Testimonials: Expats

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The following are extracts of written testimonials we have received from some of our past clients. We will be happy to put you in touch with any of our past clients so you can speak with them directly regarding their experience of using our services.

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At the beginning of the year, we moved to Sydney from California and after a few months decided that we wanted to look into buying a house and getting ourselves settled. The housing market in the San Francisco Bay Area is hot but we quickly found it is nothing compared to Sydney. In addition to the prices and competition, the concept of 30 minute home inspections and the thought of going to auction absolutely terrified us. It was such a different process from what we were used to. After a couple of months of looking and a few failed purchase attempts it became very clear that we needed help. …

I had read a couple of articles on Buyers Agents and we felt that this might be the best approach for us to take.

I had seen OH Property Group constantly recommended on the North Shore Mums Facebook page. As soon as I spoke to Henny it was very clear to me how they could help us and the competitive advantage we would potentially have over other buyers. After just the first weekend of working with Henny and Oliver we could see that they not only understood the property market on the Lower North Shore but also understood our brief. Six weeks in and we purchased a beautiful house in Cremorne that ticked almost all of our boxes (and ticked some boxes that weren’t even on our list!). We purchased the house off-market which allowed us to avoid competitive bids, having to go to auction and paying more than the house was worth. We could not be happier and cannot wait to move in.

I don’t think we could have done this without OH Property Group. It was so helpful to have someone who was out there every weekend looking at all potential properties that might meet our brief. Oliver and Henny are so familiar with the area and the real estate agents that they know about properties before anyone else which is a big advantage over other buyers. Real estate agents know that Buyer’s Agents are motivated purchasers and take them much more seriously.

As a buyer you are so emotionally vested in the process and it is so easy for this to get in the way of being objective and making a sound purchase. Having someone working for us who was completely objective and could keep us focused on our brief was very reassuring. They had never ending patience as we got familiar with the purchasing process in Australia, fluctuated on properties and got cold feet and seemed to know when and when not to push.

Buying a house is a huge investment and the money spent on a Buyer’s Agent was money well spent and a small amount in the whole scheme. I am hoping we have found our dream home and never need to move but if we do, I would not hesitate to use OH Property again.

G. & T. Kilfoil

Categories: Expats, First Time Home Buyers

Buying a home is hard enough and when you are purchasing from overseas, it is even more daunting. Not knowing potential locations well, the real estate market and real estate general “know how” is even more difficult. Which is why we decided to use a buyer’s agent to assist us.

We chose the OH Property Group – Henny and Oliver, as they were upfront about managing our expectations and had strong knowledge of the areas we wanted to look at buying into, as well as those real estate tricks and tips that are key, including access to properties not yet on the market. …

Henny and Oliver were great holding our hand throughout the process – from helping us narrow down areas, finding the right property and devising the the best strategy to secure the property, which we did.

The time between engaging OH Property Group to exchange of contracts was two weeks – we are so happy with our new home and the ease of the process. We believe we saved many days, weeks, months and money by working with Henny and Oliver. We would recommend them to anyone purchasing from overseas, but also for local purchasers.

A. & B. Peake

Categories: Expats, Upgraders, Out-of-Area Buyers

I was randomly browsing through internet for general information on buyers’ agent. I found Henny, and people have written good reviews about her.

I work overseas but need to acquire in home in Sydney before I retire. There is only limited time that I can spend in Sydney to enable me to look for a home to purchase. At first I was skeptical. I was not sure how I could convey my property requirement to Henny in a few lines especially when I am not the sort of people who could express myself very well in words. After several telephone conversations, showing Henny examples of the properties that I like and a description of my overseas dwelling, Henny managed to work out my likes and dislikes. …

She works very hard. She is also willing to talk over the phone late at night and on weekends.

At the Auction, Henny and her team acted very professionally. I managed to successfully purchase my home through Auction at a price that is slightly lower than the vendor’s agent’s indicative price. And I think I would also engage a buyers’ agent for my next purchase.

F. Chu

Categories: Expats, Downsizers, Investors

My wife and I were introduced to Oliver Stier by a very good friend during the course of last year. Up until this point we had been toying with the idea of purchasing a property in Australia for many years and had a few unsuccessful attempts. It was becoming painfully obvious that we needed to re-calibrate our approach unless we wished to continue with the emotionally draining process of missing out on the few properties which met our particular requirements.

