Consumers Beware - Joanna Boyd Buyers Advocate (Brisbane)
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This is an account from someone dear to me of Joanna Boyd Buyers Advocate in Brisbane:
You save your whole life to buy a house, and I had a friend recommend Joanna Boyd as someone who could help me make a smart investment, possibly even find my dream home. A sanctuary. The agent looking after me said he was a former builder, so I felt like I’d made a great decision.
I was wrong.
For the huge amount of money I paid (tens of thousands — 2.2%), I sadly ended up with a place that had issues well beyond what was mentioned in the Building and Pest inspection. The many months since I purchased the house have been the lowest point of my life. For six months, I stopped talking to most of my friends and just sat in shame. I’m a PhD graduate. I like to be careful with my money. I read Real Estate Mistakes and other literature, but I was trusting that a buyer’s agent would put my interests first. I was eager to write an amazing review for Joanna Boyd and her crew. But now, I’m finally writing the opposite.
During the cyclone, my place flooded, which isn’t something you’d expect from a house on a hill. But newer friends with building experience pointed out that the bathroom renovation my buyer’s agent estimated at $30,000 was clearly a budget job, with poor waterproofing. Corners were cut everywhere. It’s been eye-opening to meet people now who instantly noticed all the issues that weren’t in the report.
I can’t rent out the downstairs like I’d planned. Insurance suggested tearing it all down. I’m stuck in a house that doesn’t feel safe — water comes in through the walls, and nobody knows why. All this isn’t completely on Joanna Boyd’s former agent — it’s also on me, for trusting that the seller’s agent was being honest about interest in the house (I’m sure he wasn’t) and for believing the story that the “lovely gay couple” moved to Melbourne together (also a lie). They took massive shortcuts fixing issues.
My first yellow flag was the subtle energy you notice when you’re being pushed toward your upper limit — because a higher price tag means a bigger commission for them. But most of all, their incentive is to get you to buy quickly. I don’t know if all buyer’s agents are inherently greedy, but I now find it suspicious that one of their key selling points is how fast people buy with them. Not how many of those people felt they found a dream home or made a sound investment.
Joanna Boyd herself was on holiday at the time of sale, and I’m sure she’s a lovely person with a genuine story. But all I know is that the two employees holding down the fort while she was away — well, one of them quit during the short few weeks I was searching. And my former agent (the ex-builder, who I believe was a nice guy but clearly under pressure to sell quickly) either quit or was fired shortly after. That kind of staff turnover in a small team is concerning. It likely means she’s had to replace them with brand-new people — possibly inexperienced. And of course, they can’t admit that, because if they do, they won’t make sales.
I don’t want to list every little detail of what went wrong, because yes — I got excited. I was hopeful. But a true buyer’s agent should insist that you go back to a property and look for faults before spending that amount of money. And/or go back themselves to help ensure proper due diligence was done. To save you from buying a lemon. To save you from hitting the lowest point in your life.
I used to be a happy person. I really was. I was excited to buy an amazing house, and I believed that confidence might help me find my dream woman. I’m not getting any younger. This might have been my last good shot at building a family, and it was stolen from me. I don’t trust myself with money decisions anymore. This is actually the third time in my life I’ve been recommended someone, only to be let down and led down a path worse than if I’d gone it alone. Instead, this may have set me back years. My mojo is gone. I withdrew. And just writing this is a huge step for me — naming the shame, calling out how I feel taken advantage of by people I trusted.
When you see signs of water damage, and both the seller’s agent and buyer’s agent assure you it’s no big deal, listen to your gut. They’re both trying to close a deal. Even in an extreme seller’s market, it’s not worth it.
Yes, there’s a huge element of bad luck in what happened to me. But when you pay that kind of money to an agent, it’s utterly defeating when they don’t add value, and worse, when they nudge you toward a high-cost home that doesn’t match the criteria you originally laid out. Maybe this is a warning that applies to all buyer’s agents.
I’m still ashamed that one of the happiest moments of my life turned into my first real episode of depression. But reclaiming my power starts with reclaiming my voice.
If interested, I'll put you in touch with this person to hear more details of what to be careful of when buying a house... stuff that isn't in any books.
