Testimonials

We recently engaged Cate Bakos and her team to secure a property for our family after searching for over two years. Cate and Amy listened to our requests and were patient when we changed our minds due to certain properties being beyond our reach. We ended up securing a property that ticked nearly every box! Cate and Amy removed all the pressure that is normally associated with such a major purchase, especially on auction day when Amy’s professional approach shone through. They have continued to follow up post auction and all we have been left with is the excitement of starting on our next journey. Thanks Cate and Amy.

Purchasing a house is a stressful thing, particularly for two time poor individuals! Cate Bakos made the process not only enjoyable but educational they bid at auction on our behalf, negotiated a private sale and have assisted us in the whole end to end process. We can’t thank them and in particular Amy enough.

Cate and Amy have purchased cracking investment properties for my Dad and friends in Sydney. A month ago I used their services to get my own beauty in Geelong West – can’t thank you enough guys!

Looking forward to the next.

We recently engaged Cate Bakos and her team to help us buy our forever family home in Yarraville.

Her industry experience and relationships gave us the edge in buying a highly sought after property in a competitive situation. Cate gave us great confidence in estimating the property’s market value and presented a clear and successful strategy to buy the house off market. She did all the work liaising with the agent and supporting us in our decision making.

We highly recommend Cate as a highly professional buyers’ advocate. We really appreciated her calm and warm approach. Her team led us through the whole buying process and made it as easy as possible.

My girlfriend and I used Cate Bakos Property for our first investment property and we’ll never look back.

Cate Bakos and crew are the most friendly, dedicated, understanding, hard working but always available team (sometimes replying to my emails at 10 at night!) you are going to come across in this industry. Full of suit wearing fat cats and big wigs it was very refreshing to have a female applying her craft, she’s like a “velvet hammer” soft touch but packs a punch! I was treated as if I were her only customer!

Watching Cate on video as she was inspecting a potential property get down on all fours to check the foundations under the house in a pencil skirt and heels was amazing!

You can’t put a value on the service you pay for including the quality professionals who will become part of your trusted team along the journey.

Remember, price is what you pay and value is what you get…

Thanks Cate!

I have recently worked with Amy and the team on purchasing my home. They have made the process extremely easy for me, not to mention the negotiated purchase price is below what we planned to pay for. I sincerely thank Amy and the team for the hard work.

We are repeat customers of Cate and her team at Cate Bakos Property. Each time we have benefitted hugely from their experience, professional relationships and expert advice. We were able to be completely assured that we were making the best purchase decision for our situation and were supported throughout the purchasing process. We would highly recommend Cate and her team to anyone looking to purchase either an investment or their own property, and we will be using their services again if the opportunity arises.

Cate and her team made buying a breeze. We started with a general idea on location we wanted to buy, then Cate’s simple process, insightful questions and impressive local knowledge helped us hone our strategy and secure a very promising property in good time with close to zero stress. A pleasure to deal with throughout, and highly recommended!

I have never used a Buyers Advocate before so was a little hesitant at what to expect. Cate, Amy and Renee made buying a property a breeze. They took a huge weight and stress off my shoulders. Cate and her team are experts in their field, very friendly and professional and such a delight to deal with. They were always supportive and megga quick with responses and follow ups. I cannot recommend them highly enough and will most definitely engage them again in the future. Five stars to Cate, Amy and Renee.

Cate, Amy and team did a wonderful job from start to finish. We had a wonderful experience and got the house that we wanted. The process was seamless and easy. Thanks guys!

There aren’t enough words to describe Cate Bakos Property. Amazing. Considerate. Extremely hardworking. Committed to buyer satisfaction. Knowledgeable about property value for money. Linked with other useful services. Efficient. Courageous. Extremely generous with their time. Always available. Keep clients up-to-date. Organised. Effective. Very much appreciated. They go over and above to provide a service that was invaluable to our family.
I would without a doubt recommend Cate Bakos Property to anyone seeking buyer’s advocacy.

We found Cate to be knowledgeable, empathetic and extremely helpful in navigating our purchase of a new home. She and her team were available to assist whenever we needed it and took so much of the stress out of the process. We would highly recommend her services!

Hands down the best in the business! Not only is Cate at the top of her game she is supported by a strong team that work very well together to get the best outcomes for clients. The value provided is many multiples of the fees charged and I would highly recommend her services to anyone looking to purchase a property either via auction or negotiation.

As in interstate buyer, Amy managed the process from start to finish and found me an excellent investment property. She also introduced me to her network of professionals to assist with the settlement, renovations and property management. I highly recommend Amy and her team.

Cate and Amy gave great advice and counsel throughout my home-buying process. Right from the start, I was confident that Cate and Amy understood exactly what I was trying to achieve in purchasing my apartment – location, style, price range, must-haves etc. The whole team was responsive to any of my requests and this was brilliant, as I live in Singapore and the majority of my home-buying process was conducted by email and phone and in different time zones. I truly felt supported from the beginning through to selecting a property manager, and despite a challenging negotiation, the team persevered with a great outcome. Their knowledge and expertise really made such a difference, as were their introductions to other professional services required through the process. You are awesome and amazing. Thank you 🙂

The team at Cate Bakos are incredible! They are utterly professional, available 24/7, super quick and responsive, dynamic, and attuned to meeting your individual needs as a buyer. As a single first home buyer, I was feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of purchasing my first home, but as soon as I met Cate I knew I was in safe hands and felt so relieved in knowing the team would take care of me. I can not recommend their services highly enough – they are a force to be reckoned with!

Cate Bakos staff are very friendly and professional. They’ve made our job of finding and buying a property so easy. Cate herself is lovely and we instantely connected with her. She is highly knowledgable and steered us in the right direction. We highly recommend this business.

As a repeat customer, I’m always impressed with the professionalism of Cate and her team, and find it an invaluable service.

Hard working, dedicated & extremely helpful. Very easy to approach and excellent communication. Made the whole process of buying our home so simple, I would never buy property without them. These ladies are worth more than their weight in gold.

Cate, Amy, Raeng and Renee and the team helped me purchase my first home and I am so grateful I enlisted their help. Cate and Amy were very generous with their time and advice, gave me enough information to make my own decisions, were always available, responsive and proactive in their communications. They were lovely to deal with, and answered all of my questions (and there were many) thoughtfully with the intention of helping me understand. I never felt rushed, and always felt supported. Worth every cent for peace of mind. Cate and the team were recommended to me, and I have absolutely recommended them to others. Thanks all – it has been a delight working with you!

I really did truly enjoy buying my house. And that was all due to the amazing experience I had working with Cate and her team. I live in LA so pretty much the entire process happened via email and text. But I still felt so close to Cate and the team and that they really genuinely cared about me and my purchase. I’ve said this a few times but here goes again 🙂 Thank you so much Cate, Amy and Renee. You guys are awesome. Gavin

We’ve known Cate for years and she and her team have assisted us to purchase a few properties. From pre-sale to settlement and beyond, Cate provides excellent and consistent communication, professionalism and knowledge. Her friendly and honest approach is so refreshing that she really made us feel like we’re the only client on her books.
Some people may hesitate at using a buyers advocate, but this has saved us time, stress, where to start and of course financially.
We highly recommend Cate, Amy and her team. We will always use her services in the future.
John and Denise Perkins

Loved working with Amy to purchase my first property. I’ve learned so much from the experience, my wife and I are using her again to help us buy our family home.

I’ve used Amy’s service a few times now, and and her knowledge of the market never ceases to amaze me. Even if I am comfortable with the purchase process of buying a house it’s her negotiation and strategy skills I love to draw on. I’ve recommended her service to all of my personal and professional contacts, as I genuinely believe she has a very unique service and offering, even for the most experienced of buyers.

My partner and I were first home buyers looking for somewhere to call home in Geelong West. With our lack of experience + knowledge of buying a property we have found that building a tribe of professionals around you is essential. Cate was beyond impressive from the beginning. She is a master of her craft and was so personable, honest and professional. She managed to secure us an ‘untouched gem’ a mere 3.5 weeks after engaging with her. We cannot wait to bring back to life our new home and show her the finished result. We joke that the time we have spent working as a team was too short as we thoroughly enjoyed having Cate by our side.

I loved working with Cate and Amy. They gave excellent advice, helped clarify my goals and made the experience of buying a first home a lot of fun!

Great service and totally professional. They worked on something significant to my family and did a great job.

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to Cate and her team. They collectively made the process of purchasing a property incredibly easy and ensured that we could proceed with confidence.

A great team. They are well worth the investment.

What a wonderful experience we had with Cate Bakos Property! Thanks to Cate’s team and in particular Amy, they made the purchase of our first home so seamless. The ladies did all the hard yards, being extremely proactive, thorough and responsive, including us every step of the way. From the negotiations, interactions with our prospective owners corporation through to connecting us with a suitable building inspector and conveyancer – they did it all!

