bav.Buyer’s Agent Victoria

Author: Jason McCall

5% Deposit Scheme: What It Actually Means for Inner North Buyers

The 5% Deposit Scheme just got bigger, and more first home buyers are using it than most people realise. According to Hotspotting’s Week In Real Estate (12 September 2026), over 120,000 first home buyer households have already used the expanded scheme to get into the market with a smaller deposit.

That’s a national number, but the effect of it is entirely local. If you’re buying in Thornbury, Northcote or Preston, this changes who you’re competing against, not just what you can borrow.

Buying in Melbourne’s North in the next few months? I have 3 Foundation Client places at half my standard fee. Answer 7 questions to see if you fit.

What Is the 5% Deposit Scheme?

The 5% Deposit Scheme (formally the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme, previously known as the Home Guarantee Scheme) lets eligible first home buyers purchase with as little as a 5% deposit, without paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance. Single parents and legal guardians can access it with a deposit as low as 2%.

As of October 2025, the scheme carries no income caps and no waitlists, which is part of why uptake has accelerated so quickly. Applicants still need to meet standard lending criteria and apply through a participating lender, and the scheme applies within set property price caps that vary by location. For Melbourne, which includes Thornbury, Northcote and Preston, the cap is $950,000.

Why Does This Matter If You’re Buying in the Inner North?

More first home buyers able to move with a smaller deposit means more of them competing at the same time, for the same kind of property. In Thornbury, Northcote and Preston, that pressure lands squarely on the entry-level units and smaller houses that first home buyers are actually shopping for.

In practice that means more people at the same open homes, more competing offers on the same shortlist, and less room to wait and see before making a decision.

Foundation Clients Offer: 3 places remaining

I buy across Melbourne, with a focus on the North and a specialty in Northcote, Thornbury and Preston. Foundation Clients get the full property search, brief to settlement, for $8,250 instead of $16,500. In return I ask for a case study and a written testimonial after settlement.
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Does Waiting to Save a Bigger Deposit Still Make Sense?

For a lot of buyers, no. The logic behind saving a bigger deposit was always to reduce risk and avoid Lenders Mortgage Insurance. The 5% Deposit Scheme already removes the LMI cost for eligible buyers, so the main thing a longer savings period buys you now is more time for prices to move and more competition to show up at the properties you actually want.

The real risk for a lot of Inner North buyers isn’t moving too early on a 5% deposit. It’s spending another 12 months saving while the pool of buyers competing for the same entry-level stock keeps growing.

What Should First Home Buyers Actually Do With This Information?

Three things worth doing before you assume the scheme changes your plans:

Check your eligibility and the price cap for the specific area you’re looking at, since caps vary by location and a property just over the cap won’t qualify. Talk to a broker early, before you fall in love with a property, so you know exactly what you can borrow and under what terms. And get someone assessing properties on your side of the transaction, since more competition at the entry level is exactly when buyers are most likely to overpay or skip a proper inspection just to keep up.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the 5% Deposit Scheme? It’s the Australian Government’s scheme (previously the Home Guarantee Scheme) that lets eligible first home buyers purchase a property with as little as a 5% deposit and no Lenders Mortgage Insurance, subject to price caps and lender approval.

Who is eligible for the 5% Deposit Scheme? First home buyers generally need a minimum 5% deposit, while single parents or legal guardians can qualify with as little as 2%. As of October 2025 there are no income caps, though applicants still need to meet standard lending criteria through a participating lender.

Does the 5% Deposit Scheme apply everywhere in Melbourne’s Inner North? Yes, as long as the property is priced at or below the cap. The cap for Melbourne is $950,000, and that covers Thornbury, Northcote and Preston. Caps can change, so confirm the figure with your lender for any property you’re considering.

Is it better to save a bigger deposit instead of using the scheme? For many buyers, no. The scheme already removes the Lenders Mortgage Insurance cost that a bigger deposit was partly designed to avoid, and a longer savings period usually means more competition at the entry level of the market, not less.

More first home buyers are moving sooner because of the 5% Deposit Scheme, and that means more competition across Thornbury, Northcote and Preston.