My wife and I recently settled on a property in the North Shore which we are very happy with. As we are based overseas, Oliver was invaluable as our ‘boots on the ground’ during the inspection process and co-ordinated the purchase seamlessly. There was a time during the negotiation process where Oliver told us to not to increase our offer price. This advice was based on Oliver’s reading of the prevailing circumstances and the likely interaction that the vendor’s agent was having with her client. This advice literally saved us many multiples of his fee. My wife and I have engaged Oliver to manage our property whilst we remain overseas, and we have even started a dialogue about acquiring a second property. Good times.

Expat Singapore

Categories: Expats

At the beginning of 2013, we started looking to buy a family home in Sydney’s North Shore. We are Aussie expats living in Hong Kong with plans to move back to Sydney in the next few years. Initially we thought we could do the property search ourselves online and send relatives to view properties on our behalf. After several months into the search we realised that it was not progressing well due to the following factors: (1) it was difficult for us to gauge property values in the fast moving Sydney property market, (2) it was difficult to properly assess the quality and location of the property simply by looking online, (3) selling agents did not respond as quickly to email inquiries since we were located overseas, and (4) good properties were being snapped up quickly and we were missing out. …

In August 2013, we decided to engage the help of buyers agents Henny & Oliver Stier, based on a friend’s recommendation. From the start, we found Henny and Oliver to be very professional and knowledgeable. They provided advice on suburbs suited to our budget and property requirements. Throughout the search they communicated regularly via email as well as arranged calls at times convenient for us given our time zone difference.

We returned to Sydney in October 2013 for two weeks holiday and met with Henny and Oliver in person to progress our property search. Oliver took us on a suburbs tour to see some areas that we were not familiar with that represented good value and were within our budget. They also lined up several short-listed properties for us to view. One of these properties we loved. Henny and Oliver worked very hard to secure this property for us and we successfully purchased it pre-auction at a price within their recommended appraisal. The offer process was expertly handled by them.

We could not be more pleased with our purchase given the current strong property market, and are certain that we would not have achieved this favourable outcome without Oliver and Henny’s help.

Upon our return to Hong Kong, Henny and Oliver continued the frequent communication and helped facilitate a smooth settlement. We were so happy with their service that we appointed them property managers of our property. Within a month of settlement (a few days before Christmas Day), they secured a tenant for us, as well as promptly handled property maintenance matters.

We have no hesitation in recommending Henny and Oliver to other prospective buyers and to our family and friends. They went above and beyond what we had expected from a buyers agent. We were very impressed by their dedication, excellent service and attention to detail. Their expertise and advice are invaluable and gave us great comfort to know that one of our biggest financial purchases was a sensible one.

Thank you Oliver and Henny for a job very well done!

J. & A. Surjadi

Categories: Expats, Investors, Upgraders, Out-of-Area Buyers

OH Property Group helped us find our first home and we are delighted with our purchase and with the service of OH Property Group.

We had never heard of Buyers’ Agent until we encountered OH Property Group and we thought it was a good idea to use them for two reasons:

We were not familiar with the housing market; and
We just had a baby and therefore had no time to look around.

…

OH Property sat down with us and went through our requirements from practical and lifestyle as well as investment point of view – what suburbs we preferred, what type of house we were looking for, how close to public transport we wanted (just to mention a few). They even came up with things regarding buying a house that we, being first home buyers hadn’t thought of.

Based on the information and budget we had given to them, they then started looking. In the end they saved us time because they inspected properties that fell within our price range to make sure it fitted our criteria before showing it to us. We therefore only had to visit those properties that would be most suitable for us instead of spending lots of time (that we didn’t have) going through the ads and all the properties that were not suitable.

They saved us money because they also knew the housing market and had information as to how much other comparable properties have sold for, therefore, ensuring we wouldn’t overpay for our property.

We were advised to let the Auction for our new house pass-in and in the end, we acquired the property for $165,000 below the Vendor’s Bid at auction. This savings means the Buyers’ Agent fees essentially paid for themselves multiple times over (and at the same time we were spared all the stress and work of the process).

Our Agent was always thorough, professional, informative, patient and helpful. It was definitely worth the money and we would recommend it to anyone, especially those who are busy and those who don’t know the property market well.

