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- Key figure: Brett van Son, Property Consultant at Abel Property Sales
- Challenge: Managing multiple offers in a competitive market while maintaining transparency and trust
- Solution: Implemented Realtair’s Offer Ranking feature to create a transparent, buyer-driven negotiation process
- Key achievement: Achieved $595,000 sale price from an initial $501,000 offer through transparent digital negotiations
While Perth’s property market continues to surge, driven by interstate migration and strong employment opportunities, one question remains: How can agents ensure they achieve the best possible results for their vendors? For Brett van Son, a seasoned agent with two decades of experience, the answer lay in challenging traditional negotiation methods.
Working just minutes from Perth’s CBD, Brett discovered that by putting transparency at the heart of his sales process, he could transform modest initial offers into standout results — all while giving buyers more control over their decisions. In one recent sale, this approach turned a $501,000 opening offer into a $595,000 sale in less than 24 hours, without a single midnight phone call or tense negotiation.
When transparency meets results
Brett recently had a property for sale in a suburb called Dianella that had been sitting on the market for a couple of weeks — an eternity in Perth’s current climate. The initial interest was lukewarm at best. “I’d had a couple of verbal offers,” Brett recalls, “one at $480,000 and another at maybe $500,000 or not even that. So quite too cheeky, just too cheeky offers.”
Everything shifted after a Wednesday evening home open. Brett embraced two features: a prominent ‘Make an Offer’ button on realestate.com.au listings and Realtair’s Offer Ranking feature. Buyers simply scan a QR code to submit and track their offers in real-time, seeing exactly where they rank against competing offers without knowing the actual amounts. The system, featured on all marketing materials and the property’s signboard, gave buyers the independence to make and update offers at their convenience — a far cry from the traditional back-and-forth negotiations.”
The power of digital competition
The magic wasn’t in the technology itself — it was in how Realtair’s Offer Ranking feature transformed the whole negotiation dynamic. Buyers could see where they ranked against competing offers without knowing the actual amounts, creating an environment that was both competitive and fair.
For Brett, the results were eye-opening. “I couldn’t have negotiated that offer to that point on my own,” he admits. “For someone who started at $501,000… we would’ve gone to the seller and said, ‘Look, we’ve got $501,000 or $520,000, what did you want to do?’ And they might’ve accepted the $520,000 or they would’ve accepted the $560,000 and we would’ve left $35,000 on the table.” Realtair turned what could have been a quick acceptance of a lower offer into an engaging process that maximised the property’s value.
A better way to buy and sell
Perhaps the most telling part of this story isn’t just the final price — it’s how the unsuccessful buyer reacted. Instead of the frustration that often accompanies missing out on a property, Brett shares that the buyer simply said, “Look, I feel like I just got picked at the post.”
This shift in attitude speaks volumes. When buyers can drive their own decisions, without the traditional back-and-forth with agents, they’re often willing to push harder for properties they really want.
“I couldn't have negotiated that offer to that point on my own... we would've have left $35,000 on the table.”
Brett van Son’s perfect storm
The timing couldn’t be better for this evolution in property sales. Perth’s market is humming, with properties in Brett’s patch averaging around $700,000 and first-home buyers making up a significant chunk of purchasers. In his area, just 5-7 kilometres from the CBD, properties are still relatively affordable compared to other capital cities, making them attractive to both local buyers and interstate migrants.
“I think it’s jobs and work,” Brett explains when asked about Perth’s strong market conditions. “There’s just work availability. The economy is a strong economy and it’s people movement. You’ve got people coming in from interstate overseas for work.”
Add Perth’s relative affordability compared to Sydney and Melbourne, and you’ve got perfect conditions for trying new approaches to property sales.
Work smarter, not harder
For agents wondering about making the switch to digital, Brett’s message is clear: Don’t wait. With Realtair’s integration with realestate.com.au, the future of property sales is rapidly evolving. “When people are buying homes more and more often, they’re going to be seeing this ‘Make an Offer’ button, and it’s going to be easy for them, and they’re going to click on that and they’re going to make offers, and it’s just going to be the norm,” he says. “The future’s really close — it’s like 12 to 18 months away. It’s not 10 years away.”
The best part? This new approach isn’t just better for clients; it’s transforming how agents work too. Take that Dianella sale: “I was at home relaxing at night, and then the guy wanted to update his offer, and I was asleep and he was still able to update his offer,” Brett shares. “It couldn’t happen otherwise.”
But here’s what might surprise traditional agents the most: automating parts of the process hasn’t meant losing the personal touch. “Everyone still gets a good level of customer service that hasn’t been lost. You still call them up and you’ll still see them face to face. It’s just a different element.”
The verdict is in: Putting transparency at the heart of property sales isn’t just changing how homes are bought and sold — it’s creating better outcomes across the board. For agents ready to embrace this shift, the rewards are clear: better prices for vendors, satisfied buyers (even when they miss out), and a more sustainable way of working that doesn’t mean sacrificing service quality.