Foundation Clients Offer: 3 places remaining

I buy across Melbourne, with a focus on the North and a specialty in Northcote, Thornbury and Preston. Foundation Clients get the full property search, brief to settlement, for $8,250 instead of $16,500. In return I ask for a case study and a written testimonial after settlement.
Answer 7 Questions to See If You Fit
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External source cited: Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme, Housing Australia / First Home Buyers portal.

23 September 2026
Buyer’s Agent vs Real Estate Agent: What’s the Actual Difference?

Buyers agent vs real estate agent: it’s one of the most common points of confusion for first-time buyers in Victoria, and it costs people money. If you’ve ever stood in an open home and asked the agent “is this a fair price,” you’ve already run into the problem this article is about.

That agent has a job to do, and it isn’t answering that question honestly for you. The two roles work for opposite sides of the same transaction.

Buying in Melbourne’s North in the next few months? I have 3 Foundation Client places at half my standard fee. Answer 7 questions to see if you fit.

What Does a Real Estate Agent Actually Do?

A real estate agent, sometimes called a selling agent, is engaged and paid by the seller. Their legal duty is to the vendor: get the highest possible price, on the vendor’s terms.

That’s not a criticism of the role, it’s the job. Every conversation you have with a selling agent at an inspection or during a negotiation happens through that lens, because that’s who they’re legally and financially accountable to.

What Does a Buyer’s Agent Do Differently?

A buyer’s agent (also called a buyer’s advocate) is engaged and paid by you, the buyer. In Victoria, a buyer’s agent still operates under an estate agent’s licence issued by Consumer Affairs Victoria, but the client relationship runs the opposite direction: no relationship with the seller, no commission tied to the sale price, and no incentive to push a number up.

At Buyer’s Agent Victoria, that separation is absolute. BAV never takes a fee from a selling agent, on any transaction, and only ever represents buyers. There’s no vendor advocacy arm sitting alongside it. The fee is a flat professional fee, agreed with the client upfront, so there’s never a financial reason to want the price higher.

From 1 July 2026, buyer’s agents across Australia were also classified as reporting entities under the AML/CTF Act, meaning formal identity and source-of-funds checks are now a legal requirement before any engagement can begin. It’s a small detail, but it reflects how seriously the role is now regulated, not a courtesy service, a licensed one.

Foundation Clients Offer: 3 places remaining

I buy across Melbourne, with a focus on the North and a specialty in Northcote, Thornbury and Preston. Foundation Clients get the full property search, brief to settlement, for $8,250 instead of $16,500. In return I ask for a case study and a written testimonial after settlement.
Answer 7 Questions to See If You Fit
Search. Secure. Settle. On Your Side.

Why Does This Distinction Actually Cost Buyers Money?

When you ask a selling agent “is this a fair price,” you’re asking someone whose job is to convince you it is, or at least not talk you out of paying full price.

A buyer’s agent does the opposite. They independently assess the property and tell you if it’s overpriced, if there’s a defect the photos didn’t show, or if there’s a better option a street away that you haven’t seen yet.

That gap matters most on the thing most buyers underweight: picking the right property, not just negotiating the number. A buyer who gets the asset wrong ends up selling and buying again within a few years. Getting it right once, even if the process takes longer, is usually the cheaper outcome.

That’s really what the buyers agent vs real estate agent question comes down to: one side is assessing whether the price and the property are right for you, and the other isn’t.

What Does This Look Like in Practice?

Before founding Buyer’s Agent Victoria, Jason McCall spent 12 years as an insurance property assessor and claims manager, reading what a building’s condition actually says rather than what an open home is styled to show. Every property shortlisted for a BAV client gets that same physical assessment before it’s put in front of them, not a walk-through for the photos.

That’s the practical difference between the two roles. A selling agent’s job ends at securing the sale. A buyer’s agent’s job is judging whether the property, and the price, are actually right for the person paying for it, which is the real answer to the buyers agent vs real estate agent question in practice, not just in theory.

Do You Need Both a Real Estate Agent and a Buyer’s Agent?

Yes. Answering the buyers agent vs real estate agent question isn’t about choosing one over the other, they do different jobs. The two roles aren’t interchangeable, and a buyer’s agent doesn’t remove the selling agent from the process, they represent the properties that are on the market, and you’ll deal with them at every inspection regardless.

What changes is who’s doing that same job for you. A buyer’s agent works alongside that process from the buyer’s side, so someone is assessing, negotiating and advising with only your interests in view.

