Meet The Highlands Buyer’s Agent Helping Locals Secure Their Future Through Investing In Property

Wearing plenty of hats in all facets of the real estate industry combined with her experience as a business owner, a passion for psychology and communications experience has led Tonia to becoming a busy and successful buyer’s agent in the Southern Highlands.

“If twenty-five years in real estate has taught me anything, it’s that people buy terrible investment properties,” she says.

“I wanted to change that.”

We caught up with Tonia to shoot the breeze about her successful independent buyer’s agent business, Tonia Krebs and Co, and to find out what she loves about living and working in the Southern Highlands.

Here’s our chat. 

And in other news…….those booooooots!!! 

1 :: The road to becoming a buyer’s agent has been a bit of a long and winding one for you, Tonia.

Yes, I started my first job in real estate in 1998 and I’ve done nearly every job in a real estate office – admin, property management and sales. Then I left to become a mum and returned to the industry after that.

I’ve dabbled in coffee – Grind and Go anyone?

I’ve been a business owner, a communications manager, and I’ve even studied women’s psychology.

Twenty-five years can fly by fast!

2 :: Wow. Add up all that experience and now you’re a buyer’s agent.

I wanted to combine my skills and experience together, and teach people how to buy investment property.

It was about 10 years ago that buyer’s agents became popular and if my time in real estate taught me anything it was that people buy terrible investment properties!

3 :: And you wanted to help people avoid that.

Absolutely. I find properties for buyers all across the Southern Highlands and if locals are keen to spread their investment wings, I also find properties for clients outside of the area. Normally that’s Campbelltown in the north, Young and Yass to the south, and Bathurst and Wagga out west.

I buy for a variety of people, but my favourite people to buy for are your regular mum and dad investors who’ve got their own home already. They might have been in their home for 10 or 15 years, realise they’ve got some equity in it, and they begin to get serious about protecting their future and investing in property.

4 :: You’ve found that people think buying an investment property is easy but it can be a bit tricky, right?

Exactly, and getting it wrong can prove to be quite expensive.

Often people will go to a dinner party and they’ll hear people talk about their real estate investments and they’ll think, maybe we should do that.

They look around and realise they don’t know what they are looking for, or they’re time poor. Or they don’t have the budget to buy in the Highlands and they need someone who can help them look further afield.

Helping people understand what makes a good investment can take a lot of educating. It’s worth it, though.

5 :: For many people, buying property can be quite an emotional decision, but you need to distinguish between the family home and an investment.

The key to a successful investment has nothing to do with whether you like the decor or colour of the walls – it’s just about the numbers. I go and find the place where the numbers stack up.

6 :: How do you help clients understand that?

It comes down to working with clients and being clear on what their goals are.

Some people want to be able to drive past the property, while others don’t care. Some people want to double their money in 10 years.

For others, negative gearing is important, a strategy of generating a loss against their income. That is one of those things that people just assume they should do. But why would you not want to earn money off your property and then pay tax because that’s just part of making money?

7 :: You’re pretty clear-eyed on the numbers. Is that your approach to pricing too?

Yes. Many buyer’s agents will charge a percentage on the sales price, which doesn’t make sense to me because it’s my job to get the property at the lowest price possible! So, I only charge a flat fee that is scaled into price brackets.

8 :: So, what’s a day in the life of Tonia Krebs look like then?

Six hundred emails!

I try not to have more than three properties going at once. There is keeping an eye on exchanges, settlements, dealing with lawyers, hurrying up finance brokers, researching markets and demographics, long drives to new locations. And then even after settlements, helping clients find a property manager and tenant.

Every day is different!

9 :: So why work with a buyer’s agent?

You don’t know what you don’t know so it’s all about protecting yourself.

It’s very expensive to get this wrong. You might not know what you are looking for and so you buy the wrong property. That means you haven’t brought a property which matches the market, can’t get a tenant, you’re unaware of big maintenance issues, or you potentially buy in an area with no growth. I really bring my property management lens to the job so that you can get the best rental property.

Plus, I’ve got investment properties myself. I’ve done a subdivision. I’ve been a landlord.

I can walk the talk.

10 :: What holds people back from making the leap into real estate investment?

There’s a lot of fear around making such a big decision and this is how I got into the psychology side of it all. I was teaching women how to invest in property and they had all this information, they had access to me and they still weren’t buying. I thought there is something wrong here because they haven’t done what they said they would do.

They hear all these negative stories about real estate and get scared off. Some buyer’s agents will call themselves a buyer’s agent, when in fact, they work for developers.

I’m here to help clients through the process so they don’t get stressed out or scared off. 

11 :: And finally, what do you love about living and working in the Highlands?

I love it. I live in Moss Vale now, I’ve been in the Highlands since the start of high school and I am just big on community.

My husband was a rugby player and I was the secretary of the club; and then we got into cycling and I was social secretary. I’ve been the P&C President of my children’s school.

It’s a really special place and I love being part of it.

To get your foot on the first rung of the real estate investment later, have a chat to Tonia – you’ll find contact details here.   

Tonia  focuses on finding the best investment property for you in the Southern Highlands and surrounds. An independent buyer’s agent who totally gets what you want to do and will work hard to make sure you get it!

…

This blog features friends and advertisers of The Fold Southern Highlands and is fully endorsed by The Fold Southern Highlands. We strongly believe in the businesses and all the information we share with you on The Fold and we’re excited to share the amazing stories and adventures of our local businesses. We want to say a BIG thank you to you for supporting our sponsors who help make The Fold possible.