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How do I make an offer, and who does the agent work for?
Bayley Clarke · Mortgage broker on the road · Last checked 3 September 2026 · 3 min read
The short answer
The agent works for the seller, the vendor. Their job is solely to look after the current owner of the property, so they're not inclined to do you a favour.
To make an offer, know your purchase price range first, from a pre-approval or borrowing capacity perspective. Then call the agent, say you're interested at this price point, and follow up with an email with the terms of your offer. They present it to the owner, and that's where negotiations start.
The ninety second version. The rest of this page is the detail underneath it.
Who the agent actually works for
The agent has been enlisted as the owner's best choice to get the most competitive price for their property and have a buyer pay a premium for it. Their job is solely to look after the current owner of the property. So they're not inclined to do you a solid, because at the end of the day they work for the owner, not you.
That doesn't make them the enemy. It just tells you how to read everything they say. 'There's a lot of interest' is their job. 'The owner wants it done quickly' is their job. When you know whose corner they're in, none of it rattles you, and you can be friendly and direct at the same time.
Know your number before you say one out loud
In order to make an offer, you want to understand where your purchase price range sits from a pre-approval or borrowing capacity perspective, and whether that's affordable. That's the work that happens before the offer, and it's the part most people skip. An offer you can't fund is just a conversation.
The second question is whether that offer is going to be competitive in the current market. That's not about what the place is worth to you. It's about what the other buyers in the room are likely to put down. A good agent will tell you if you ask straight, because a serious offer is in their interest too.
How the offer goes in
Usually what happens is you call the agent and say, yep, I'm interested in making an offer at this price point. You then follow up with an email with the terms of your offer. Typically that's the price, and whether it's subject to finance, subject to building and pest inspections, or if you've got a current property that needs to be sold, subject to sale.
Once that offer has been sent over, the agent presents it to the current owner of the property, and that's where negotiations can start. Expect some back and forth until ultimately you come to a price both parties agree on, and the property will be yours. The conditions matter as much as the price here. A clean offer with finance already approved will often beat a higher one loaded with conditions.
The honest bit: the conditions are your protection, use them
There's pressure, sometimes from the agent, to drop the finance and building and pest conditions so your offer looks stronger. Only do that when you've actually got the approval and the inspection done. Going unconditional on hope is how people end up owning a house the bank won't fund.
Get the pre-approval, know your ceiling, and then you can decide from strength which conditions you're willing to give up. That's a very different position to giving them up because you were told to.
Want your range sorted before you make the call?
A 30 minute call. I pre-qualify you across the lenders I work with, tell you your range, and whether you need the formal pre-approval or can go subject to finance. Nothing on your file until you say so.
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Next question
Can I make an offer before I've sold my place?Yes, subject to sale. Here's why those offers sit at the bottom of the pile, and the alternatives.
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