We were in the best hands and could not recommend them highly enough to those looking for some expert guidance in the property buying process.

Thanks Cate, Amy, Renee and Raeng for finding the right investment property for me, much appreciate!

Have had the support of Cate and her team twice now in two different states. They go above and beyond, more than you could imagine. Couldn’t recommend them highly enough.

For the last 2 years my husband and I have been contemplating getting an investment property. We have 4 kids and I work long hours and so the time involved to research this to the level required was becoming a real barrier to getting this goal achieved. We also knew it was a big decision- and so were not prepared to rush. Adding to all of this, we have a really low trust threshold when it comes to gaining people’s adviice on Investments!! But a few of my colleagues at work had recommended cate Bakos. These were people I really trusted and they had used cate and her team multiple times for property purchases- both for investment and owner occupier. From the initial meeting with cate I totally trusted her and felt she genuinely had my best interests at heart. I sincerely can’t recommend cate more highly. There was no pressure. No rushing. Great advice. Tailored options. And best of all- cate has a network of very professional and trustworthy folk who can help on other matters. Everyone of cates recommendations have also been incredible! I must also comment that cate has rock star support staff – and no detail is left to chance. Cate has continued to assist us- long after the property was purchased!! Ultimately we bought a 2 bed unit in a blue chip suburb and we are delighted with our investment! I am happy to advocate for cate Bakos and her team. She really is a “one of a kind “ out there in the professional services world. Thanks again cate and team- definitely use you again…..hopefully for property #2 and #3 in the future!

We recently enlisted the expertise of Cate and her team to purchase our family home. From the initial email exchanges, liaising and coordinating with the conveyancer and builder, through to meeting me to guide me through auction strategy and of course bidding at auction – Cate and her team were the ultimate professionals and could not fault their service. Cate and her team were always on hand to answer questions and ensure everything went smoothly. Absolutely WORTH EVERY CENT and would not hesitate to recommend Cate Bakos Property and use them again in the future.

Cate and her team were tremendous. We felt in very capable hands for what was our first investment property experience . With Cate’s support we found a property quickly and her team took care of all the due diligence which gave us real reassurance that we were not going to have any future regrets or mistakes to recover from. Thoroughly recommend this service!

Cate, Amy and the team were amazing in helping us secure our dream home. Such a large financial and emotional commitment felt effortless and stress free thanks to their guidance, knowledge and professionalism. Come Auction day Amy was amazing to watch in action. She controlled the situation with ease and confidence, guided us and secured our new home for a great price. Our family is now in a great position, one that I can safely say is better than would have been without Cate and ‘the girls’!

Cate and her amazing team have been fantastic.! Their service and attention to detail has been such a pleasure to deal with. They have always replied to every email promly and even sending us the emails to remind us of the next steps in purchasing our property. I highly recommend them as they are very professional and through throughout this whole process. They really are so lovely.! We can’t thank them enough.!

We have been looking for an investment property on and off for a couple of years now and being a busy family we struggled to find the time to properly look let along do our research. We came across the highly recommended Cate Bakos Property. From the first point of contact Cate and her team made our task tremendously easy. Not only did Cate and her team saved us a lot of time but also educated us about investing into property – the knowledge not only applicable to this single purchase but hopefully to future investments. They managed our project from concept to settlement and it was a huge peace of mind. The whole team at Cate Bakos property works in unison. I would not make another property purchase without them. Totally worth it.

I was talking to the agent of our new property we purchased. He proactively told me that was very impressed by the way that Amy handled the auction. He said that she was very skilled and decisive at the auction, and bamboozled / blew away the opposition with the rapid and authoritative manner in which she bid. So thanks for that Amy.

Very good service. Will use again definitely.

Cate and her team are great, super knowledgeable, helpful, and effective! Would definitely recommend working with the team

Cate and her team were a pleasure to deal with and I highly recommend them to both first time and experienced investors. I’m an experienced investor, however I didn’t have the time to thoroughly research the market and I wanted to move quickly. Cate and her team have the experience and local knowledge that’s invaluable and they helped me to purchase the right properties in the right locations to suit my budget. Well done Cate and the team. I’m now saving so we can go shopping again!

inspected all shortlisted properties and gave us comprehensive reports with many details that only professionals could see. They organised builder and pest inspection as well as managed all communication with the agent. As a first time home buyer, I had many questions which were all answered quickly, fully and with a smile. I definitely recommend them — highly knowledgeable, friendly and supportive. You will be in good hands !!

I was referred to Cate Bakos Property team by a work colleague and was super impressed from the very beginning. I felt extremely welcome and looked after, great communication at every point. It removed the stress and lack of knowledge at auction time. The first time I have used a buyers advocate/agent and will definitely do it again!!!

5-star+ service. Cate’s combination of excellent market knowledge and negotiation skill delivered an outcome that we would not have achieved on our own.

Cate and her team are absolutely amazing. Cate and Amy’s experience and knowledge was invaluable which helped us to make decision to buy our investment property.

Cate Bakos and her team won the best buyers advocate award for a reason: they are the best! We have now purchased three investment properties with Cate and Amy, and our experience could not have been better. Attentive, efficient, knowledgeable – and simply a pleasure to deal with. We also estimate that through their knowledge, contacts and skill, they have saved us 10s of thousands of dollars across those three properties. This is substantial given their very reasonable fees. We cannot recommend Cate and her team more highly. So much so, several of our friends have now bought with Cate too (on our recommendation), and they have had the same experience.

After a very lengthy process frequently changing our minds about what type of property we wanted or where we wanted to buy, we were recommended to Cate by our close friends and engaged her quite quickly.

Her experience and knowledge was invaluable, especially for two first home buyers. The tailored strategic plan they created for us was so detailed and accurate, every weekend we were looking at beautiful houses which fit our brief perfectly – some which we never would have believed we could afford!

Having Amy bidding for us at the auction ensured we ended up with the first home of our dreams; something we never would have secured on our own. We cannot recommend the Cate Bakos Property Team enough and will definitely engage them when we choose to buy again!

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! We were recommended Cate and the team by both my brother and sister who had and continue to have fantastic experience with the Cake Bakes team. Our experience exceeded our expectations and would not hesitate to engage Cate and the team in your next property purchase. We ended up purchasing an off-market property that we would not have even seen if we did not engage Cate Bakos Property.
Cate was fantastic and Amy’s knowledge and guidance was truly astounding. Without them we would be floundering with no direction and paying way more for our new home.
Do not hesitate, chat to them, there is no obligation and you will be better off for sure.

Such a brilliant team – could not imagine buying property again without the support of Cate and her team. Cate’s approach helped us determine the type of property we needed for a growing family, and her contacts and relationships helped us secure a great place off-market (that ticked every criteria we had) within weeks. A very thorough approach to advising on price helped us in a changing market. Such a great experience and worthwhile investment.

Quite simply, Cate, Amy and the team are the best at what they do and I cannot recommend them highly enough. Anybody buying a property whether residential or investment should partner with them. Cate and the team take the stress out of buying, manage the process for you end to end, deal with and manage shonky real estate agents, ensure you secure the best price, and most importantly are so kind and supportive throughout. I wouldn’t purchase without them.

My daughter Jasmyn & I were privileged to have sought the advice, assistance & support from Cate, Amy & amazing team..

They went above & beyond to help secure Jasmyns first unit, a little gem in Sunrise Beach Noosa! Their professionalism & prompt attention in dealing with the Agent on our behalf greatly calmed our nerves as we knew we were in great hands!

We couldn’t have gone through this process without their expertise & guidance

Immensely grateful & highly recommend Cate Bakos property

Having worked with Cate Bakos and her team for the purchase of several properties; I could not recommend them highly enough. Highly attentive to the needs of each unique situation, Cate and the team will hold your hand throughout the whole purchase process and reach an outcome that you are more than happy with.

Cate and her team are absolutely amazing. I can not recommend them more highly.

I had been looking for over a year before a friend suggested Cate. I’m a single mum and had never purchased a property. I did not realise how stressed I was until I sat with Cate the first time, and felt a weight lift from my shoulders. After she left, I burst into tears with relief, I just felt in such good hands.

Every week they sent me a select group of properties, making sure I was only seeing ones that fit my needs and also my budget. Soon they sent me an email about an off market property. It was absolutely perfect and the best bit was I was the only person to see it. They discussed with me their strategy and made an offer on my behalf.

We settle in a couple of weeks and I can’t wait to move in with my son. Because my property was off market, there is no way I would have every even see it, let alone be successful in buying it, if it had not been for Cate and her amazing team.

