Upper North Shore · St Ives and Hornsby
St Ives buyers agent
Family houses on wide streets, a big shopping village and bushland close by. We help you buy here with evidence, not guesswork.
Photo: SISVNSW, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped
About the suburb
St Ives at a glance
St Ives sits about 18 kilometres north of the city in Ku-ring-gai Council, with St Ives Chase a separate suburb to the west and north. Governor Arthur Phillip and his party camped near what is now Hunter Avenue in 1788, and the area later supported timber felling and apple orchards.
It is mostly a suburb of family houses, with a growing number of apartments, and a large majority of homes are lived in by their owners. Couples with children are the largest household group, and the most common age group is 40 to 49.
St Ives Shopping Village opened in the 1960s and now has more than a hundred stores, facing the Village Green. Mona Vale Road runs through the middle of the suburb, east to the coast and west to Ryde.
There is no train station, so buses do the work: routes run to Gordon, Pymble, Hornsby, Mona Vale and the city. St Ives Public, St Ives North Public and St Ives Park Public are the local primary schools, with St Ives High School, Brigidine College, Masada College, Corpus Christi and Sydney Grammar's St Ives preparatory campus also in the suburb.
The trade-offs are worth saying plainly. Without a station, the commute depends on buses or a drive to Gordon or Pymble. Mona Vale Road is busy, and homes beside it hear it. On the northern and western edges, the bushland brings bushfire planning and building rules that need checking.
How we work
How we help you buy in St Ives
In a suburb with both apartments and family houses, the work is knowing which part of it suits you, then judging every option on evidence. On average, a search with us looks like this.
Director-led, start to finish
You deal with Sarah and Mike directly. No juniors, no hand-offs. Over 75% of the homes we buy are secured off-market.
A fixed fee, agreed upfront
Our fee is set before we start and is not a percentage of the price, so we are never better off when you pay more.
We will tell you when to walk away
We are as proud of the houses we talk clients out of as the ones we buy. If a St Ives house or apartment does not stack up, you will hear it from us first.
Thinking about St Ives?
Tell us what you are looking for. In half an hour we can tell you honestly what St Ives offers, which streets to look at first, and whether a nearby suburb might suit you better.
Prefer to write? Send us your brief and we will get back to you. Not ready yet? Join our newsletter.
Nearby: Pymble · Gordon · North Turramurra · Upper North Shore buyers agent: all suburbs and median prices
Questions buyers ask
Buying in St Ives: your questions answered
Is a buyers agent the same as a real estate agent?
No. A real estate agent is paid by the seller, and their job is to get the seller the highest price. We are paid only by you, and our job is to help you buy the right St Ives home at the right price, or to tell you plainly to walk away.
Can you tell us what a St Ives home is worth before we bid?
Yes. For every home on your shortlist we prepare a price assessment from recent comparable sales in the same street, building or pocket, so you bid against evidence rather than the agent's guide. It is our advice as your buyers agent, not a formal valuation, and we will tell you plainly when a guide looks out of line.
Can you find St Ives homes before they are advertised?
Often, yes. Over 75% of the homes we buy are secured off-market, through our relationships with selling agents across Sydney's Northern Suburbs. Where good homes rarely come up, hearing about one early can make all the difference.
Can you help us buy within a particular school catchment?
Yes, and we check it address by address. Catchments do not follow suburb boundaries, and a street can be split down the middle, so we confirm the local public school for every home on your shortlist before you bid, and we look at the morning trip to the schools you have in mind.
We are overseas or interstate. Can you buy in St Ives for us?
Yes. We regularly buy for expat, overseas and interstate clients, sometimes sight unseen. We inspect and film each home for you, run the checks, and negotiate or bid on your behalf. If you are not an Australian citizen or permanent resident, get advice on the foreign investment rules first; we can point you to it.
What does it cost, and how long does it take?
A $5,500 engagement fee (including GST) and a fixed success fee, both agreed in writing before we start, so there is never a percentage tied to the price you pay. You get at least 100 hours of director time, and a search takes 6 to 8 weeks on average. The detail is on our services and fees page.
Is St Ives right for us, or should we look next door?
Sometimes the better answer is Pymble, Gordon or North Turramurra. In the first call we test your brief against St Ives and its neighbours and tell you honestly where it fits best.
Who you will work with
Sarah and Mike, from first call to settlement
We buy right across Sydney's Northern Suburbs, including the Upper North Shore, and you will deal with the two of us directly, never a junior.
Sarah Kaye
Founder
Sarah was a top-tier selling agent before she crossed to the buyer's side. She knows how a campaign is run, what a guide is really telling you, and where an agent has room to move.
Mike Kaye
Co-founder and director
A former Accenture global partner and Australian Army officer, and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Mike studied surveying, town planning, valuation and land law, and leads the research behind every price we put to you.