (with the platform's algorithm surfacing more once he engaged with a few), through his wife's research into Chinese-Australian buyer's agent networks (a distinct market segment targeting Chinese-background buyers), and by listening to buyers agents interviewed on other property podcasts, which let him evaluate their philosophy and communication style before ever getting on a call.
In total, Ricky spoke with nine different buyers agents over several months, in conversations ranging from 10–15 minutes to over 90 minutes. His personal checklist evolved as he went, eventually including: the agent's own investment philosophy and personal portfolio, whether the firm operated as a solo operator or a larger team, whether the specific person he'd be working with was actually based in his target market (rather than outsourcing regional purchases to an unaffiliated local contact), and simply whether he felt a genuine, trustworthy rapport with the person, rather than feeling like just another database entry.
Good and Bad Experiences
Ricky rates his experience across the nine as roughly a 50/50 split between positive and underwhelming interactions. A standout positive experience came from a buyers agent he first connected with organically on Instagram, leading to a genuine, unhurried 90-minute conversation that felt more like talking with a knowledgeable friend than a sales pitch. On the negative side, he recalls one call built around a scripted slideshow presentation, repeatedly prompting him toward small verbal "yes" commitments, a tactic he recognised and began deliberately countering by pausing longer before responding.
He also noticed a recurring pattern where his initial contact turned out not to be the actual buyers agent he'd end up working with, instead being handed off to someone else entirely if he proceeded, which he found less valuable and more generic than speaking directly with a founder or the actual buyers agent from the outset.
Ricky received ongoing newsletters or resource emails from around three of the nine firms, but didn't experience heavy spam beyond that, direct one-to-one follow-up aside, which he says he didn't mind, since he was equally happy to keep asking his own follow-up questions in return.
Red Flags
One clear red flag for Ricky was firms that seemed to specialise narrowly in a single market or property type (for example, exclusively buying units in one specific area, with properties seemingly always "ready to go"), without first taking the time to understand his personal circumstances (his expat status, limited lending options, and status as a first-time buyer) before recommending an approach.
What Ricky Actually Wanted From a Buyers Agent
Ricky's primary motivations were genuine local expertise, network access (including the promise of "off-market" opportunities), and trustworthy, personalised guidance suited to his specific circumstances as an expat, rather than a generic, one-size-fits-all recommendation. Importantly, he had already decided he specifically wanted to buy in Sydney (as a future home he intends to eventually live in, not purely an investment decision), which meant ruling out potentially stronger-growth markets elsewhere in favour of a market with personal significance to him.
Jeremy notes that if he were selling a property himself, he'd always want maximum buyer exposure rather than selling "off-market," and both agree that genuine off-market sales represent a small fraction of transactions despite how heavily the concept is promoted in buyers agent marketing.
Fee Structures
Ricky observed a mix of fixed and tiered (percentage-based) fee structures across the nine firms, and ultimately didn't let price be the deciding factor, though he did note tiered fees could become a meaningful cost at higher price points (into the $1–2 million range). For his eventual Sydney purchase (in the $1.4–1.6 million range), his buyers agent fee came to $22,000, a little over 1% of the purchase price. Jeremy contrasts this with a separate example he's seen of a client paying $25,000 (roughly 8%) on a sub-$400,000 property, a dramatically higher proportional cost for a much smaller purchase.
Timeline and Decision-Making
The overall process took Ricky about five months of active buyers-agent engagement (following an earlier four months spent primarily on the lending side), with his first choice of agent ultimately unavailable to take him on immediately, meaning having a backup shortlist proved genuinely useful rather than needing to restart the search from scratch. He acknowledges some natural hesitation given the scale of the financial commitment, but says this was more a normal reaction to a large decision than genuine doubt about his choice, having already done thorough groundwork beforehand.
Advice for Other Expats
Ricky's key advice: find a mortgage broker who specifically works with expats from your country of residence, since general Australian brokers may not have access to the same lender options available to specialist expat brokers. He also recommends speaking with other expats who've successfully bought property from overseas, since their first-hand experience can be a valuable resource beyond what a broker or buyers agent alone can offer.
FOMO and Market Timing
Ricky admits to genuinely feeling FOMO throughout his search, particularly hearing about strong recent growth in markets like Perth, Adelaide, and Brisbane during his search period. His response was to focus on his own circumstances and goals (wanting to eventually live in Sydney specifically) rather than chasing whichever market happened to be performing best at the time, reasoning that there will always be another market and another opportunity. He also notes that as a non-Australian tax resident, he doesn't currently receive the same capital gains tax benefits (including the 50% CGT discount) as an Australian resident would, a further factor in his decision-making around holding versus selling.
What's Next
Ricky confirms he's currently at his personal lending limit under his own name, but has learned that some lenders allow a loan to be held jointly (using both his and his wife's income for serviceability) while keeping the property title solely in his name, an option he plans to use for a future second purchase, likely a more affordable, pure-growth-focused investment in a different market. He anticipates eventually returning to Australia within the next five to ten years, alongside his young family.
Is Australia Still the Best Place to Invest?
Asked directly by Jeremy whether, setting aside personal bias, Australia still stacks up as a genuinely strong place to invest compared to everywhere else he's lived, Ricky says yes, citing Australia's overall lifestyle and liveability as standing out relative to most places he's lived or visited. He contrasts this with markets like Thailand, where he's observed friends buying attractive, brand-new off-the-plan properties that are subsequently very difficult to resell, since he says there's rarely a buyer on the other side of that kind of purchase, despite seemingly attractive yields.
Closing Thoughts
Damien and Jeremy thank Ricky for sharing his experience, noting they're keen to feature more real investor stories like this in the future, not just highlight-reel success stories, but genuine, sometimes messy journeys that other listeners can learn from. They close by encouraging listeners to like, share, and subscribe, and to reach out if they know someone (particularly an expat) who might benefit from hearing this episode.