How I Helped a Client Buy His Dream Apartment 24 hours After our First Coffee

If you fall in love with the first property you see, does that mean you should buy it, or does it mean you haven't looked hard enough? This is one of the most common questions I get from buyers in their first few weeks of searching, and the answer isn't as complicated as it feels.

The trap of "we've only just started looking"

Almost every buyer I work with hits this moment. A few weeks into a serious search, they find something they genuinely love, and they can afford it. Then the second-guessing kicks in. So they wait. Sometimes that costs them the property. Sometimes it's the right call. The trick is knowing which situation you're actually in.

I had a coffee with a client in Camperdown last Tuesday at 2pm. An expat moving back to Sydney, still waiting on an interstate sale, but he knew exactly where he wanted to buy: Redfern Waterloo, top floor, natural light, an outlook over green space rather than into someone else's apartment, and a layout built for entertaining.

Why I always ask what you've already loved

I always ask clients whether they've seen anything they've really loved, sold or still on the market. It tells me whether what they loved lines up with their brief, and if it's an apartment, that building often becomes a great place to keep looking.

He'd inspected two apartments that Saturday. One was in a building I knew from reviewing its strata history, and I told him straight away not to touch it: an unproactive committee, significant defects, and a real risk the building would be in worse shape in ten years. The other ticked every box and sat comfortably within budget. When I asked what was holding him back, he gave me the answer I hear from almost everyone: "How do I know there isn't something better out there?"

Testing the theory instead of guessing

I pulled up the map at the table and worked through the other buildings in that tight geography that back onto the park, what they sell for, and how each stacked up against his brief. Then I called the agent. Two parties were already mid-negotiation. It was 2.45pm. I asked for an inspection at 3.15, and they made it happen.

By 3.30pm we were behind two parties who already had strata and contract reviews done. I called a conveyancer who could turn the contract around that evening, confirmed his pre-approval still stacked up, and worked through the comparable sales myself that night to find where genuine value sat.

Winning without having the highest number

By Wednesday midday it moved to best and final. We had an advertised guide and a strong comparable sale from a mirror-image apartment next door twelve months earlier. We structured our offer unconditional, with a signed 66W, a 28-day settlement to suit the vacant property, and a 10 percent deposit. We came in roughly $10,000 behind the top offer, which needed a cooling-off period and only a 5 percent deposit on a 42-day settlement. The seller took ours.

Within 24 hours of that first coffee, my client was arranging his deposit.

Ready to make a move?

The property you love in week one isn't automatically the wrong choice. Sometimes it's exactly the right one, and the skill is testing that fast instead of letting hesitation cost you the property. If you're stuck on whether the one you've found is worth pursuing, I'm happy to help you work through it. Book a call: https://calendly.com/purchasewithpenny/buyer