Domain Property Advocates | Buyer Advocates | Vendor Advocates | Property Management | Lease & Rent | Makeovers

Buyer testimonials

If you have ever completed a transaction with real estate before, you may have discovered the process can be full of empty promises and unrealistic expectations, leaving you feeling disappointed and disillusioned.

Our clients do not experience any of the above.

“Many thanks to you both for your assistance in the successful purchase of my new home! It was a pleasure to deal with you both, always professional, attentive and reliable. I would have no hesitation in recommending your company to friends and relatives.
David, also thanks for the bonus assistance which I received when selling my Glen Iris property.”
Maree Schweitzer

Thanks heaps for your work it was really helpful and certainly a stress saver!"
M Corson

"Thank you for finding my first property in Melbourne. I was pleased with your work in finding my first of several properties and I cannot thank you enough."
S A Smith

"We first met Melanie Dennis through referral and are very glad we did. Melanie found an investment property for us after listening to our requirements, sourcing appropriate properties, taking us personally on a 'grand tour' of prospective properties and acting as our agent during the purchase process. The property we chose was not even on Melanie's shortlist for us! We saw it in passing but Melanie was flexible enough and pro-active enough on our day of 'touring' to arrange an inspection. Having Melanie organise the agents to meet us at each property saved us a huge amount of time and effort, and having her there to ask the pertinent questions was a definite advantage. "
M & S Slorach

"How can we thank you for all of your help with buying and selling our houses (+ the extras). Easy in a card and soon flowers! "
J & J Chaplin Fleming

"We just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for the help and support over the past six months with the purchase of our investment property. Fro the first email enquiring about your services, through to the settlement and subsequent letting of our property, your professionalism, attention to details and never-ending work has been far beyond the level of service expected. Previous experience with a rental manager only reinforced to us how unaware we were of the poor service we were rece4iving when compared to your own management. "
A & C Lance

"Tamara and I can't thank you enough for your assistance during the hunt and the purchase of our new home. We found your experience invaluable and look forward to calling on your services in the future. "
P & T Walsh

"Doing business with you was a great pleasure. I really enjoyed the friendly, informative and totally professional service you offer and would always be happy to do business with you again. I can't recommend you highly enough."
D Romani

"Thank you for the help and support over the past six months with the purchase of our investment property.your professionalism, attention to detail and never-ending work has been far beyond the level of service expected."
A & C Lance

“…I was deeply impressed by your professional approach to the purchase and as you know delighted by the price that you eventually negotiated at the auction which was, as you are aware, $40,000 less than the maximum we were prepared to pay for the property.
…. Again our thanks for an excellent job.”
Martin Soutter

“…Once again, thank you for all your assistance with the purchase of the house in Hawthorn, we have finally moved in and we’re enjoying the house in Hawthorn, we’re enjoying the house and the location immensely. Naturally we are raving about the service and value wherever we go. We’d love you to drop in some time for a meal and catch up if you have the chance…”
Angus McLeay

“Thank you for your patience, professionalism and honest advice. I know this purchase would rate at the smaller end of the scale for you, however I never felt that throughout our dealings…”
Peter Taverna

Dear Warwick
We would like to congratulate you on your success in securing our new investment property. Having our own business, we are time poor. While we were keen to buy an investment property, we simply did not have the time to spend our weekends searching for the right place to buy. That is where Domain Property Advocates came into the picture. After identifying our needs and budget, Warwick and the property consultants did all the time consuming work. About 6 weeks later, we had signed the contract to purchase a property in Hawthorn. Buying a house has never been so easy!!
We look forward to dealing with you on the next one.
Yours sincerely
Jodie Byass

“Thanks for your help David. Made the whole process almost stress-free. I’ll be in touch to invite you to the house warming…”
Ruth

“Thank you for all your help firstly with Irene Street and then with the Iffla Street property. A very big thank you. Without your help we would have definitely paid too much…."
Warmest regards
Cal Ario & Emma Bartlet

“… Thanks for all your support and a job well done… We are counting the days till settlement, looked at hundreds of kitchen appliances and paint colours….”
Richard Witts

“Well, what more can I say than many, many thanks for all your help, professionalism and advice on the purchase of Silver Street as well as the sale of Turnbull Avenue. With your friendly, easy manner you have definitely made this process less stressful and easy for us. Plus I have learned a huge amount from you about the buying and selling of houses…
Thanks again David.”
Mrs Jane Thomson

“… We have been here for one week today, and are gradually getting through the unpacking! Everything is great, thank you for all your help and encouragement.”
Jennifer Davies

Dear Warwick,
This is a very big and long over due letter of thanks for all of your time and advice in our journey of buying a house.< It is unfortunate that we didn’t end up buying Sandringham/Brighton but who knows what will happen in the future. For now, we have passed on your details to lots of our expat friends and are so pleased that we know of your services if we end up working O/S again.
Regards
Sharmaine and Giles.