OH Property Group has a wealth of knowledge that would put your mind at ease knowing that someone knows what they are doing and they are looking after your interests as the buyer.

S. Lam

Categories: Expats, Investors, Upgraders

I had only been living in the North Shore for 18 months after relocating back to Sydney from overseas. I had little knowledge of real estate values in the area and I needed to buy a house quickly and under very difficult personal circumstances. I needed a lot of hand holding to make my property purchase as simple as possible. I didn’t need an overly pushy salesperson.

After speaking to a few Buyers’ Agents, I signed with OH Property Group because they were the right personality for me. They also had a fairer formula for calculating their service fee from their competitors. I felt more comfortable knowing there was no incentive to recommend properties at the top of my budget. …

The service that OH Property Group provided went beyond the standard brief for a Buyer’s Agent. They only represent one client per price bracket at a time – to avoid competing interests. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of time they were able to spend with me, accompanying me to most property inspections. They even took the time to show me around the area. They also recommended a solicitor, arranged property inspections, trades people – all of which have provided good value for service.

OH Property Group’s professionalism and tireless work ethic achieved the impossible in an impossible time frame. Without their help, I wouldn’t have even looked at the property I ended up buying.

Their fee for service is insignificant compared to the saving I believe I have made on the purchase price. The service that OH Property Group provided me has exceeded my expectations. I have already recommended their service to others and will continue to do so.

P. Christensen

Categories: Expats, Upgraders, Interstate Buyers

We were initially sceptical about the use of the services of a Buyers’ Agent, mostly due to the cost and concerns that they may not understand exactly what we are looking for (as we were not looking for a ‘traditional’ family home). We were finally convinced by some friends to at least meet Oliver and Henny on the premise that they have saved our friends time in searching for a property as well as costs in final negotiations and/or auction process.

We were immediately aware of Oliver and Henny’s vast level of knowledge in the property space, in particular compared to our knowledge. We commissioned them to support us in our purchase, and they far exceeded any expectations we had. Yes, sure we saved a lot of time and money as per our friends’ recommendations. But we got so much more. …

For example, we knew exactly what each property we were interested in was worth, which avoided the obvious mistake of overpaying in an overly competitive Eastern Suburbs market. We also learnt so much about building conditions that we were able to make informed decisions about our purchase in every sense. We knew the exact positives and negatives of every property, as well as significant detail in the amount of work which will need to be done depending on our requirements. Ultimately, when we finally bid on a property, we were very confident that it was the perfect decision for us.

Watching Oliver strategize throughout the process was like watching a beautiful piece of art – he made so many moves which ultimately resulted in significant savings for us, not to mention a very smooth and relaxed process. I did not ever imagine that buying a property in the market that we just did could be so easy!

Accompanying all this incredible knowledge was customer service at its very best – Oliver is a tremendous person who is so lovely, professional and calm at all times and especially under pressure. He was always available via whichever means we needed. He attended to every single question, request, email and phone call with razor sharp speed and focus. He provided education and knowledge transfer throughout the whole process. And he did all of this with a lovely and extremely professional mannerism.

Would we recommend OH Property? Absolutely – we are delighted with our decision to hire them and feel very lucky to have done so.

J. & C. Budge

Categories: Expats, Upgraders, Interstate Buyers

My partner and I recently returned to Australia after an eight year absence. Conscious of our ignorance of the state of the property market we decided to hire a buyer’s agent.

From the outset, Oliver Stier stood head and shoulders above the other buyers agents we interviewed. Oliver’s background in financial services gives him a much more rational and nuanced approach to property purchasing than other buyer’s agents, who overwhelmingly originate on the sell side of real estate. …

Over time we have also come appreciate Oliver’s exemplary professionalism; in an industry rife with ethically challenged real estate agents it has been a real relief to have a buyer’s agent who possesses such a strong sense of ethics.

Although our requirements were very exacting, and consequently our search period extremely lengthy, at no time did Oliver make us feel rushed. At every stage of the process it was apparent that his primary concern was helping us find a home that would satisfy our requirements and that we would be happy living in.

If you are in the market for a Sydney buyer’s agent, then I would recommend Oliver Stier without hesitation.

D. Stewart

Categories: Expats

Testimonials: Expats

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