Cate and her staff are lovely to work with, and worked very hard to find us the right property. Highly recommended

Cate Bakos and her staff are very professional and personal. Without them, we would not have made major decisions, such as buying an inner city block to build, sell our beach house and prepare for another sale.
Cate’s advice has been sound and correct. In addition, Cate, Amy and Renee (and David?), are such very nice people:)
We are immensely grateful to have found Cate and have used her services.
Could not be better!

We can’t thank Cate, Amy and the CB Team enough. So experienced, thorough and professional – we are thrilled with the result. The whole process has been seamless. We are very impressed with the whole client experience (including coffees!), great communication and endless knowledge provided across all areas. Thank you.

Cate and the team were fantastic! Their guidance and support gave us peace of mind that we were buying the right property at the right price. It is great having someone on your side when making such a large investment.

We can’t imagine not using a buyers agent now and highly recommended Cate and the team.
We live in London so our initial thinking to engage Cate was to ensure we had the help ‘on the ground’ in Melbourne which we needed. But Cate and the team demonstrated several times over their value – to the extent that we would use them again to purchase a property even if we were living next door! Having Cate’s unbiased knowledge of the market provided us with an immediate advantage, and who knew there were so many tactics to use at auction. Her market knowledge and skills at auction all justify the fees several times over and you won’t regret choosing Cate. We’re very happy with our new house and want to thank Cate and the team for their professional and outstanding work!

Fantastic team! Definitely recommend – highly knowledgeable, friendly and supportive. Cate & Amy made purchasing our first home a much easier process and they were lovely to deal with.

Cate, Amy & Renee made buying our house a wonderful experience and having their expertise meant we didn’t have to worry about what we didn’t know. If you need someone to find your perfect house they will do it better than anyone.

Cate and her team are absolutely amazing. I can not recommend them more highly.

I had been looking for over a year before a friend suggested Cate. I’m a single mum and had never purchased a property. I did not realise how stressed I was until I sat with Cate the first time, and felt a weight lift from my shoulders. After she left, I burst into tears with relief, I just felt in such good hands.

Every week they sent me a select group of properties, making sure I was only seeing ones that fit my needs and also my budget. Soon they sent me an email about an off market property. It was absolutely perfect and the best bit was I was the only person to see it. They discussed with me their strategy and made an offer on my behalf.

We settle in a couple of weeks and I can’t wait to move in with my son. Because my property was off market, there is no way I would have every even see it, let alone be successful in buying it, if it had not been for Cate and her amazing team.

I went with Cate Bakos and her team when buying my first home, and I would 100% choose them again. I started looking into using a buyer’s advocate, because I wanted expert guidance on getting something that not only met my personal criteria, but which would also be a decent choice from an investment perspective.

I picked Cate Bakos after reading her book, and listening to her speak on a few different property investment podcasts. She seemed seemed genuine, and extremely knowledgeable. The flat fee (as opposed to a percentage commission) was another part of the reason I felt comfortable going ahead with the service. It was money well spent.

I felt looked after the whole way through, and it gave me a lot more confidence knowing I had them behind me. Cate steered me away from some bad decisions I probably would have made if I’d been left to my own impulses.

The process for me involved being sent an itinerary of places to look at each weekend, providing answers to my questions, feedback on my feedback, the organisation of building and pest inspections, contract review and summaries, bidding and negotiation on my behalf, organising a solicitor and lots of extras in their after support.

The office has a small team of people who manage different parts of the process, and they also have good contacts for getting additional services done. It seems to be a tightly run ship, and all the staff were all lovely to deal with.

Cate’s services are prompt, professional and generous. It gives me confidence having Cate’s knowledge and professionalism, as relying on my own knowledge base to inform big decisions like property purchase is not ideal.

Cate and her team did an excellent job in helping me purchase an investment property recently. Their expertise has resulted in time savings with the property search, dealing with property agents, and getting realistic market information with pricing and negotiation strategies which would have been very difficult on my own.

I really appreciated the property search process from narrowing down the potential properties for consideration along with their market expertise in dealing with property agents and understanding current pricing. I thought Cate and Amy’s perspective complemented each other very well and was interesting to see their thought process in finding the right property. Cate’s post purchase service was top notch where I had access to her team of property managers which meant that we had the property tenanted within the 2 weeks of settlement & rented for more than I expected.

It was a pleasure to work with Cate, Amy and Renee and I would highly recommend Cate Bakos’s BA service to everyone embarking on their property investment journey.

Cate’s market knowledge and experience took the stress out of the purchase and made it a simple, straightforward process. Thanks so much Cate,

Very impressed with the professional, friendly, and successful service Cate and her team offer. Makes investing in property almost too easy. Highly recommend.

Very professional outfit.

Been twice through the team’s mentored investment property service, which is a bit more hands on than the “order and forget” service.

Best parts:
– Constructive feedback on property portfolio investment strategy
– Great after-purchase support
– Prompt replies and strong advocacy, there is no doubt that Cate and the team are there working for you.

I can’t recommend Cate Bakos Property highly enough. Cate, Amy and Renee were an absolute pleasure to deal with. As a single first homebuyer I did not even know where to begin my search, and with their help I secured an amazing property in a very short period of time. They went above and beyond to ensure everything was perfect before settlement. They really are the best in the business.

Fantastic service and communication. Cate, Amy, Renee and the whole team were superb. They are all extremely professional and patient. I would definitely recommend Cate Bakos Property. Well worth it 🙂

Cate was a delight to work with. Calm, considered and an absolute pro.

Cate and her team were amazing. We had been house hunting for more than 6 months prior to approaching Cate and she subsequently found us a house in less than a month! Her services are worth every cent.

Cate brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the task. She has guided us through the whole process of buying an investment property. We couldn’t have done it without her and her team.

We recently engaged Cate Bakos Property to assist us in our property search. We had searched desperately for a suitable property for months before but did not find anything that met our requirements, so, with a great deal of anxiety, we decided to try a buyer’s agent. Money was tight and this was an expense that we had to stretch ourselves for. It was the best money we spent. Cate arranged an initial telephone appointment with us where she was a calm and reassuring presence, guiding us through all our naïve questions about property.
She instilled us with confidence because it was clear she knew the property market in Melbourne so well. She spent an hour talking to us about exactly what we were looking for and by the end of our conversation, we knew that she had a very clear understanding of our criteria. Cate found us a great off-market property within a week of commencing our property search. The property ticked all the boxes and was within budget. We couldn’t believe it. If anything, the fact that she found something so suitable so quickly made us very nervous to buy the property (psychologically, we had steeled ourselves for another few months of searching) but again, she reassured us (without ever ‘pushing’ us into buying). In the end, we bought the property and we are now delighted with it. Throughout the whole process, not only Cate , but her fabulous team, including Amy and Renee, helped make the entire process as stress-free and smooth as possible. They were very efficient, swiftly responded to any queries and acted so quickly that we were always the front runners in negotiating with the agent. We are thrilled with the team’s work. Thanks once again for everything!

We were extremely happy with the service provided by Cate and her team! Buying a property from the other side of the country was never going to be easy, however I didn’t quite realise how difficult until I tried it. I honestly believe without Cate we would have ended up spending a lot of money on flights, inspections etc. and probably just given up. With the support of Cate and the team, however we were able to secure a property that ticked all our boxes! We felt completely supported through the entire process, from property search and selection, through inspection and price negotiation, contract signing, right up to final inspection and settlement. Thank you Cate, Amy, Renee and Raeng!

Fantastic to work with – proactive, efficient, making what could be a long hard process a very simple task. Thank you!

I have now used Cate and the team twice and I can’t recommend them highly enough!
I am a busy professional and don’t have the time to research properties or do all the paper work. Having a buyers agent made the purchases easy. From locating properties all the way to putting a tenant in they were there with me along the way. It really is a full buyers agency service. I’ve used other buyers agencies and they didn’t compare – They really are the best !

Cate and her wonderful team made buying a property a much easier experience. At what was a very difficult time for my family, she found the right home, guided us through the process and got it at a brilliant price. They were there every step of the way. I wish I had of done this 2 years ago.

My partner and I recently used Cate Bakos Property to help us purchase an investment property. We secured a beautiful Victorian house 2 mins walk from Yarraville villiage, off-market. Without Cate, we would not have access to such an opportunity! Cate and her team were expert negotiators and kept us in the loop every step of the way. We highly recommend their services and will be using them again for our next purchase!

Very professional, always happy to answer questions an no messing around – straight to the point. Made our house purchase really easy.

Being a selling agent, Cate does a fantastic job working hard for her buyers !! Well done Cate

Cate and her team are amazing. So supporting throughout the whole process. As a first home buyer I had no idea where to even start and using her knowledge I was able to understand the process and what to look for. I would highly recommend her.