“… I have no doubt that your auction day strategy worked in my favour – it was certainly fun to watch! Your service was invaluable – thanks for being on my side!”
Marg Flierman

Hello excellent buyer’s advocate! We are still very excited and thankful for your performance. Thanks again for your help Warwick.
Marika

“…Thank you very much for your help and work in helping us buy such a nice house. We move in tomorrow!”
Chris & Alison Morgan

David McMillan acted as a Buyer’s Advocate for the purchase of our residence. In that role, he saved us $40,000.David’s professionalism, straight shooting, truthful and fact-based advice was not only financially rewarding, but also refreshing to experience. His business manner and honesty holds him well above the norm we have previously experienced in the Real Estate industry. David’s ability and knowledge of the market and its laws, meant he was in control of the auction process, and not the vendor’s agent.
In addition, his detailed building knowledge was of great assistance in selecting a home for us that met our list of criteria.
I highly recommend David McMillan to any prospective purchaser requiring an advocate.
Leigh Unsworth

We are finally in! Now all that remains is for the unpacking!
Thank you both for all your help guiding me through the process of buying my first home.
We have had it repainted and carpeted and it looks fantastic.
We couldn’t have done it without you.
Kind regards
Michelle & Bob

Dear David
After seeing many properties and wanting to jump head first into nearly every one we would like to thank you for your wisdom and guidance. Throughout our entire business relationship it was obvious you weren’t going to let us choose a house just because it was easy or because we were fed up with looking. We appreciate your openness to our ideas and for listening and clarifying exactly what we wanted to do with the property we wanted to buy. As a first time buyer it was a real relief to have someone who knew the market, studied it daily and was realistic with what could be done with the amount of money we had to spend.We see so much potential with the property we bought and can’t wait to see the finished product. Thanks to you and Gill both, you helped us more than your job entailed and you’ll be hearing from us again soon. Thanks
Tim and David Heenan

Dear David,
Thank you for giving us such accurate advice during the negotiations to purchase our property. Because of this we were able to obtain our home, even though there was a higher offer on the table. Without your instruction, we would surely have missed it. Your wisdom has been invaluable and we are extremely grateful to you for your knowledgeable guidance.
Regards
Naaman Shibi and Camilla Nicoll

Hi David,
Sorry haven’t dropped around with your champagne and cheque, been flat out …. I think I have been extremely lucky and I can’t thank you and Jill enough for your wisdom, experience and sage advice when I got a bit excited about some of the other properties! Have a great weekend and see you and Jill soon, Cheers
Mary

Dear David
Thank you for your support in securing our flat for us. We are absolutely delighted with it.

We knew of your services when we started our six-month search for a place, but felt we first needed to have a go ourselves. We learnt two main things from this experience. One was a better understanding of what it was that we were looking for and the other was that it wasn't enough just to invest the time (many a lost weekend) and emotional effort (many a fruitless auction). What we needed was to be more efficient and some kind of advantage. This was when we decided to engage your services as our buyer's advocate.

We were impressed by the fact that you wanted to get an understanding of where we were coming from. You didn't make assumptions and you were willing to listen. After months of dealing with real estate agents who expected you to hop on board their speeding train or be left behind, it was a relief to deal with someone who was willing to travel at our pace (and direction) rather than theirs. Which is not to say you moved slowly - as it turned out, we had our flat within a month of seeing you! You also found us a flat in a location we did not consider, for we thought it was out of our price range. We may not have considered it, but we're certainly glad you did.

No doubt you found out early on about the property's sale through your network of contacts. The vendor's agent told us there were quite a number of disappointed people after he took our deposit. Your skilled negotiations combined with our readiness to act gave us a distinct advantage over other prospective buyers. Having you negotiate on our behalf was a key element of our success, not to mention taking out most of the stress involved in buying a property.

Your help didn't end there, though. You helped us work out the degree of renovation needed to maximize our rental return; organized a renovator for us who completed the job on time (this in itself is an achievement) and linked us to a good real estate agency to find a tenant and manage the property. It took less than a month from the time we handed our keys to the renovator to when our first tenant moved in, which wasn't bad, considering we had given our flat an entirely new bathroom and complete overhaul. Not being hands-on renovators ourselves, we appreciated all the time and money you saved us through using your contacts. I know we could not have done better if we had renovated the flat ourselves. We were not prepared for this kind of after-sale support from your agency, but it is indicative of the quality of your service from start to finish.

