Last Saturday morning we did the long-awaited brunch to celebrate the house purchase. The venue? One found during many weeks of Saturday morning searching: Glen Huntly’s Club Cafe. It’s like one of them English caffs, the food loaded up with grease and cholesterol, and proud of it.

It was the Champagne Breakfast that we went back for — billed as the brekky of your choice, an OJ, a cuppa, and a glass of champagne! And though the champagne may not have been a big prize-winner, it was suitably celebratory… not to mention the huge serves of food filling us all to the brim. I made sure to have a good walk later in the day. As long as you’re not already at risk of a heart attack, it’s a thumbs up.

It was Mal, the buyer’s advocate hired help who had insisted on the venue.

You may know of my many attempts over the past couple of years at buying a house. Though in fact if you don’t know me in person, you haven’t heard the half of it.

So after my sister successfully used a buyer’s advocate last year to buy, I thought I’d try it too. There’s a bunch of things a buyer’s advocate can do, and often they deal with people looking for much more expensive houses than I was, but Mal (and team) were very helpful at identifying. Though they didn’t find the house I ended up with, they did do some work on looking through places, offering an objective view on how much they were worth and whether they would hold their value.

And of course, the wheeling and dealing, which is what I needed the most help with. Though one auction didn’t work out (some foolish people really wanted that place) when I found The House, Mal moved in quickly, handling negotiations with the agent, and ensuring we nabbed it before it went to auction. Hooray, victory for me!

So, if the circumstances are right, a buyer’s advocate is very helpful.