Cate and her team have been fantastic from start to finish. From the initial meeting to the final inspection it has been an amazing and enjoyable experience. We had a super complex SMSF structure and Cate was so understanding and supportive and without her positivity and encouragement we might have given up. But we didn’t, and thanks to Cate we have an amazing investment property that was immediately tenanted and with high capital growth prospects. I will definetely use Cate again and have recommended her to many of my friends because she is just that good !!!

Cate and her team are hard working, dedicated, persistent and determined.
They provided a clear plan and strategy to secure a great property within our budget. They made a difficult process easy and we are grateful that we chose to work with them.
We have no doubt, without the help of Cate Bakos Property we would have not even been a chance to secure the property.

Cate and her team are awesome. Buying a property can be a daunting task but it was made simple and stress free. Cates knowledge is second to none, from the due diligence in selecting the property to bidding at auction right through to settlement Cate had it thoroughly covered and we acquired exactly what we were after. I highly recommend Cates services.

I have worked with Cate and her team on both of my investment property purchases and both experiences have been second to none.
I recommend Cate’s services to anyone who is considering purchasing an investment property. Cate and her team are highly professional, very easy to work with, extremely responsive and supportive throughout the process.
On each purchase, Cate’s team managed everything efficiently and completely. As a result, everything went through without a hitch and I was completely at ease the entire time.
Without question, I will be contacting Cate and her team again if there is an opportunity for me to purchase an investment property in the future.

I could not be happier with the house Cate and her team found for me. This was my first purchase and I was really uncertain what to expect. I would never have found this house or got it at the price I did without Catess help! The entire process filled me with confidence that I had made the right decision engaging Cate. Happy house hunting!

We were apprehensive at first as we had never used a buyers advocate, but we thought we outsource everything these days so shouldn’t we do the same with a major investment like property?
Absolutely!!! ……. and only with Cate Bakos and her team.
An incredibly friendly and professional outfit. Detailed and determined to source the right property and they worked with us right through the settlement and property management process.
We purchased a property at a price tens of thousands less than our expectations.
I highly recommend Cate, Amy, Renee and all the team, to anybody looking at purchasing property.

Only through engaging Cate and her team were we able to get access to off-market opportunities that offered great value. Was worth the investment.

We found Cate and her team to be very professional, organised, knowledgeable and networked well with the local agents.
It was a smooth and enjoyable process for us from beginning to end and it did not take long for us to secure our ideal investment property. We have no hesitation in recommending Cate and her team to any prospective home buyer or investor.

Professional, helpful and efficient.
Buying my 1st Australian property was a potential minefield with the system very different to the UK where I’ve purchased previously. Cate, Amy and team navigated me safely through to a successful purchase, they operated with integrity and gave my confidence in making the emotional and financial commitment a new home requires.

Working with Cate was a fantastic experience and I would highly recommend her services to any property buyer!

Being from out-of-state, having Cate working for us to acquire an investment property in Melbourne made the process a lot more straightforward than it ever could have been on our own.

With Cate and her team, we had access to a depth of experience, professionalism and attention to detail throughout the process giving us the confidence to know that we were taking the best step forward in our investment journey and avoiding costly mistakes.

Cate involved us in all the details and was always happy to answer questions and discuss anything in more depth. This was a hugely valuable learning experience as we were able to cover a wide range of topics along the way:

Asset selection and what to look for + avoid, strategy around off-market properties, learning from what estate agents told us (and what they didn’t!), bidding and auction strategy and selecting and sticking to a price that was appropriate, avoiding making emotional buying decisions in the heat of an auction.

I would definitely recommend Cate’s services to anyone looking for a strong and experienced mentor who can help you find the right property.

Cate and Renee found a fantastic investment property for us and arranged a tenancy while we were enjoying ourselves overseas. At all times they were conscientious and ethical. Cate is a great listener and as a result effectively matched our needs to available properties saving us many weeks of fruitless and frustrating searching. Highly recommended.

A huge thank you to Cate and the team for your assistance as we located our Melbourne property.

Cate, Amy and Renee are great to deal with, and provide lots of useful advice. Highly responsive and understanding, they make the process (especially from a distance) so much easier. Cate and the team were very patient, especially as we refined our search. They worked hard to help us understand the Melbourne market and where we might fit into it. We are very happy with the outcome. We’d recommend working with Cate if you’re looking for a Melbourne purchase.

I continue to recommend Cate and her team to anyone that will listen! They’re all genuinely lovely people with excellent industry knowledge and contacts.

My husband and I were first home buyers that had been looking for over a year, unfortunately the longer we looked the less faith we had in our ability to make the right decisions for the current market. It was such a relief to be able to put our trust in Cate and hand everything over to her… this is really what it’s like.

In the end we bought a lovely big apartment in Richmond (we weren’t even looking there as we assumed we couldn’t afford it), and Cates team negotiated an amount that’s proven to be a very very good price based on other apartments that have sold in the block, so the fee paid to them has been earned back in spades. Highly recommend!!

Cate Bakos and her team made it possible for us to secure an investment property from interstate. It was amazing to have someone as well connected and knowledgeable as Cate on our side, advocating for us and arranging for everything. She was always relatable, positive and straight talking. Cate managed to make us feel as though we were her number one priority. We were in great hands and knew it. Hopefully we will be in a position to work with Cate again soon!

I initially engaged Cate and her team for their bidding and negotiating service but soon after engaged them in their for their complete service.
Their expertise in negotiating the Melbourne Real Estate market was obvious from the start, and I was very grateful and impressed by their genuine interest in ensuring I found the right property at the best price for my needs. They are a customer focused enterprise that worked seamlessly and promptly when due diligence and negotiations were time critical. I recommend them highly.

We had the supreme good fortune to employ the services of Cate Bakos and her dynamic team for our first property purchase within an SMSF .

Being interstate buyers and purchasing within a more complex structure meant we really needed strong expertise on the ground in Melbourne to assist us to purchase a great property.

I was drawn to Cate after hearing her speak on a number of property podcasts as well as her commentary regarding property in media reports / articles. After speaking with her at length around what we were after, I felt she had such good knowledge of the area in Melbourne we wished to target as well as outstanding communication skills and a ‘can do’ attitude.

The whole process took approximately 3 weeks and with a limited budget, we secured a great property in West Footscray! The location is amazing, the unit itself has excellent potential and the rental yield is outstanding for such a well located, inner city apartment. This purchase would never have come to fruition if we went into this alone.

I felt huge confidence in Cate through every step of the process and her knowledge, responsiveness and attention to detail was flawless. It was so satisfying to interact with a team of people completely dedicated to the job and their clients.

I would love to use the services of Cate, Amy, Renee and Team again in the future. Thank you all so so much 🙂

I cannot recommend Cate (and Amy!) highly enough. They are speedy, super professional and an absolute pleasure to deal with. Working with them takes all the pain out of buying property, which is very stressful especially the first time you do it. I felt in very safe hands and was so glad I engaged Cate and her team. They have also helped two very close, dear friends. We implore anyone who is thinking of buying property, to work with them.

We have spent our first night in our new home and could not be happier.

We would like to thank all of you for your hard work, dedication, persistence and determination.
When we first acquired your services, we spent the best part of 14 months trying to navigate the twisted web of the Melbourne property market.
We were tired and somewhat disillusioned by the whole process. You gave us hope that we could secure a great property within our budget.
Whilst our journey with your team was difficult at first (very low stock), we still believed there was hope for us. After some adjustments and a strong sense of what we wanted, we felt
like we were close to securing a property.

What we ended our journey with was a property which was under budget and by far exceeded our expectations. The home is a wonderful property with enormous scope and capital growth.
More importantly it’s a family home that we can spend many happy years here. We have no doubt, without the help of Cate Bakos Property we would have not even been a chance to secure the property.

Thank you for everything your team has done for us, both pre purchase and post purchase.

I arrived in Melbourne from interstate wanting to make a quick purchase in the inner west for my new home – but was quickly bewildered by the absurdities of the Melbourne property market. I was worried about facing months trying to get my head around how things worked and how to judge prices, let alone negotiate. But I wanted to move in by Xmas! (about 10 weeks away).

I came across Cate Bakos from her media commentary and other recommendations – so was keen to see how she could help me. She and her team transformed the process – I was no longer on my own; I had the experts working for me. Cate fully understood my requirements and provided authoritative advice on properties I was considering, and worked with my feedback. She had fantastic knowledge of the local agents which helped with understanding market tactics. She successfully negotiated the best property I looked at including a 3 week settlement (must be some sort of record). Cate and the team shared my excitement at my purchase and Renee walked beside me during the closing days before settlement, including the pre-settlement inspection. I do not doubt I could have spent months looking and faced renting in the interim, if not for Cate and her fabulous team. Instead I moved into my new home 6 weeks after arriving in Melbourne. I thoroughly recommend Cate Bakos.