Finally I want to say that it was a real pleasure dealing with you. At some point in any business transaction there has to be a degree of trust. Let me say that trust came easily and early on in our dealings with you.”
Yours sincerely
Ian Biarujia & Javant Biarujia

To whom it may concern
David McMillan acted on our behalf during negotiations for the purchase of our warehouse in 2001. His level headedness and ability to negotiate and communicate was apparent from the outset and was appreciated, not only by us, but also by the vendor and his representatives.

It is not very often I will recommend tradesmen and professional people alike to friends and family, but I have had no hesitation in recommending David to all and sundry. All have relayed to me their satisfaction.

David’s follow up and interest in our project was terrific. His contacts in, and knowledge of the building industry is excellent and were of great assistance.
Marian and Stephen Lister

Dear David,
We just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you for your assistance in enabling us to purchase our first home. Your experience and advice has been invaluable and we have learnt a lot along the way about the world of real estate, and had some fun in the process!!

We would be happy to recommend your services to our friends, just as you were recommended to us by other friends.
Kind regards
Derek & Selsea

To whom it may concern
With a vision of what we wanted, and after a lengthy stop/start process with many false leads, the house that we purchased more than exceeded our expectations in respect to design, location and cost – it was well worth the effort and wait.

David had a thorough knowledge of the market continually providing us with the quality “options”. Combined with good building evaluation skills and commercial acumen his advice and direction was invaluable.

Further, in a business that involved much hype, pressure and questionable practice, his patience, good humor and integrity impressed us immensely.

Sincerely
Tony O’Neill

Thank you for all your help so far we are very much looking forward to the day we can move into our new home!
Regards,
Michelle Frost-Stevenson.

David, Thanks for your fantastic work.
With compliments
Anthony Mazzoni

To whom it may concern,
As expatriate Australians currently living in Switzerland we decided we wanted to make an investment property purchase in Melbourne, Australia where our family is already located.

Domain Property Advocates were introduced to us through friends and we approached them with the view to assisting us in our property purchase. As we only had a limited time back in Australia (for the birth of our son) we needed an organisation that understood our requirements and would “run with the ball”.

Domain Property Advocates far and way exceeded all our expectations. Their dedication, professionalism and approach to the job at hand were outstanding. It was a pure breath of fresh air to deal with an organisation that delivers first class customer service.

Domain Property Advocates compiled an extensive list of properties that met our requirements and then thoroughly researched each property scoring each on its pros and cos. We were provided with regular reports of potential properties which were all physically inspected and rated by Domain Property Advocates.

Thanks to the efficient assessment by Domain Property Advocates we managed to narrow down our preferences very quickly. Having selected our desired property, Domain Property Advocates very capably and professionally handled the negotiation of sale which resulted in us winning our property before auction.

We cannot recommend Domain Property Advocates highly enough and look forward to an ongoing mutually beneficial and rewarding association.

Yours sincerely
Derek Schillings
Paula Winspear

Dear David,

We just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you for your assistance in enabling us to purchase our first home. Your experience and advice has been invaluable and we have learnt a lot along the way about the world of real estate, and had some fun in the process!!

We would be happy to recommend your services to our friends, just as you were recommended to us by other friends.

Kind regards
Derek & Selsea

To Warwick, David & staff of Domain Property Advocates

Many thanks for your prompt and efficient services.
From Jo & Mike Webb

To David

I would like to express my gratitude for all the help you gave me during my recent Real Estate adventure.
I am very satisfied with my purchase and the sale of Burke Road was well above that which I could have expected had I not had your invaluable help.
My grateful thanks
Sincerely
Judy

We have used David McMillan's professional services in buying a total of three properties over a five year period. David kept in contact with us daily to communicate the latest developments during the stressful periods of buying and selling. He was able to source reliable and reputable services to assist us with the additional processes of using agents, preparing homes for sale, and even building advice.

His experience in the industry combined with his building knowledge provides you with a solid strategy to make the right decision in the property market. We highly recommend David's services to anyone considering buying or selling property and real estate, as David says "my job is keep you focused on the outcome, according to your lifestyle needs, so you make the best decision for yourselves today and for the future"

Happy to provide any references!

Kind regards
Liz

Dear David
Thank you for all your efforts in negotiating our long term lease for our new business premises.
Your eye for detail, combined with professional, friendly and no-nonsense style made the process of our moving all that much simpler and more efficient.
The fact that our final agreement was superior to what we could have negotiated by ourselves was justification of the faith we place in you.
Again, thanks and all the best
Vic Kibby
Managing Director

“I recently engaged David’s services for the purchase of my property in Richmond. For me, the purchase of a property was not a quick process. It involved weekly (and often daily) perusal of the various real estate websites and publications, then followed shortly after by a call to David (“Mate, what do you think about this place? When can you have a look at it for me? What’s it worth?”). I quickly lost count of the number of places that David inspected both for me and also with me. This almost constant contact I had with David over many months was both very enjoyable and significantly increased my knowledge and appreciation of quality property. I now walk into houses and feel that I am able to view them with a critical but educated eye – this often leads to the conclusion “David wouldn’t like it”!