The Takeaway

Once you understand the buyers agent vs real estate agent distinction, the rest of the buying process gets a lot less confusing. If nobody in the transaction is working exclusively for you, nobody is minimising what you pay, or making sure you’re buying the right property in the first place. That’s the gap a buyer’s agent exists to fill.

We walked through exactly why this distinction exists, and what it looks like at a real negotiation table in Thornbury, Northcote and Preston, in a recent video: “Why Does a Buyer’s Agent Only Work for Buyers, Never Sellers?” on the Buyer’s Agent Victoria YouTube channel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Buyers agent vs real estate agent, are they the same thing? No. A real estate agent (selling agent) is engaged by the seller and is legally obligated to get the seller the best price. A buyer’s agent is engaged by the buyer and represents only the buyer’s interests, with no relationship to the seller.

Does a real estate agent ever represent the buyer? No. Even when a selling agent is friendly and helpful during an inspection, their legal duty remains to the vendor. They cannot act in the buyer’s interests on that transaction.

How is a buyer’s agent paid? At Buyer’s Agent Victoria, the fee is a flat professional fee agreed with the client upfront, not a commission tied to the purchase price. Exact fees are confirmed in writing before any engagement begins, so there’s never a financial incentive to see the price go up. The full breakdown is in How Much Does a Buyer’s Agent Cost in Melbourne?

Is it worth paying for a buyer’s agent? For time-poor buyers, or anyone unfamiliar with a specific local market, the value usually isn’t in shaving a small amount off the price, it’s in avoiding the far more expensive mistake of buying the wrong property and having to sell and buy again.

Do I still need a solicitor or conveyancer if I use a buyer’s agent? Yes. A buyer’s agent handles sourcing, assessment and negotiation, but legal advice and contract review sit with your solicitor or conveyancer. BAV works alongside these professionals through to settlement, but doesn’t replace them.

Still weighing up the buyers agent vs real estate agent question for your own purchase?

Foundation Clients Offer: 3 places remaining

I buy across Melbourne, with a focus on the North and a specialty in Northcote, Thornbury and Preston. Foundation Clients get the full property search, brief to settlement, for $8,250 instead of $16,500. In return I ask for a case study and a written testimonial after settlement.
Answer 7 Questions to See If You Fit
Search. Secure. Settle. On Your Side.

17 September 2026
Is a Buyer’s Agent Worth It in Melbourne’s Inner North?

Is a buyer’s agent worth it? If you’re asking that question, you’ve probably already been through a few opens that went nowhere, or watched a property sell well above what you expected to pay.

That’s usually the moment the question comes up. Not before the search starts, but somewhere in the middle of it, once the market stops feeling manageable.

Here’s a straight answer, built on what Buyer’s Agent Victoria (BAV) actually charges and actually does, not a generic industry line.

Buying in Melbourne’s North in the next few months? I have 3 Foundation Client places at half my standard fee. Answer 7 questions to see if you fit.

What Does a Buyer’s Agent Actually Do?

A buyer’s agent works only for you. At BAV, that means sourcing properties on-market and off-market, physically inspecting every shortlisted property before it reaches you, managing the negotiation, and supporting you through to settlement.

The part that’s easy to underrate is the inspection. Jason McCall spent 12 years as an insurance property assessor and claims manager before founding BAV, reading what a building’s condition actually says rather than what an open home is styled to show. Every property a BAV client is shown has already been through that same read, not a walk-through for the listing photos.

What Does It Actually Cost, and Is It a Commission?

Is a buyer’s agent worth it once you look at the actual number? BAV’s Full Property Search is a flat Professional Fee of $16,500 including GST, split into four instalments across the engagement.

That distinction matters more than it sounds. A percentage-based fee, common across this industry, quietly rewards an agent when the price goes up. A flat fee removes that incentive entirely, since the fee is identical whether the final price is $600,000 or $1,700,000.

BAV’s current Foundation Clients Offer runs the same service at $8,250 in exchange for a case study and a written testimonial after settlement, with a small number of early places still open.

Foundation Clients Offer: 3 places remaining

I buy across Melbourne, with a focus on the North and a specialty in Northcote, Thornbury and Preston. Foundation Clients get the full property search, brief to settlement, for $8,250 instead of $16,500. In return I ask for a case study and a written testimonial after settlement.
Answer 7 Questions to See If You Fit
Search. Secure. Settle. On Your Side.