I am extremely grateful for the exceptional service that Cate, Amy and Renee provided. They were highly knowledgable, very professional and super responsive. Because of their superior service I have bought a wonderful property that I couldn’t be happier with. I cannot thank Cate and her team enough and highly recommend them to anyone thinking about engaging a buyers agent. I engaged Cate on recommendation of a close friend and I am so glad I did! Thank you Cate, Amy & Renee!

When Robyn and I first rang the number on the Cate Bakos website, we were very unsure about the virtue of engaging a buyer’s advocate, and extremely doubtful that it would help us search for and find our new home. We were, after all, 15,000 kilometers away, and ten hours behind. Four weeks later, we are awaiting settlement on a wonderful property and will soon fly out to move into our new home.

Our first surprise was that it was Cate herself who picked up, and within a few minutes we had learned all about her services and her methodology, in the assured coherent and calm tone that we got to know so well from her, and also from Amy and Renee. In the past month, they have all been readily available, no call or email unanswered, no query unaddressed. Timely and crucial advice, thorough and pertinent research, and effective representation were much appreciated hallmarks. And of course, all backed up with professional expertise and powerful astute negotiating, seamlessly coordinated with an equally responsive and experienced solicitor and building inspector.

This is a dedicated and effective team of professionals who know and love what they are doing. It’s great for them, sure, but it was invaluable for us.

Buying a house has never been so easy. (It took 2 weeks) The entire process allowed us to have confidence that we were buying a house that was perfect for our needs, at a reasonable price, with all the due diligence carried out to ensure a smooth transition. I could not imagine buying a home without these guys, and I never will. Absolute value for money and such a pleasure to work with.

Amy and Cate thankyou so much!! You guys are the best, I can’t speak more highly of what you do. I hope no-one I know ever tries to do this themselves, as you make the process so simple and ENJOYABLE!

If this was up to us, there is no way we would have got everything together and bought this house. Your efficiency, counsel, sticking to the facts, and diligence have us excited for the future with no doubt that we have made a great decision about our future home.

Thanks a million!

From estactic new home owners!

My partner Alex and I were complete newbies trying to purchase our first home in the inner Western suburbs 9km from the CBD. We chanced upon our dream property after doing lots of research but were extremely daunted by the complexities of the property buying process and put off by the stiff competition in the areas we were looking in. We were also going to be overseas on the scheduled auction date of the house we had in mind and didn’t want to put pressure on friends or family to bid on our behalf. We thought that we would have to give up on the property and look elsewhere!

Luckily, we had the idea of getting a buyer’s advocate after stumbling upon some video posts by Cate Bakos on realestate.com.au. We were really impressed with her knowledge and her commitment to educating the community and sharing her expertise with home buyers and investors alike. We decided to engage Cate to help us with the negotiation process and to bid for us if the property went to auction.

As soon as we got in touch with Cate, we knew we were in extremely safe hands. Cate and her team are consummate professionals. Cate is incredibly knowledgeable but also very personable, and we really felt that she was looking after our interests. Her communication is top-notch and never tardy. Her strong working relationships and her fantastic negotiation skills with the agents in the area helped us secure our home prior to auction; best of all, at a price and under conditions that were just perfect for us! Within 3 days of formally engaging Cate, we got our beautiful home!

Thank you Cate, Amy, Jeanette and Renee – you are such a fantastic team and we would not hesitate to recommend you to others and work with you again in future.

Hi Cate and Amy,

Just a really short note while I’m still overseas to say thanks for helping with the purchase of the place. The property settled this afternoon so it’s now all mine!

You all have been so great to work with- I’ve loved you all being part of the process and it gave me such comfort knowing there was help in every step of the process. I will definitely be recommending you guys to friends if you’re okay with that!

We want to wholeheartedly thank you & your team for having taken us on such an enlightening and smooth journey to acquire our property in Coburg. You have all been amazing through this process in teaching us so much, guiding us so seamlessly and in keeping us fully informed every moment of the way. We literally started this journey not knowing that Buyers Advocates existed, but from our first phone conversation with you Cate, we felt assured that you would be the one able to assist us in our long distance quest and you certainly proved that in a truly professional and capable manner that has really impressed us. Your team is fantastic – Amy, Renee, Jeanette, David & Ian thank you all so much for doing your jobs so well.

We are so please with our purchase, although we have not yet personally seen it!! (but our daughter, who has seen it, is very, very happy with it!). We look forward to travelling down later in the year when it is vacant to finally see it and help both our Darwin daughters move in.

Settlement was incredibly easy and we still cant believe we own it! You all made the daunting idea of buying Melbourne property from Darwin so easy! – we would certainly highly recommend you to others here that may wish to embark on a similar journey.

Thank you Wonderful Team for helping us in getting our first home. Very impressed with the prompt negotiating and advice advocating process to get our first home deal done, which looked like an ongoing stressful house hunting task for us. Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to working with you together again.

Thank you so much for all of your help with the purchase of our new home! We love our new home and know we absolutely could not have done this without you. Thank you for taking all the stress out of the process, your help was invaluable. We will definitely be recommending you to all of our friends!

On many different occasions, I recall to wide-eyed friends and family the buying-process that was undertaken for the acquisition of the property in Ivanhoe.

o Meeting at the pub prior to the auction.
o Where to stand during the auction
o Where you’ll stand during the auction.
o How you’ll handle the negotiation
o …and so on and on…
o …through to the final shaking of hands inside the house.

Everyone’s impressed.


The engagement of your services as well as the machinations that you handled so well on auction day were absolutely brilliant.

I could not have asked for a better outcome and the assistance that you gave on that day is never forgotten!!


If there is anything I can do (referrals etc) to assist your customers in anyway shape manner or form, then please let me know.

We reside overseas and needed to purchase a second property, from various reasons ranging from no longer been negatively geared, needing a larger family home to a ‘raging’ sellers property market. Frankly, the prospect was daunting. Going into that much debt, reviewing properties other the Internet and countless emails back and forth with agents was becoming a full time job.

Cate was highly recommended and after our initial discussion and the final result, Cate and her team did not disappoint.  By appointing Cate, we were not just purchasing her services of outstanding market knowledge, research capabilities, a/our strategy (an excellent bespoke guide tailored just for us); at the end of the day we received ‘peace-of-mind’. This turned out to be the most important aspect of purchasing a property in view of our circumstances, and we didn’t realise it at the time.

When my wife and I started to go down different paths and alter our original thinking, Cate would regroup with us, review our ‘must have list’ and strategy. It was Real Estate therapy (!) and reassuring when things were getting a little overwhelming. Having Cate, Amy and Renee in our corner was unbelievably reassuring.

Cate also had excellent knowledge and views with finances and we were ale to discuss our risk tolerance and compared these to risk appetite. The end result was that we ended up purchasing a property at a significant discount of what we were prepared to pay, which equalled 10 times the amount of Cate’s fee. This aspect, coupled with peace-of-mind and been able to sleep easy in purchasing a house that you have not seen with your own eyes, made the entire experience with Cate, Amy and Renee invaluable. 

I cannot recommend this organisation enough. I would not purchase another property without Cate and her team. Thank you ladies, you are wonderful.

It was such a delight working with Cate, Amy and Renee. They basically made what could have been an onerous task, wonderfully easy and surprisingly enjoyable (and with so much style and finesse).

I decided to meet with Cate after a colleague raved about her from when she bought her dream home. From the first meeting, Cate took the time to understand what exactly I wanted and what I was willing to spend. Other advocates I’ve dealt with weren’t great with this, choosing to tell me how to manage my finances rather than working within my criteria. This, coupled with the fact that she’s extremely knowledgeable and experienced, made engaging her a no-brainer.

Cate and Amy worked closely with me over the next couple of months to find an investment property. I eagerly awaited their emails every Thursday for a list of inspections they’d set up for me that weekend. They provided recommendations and sought my feedback so that they could refine their search criteria. They organised building inspections and legal advice around contracts and titles.

Watching Amy at work was awesome. From the way she spoke with the agents, I knew that she will advocate for me and get me the best deal. A couple of real estate agents mentioned rumours within the industry that Cate and Amy take no prisoners when it comes to negotiating – this filled me with joy. When the time came, they found me the perfect property and negotiated a significantly lower price than what I was willing to pay.

Cate, Amy and Renee coordinated the purchase perfectly and organised everything for me. All I had to do was turn up to the lawyers with the cheques and sign the documents. It couldn’t have been easier.
Renee accompanied me to meet a property agent whom she highly recommended. True to form, I had a tenant move in to the house a day after settlement. Renee was (and continues to be) incredibly patient and helpful with any questions I had.

All up, Cate Bakos Property – ten out of ten.

