Property Investment
3 min read
Author: Scott Collings
Qualified builder. 6 years’ experience building + 6 years project managing residential developments.
Reviewed by: Brittany White
Licensee (Eligible Officer) and Team Leader for Opes Property
Here at Opes, we help property investors find good quality properties to invest in.
We negotiate the price with the developer and aim to get the best deal for investors and developers.
Sometimes that means telling developers what sort of properties they should build (and how low the price should be).
That leads some investors to ask, “What’s actually in it for the developer? Why would they come to you when you want a lower price for investors? Why don’t they just hire a real estate agent?”
It’s a fair question. After all, as a company Opes Partners works for property investors … not developers.
In this article, you’ll learn the 4 reasons developers work with us – even when we ask them to offer sharp prices to our investors.
Most real estate companies work for the person selling the property, so their job is to get the highest price.
They get the property listing. Then they put it on Trade Me. Then they do an open home. And often it’s hard to find buyers.
But at Opes Partners we’re the opposite.
We’ve built our company around the property investor (or the buyer). Every podcast episode, every article and YouTube video … is designed to help investors make an informed decision.
That’s why in a typical week, 60-80 investors reach out to have a meeting with us.
So, if a developer decides to play ball and work with us … they can get in front of a lot of buyers really quickly.
So, often developers say: “I’d rather build more houses at a lower price than build fewer houses at a higher price.”
So the first reason a developer might work with us is to get access to the scale of buyers they can reach through us.
Developers need one (main) thing before they start building … pre-sales.
They need people to want to buy their properties before they’ve been built.
And often the banks won’t lend them money until developers get these pre-sales.
Real estate agents often struggle to find buyers. That’s because you can’t run an open home for a property that isn’t built yet.
But, at Opes that’s our bread and butter. We educate buyers and help them figure out if New Builds are the right fit for their property portfolio.
And these investors tend to be serious buyers, so it’s much easier for a developer to listen to our advice about what buyers want … rather than go at it alone.
Developers don’t always know what buyers want.
But, here at Opes, we work with investors and tenants every day.
That means we hear what property investors are looking for. And we hear how tenants are living in properties.
If we give that feedback to developers, they can then build properties that tenants and investors want. And if they can build the right houses … they’ll be snapped up and sold faster.
That’s what developers want: to build lots of houses. And to do that … they need to know what buyers want.
So we’re not shy in giving developers feedback on their floor plans.
We’re all about challenging them to make their properties more investor-friendly. Things like bigger bedrooms, better layout, and smarter rental yields.
Sure, maybe some developers will say: “You guys at Opes are a little bit difficult to work with.” It’s true, we are,but for them it’s worth it.
Finally, we often save developers money.
A real estate agent will often disappear after the contract goes unconditional. That means the developer has to provide updates and a lot of service to customers during the build.
But if developers work with us, we do that for them. That saves them time and money.
But, we think it’s the right thing to do.
So, we’re the ones solving all the problems and working with the investor ... before they hit the developer’s desk (or blow up their phone).
Well, everyone gets what they want. Investors get advice, quality investment properties, and ongoing support.
Developers get access to a steady stream of serious buyers, plus pre-sales that help them build more properties.
Opes Partners gets paid a fee (by the developer) which allows us to offer our services to investors without charging them.
It’s a win-win situation.
And that’s why developers like to work with us and why we like to work with them.
Qualified builder. 6 years’ experience building + 6 years project managing residential developments.
Scott has a background in construction. He progressed from a qualified builder to roles in project, construction, and finally development management. He brings this experience to his role as Opes' Property Development Liaison Manager, making sure investors can access high-quality properties.
