MandateBrief
Budget, suburbs, what is essential, and how you decide. We write it down so later advice has something to be measured against.
Buyer advocacy · Melbourne
The buyer's side of the purchase.
Selling agents are paid by the vendor. Mandate is paid by you, on a scope you approve before we start. We search, we price, and we negotiate or bid only to a limit you have set in writing.
01 — The work
Six steps, in this order.
You can hire us for the day, for one private sale, or for a search. The day is one auction. The private sale is the negotiation on one property. Neither hire includes the search. A search is these six steps, in this order.
Search
On-market listings scored against the brief. Off-market means we ask, and we tell you what we were told. We say no quickly when a property does not fit.
Inspect
We attend. The note covers what the campaign photos leave out: light, noise, layout, and the things a building inspection should test.
Price
Comparable sales, a number, and a plan for how to open, how to pace, and where to hold. You write the limit. We do not raise it.
Represent
Auction or private sale. We act only inside the written limit. If an auction passes in, negotiation straight after is part of the auction fee.
To settlement
Your solicitor runs the contract. You appoint the inspector and the lender. The checklist below is the dates, the conditions, and the name on each row.
The settlement checklist.
The list we open the day a contract is signed. Each row is a date or a condition, and one owner. Included with step 06. Not a product, and not a fee on top of the engagement you approved.
We write the date your solicitor gives us, and we tell you when it is close. We do not decide that a condition is satisfied.
02 — On the day
Auction fees, fixed on 3 November 2026.
The prices include GST. The complete day is the same price for every client. The $695 and the $395 are those services bought separately. A package that already lists them does not add them again. Bidding and intel plus the $695, or bidding and guidance plus the $395, comes to $2,590. That is the price struck through on the complete day, which is $2,250.
Bidding
$1,500
Auction bidding on the day, with post-auction negotiation included.
- We attend and bid, to your written limit
- If it passes in, we negotiate at no extra cost
- A result update straight after
- Price guidance
- Selling-agent intel
Bidding and intel
$1,895
The day, plus a report from the selling agent before you bid.
- Everything in Bidding
- Competition, vendor expectations, and the reserve, as the agent describes them
- Price guidance
Bidding and guidance
$2,195
The day, plus the number and the plan.
- Everything in Bidding
- Comparable sales, a price, and a written bidding plan
- Selling-agent intel
The complete day
$2,590$2,250
Guidance, intel, and the bidding. Save $340 against the three services bought separately.
- Auction bidding and pass-in negotiation
- Price guidance and a written bidding strategy
- Selling-agent intel before the day
Bought separately · $695
Price guidance and bidding strategy
Comparable sales, one number, and the plan in writing: when to open, how to pace, where to hold. If you are not on the phone, we follow that plan. We do not bid past the number you wrote.
Bought separately · $395
Selling-agent intel
We speak with the selling agent about the level of competition, the vendors' expectations and the reserve, and report back to you before the day. It is their account, not a promise of the result.
03 — One private sale
Negotiation, when there is no auction.
A working fee, not part of the November auction card. Guidance and intel stay at the same prices. Negotiation and intel plus the $695, or negotiation and guidance plus the $395, comes to $4,340. That is the price struck through on all three, which is $4,000.
Negotiation
$3,250
One private sale, from the first offer to a contract you are prepared to sign.
- Offer strategy and negotiation, to your written limit
- We coordinate building and pest bookings you approve
- Your solicitor reviews the contract. We do not.
- Price guidance
- Selling-agent intel
With intel
$3,645
Negotiation plus the selling-agent conversation.
- Everything in Negotiation
- Competition, vendor expectations, and the reserve, as the agent describes them
- Price guidance
With guidance
$3,945
Negotiation plus comparable sales and a written offer plan.
- Everything in Negotiation
- Comparable sales, a price, and a written offer plan
- Selling-agent intel
All three
$4,340$4,000
Save $340. Same dollar saving as the complete auction day.
- Negotiation to your written limit
- Price guidance and a written offer plan
- Selling-agent intel before you offer
04 — A search
Ninety days, one purchase included.