Where Does the Fee Actually Pay for Itself?

Isaac B. bought his first home in Footscray as a first-time buyer working full-time shifts as a stevedore, with almost no time to search between shifts and no experience of how the process worked. BAV inspected 3 properties, and it took 14 days from engagement to an accepted offer, with the final price landing at $650,000. That was $20,000 under the $670,000 that comparable sales pointed to, and $25,000 under his $675,000 budget.

That number matters, but Isaac’s own words afterwards were about something else entirely. He said the process “made my first property buying experience incredibly smooth and stress-free,” and that it made his life easier while working a job that left him almost no time to do any of this alone.

A different client, Mel H., had a similar starting point in a different suburb. Five months of searching solo in Mount Clear, repeatedly outbid at auction with no access to off-market stock, before an off-market opportunity was secured on the very first inspection, $40,000 under what the comparables said the property was worth.

What Actually Separates a Good Buyer’s Agent From an Average One?

Two things, and neither one is really about negotiation tactics.

The first is whether the agent physically inspects a property before you see it, or just walks it through for the listing photos. BAV treats this as non-negotiable, applying the same eye for a building’s condition that 12 years of assessing insurance claims builds.

The second is genuine local knowledge, not a suburb researched from a desk the week before an offer goes in. Jason grew up in Thornbury and still lives there, so the streets BAV specialises in, Thornbury, Northcote, Preston and the surrounding Inner North suburbs, are known first-hand rather than looked up.

When Might You Not Need One?

If you already know a specific street-level market well, have negotiated a property purchase before, and genuinely have the time each week to inspect, research and follow up on listings yourself, the value of paying someone else to do it narrows.

That’s a smaller group than the number of people who assume they’re in it, particularly first-time buyers or anyone buying in a market moving faster than they expected.

So, Is a Buyer’s Agent Worth It?

The honest answer depends on what getting it wrong would cost you. Getting the price wrong is expensive. Getting the property wrong is worse, because a buyer who chooses the wrong asset usually ends up selling and buying again within a few years, doing the whole process twice.

BAV’s Full Property Search exists for exactly that reason, to get it right once, physically assessed and properly negotiated, rather than getting something that looks fine on the day and turns into a costly decision later.

Buyer’s agents are also now formally regulated in a way they weren’t a few years ago. From 1 July 2026, buyer’s agents across Australia were classified as reporting entities under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, meaning identity and source-of-funds checks are now a legal requirement before any engagement begins. It’s worth confirming whoever you’re considering takes that obligation seriously.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a buyer’s agent worth it for a first home buyer?
Often, yes, particularly in a competitive market where a first-time buyer is up against experienced buyers and agents who already know the local playbook. Isaac B.’s Footscray purchase is one example of that gap being closed.

How much does a buyer’s agent cost in Melbourne?
At BAV, the Full Property Search is a flat Professional Fee of $16,500 including GST, with no commission or success fee tied to the purchase price. Fees vary between buyer’s agents, so always confirm the fee structure in writing before engaging one. The three fee models are compared in dollars in How Much Does a Buyer’s Agent Cost in Melbourne?

Do buyer’s agents take money from the seller?
BAV never takes a fee from a selling agent, on any transaction. Some buyer’s agencies also run a vendor advocacy arm alongside their buyer-side work; BAV doesn’t operate one.

Are buyer’s agents regulated in Victoria?
Yes. Buyer’s agents operate under an estate agent’s licence issued by Consumer Affairs Victoria, and since 1 July 2026 are also classified as reporting entities under national AML/CTF law.

Is a buyer’s agent worth it if I’ve already bought a property before?
It depends on how well you know the specific street-level market you’re buying in now. Experience buying in one suburb doesn’t automatically transfer to a different one, particularly somewhere as local and specific as the Inner North.

So, is a buyer’s agent worth it for your own purchase?

Foundation Clients Offer: 3 places remaining

I buy across Melbourne, with a focus on the North and a specialty in Northcote, Thornbury and Preston. Foundation Clients get the full property search, brief to settlement, for $8,250 instead of $16,500. In return I ask for a case study and a written testimonial after settlement.
Answer 7 Questions to See If You Fit
Search. Secure. Settle. On Your Side.

17 September 2026