Our story started a few years ago where we engaged with a Melbourne Buyers Advocate business (who shall remain nameless) and it was a shambles experience for us. We lost $4500 with them -after asking for a refund as we were very dissatisfied with their poor plan and approach. They offered us a $20 book as a remedy and refused our financial compensation request in the form of a refund. So we walked away with a very bitter taste in our mouths.
After a period of time we knew that the right Buyers Advocate would be out there for us and started our research. We came across Cate Bakos and the rave reviews she received online meant I rang her the next day. While I waited as the phone rang for the office secretary to answer my call (since every single time I called the previous buyer’s agent they asked for my name and number every.single.time I rang, talk about impersonal), I was gobsmacked when Cate herself answered the phone! Impressed.
Cate was able to quickly get to the bottom of what we were looking for and how she would help us.
I was excited again to invest! The bitter taste left me.
We went through a few iterations with Cate over a period of time; lost an auction and reviewed where we were. My position at work was made redundant and Cate immediately offered my part-payment to be refunded until I was back on my feet again. We accepted and were forever impressed at Cate’s ethical approach to support us.
Once I was back into full time work, we decided to sell our home, free up the cash and rent-vest as a new strategy (because over time our plans naturally shift and grow). It was the right decision for our family. We renewed our search with Cate in earnest and recently landed upon a property in Pascoe Vale South. Cate was able to skilfully leverage the situation to land us a successful pre-auction purchase at a bargain price.
We are incredibly grateful we found such a skilled buyers advocate in Cate Bakos and her team who support all of the purchases. We are onto our second purchase in the next month and we have a renewed sense of excitement at our future investing possibilities.
Cate didn’t ask me to write this review; I volunteered as I am a raving fan of her business, especially since we had such an awful previous experience …we nearly didn’t make it back to investing.
Do your homework and find the right buyers advocate for you –like Cate Bakos, the really good ones are out there.

Cate and her team managed to secure for us a top performing investment property in an amazing inner city gentrifying hotspot for a bargain of a price at auction in the midst of a red hot moving market! This is no mean feat considering it is a character-filled period home located on one of the best wide tree-lined streets of the suburb, only 5 kms from the CBD. This was only achievable through her exceptionally intuitive assessment of the situation during the auction, backed up by solid understanding and relationship with local agents. Her amazingly detailed pre-auction due diligence and research has been 2nd to none for a buyer’s agent, and best of all, she always has the patience to be challenged and debated on her thoughts and assessment. I have personally being involved in multiple property investments of various types in a variety of locations over the past 8 years, am not a property amateur, and can honestly say her depth of market knowledge is exceptional. Combined with her strong ethical conviction for her clients, I would highly recommend her services as a buyers agent. I have used others previously, and their standards and service fell way short. Couldn’t even compare.

I was very impressed with the service that Amy and Cate at Cate Bakos Property provided me. I started my search for a property in January and quickly realised I needed some assistance from someone with knowledge of the industry, given it was my first property. It was apparent how much I had to learn and how competitive buying a property had become! Cate and Amy were very responsive, helpful and personable. Amy did a fantastic job in finding me properties to inspect and in securing my new home in Altona! I strongly recommend Cate and Amy if you are looking for a buyers advocate that really tailors for your needs!
With the assistance of Cate and Amy, it only took me 3 months of dedication and hard work to secure my new home in Altona! When I returned from travelling and a career break at the start of 2015, I thought Altona would be a great place to live. Unfortunately I didn’t have a full time job at the time. In the interim I also considered Sunshine, Albion, Altona North and Newport as areas to buy, but the search ended back in Altona!
Newport ended up being outside my price range, particularly because I wanted a property on at least 300m2. Most properties that came up within my price range in Altona North were also outside of my price range and further than 3km from Newport Train Station. I also didn’t ‘feel’ Sunshine and Albion enough to want to purchase my home there, despite easy access into the city and proximity to train stations.
Altona appealed to me due to the proximity to the city, the beach, village feel of the main drag, the parklands and lakes, easy access to Geelong and the west coast, and that most houses were within walking distance of one of the three train stations. I ended up securing a 3 bedroom property approximately 1 km from Westona train Station, approximately $90k below the average for the area for a 3 bedroom home! The house is also in great condition and only needs painting before I move in! I am wrapped with the outcome! Westona feels like a sleepy town, which will be fantastic for unwinding after challenging weeks at work (I work as an Environmental Coordinator in the Level Crossing Removal Projects in Heidelberg and Rosanna).

Thank you so much for helping us find and purchase our new home Your advice made sure we never got too excited about a house that was out of our range and kept us on track.
You have made the whole process feel so easy and we really appreciate all the support during the (relatively) short journey.

Dear Cate and Amy, you guys are exceptional (but you already knew that!)
Thank you so much for all your help, patience, advice, determination and mad skills!

we’ve been meaning to send you a big thank you for all of your help buying our first home!
You were all such a pleasure to deal with, and along with Mario Borg and co., you have all made this unknown and daunting process of buying a house as smooth as I could imagine. We’ve told quite a few people about your exceptional service, so hopefully one of our recommendations will come your way at some point 🙂
Again, thank you all very much, and we look forward to buying our next house with you!

A buyer’s agent extraordinaire. I’ve never engaged the services of a buyer’s agent, but seeing Cate in action is not only amazing, but totally necessary considering the scale and dynamics of the auction process. I feel Cate would make a great prosecutor as her tact, strategies and suggestions all played out in a positive way. Truly wonderful, I’m still in awe of her prowess.
Thanks to her wonderful support staff; Amy, Renee and Jeanette for their patience and help through the process.

Thank you – from the bottom of our hearts – for helping us find and purchase our dream home! We moved in last Friday and couldn’t be happier! We keep finding new things about it that we love and we really couldn’t have picked a better house for our growing family. I keep pinching myself that it’s ours and we couldn’t have done it without your help. So please know that you have had a hugely beneficial impact on our lives and happiness. Plus we know it’s a great investment for our future.
We are gradually getting unpacked and sorted but it’s so exciting knowing that we have our first family home that we can make our own.
THANK YOU!

I live in Sydney and bought an investment property in Ballarat through Cate. Not to mention that I was extremely happy with the property I purchased, I was very impressed by Cate’s communication with me before the shortlisting process and also during the selection process. She was very approachable, friendly but at the same time very professional. She had an ample knowledge about Victoria property market and she was willing to share any information I asked about. As Sydney is only 1.5 hours away by plane, I also did a road trip with Cate once the shortlisting process was completed. I was again impressed by the way she liaised with local agents and the way she assessed the investment value of the properties we looked together. She was truly a ‘buyer’s advocate’ who looked after the buyer’s rights and needs. I’m confident that that my property will perform well and also I will seek her service again if I plan to buy another property in Victoria. To make an analogy, as a movie fan, her service is like a mind-blowing best independent movie of the year; no extravagant marketing, no big company name behind her but she delivers very well, effectively and efficiently. Highly recommended!!

Cate Bakos and team! Our saviours! We were strangleheld by the market for approximately 12 months, beaten at auctions, real estate agents not interested in genuine offers, nor communicating to us professionally in a market that is growing rapidly.

My current arrangements see me employed on a remote island for 50% of the year which only made things even harder.
After 12 months of getting absolutely no where, my broker introduced me to Cate and the team. From day dot a weight was lifted, educating us on market insights, prospect areas, and hotspots. We gave them a budget and a criteria of what we were looking for. Within 4 weeks we not only had a formal offer presenting, but they went above and beyond, finding us a period home full of character in a suburb we would have never been able to get into alone. They ticked all the criteria plus added more to give us an extremely healthy head start in the property game, and a solid foundation for a future. Not to mention they did all of this while I was away at work, not even in the country!

8 weeks after meeting Cate and the team, we had a settled home and reliable tenants occupying the property. Something we were not even close to achieving in the 12 months prior. 11/10 service; 11/10 communication; 11/10 trustworthy and they update you constantly in relation to the property world. I can’t wait to purchase my next property, and it will certainly be via Cate Bakos and her extraordinary team! Thank you so much!

Whether you have a limited or relatively detailed understanding of what you’re looking for in a property and how realistic your budget may be, Cate Bakos and her team will add value to your purchase.
My wife and I had a relatively sound grasp of what we wanted/needed in a property and what the budget for such a property might be, neither of us had any experience in dealing with real estate agents and getting to the bottom of whether a vendor’s reserve reflected a reasonable deal for both sides.
Cate and her team provide consistent and prompt advice, and demystify the process of dealing and negotiating with vendor agents. Cate and her team provide detailed comparative sales advice, and an impartial view as to whether a property is/not worth pursuing based on the individual’s goals.
In short – we couldn’t be happier with, or recommend more highly, Cate Bakos and her team!

After three years of looking, missing out at auctions, and becoming thoroughly disgusted with how ‘the process’ works, we engaged Cate Bakos as our advocate and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Her and her team pulled back the curtain and really made us feel like we had some control again over what was happening. She was all over it, every step of the way. I highly recommend to any buyers in this market to get Cate on your team to save your sanity as well as your money.
Many thanks!

