Impressed by Hard and Soft Knowledge

When I started looking into the Melbourne property market, I browsed through various famous property websites and attended a few expos. As a first time and remote buyer, I was confused and drown by the tremendous market information. Later, I talked to a friend about my struggle, he suggested me to seek advice and guidance from a buyer advocate. And so happened that he had a name in his contact list - Erick Ng. That was how I started engaging with the buyer advocate services that Erick provided.

Later on I started communicating with Erick over the phone. We talked about the high level plan, requirements, and procedures to proceed. I was impressed by Erick's professional knowledge in house hunting, that I would split it into two parts - Hard and Soft Knowledge.

Hard Knowledge merely mean the standard procedures - legal, mortgage, paper works, that I believe every agent in the market could easily acquaint via specific courses, certifications, plus some hands-on experience.

But the Soft Knowledge part, by that I mean the throughout understanding of geographic location, demography, environment, plants, trees, soil, structure, etc., which I believe not every so called "professional" is capable to handle.

Erick is a real professional. He was an architect prior to the existing role. He knows lands, roads, structures, materials, etc. Further, he has extensive knowledge about plants and trees. You would agree that these are all about and surrounding our properties. And even more, he speaks my language!

With Erick's assistance, we went through the process smoothly from budget planning to location research, education site tour, target lock down, property market research, negotiation strategy setup, lawyer and mortgage liaison, building and pest inspection check, then it came to the time we got to actually execute the buying strategy. The story I need to tell here is here. We discussed a lot and set up our winning strategy, then Erick was in charged to negotiate with the seller's agent. And believe it or not, we won the deal on our first offer!

At this point of time I am writing this message, my property has been rented out with a pretty good price. To me this was definitely a good investment. And I will definitely refer Erick's buyer advocate services to others, unless he retires.

Thank you Erick. Sooner or later I will need you to work on my next property.

Yan Mo
Financial Services
7th Dec 2017