I always found David to be extremely approachable, reliable (if he said that he’d look at a place for me, he always did so), friendly and brutally honest. I lost count of the number of houses that David talked me out of! However, his persistence, enthusiasm, knowledge of (and contacts within) the industry and the real estate market across all suburbs and (most importantly) patience resulted in me purchasing a property with all of the fundamental features I required and which I am extremely confident will stand the test of time as a good home and investment. As circumstances transpired, I am certain that were it not for engaging David, I would not have purchased my property.

Overall, I found the process f purchasing property with David to be an extremely rewarding and enjoyable experience, particularly as it took away much of the uncertainty involved with the purchase of real estate and gave me confidence that I was making a good decision. It almost came as a disappointment when the search process finally came to an end!

I would highly recommend all people looking to purchase real estate to get David on board, as it’s a tough market and I firmly believe that you need a tough, honest player in your court, rather than playing against you. I have no doubt that he will prove to be value for money.”
Robert Bateman

I was lucky in that respect as I had seen you working with a number of clients, each of whom spoke highly of you.

There were so many relevant issues that you identified which we would have overlooked. It was extraordinary how much information you elicited from the builder developer and how effectively you put that information to good use in the negotiations which quickly followed.

It would have taken us weeks of hard work to have developed a sufficient understanding of the market in order to achieve the confidence to engage in negotiations. Had we done that our new home would almost certainly have been sold in the meantime. Instead, with your assistance we were very quickly able to proceed with confidence and to quickly close the purchase.

Our only regret is that we should have talked to you much earlier about our proposed renovations. Had we done so we would have saved ourselves tens of thousands of dollars in architect’s fees, a great deal of frustration and a lot of wasted time.

With your guidance we know we have paid a fair price for the right property in the area that best suits us. So thank you.

Yours faithfully,
Anthony Burke.

Warwick
Thanks for the way you conducted your duties at 60 Roseberry Avenue, Preston
It’s a pleasure to deal with a “pro”.
Keep up your good work.
George Metas

Dear Warwick
Stepehn and I sincerely thank you for your patience and dedication to helping us find the ideal home. We are thrilled with our purchase and delighted with the result achieved at auction.

We would appreciate if you would extend our thanks to David & Hannah for their efforts on our behalf also. We will certainly be recommending your services to any family or friends who may be considering purchasing a home or investment property in the future.

Stephen and I send our warm wishes to you and your family for a safe and happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Warm Regards
Heather O’Brien

Dear Warwick & Michelle
We just can’t thank you enough for your efforts. You have been so patient supportive & honest with us from day one & for that we are extremely grateful.

We look forward to working with you for many more in the year to come.

Regards
Simon & Kim Elisha

Dear Warwick
Thank-you for your assistance in purchasing my first home. I actually enjoyed the whole experience and look forward to working with you again in the future.

Kathy Ilott

When I first heard about David McMillan from one of his very happy clients, I thought he was a luxury I couldn’t afford. But as I began house-hunting myself, inspecting properties and attending auctions, I quickly realised he was a necessity I couldn’t do without.

From our first meeting, David imbued me with confidence – but not false confidence. He clearly understood the nature of the market and helped me establish criteria, priorities and reasonable expectations.

He was also realistic in his appraisals of properties that I asked him to look at, saving me heart-break and a fortune on one prettily-presented but structurally-unsound villa that would have needed costly remedial work in just a few years’ time.

When we finally found a suitable property, David capped it off with a bravura performance and the winning bid at auction – it was like Clark Kent stepping into the phone box and emerging as … Super Buyer! Afterwards, a lady in the crowd tapped him on the elbow and asked: ``Can I have your card?’’. It was the perfect Harry Met Sally Moment, as if to say: ``I’ll have what she’s having!’’

But the service didn’t end there. David was on hand right through to settlement, always available for advice and help.

I have no hesitation in recommending him – indeed, I do so often!

Barbara Daly

Dear David & Warwick
Thanks for your fantastic efforts on Saturday with the purchase of 56 Paterson Street, Middle Park.

We strongly recommend your services and we are going to send you a formal recommendation letter for you and your business - you saved us what we consider a substantial amount of money on the anticipated purchase price (which we can now use for the renovation) and the stress and hassle of dealing with the agents.

We appreciated your honesty, work ethic and professionalism - look forward to using you again soon in the future.

More than happy to recommend you and DBA to friends, family and colleagues.

Thanks again
Raelene and Frank