Thank you so much for your brilliant work yesterday, and for the hard work that you and Amy put in behind the scenes of our house hunting.
I have to tell you, I woke up delighted and energetic – can’t wait to get into our new home. Absolutely delighted that we’ve secured such a pretty house in such a great spot.
Thanks for all of the follow up information – it was very useful. It’s a relaxing day of baking and jigsaws in our house today – it’s such as relief to be able to turn thoughts and energy back to the normal rhythm of the household.

Many, many, many thanks!

You have all made us feel so comfortable and well supported throughout the process of purchasing our first property and we have really loved the experience.
Our new tenants have moved in over the weekend and we are all optimistic for a long term arrangement should things go well.
Thanks for all your knowledge, patience and good humour over the past few months, we’re now looking forward to our next venture!

Cate and Amy
Just a little note to say thank you so much for helping us to buy our first home! You both went well above and beyond to secure our home and we really appreciated your persistence, support, continuous optimism, thoughtful advice and general can-do attitude. Thank you for making it an exciting and fun (albeit long!) process and for securing us such a great deal in the end.

Dear Cate and Amy
Thanks so much for “holding our hands” and all the work you did to help us secure our first investment property.

Cate, Amy and Pete
Thank you so much for your support and encouragement in our successful efforts on our home! WE felt so much more confident with your help securing our ‘forever now’ home! Your help was start to finish and I don’t think we could have done it without you! Happy to be in the ‘hood!

It is great working with you and Amy and your team. I have learnt more along the property journey and I would like to think we can continue to grow.
While it is a stressful experience while it lasts, it’s great to have such great advice and expertise of the market behind us while making such important financial decisions.
Thank you for your continued support and I look forward to working with you together again.

I cannot recommend Cate highly enough. Since my first interaction with Cate I have been recommending her to everyone as I felt so confident in her ability and experience in being able to deliver a great result…and now my two children and I are moving to the ‘Ville! I had given up all hope of buying in my dream suburb and staying in my budget before I met Cate but she made it happen. Cate’s knowledge, experience, professionalism, enthusiasm, honesty and passion ensures that she stands out and this flows through to her team – it’s like dealing with real estate ninjas: they deliver on their promises quickly and professionally! Buying a home can be such an emotional and stressful experience and I found that Cate’s proactivity and responsiveness reduced all the noise and gave me a lot of confidence that the result would come. Cate has integrity, grit and gets results. My children and I will be forever grateful. Our whole experience has been life-changing!

After seeing Cate Bakos present at a Property seminar, and after several personal recommendations, I decided that I would meet her for a chat. I had been looking for a property in the inner west of Melbourne for some time and to my dismay, the properties I liked always seemed slightly out of my reach. I’d become disheartened. Upon meeting Cate, I immediately felt like I had a plan. Cate assured me I would be a property owner in a few months. Given I’d been looking for 18 months, that was an amazing thought! Cate worked with me to determine what my compromises could be and I decided to look a little further afield, taking on board Cate’s suggestions. Only 6 weeks later, I had purchased the kind of townhouse that I was unable to find in the other suburbs with my budget. It ticked all the boxes and more! And it was the same amount of travel time to the city on the train as the other suburbs I had looked in which was a priority for me.

Cate was a great reassurance during the process – she was very supportive and answered all my questions (and I had many!) She worked really hard for me to get the property I wanted. Cate was easily contactable but on occasion when Cate was unable to field a call, her colleague Amy Mylius was there to help too – she was always on top of what was happening with my property search and was also very knowledgable, supportive and helpful. I highly recommend both Cate and Amy – they are extremely savvy, smart and approachable and ultimately, they helped me get the right house for the right price!

Cate and Amy –
Thank you so much for helping us navigate the minefield of real estate to secure our dream family home! We moved in a month ago and we love the house and our new suburb more every day. We couldn’t have done it without you.

Cate and Amy – Thank you so much for your great efforts and hard work to help us get Boston Avenue. Your service is prompt, customer-centric and trusted.

To our wonderful “DREAM TEAM”…
Thank you for all of your expertise and support in enabling us to purchase our fist investment property! We couldn’t have done it without you… HUGE thanks!

My husband and I engaged Cate’s buyers agent service after hearing glowing reviews from within our local community in Yarraville. We have had some past bad experiences in the industry and wanted to be sure that this time we were choosing the right person for the job, as well as someone we could build a lasting relationship with as we build up our property portfolio – well, we weren’t disappointed!

Cate and Amy’s property knowledge, professionalism, networks, ethics and attention to detail are quite simply, first rate. What is also invaluable is their willingness to answer any question or explain concepts (both very simple or complex) making themselves available to do so 24/7. The purchase of our investment property was seamless (and a fantastic buy), and the service didn’t end at settlement as you might expect, or as it does with other buyers agent services.

Cate Bakos property offers so much more than other buyers agent services in Melbourne. We have already begun the process to search for our second investment property and I cannot recommend Cate and her team highly enough – for us, it is a relationship that we look forward to building on in unison with our property portfolio.

You make what can sometimes be a stressful process for us seem like a breeze and we value so much your knowledge, sound advice and absolute professionalism. You obviously love your job and we love coming along for the ride. It’s a shame we only have one more property to buy for our portfolio!!

It was such a positive & great experience purchasing our first investment property. Your professionalism, expertise and friendliness made it so much easy and stress free for both Rick and I.
Hoping to get to do this again in the not too distance future.
Regards and best wishes to you and Amy

We would not hesitate to recommend Cate to anyone looking to buy a home. With Cate’s in depth knowledge of real estate and great connections and keen interest in understanding our needs she was able to find us our ideal home and then negotiate a good price. So many of our friends found looking for a house to be a long and draining journey, but with Cate guiding us along the way, it was a fun filled adventure.

Thank you for all of your help and support through each step of our journey. No question or request was ever too hard and we appreciate the time and effort you put into us and our search. We have already recommended your wonderful services to others and will continue to do so whenever we get the chance. We really can’t thank you enough. Without your incredible knowledge and guidance I’m not sure we would ever have been brave enough to take the first step.

Dear Cate and Amy
It’s been almost nine months since we moved to home and we couldn’t be happier with how it has worked out thanks to you guys. You do a great job!

Thanks so much for your help over the last few months. I am always impressed how generous you both are with your knowledge and willingness to coach your clients and put up with questions.
Can’t wait till we can work together again!

The final piece of the puzzle is complete !
Tenant chosen and moves in next week – $480 rental (2 days after the property settles).
Thank you both for such a seamless process

We have the keys…..yippeeeeee!!

Thank you so much Cate, we would have been completely lost without you, we would have made some serious mistakes and it would have been a total disaster had you not been there through the whole process. We appreciate everything you have done to help us with owning our first home, especially all your ‘behind the scenes’ work you did that we didn’t even know what happening. We truly can’t thank you enough.

Dear Cate,
Thank you to you and Amy for all your hard work and support in securing the Freame St house for us.
It was a pleasure working with you and you saved us time, money and stress at a VERY busy and unsettled time in our lives. We’re so thrilled with how everything came together.

Hi Cate,
Now that settlement has occurred and we have had a moment to take it all in, we just wanted to send an email to say a proper big thanks again to you and Amy for your time, patience and support. Your knowledge and advice along the way has been invaluable to us and a huge learning experience, which we feel will put us in good stead for our future plans and goals.
Thankyou also for your gift, which was a lovely suprise on our doorstep!
Cant promise that we won’t still have a question or two down the track but we look forward to a continued relationship with you both 🙂

Thank you both for all the work you have done to locking in our first property. The last 2 weeks especially has been an emotional roller coaster however we both have always felt confident in the advise you have provided us along the way and to think that on Monday we were up in the air on what we wanted to do to now purchasing our first home.

Dear Cate
We so wanted to thank you for all your help and guidance in finding our home – you made the process so much easier and we’ve ended up with exactly what we wanted!

We’ve already recommended you to a number of our friends!

Hi Cate

We very much enjoyed working with you and Amy on our search and property purchase.

Your service at all stages was first class.

Best regards

This was the first time we had used a buyer’s advocate, and we were extremely impressed ….Cate’s professionalism and “do it now” attitude absolutely blitzed through the negotiating process, with a minimum of stress for us, and within 24 hours, we were the proud owners of a little piece of paradise on The Mornington Peninsula.
Thanks again Cate! 🙂

Cate! I cannot thank you enough for your hard work in helping me purchase my first home. The guidance, helpfulness, support and knowledge that you provided- made the process smooth sailing and stress-free. Making an offer on a home can be intimidating (as well as emotionally daunting) and it helped so much to have someone like you to represent my needs in the heat of the moment. Your attention to detail and commitment in helping me were tremendous and greatly appreciated. I would have no hesitation in referring my family and friends to you. Thanks again.!