Also a working card. The search fee covers the work whether or not you buy. Representation on the one purchase you choose is included. If that purchase is an auction, the auction fee is not added again. If it is a private sale, the private-sale fee is not added again. Price guidance and selling-agent intel on that property are in the search fee, so the $695 and the $395 are not added again.
Home search · 90 days
$11,500
A listing is not scored until the brief is written.
- A written brief: budget, suburbs, must-haves, and how you decide
- On-market listings against the brief. Off-market means we ask, and we tell you what we were told.
- Inspections we attend, with notes
- Price guidance and selling-agent intel on the property you pursue
- Auction or private-sale representation on one purchase, to your written limit
- A settlement checklist. Your solicitor runs the contract
Investor search · 90 days
$14,000
You buy in your own name.
- Everything in the home search
- A worksheet on the property you choose, and on up to three alternatives
- Rent evidence we can point to, the outgoings you give us, and the yield those figures produce
- Arithmetic, not a forecast, and not financial advice
- No fund, no pooled money, and no purchase in our name
Hypothetical · not advice
- Rent we can point to: $700 a week for 52 weeks is $36,400
- Outgoings the client supplied: $8,400 a year
- Price on the worksheet: $700,000
- $36,400 minus $8,400 is $28,000
- $28,000 divided by $700,000 is 4%
Not a real property, and not a fee. The 4% is what these figures produce. It is not advice.
A further 30 days is $2,200, agreed in writing before the 90 days end. Representation on one purchase is still included. A second property pursued at the same time is a separate fee: the auction fee or the private-sale fee already on this page.
The first week of a search.
The opening of the six steps, in that order. Included in the search fee. Not a separate fee.
Close the brief
Budget, suburbs, must-haves, and how you decide, written down before the first listing is scored. A conversation is not the brief.
Mark the list
What is advertised in those suburbs is in or out. We ask selling agents what is coming, including off-market, and we tell you what they said. A property that fails the brief is not booked.
Send the notes
We attend the inspections that survived. The note covers light, noise, and layout: what the photos leave out. Price guidance waits until you choose one property to pursue.
A sample inspection note.
The note we send after we attend. Light, noise, layout, and what a building inspection should test. This one is a format example. It is not a real property, and it has no address.
05 — Who pays whom
One client. You.
- You pay Mandate the fee in the engagement.
- You pay the vendor the price, and the deposit, through the usual trust arrangements on the contract.
- You pay your solicitor, your inspector, and your lender yourself.
- We are not paid by the selling agent on a property we are buying for you.
- We do not act for the vendor of that property.
What we will not do
Clear edges.
- We do not bid or offer without a written limit.
- We do not give legal, tax, or credit advice.
- We do not lend, pool buyers' money, or buy in our name for you to take over.
- We do not promise a stock of secret listings. Off-market means we ask, and we tell you what we were told.
- We do not take a listing we are trying to buy for you.
06 — Questions
Before you brief us.
Can I raise the limit on the phone?
No. You can be on the phone, or not. The figure is the one you wrote. We do not raise it, and we do not bid from a conversation.
Do the fees include GST?
Yes. Every fee on this page includes GST. The yield sum on the investor card is not a fee.
What if the auction passes in?
On an auction engagement, negotiating straight after is included, still inside the written limit. It is not a second fee.
What if we do not buy?
The auction fee is for the day you hired us. The search fee is for the search. Neither becomes a refund because a campaign does not suit you, and neither depends on a result we cannot control.
Can we cool off?
Auctions do not have a cooling-off period. Many private sales of homes in Victoria do. The exceptions matter. Your solicitor tells you which rules apply to the contract in front of you. We do not.
Who checks the contract and the building?
Your solicitor reviews the contract and the vendor statement. You appoint the building and pest inspector. We help you book what you have approved, and we read their reports with you. We do not replace either of them.
Is this a buyer's agent and a selling agency at once?
Mandate acts for the buyer. We do not sell the property we are helping you buy.
07 — A brief
Write it here. Nothing is sent.
Enquiry sending and card payments are off on this draft. The brief stays in this browser until you copy it.