Vern Fitzgerald spent years running national sales teams in the wine industry before discovering his true passion lay in helping people navigate Brisbane’s property market.
After moving from New South Wales to Queensland during COVID, Vern experienced firsthand the value of using a buyer’s agent in an unfamiliar market – an experience that would ultimately reshape his career.
“We moved from New South Wales to Queensland, and both my sister and I used buyer’s agents to facilitate our move to a market that we were completely unfamiliar with,” Vern said.
“I’d only been to Brisbane once before.”
His sister, Jade, established Ideal Buyer’s Agency nearly five years ago, and Vern watched with growing interest as she built the business.
“I saw the momentum and results she was achieving each day,” he said.
While initially considering a move into traditional real estate sales and even looking at purchasing a rent roll with his wife, Vern quickly realised that path wasn’t for him.
“I went and did my real estate licence on the side and was actually thinking I would move into the sales side of it,” he said.
“I quickly decided that that wasn’t for me and that maybe my sales candle had flickered out.”
Finding the right partnership
Instead, Vern and his sister decided to join forces at Ideal Buyer’s Agency – a decision that has proven to be a strong fit.
“It’s turned out to be a great decision for both of us. We complement each other very well, with very similar backgrounds,” he said.
The transition allowed Vern to leverage all the skills he’d developed in sales, but from a different perspective.
“It’s the ability for me to use all of the tools and people skills and negotiation skills that I’ve learned in the sales world, but flipping it over into the buying side,” he said.
Specialising in Brisbane’s Bayside
Vern and his team work across Greater Brisbane, but have developed particular expertise in the Bayside area, encompassing suburbs from Wynnum Manly down to Redland Bay.
“Every client is different. Every brief is different,” Vern said.
For investors, the focus is on high-growth areas with strong yields, often in the Logan LGA for those seeking low-maintenance brick properties, or Bayside for clients with budgets just north of $1 million.
“The median price in Brisbane now is around a million dollars,” he said.
“The closer you get to the city and Bayside, that just goes up.”
The art of negotiation
Vern credits his results to strong negotiation skills and meticulous research.
“A huge part of negotiation is being able to read social cues, being able to read between the lines,” he said.
“I’m very good at honing in on price points and using data to drill down on where the property should sit and, most importantly, what we need to pay to get the deal done.”
Building trust and relationships is also central to his approach – both with clients and with selling agents.
“You can’t waste their time. You’ve got to make sure that you’re going to them with vetted buyers.”
A transparent approach
Ideal Buyer’s Agency differentiates itself through complete pricing transparency, with all fees published online.
“We are fully transparent with our pricing,” Vern said.
“We pride ourselves on the fact that we’re not a percentage-based buyer’s agent, that we have flat fees.”
Looking ahead, Vern’s vision for the next five years is grounded in building trust.
“The most important thing for us is to have brand recognition, which we’ve already got, but trust throughout the market,” he said.
“When people think of Bayside and Greater Brisbane, but in particular, this Brisbane Bayside area, they need us in their corner, that we are the trusted experts.”
For Vern, the move from wine sales to buyer’s agency has allowed him to combine his passion for property with his strengths in negotiation, research, and relationship building.
“I just love being able to help people, whether that’s on an investment front or whether that’s getting them set up in their first home or downsizing,” he said.
“Every story comes with a different brief and emotion that plays through it as well.”
Buyersagents.com.au is proud to support the professional growth of buyer agent Vern Fitzgerald via a platform to connect them with more buyers. Discover more at Buyersagents.com.au.