Off-market is a broad term that covers properties at different stages of the sale process, or not in it at all.
The true definition of an off-market property is one that isn’t online and available to buy. Every property is off-market, except those that are listed online.
On rare occasions, you can buy a property ‘direct to vendor’. This can come through past clients or the community, and no real estate agent is involved.
A real estate agent can also represent an off-market sale. These properties have no intention of being marketed — no floorplans, professional photography, or planned inspections. For an agent to legally show you through, they must have a contract of sale in place. Many vendors are opportunistic, and will sell if the right buyer comes through, or if they can offer favourable terms for their unique circumstances.
Pre-market properties are very common. These are an off-market variant, but already in the sales funnel — being prepared for market, renovated, staged, photographed, or cleaned. A good agent may bring buyers agents through for feedback, or to start early conversations about selling.
Over half of what we buy is one of these off-market variants.
So how do buyers agents actually get access? Almost entirely through relationships with selling agents. Some scrape data from mailing lists and databases to maximise their access, but the best off-markets are sourced directly through relationships and legwork.
Buyers agents are the first to be called when there’s an off-market opportunity. But rather than wait for the phone to ring, we make an enormous number of calls every single week to stay on top of potential listings and appraisals suitable for our clients. We have strong agent relationships across the Hunter, in all our core areas, built over more than five years.
We often use our client briefs as leverage to help agents win listings, and are introduced as the sole buyer as a result.
The more proactive your buyers agent is, the better your results.
A quick call to help us understand what has been holding you back from making the purchase, and to break down whether we can truly help.