Katherine Skinner has built a thriving buyer advocacy business in Adelaide by prioritising relationships over transactions – a philosophy forged through the challenges of burnout and market volatility.
Ms Skinner leads National Property Buyers in Adelaide, where she and her team of seven help clients navigate the competitive South Australian property market with a focus on delivering life-changing results rather than chasing numbers.
Her journey into real estate began two decades ago when she moved to Melbourne at 19 and stumbled into an opportunity that would shape her career.
“I was working in another industry and kind of fell into real estate,” Ms Skinner said.
“I found a front of house assistant position within a buyer advocacy firm in Melbourne. Coming from Adelaide, I wasn’t even sure what a buyer’s advocate was. This was twenty years ago now.”
After gaining valuable experience in Melbourne as a research assistant, Ms Skinner returned to Adelaide and established National Property Buyers nearly eleven years ago, when her eldest son was just 10 weeks old.
Building a balanced client base
Today, Ms Skinner’s business serves a diverse mix of clients across metropolitan Adelaide, with approximately 50 per cent home buyers and 50 per cent investors.
“Obviously, that fluctuates month to month, but that’s on average how the split looks,” she said.
“From time to time, we’ll assist people going a little bit further if the need is there, but generally speaking, we work in the metropolitan area.”
Ms Skinner said her strength lies in relationship building and genuinely considering her clients’ best interests.
“We’re not numbers based, we’re results based and dedicated to enhancing our clients’ lives through getting them the right opportunities,” she said.
For owner-occupiers, Ms Skinner takes pride in being part of significant life moments, helping first home buyers, couples and families find and secure the right property.
“Those moments really stick with them,” she said.
“What I’ve realised with clients coming back to me for multiple purchases is you kind of are part of that life-changing moment with a lot of those owner occupiers.”
Navigating Adelaide’s hot market
Adelaide has emerged as one of Australia’s hottest property markets in recent years, presenting unique challenges for buyer advocates.
Ms Skinner said the period from 2020 through to 2025 was particularly demanding, with huge buyer demand and limited supply creating desperation in the market.
“A lot of people were coming to us when they were at the end of their tether after having tried to do it on their own for an extended period,” she said.
“Trying to navigate the market and assess things on a week by week basis to make sure clients aren’t priced out, it was extremely challenging. But we were still able to achieve some really, really strong results.”
She noted that 2025 has seen stock levels pick up to almost pre-COVID times, providing some relief for buyers.
Learning through adversity
The COVID period proved to be both the busiest and most challenging time for Ms Skinner’s business, ultimately leading to a fundamental shift in her business model.
“I was in the depths of burnout completely, and mental health was on the decline,” she said.
“Thankfully, we were able to make adjustments and work out, okay, what’s the maximum amount of clients that we can work with and still achieve these relationships and results?”
This difficult period helped define the business model that National Property Buyers operates under today – one focused on quality over quantity.
“We’re quite comfortable. We have currently got a team of seven, and it works really well,” Ms Skinner said.
“We like being able to work with a limited amount of clients each at any one time. We would rather set up wait lists for people rather than taking on huge numbers.”
The power of repeat business
Ms Skinner’s relationship-focused approach has paid dividends, with repeat clients now forming a substantial portion of her business.
“In the past six months for myself personally, over 50 per cent of my work is repeat clients,” she said.
National Property Buyers also offers in-house property management, allowing the team to maintain long-term relationships with investor clients.
“We often will get clients coming back to us after a few years because these investments have performed so well,” Ms Skinner said.
“Getting to see the results that clients are able to achieve and the doors that it opens for them – it’s great.”
Looking ahead
Rather than pursuing aggressive growth, Ms Skinner is focused on maintaining the quality of service that has become her business’s hallmark.
“We want to continue being able to develop the relationships and build on the relationships with people rather than it becoming a very transactional business,” she said.
Ms Skinner has recently partnered with buyersagent.com.au to increase brand awareness and help potential clients find the right fit for their needs.
“I feel as though there are a lot of buyer’s agents out there now. People need options,” she said.
“They need to be able to find the right fit for their needs and what their goals are.”
Buyersagents.com.au celebrates the achievements of professionals like Katherine Skinner and helps connect trusted buyer’s agents with more buyers across Australia.