The buyers agents with the strongest long-term track records are, almost without exception, boring.
Referral-driven. Lean. Deliberate. Not the ones flooding your Instagram feed. The ones your mortgage broker or accountant mentions quietly when you tell them you are ready to buy.
There is another version of this industry built on urgency, bold claims, and paid advertising. It is loud. It is visible. It is not how the serious operators work.
At The Nelis Group, boring is the strategy.
Why the fee structure matters
The way a buyers agent charges you is one of the clearest signals of how they will behave once you have signed.
The Nelis Group charges a flat fee, split equally between engagement and unconditional exchange. That structure is deliberate and the reasoning is worth explaining.
There are two common fee models in this industry that we have moved away from.
The first is a low engagement fee with the bulk of the payment held at success. On the surface this looks like reduced risk for the client. In practice it creates a specific incentive problem. If the majority of a buyers agent's fee is tied to completing a transaction, the fastest path to that fee is the fastest property presentation. Not the most considered one. Not the one most carefully matched to your brief, your strategy, and your long-term goals.
A buyers agent who presents properties within the first few days of engagement is worth questioning. Was that property genuinely sourced for you after absorbing your brief? Or was it already waiting for the next client who signed?
The second model is paying the full fee upfront before any service has been delivered. This is the structure that should give you the most pause. Once a buyers agent has been paid in full, the financial incentive to find you the best deal is gone. Not diminished. Gone. You may still get good service. But you are now relying entirely on professional goodwill rather than aligned incentives. The calls get slower to return. The negotiation gets less aggressive. There is nothing left in the structure to prevent it.
Our 50/50 split sits between both. You make a meaningful commitment to the process. We make a meaningful commitment to deliver on every element of what we have promised. Neither party is a passenger. Both are invested from engagement through to unconditional.
We do not discount our fees to win business. Not because we are inflexible, but because the fee reflects the value of the work. A buyers agent who cuts their price under pressure is telling you something about how they negotiate on your behalf when it actually matters.
We do not convince people to invest
This is worth stating directly.
We work with people who have already decided to invest and are looking for the right partner to help them do it well. That is a different conversation to one where we are trying to persuade someone to take action they have not yet committed to.
If a prospective client needs convincing, we are probably not the right fit. We will say so.
If we find ourselves working hard to win business through urgency, pressure, or discounting, that is a flag. Not just for us. For them.
The right client relationship begins with clarity on both sides. It does not begin with a sales script.
We do not make guarantees about market performance
We will find you the best available property for your brief, in the right location, at the right price, at the right time. We will apply our full knowledge, network, and process to that task.
What we will not do is guarantee that property will outperform the market. No buyers agent can honestly make that promise. A performance guarantee attached to a property recommendation is not a confidence signal. It is a sales tool designed to close the engagement, and the only thing it actually guarantees is that someone was willing to say what you wanted to hear.
When we map a client's portfolio journey we use a conservative long-run growth assumption, set below the historical national average. Some years will exceed it. Some will fall short. Clients who plan from a conservative base are rarely disappointed.
The client is the final decision maker. That is as it should be. We provide the research, the market intelligence, the access, and the professional judgement. The decision belongs to you. Blind trust is not something we ask for.
How to tell the difference
The buyers agency industry has grown rapidly over the past decade. With that growth has come a wide range of operators.
The ones worth being cautious about tend to share certain characteristics: heavy reliance on paid social advertising, performance guarantees no honest practitioner can back, fee structures that reward speed over fit.
The ones worth trusting tend to look different. They are slower to find. They come recommended by people you already trust. They ask more questions than they answer in early conversations. They tell you when something is not right for your situation, even if that means losing the engagement.
One practical test: ask directly. How do you charge? Do you receive any referral fees or payments from other parties in the transaction? How does your search process actually work? A good operator answers those questions without hesitation, without deflection, and without making you feel like you have asked something unreasonable. If a buyers agent gets vague about where their income comes from, that is your answer.
The difference does not always show up on a website. It shows up in the fee structure, the questions they ask, and the promises they refuse to make.
If you want a structured framework for making your next property decision, the free 10-day email series covers each decision in order.
Disclaimer: The information in this article is general in nature and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation, or needs. It is not financial, legal, or tax advice. The Nelis Group accepts no liability for actions taken based on this content. You should seek independent advice from a relevant licensed professional before making any decisions.
