Opes Financial

A Melbourne buyer's agent that connects to your finance and plan.

A buyer\'s agent who finds the place, checks it over properly and does the negotiating for you across metropolitan Melbourne, working with a licensed partner firm. A fixed fee from $10,000 plus GST, which comes down if we also handle your loan or your plan.

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Yarra River curving past Docklands toward the Melbourne CBD at twilight.

How it is set up.

Balki does not personally hold a buyer's agent licence. The licence sits with a third-party partner that operates across every Australian state. The engagement is coordinated under the Opes brand. The licensed activities, inspections, negotiation and contract review, are handled by the partner firm.

Clients are introduced to the assigned buyer's agent during the free initial consultation. The relationship is yours with Opes. The licence is held by the partner. We say this on the first call, not at signing.

Initial meetings happen at the Docklands office or by video. The on-the-ground work, inspecting in Hawthorn or Brighton on a Saturday morning, is done in person by the partner agent.

Where we buy in Melbourne.

Five Melbourne belts cover most files. The brief at the start determines which belt the search begins in, not the other way round.

Inner-east
Family upgraders

Hawthorn, Camberwell, Kew, Balwyn. Period stock, school-zone driven, owner-occupier focus.

Bayside
Lifestyle and downsizers

Brighton, Hampton, Sandringham. Lifestyle stock close to the water, often a downsizer brief from the eastern suburbs.

Inner-north and west
Entry-level and renovator

Brunswick, Northcote, Yarraville, Footscray. Workers' cottages and renovator stock. Often a younger first home brief.

Growth corridors
Investor and first home

Tarneit, Truganina, Wollert, Cranbourne. House-and-land, new build, often investor stock or first-home cash flow.

Metro commercial
SMSF and self-employed

Commercial across metro Melbourne. Common for SMSF acquisitions and owner-occupier business premises.

Off-market
Quiet stock through agent networks

Off-market opportunities surface through selling-agent relationships, particularly in the inner-east and bayside.

What’s included.

01

Working out the brief

Budget, criteria, timeline. The brief is written down. It changes as the market gives feedback, but the starting point is explicit.

02

Research on the areas

Comparable sales, days on market, capital growth context. Honest about which suburbs do not fit the brief.

03

Finding places

On-market and off-market opportunities. Off-market access depends on selling-agent relationships, not a database trick.

04

Inspections and checks

Building inspections, strata reports, council overlays. Saturday-morning inspections in the eastern suburbs are routine.

05

Negotiation

Offers before auction day, negotiating on private sales, and the terms as well as the price. We don't bid at auctions for you.

06

Getting to settlement

Loose ends between solicitor, broker, and selling agent. We sit between them so the client does not have to.

What it costs.

Fixed fee from $10,000 + GST. The same fee for owner-occupied and investment briefs. The price of the house doesn’t change what you pay us. The full fee breakdown is on its own page, and the wider buyer's agent cost guide walks through how fixed versus percentage pricing compares.

The first conversation is free. The fee comes down if we are also arranging your loan or doing investment-property buying work alongside the buyer's agent work — because by then we already have your full financial picture in front of us.

Buyer's agent clients get their financial planning at no charge \u2014 it is how every job starts. That is the most honest reason someone picks us over a buyer's agent who only does the one thing.

How the three fit together

How buying a place fits with the loan and the plan.

Step 01

Financial planning

Goals, cash flow, loan capacity, risk cover. Free for buyer's agent clients.

Step 02

Buyer's agent

Find the property that fits both the brief and the plan. On-the-ground work by the licensed partner.

Step 03

Broking

Pay for it with a loan from the 50+ lender panel. The same adviser runs all three.

First meetings happen in Docklands.

The Opes office sits at Suite 11.18, 401 Docklands Drive. Initial buyer's agent meetings happen there or by video. The partner agent meets the client separately, usually at the first property inspection in the target suburb.

Interstate and expat buyers acquiring in Melbourne sight-unseen meet entirely by video on the Opes side. The partner agent inspects in person on their behalf, with investment-focused briefs flowing through the wider property investment hub.

What buyers usually ask first.

It is worth it when the fee is small against what it changes: a fixed $10,000 + GST on a $1.2m purchase is under one per cent, so paying two per cent over the odds at auction costs more than the engagement. It earns its keep most in a tight market, on an unfamiliar suburb, when you keep losing auctions, or when you simply cannot spend your Saturdays inspecting. It is worth least if you already know the three streets you want, you have time, and you are comfortable bidding. We would rather say that at the first conversation than take a brief we cannot add to.
Nothing — they are the same job under two names, and in Melbourne 'buyer's advocate' is the more common term while 'buyer's agent' is used more in Sydney. Both represent the buyer rather than the vendor. What actually differs between firms is whether they are paid a fixed fee or a percentage of the purchase price, and whether they accept any payment from a seller or developer. A percentage fee rises as the price you pay rises, which is worth thinking about.
The fee is real money, and on a straightforward purchase in a suburb you know well you may not get it back. A percentage-based agent has an incentive that points the wrong way, since their fee grows with the price you pay — ours is fixed for that reason. Some operators also take commissions from developers or sellers, which makes their shortlist a sales list; ask directly and ask in writing. And no buyer's agent can guarantee an outcome in a competitive market, only a better-informed one.
Not as an immediate deduction. For an investment property the fee is generally a capital cost that forms part of the property's cost base, which reduces the capital gain when you eventually sell rather than reducing this year's income. For a home you live in there is no deduction at all. Treatment depends on your circumstances and how the purchase is structured, so confirm it with your accountant before you rely on it.
We will not give you a list, and be careful with anyone who does. Suburb forecasts are marketing far more often than they are analysis, and the ones published for free are usually attached to someone selling stock in those suburbs. What we do instead is work from your brief: budget, commute, land content, supply pipeline, planning overlays and what comparable properties have actually sold for in the last ninety days. That is research about your purchase, not a prediction about the market.
Inner-east, bayside, inner-north and west, and the outer growth corridors. The partner agent network covers metropolitan Melbourne broadly, and commercial across the metro too. Briefs outside these belts are taken on case by case.
From brief to purchase typically runs eight to sixteen weeks. Off-market and tight criteria sit at the longer end of that range. Owner-occupier briefs in the inner-east generally take longer than investor briefs in the growth corridors.
The engagement fee structure is explained on the fee page and at the first consultation. The free initial consultation has no fee attached. Engagement fees apply once the work is underway, regardless of whether a property settles.
The licensed partner agent. Inspections, agent meetings and contract review are licensed activities and sit with them. Balki coordinates the file and brings the broking and financial planning sides into the same engagement.
Standalone auction bidding is not offered. Bidding sits inside a full engagement, alongside the search and the negotiating.

Keep reading

Start with a free property consultation.

An honest brief, the partner model explained upfront, no obligation to engage. Twenty to thirty minutes.

Book a chat
Call 1300 67 37 37