SARAH KAYE & CO.

Sometimes less is more. In the property market, the traditional buyer's agent fee of 2%–3% can often feel disproportionate to the service rendered. We challenge that convention. We believe your representation should be world-class, but your fees should be fair.

A More Commercial Approach. We adopt a more commercially astute approach to pricing. Drawing on our background in top-tier professional services, we run a focused, lean, and highly efficient operation. Because we are a boutique agency—offering world-class advisory experience and skills but without the bloated overheads of large franchises—we are able to deliver a premium, high-value service at a fixed cost that sits comfortably below the industry average.

Alignment of Incentives. Crucially, we do not believe in penalising you for purchasing a higher-value asset. Instead, we operate on a Fixed Fee model agreed upon upfront. This ensures our incentives are perfectly aligned with securing you the best price, not the highest commission.

The Engagement Structure. Our engagement begins with a $5,500 retainer (incl. GST). This secures our commitment to your brief and funds the rigorous initial phase of our search—a process that typically involves over 100 hours of our time dedicated to property acquisition, due diligence, on-the-ground inspection, and negotiation.

It is a partnership model designed for smart buyers: maximum expertise, zero hidden costs, and a fee structure that respects your investment.

While saving time is the baseline, our true value lies in changing the financial outcome by accessing off-market properties and preventing costly mistakes. We coordinate your finance, legals, and due diligence in parallel to help you "win faster" against competition without playing Russian roulette with your capital. By identifying silent money pits and spotting value-add potential, we ensure you don’t just buy a home, but secure a superior asset at the right price.

We are a boutique, director-led agency, meaning you work exclusively with the business owners—never juniors—who bring a rare multidisciplinary skillset to your purchase. Unlike standard agents, our advice is grounded in specific qualifications across property law, economics, town planning, and engineering, allowing us to technically evaluate assets rather than just "buying" them. This expertise, combined with our true independence, ensures you receive radically honest, data-backed guidance that protects you from expensive mistakes.

The most critical factors are true independence and verifiable local expertise, ensuring your agent works exclusively for you with no hidden selling agendas or kickbacks. Look for a director-led team with a proven track record navigating market cycles, backed by credentials from reputable bodies like REBAA and REINSW. Assess the specific qualifications and experience of the individuals who will be managing (not supervising) your important search. Finally, test their substance by asking how they uncover genuine off-market opportunities and handle high-pressure negotiations—transparency here is the hallmark of a partner who will protect your interests rather than just facilitate a transaction.

Genuine off-market listings are properties sold entirely without public advertising, driven by a seller’s need for strict discretion—think high-profile owners or sensitive personal circumstances—rather than just a "pre-market" dress rehearsal before a public launch. For sellers, this strategy trades the potential frenzy of an open auction for privacy and speed; for you, it grants access to high-quality assets with significantly reduced competition. However, navigating this "silent market" requires a well-connected advocate to distinguish between a genuine private opportunity and a seller simply testing an inflated price before going public.

We are structured specifically to eliminate that conflict of interest: as a truly independent agency, we have zero sales quotas, no alliances with selling agents, and a fixed-fee model that doesn't reward us for rushing. Our reputation is built on the "Power of No"—we frequently advise clients to walk away from subpar assets because protecting you from a mistake is more valuable than securing a quick commission. We would rather spend months finding the perfect legacy asset than let you settle for a compromise next week.

Prioritising the lowest price often leads to buying a liability rather than an asset—winning the price battle only to lose the financial war. A "bargain" quickly becomes a burden if it hides structural defects requiring $300k in repairs or suffers from poor capital growth potential due to a compromised location. As your advocate, we separate price from value: we negotiate aggressively on the numbers, but only after rigorously stress-testing the property’s quality, resale potential, and lifestyle fit to ensure you secure a future-proof home, not a money pit.

On average, our clients secure their ideal property within 6 to 8 weeks, though some extensive searches may take months, while others conclude in just a few weeks. We caution against agents who guarantee a result in mere days—every buyer's situation is unique, and buying a home is not a "quick fix" project. There is no countdown clock here; we constantly refine our strategy based on your feedback and market flow, moving strictly at your pace. Whether it takes one month or six, our commitment is to the right home, not the fastest deal, and we stay in your corner until you are opening the door to a home you love.

We operate on a strictly limited capacity model, taking on a measured number of clients at a time to guarantee director-led attention—which means we frequently decline briefs where we do not believe we can deliver a superior result. We are in the business of outcomes, not "hopeless leads," so if we identify that your expectations are misaligned with market realities, we will tell you immediately during the initial consultation. Rather than wasting your time or capital, we prefer to offer candid advice and, where appropriate, refer you to a specialist better suited to your specific needs.

The real risk lies in the "factory model" of large agencies, where your critical life decision is often handed off to a junior associate while the Directors focus on volume. We mitigate this by combining global corporate rigour—led by an ex-Accenture Partner—with the agility of a specialist firm. While we leverage a dedicated back-office team to handle administrative complexities and research, every high-stakes interaction—from strategy to negotiation—is executed personally by our Directors. This structure gives you the best of both worlds: the operational firepower and discipline of a major agency, with the accountability and speed that only a director-led partnership can deliver.

Transparency is not a buzzword for us; it is built into our process from the start through fixed fees, written strategy documents, and open data access. We operate without "black boxes," providing you with real-time visibility into the search and explaining the raw reasoning behind every recommendation—showing you exactly why we advise you to buy or walk away based on hard data, not intuition. We invite you to verify this rigour by speaking directly to past clients, who will confirm that our "over-communication" and refusal to hide hard truths are the foundation of our partnership.

Accessing off-market properties solo is achievable, but it requires treating your search as a full-time job rather than a weekend hobby. Because selling agents prioritise buyers who offer speed and certainty, you must cultivate a deep personal rapport with local agents and demonstrate you are "transaction-ready" with pre-approved finance and a solicitor on standby to review contracts instantly. The Northern Beaches , Upper North Shore and Lower North Shore markets thrive on word-of-mouth, so you must network aggressively to uncover these silent listings—but never mistake speed for recklessness; strict due diligence is the only way to ensure an "exclusive" deal isn't actually an overpriced lemon.