When Michael and Denise Greene decided to sell their six-bedroom family home in Roseville on Sydney's upper north shore last spring, they faced a familiar problem. Both worked long hours, the home needed renovation, and the prospect of auditioning agents felt overwhelming.
Rather than tackle those hurdles alone, the Greenes enlisted Julie Buchanan, principal of Space Vendor Advocates. In hiring a vendor advocate, they made a choice increasingly popular among busy sellers: outsource the entire pre-sale process to an independent intermediary.
Buchanan advised the couple to paint and recarpet, then sourced the tradework and negotiated with shortlisted agents on their behalf. "The process was seamless," Michael recalls. "Because of her contacts, Julie was able to get people there promptly." The home sold before auction at a price the Greenes described as attractive.
Why seller trust in agents has fractured
The vendor advocacy model rests on a straightforward assumption: sellers distrust real estate agents. Fiona Martin, principal of Melbourne vendor advocacy firm Golden Alliance and a former real estate agent herself, describes what she observed in the profession. "Most agents have a very transactional approach. It's not that they're trying to do the wrong thing by their clients, but essentially, that's what ends up happening, because they're working for themselves and doing what is easiest and fastest."
Buchanan echoes this sentiment. "Many distrust real estate agents," she says. "What's valuable to them is knowing that someone is watching their back and has their best interests at heart." Her role provides what agents rushing between open homes on Saturday cannot: a trusted second pair of hands ensuring a property is properly staged and marketed before inspection.
No cost to the seller, in theory
Vendor advocates are typically paid from the real estate agent's commission, which theoretically leaves sellers no worse off financially. In practice, the advocate receives a percentage of what the agent would have earned, creating an alignment of interest between both intermediaries. While the real estate agent liaised with both vendor and buyer, the vendor advocate acts purely on behalf of the vendor's interests.
Yet this payment structure creates the central tension in the vendor advocacy business. Thomas McGlynn, president of the Real Estate Institute of NSW, acknowledges the industry's appeal but raises a fundamental concern. "If you are appointing someone to represent you, you probably should be remunerating them directly," he said. "Buyer's agents are paid directly by the buyer, and that ensures that they are representing the buyer's interests, rather than aligning themselves with the selling agent."
Martin welcomes greater regulation. "Absolutely, there are transactional vendor advocates, same as there are transactional selling agents. You have to be really careful about who you pick." She warns that some advocates do little more than insert themselves as a middleman between vendor and agent, filtering communications to appear proactive without adding genuine value.
A growth industry with minimal oversight
The vendor advocacy sector has expanded quietly over recent years, yet remains under-regulated compared to buyer's agents. McGlynn concedes that for busy professionals who lack the time or expertise to identify quality agents themselves, vendor advocates fill a genuine need. "For those people, there is a definite need, and that's why I see this trend continuing."
However, there isn't much legislation or regulation regarding vendor advocates, beyond the licensing requirement. This gap leaves sellers vulnerable to conflicts of interest if they do not conduct thorough due diligence on who they appoint.
As Sydney's property market softens, clearing rates have declined from earlier peaks. In recent weeks, auction markets across major capitals have stabilised around the low-60% range, with Sydney recording 1,308 auctions scheduled with a 61% clearance rate. In tighter market conditions, a professional advocate to manage the sale process and ensure disciplined pricing strategy becomes more valuable to sellers.
For the Greenes, the choice to hire Buchanan was straightforward. Neither wanted to spend weeks vetting agents or managing tradespeople. The trade-off was simple enough: a portion of the eventual commission, in exchange for professional coordination and independent representation throughout the process.
The real question for sellers considering this route is not whether vendor advocates add value in busy markets or when sellers lack the bandwidth to manage sales logistics. They demonstrably do. Rather, it is whether the current lack of state-level regulation creates unacceptable risks of misaligned incentives, and whether stronger protections should be put in place before the sector expands further.