Dear Cate
Thank you so very much for guiding us through the madness of buying our first home. You are a treasure.

I respect your experience and knowledge and like your upfront attitude. I really enjoyed working with you Cate and liked the personalised service. Since I have had some discussions with other (interstate) buyers advocates…and feel like i am dealing with corporations with many people involved. It made me appreciate your service even more.

Dear Cate and Amy

I can’t thank you both enough for all your hard work to assist me to purchase my property. Your shared passion, enthusiasm, professionalism and care ensured that I felt confident throughout the process. I have learnt so much.

To Cate and Amy

Thank you for your amazing efforts again in helping me with another great purchase. Your expertise is priceless.

Cate

I thought I owe you a formal thank you note. I would like to thank you for your help in the whole process. I really appreciate it. Anthony’s referral is the best choice for me. I will also introduce you to my friend if they are looking for property (mostly in the eastern suburbs) ;-))

Mike and I would like to thank you and Amy for your amazing service in helping us find our new home in Melbourne. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without you as everything has changed in the past 22 years, so we definitely needed all the advice you gave us.

A friend of mine suggested to contact Cate Bakos if I wanted to buy property in Melbourne. Although I know my way around Melbourne a bit I am still living 500km away and so I thought I’ll meet Cate to find out. Cate was very professional and provided a lot of very valuable information during our meeting. She is working independent of any bank or real estate agency but what I liked about her most was that she gave honest advise tailored to my specific situation which in the end cost her a deal as I moved in a different direction after our meeting. Of course we will stay in contact and who knows what the future will bring….So I would not have any hesitation recommending to contact her if you think about buying property.

Dear Cate
I’m breathing a sigh of relief now that our search for property number one is over. In reality this has more to do with managing the two and four year olds than the search itself because I have thoroughly enjoyed the process and all that I have already learned. Without your mentoring structure I could never have had such confidence throughout the process.
We appreciate your constant availability – answering emails late in the evening, and on the weekend at that! Your clarify of thought and experience have proved invaluable to us as we navigate the process as first time buyers.
Sincerely –

We cannot express enough gratitude for all the hard work and professional conduct you provided for us in purchasing our home. We are so happy with our purchase and you made the whole process so easy and stress free. Thank you…

After more than 12 months of frustration and disappointment I was looking to take yet another break from the weekly grind of inspections and auctions when I was referred to Cate. Not having dealt with a buyer’s advocate before I didn’t really know how this sort of thing worked or what to expect, but I was put at ease from our first meeting. While Cate’s knowledge, passion and love of her work was obvious, what impressed me more was her style – she’s a straight shooter, honest and direct – my type of person.

The Guidebook Strategy put together for me outlined every step of the process. It was a lot of information to take in but after reading through this I felt really comfortable that I was now aware of all aspects of the buying process. I looked forward to receiving my weekly itinerary of properties to inspect and my Saturday’s now felt full of purpose. Cate was always available to answer any questions I had and her insight into local agents and how they operated was invaluable.

There were a couple of properties I genuinely liked, but when I walked into a quaint little 2 bedder in Brunswick late on a Saturday afternoon, I was hooked. I tried to contain my excitement as I walked through the house, it ticked every box, even the ‘nice to haves’. After chatting with Cate she met with the agent and also inspected the property. On Cate’s advice I then made an offer (2 weeks before auction), and they accepted. I couldn’t believe it! Cate had also managed to negotiate the deposit subject to a building inspection during a 3 day cooling off period. I’m absolutely positive that the rapport Cate built up with the agent selling the property was instrumental in achieving this fantastic result.

I couldn’t be happier. I got the property I wanted, in the location I wanted and under budget. Even more amazing was that we achieved this in 6 weeks.

I can’t speak highly enough of my dealings with both Cate and Amy and would recommend them without hesitation to anyone looking to navigate the property market. Calling Cate was the best decision I made. I’m already looking ahead to my next property and will definitely be calling on Cate again when that time comes.

We were in the market for an investment property and being time poor sort the advice of a friend who had just bought an investment property for their self managed super fund and recommended Cate’s services. Having bought and sold a couple of houses we thought we knew quite a bit about the buying process and had often wondered what value a buyers advocate could provide. We now know. No matter how much research you do on your own or how well you think you can negotiate, you can’t compete with a quality buyers advocate who has an in-depth knowledge of how real estate agents ‘really’ work and one who has established positive networks. This is the service that Cate and her team provide. We loved Cate from the minute we met her as she clearly articulated her approach to buying property. Her background in mortgage broking was also evident in the way she explained concepts like rental yield etc. We would not hesitate to recommend Cate’s services and would definitely use her again should the opportunity arise

Thank you for yours and Amy’s dynamism, advice and guidance we are most appreciative!

It’s been a long road but we got there in the end. It’s been great working with such wonderful and competent women.
Thank you so much for all that you’ve done.
We are both very excited about what lies ahead for us.
The very best of wishes to you both.

Good afternoon Cate,

It has been an absolute pleasure dealing with you, your professionalism and working in a timely manner is a real asset for you.

Our friends had recommended speaking with Cate when we made the decision to purchase our first investment property and we’re really glad we followed their advice because working with Cate in identifying, buying and then tenanting our property was a really positive experience. We felt like Cate approached our purchase as if she was buying for herself – Cate’s attention to detail and clear communication during each phase of the project was reassuring, particularly given we were newbies on the investment scene. We wouldn’t hesitate in recommending Cate and we hope to be back for round 2 before too long!

Cate was an enormous help when purchasing our first home, from the moment we sat and had our first chat we felt confident that we were making the right decision going with Cate. After being unsuccessful at an auction Cate kept us upbeat and focused on the goal of purchasing the right property in the right location. Soon after Cate came to us with an off-market property that ticked all the boxes, without her assistance there is no way we would have been able to purchase the property we did. We appreciate all the work that you did, even when you were on holidays and no question or query was ever too much. I won’t hesitate to recommend you to anyone that is purchasing a property, your service was invaluable.

“For a new home buyer, the property buying process feels like a minefield. Real estate agents are always looking to get the highest possible price for their vendors, and we found it really paid off to have an expert fighting in our corner.

Cate took a lot of the stress out of the process for us, she was very responsive and no question was too stupid.

With her help we found a great house in the suburb we wanted, then she negotiated hard to secure it for us before auction at the right price. She paid for herself and then some.

Cate was the 4th Buyers Advocate we interviewed for our 2 investment properties we were looking to buy.
We immediately identified with her straight forward approach explaining how she worked, what we could expect and what our goals were in the process. She answered every question we had and made us feel at ease with our decision to use her services.
Once we engaged her services we received our weekly inspections and armed with our checklist Cate provided, we felt confident walking into every inspection. She listened to our feedback, she provided more advice if we needed it and was happy to answer all our questions along the way (and we had plenty!). We found out that she worried about the same things we did so the process was very smooth. Cate did all the negotiation, provided us with leads for property managers and arranged building inspections and depreciation reports for us.
Cate was fantastic, easy to work with and managed to secure one property off market for us. The whole process was a lot of fun and I wish we had more money to keep going.

Hi Cate & Amy
I would just like to say that I was so impressed with yesterday and the lead up and then the finale. I am going to post a message on my linked in page about the positive experience, I hope you are ok with this. Now I begin to work on the next property, maybe sooner rather than later.

To Cate and Amy,
Thank you for your exceptional knowledge and seemingly effortless assistance in securing my first Melbourne property. I thoroughly enjoyed the Cate Bakos Property experience and wish you both well as the business deservedly grows!

Hi Cate
I just I let you know that settlement has gone through today. We are very excited to have purchased our first home.
Thank you for your fantastic assistance in securing the property for us!

We recommend Cate not only because of her deep knowledge of the property market, but also the ethical way in which she conducts her work.
We had never heard of buyer agent before, so at first when our solicitor introduced Cate to us, we still thought we could buy a house just by ourselves. However, after another intensive weekend of inspections with the kids, and feeling dizzy from all the information on the internet, we decided to engage with Cate.
After having our first consultation, we already felt very confident with her. Looking back on the experience we realise that we had made the best decision to engage Cate. She led us every step, she seemed more cautious than us a lot of times to avoid making bad decisions and paying too much once we had found the right property. We always felt bad about our silly first time buyer questions that we asked her during the weekend but she always responded quickly and patiently. She really understood our situation as first time buyers.
The buying process was very smooth under her guidance and support. She applied the best strategy to push the sale before auction as we knew the house would be popular and we may lose out if it went to auction. She acted in our best interest and we feel if we were doing it by ourselves, we would have made bad decisions, as it was quite competitive. Cate represented us in pre auction bidding that lasted all day until 9pm at night. She still hadn’t eaten dinner when she called to say we had secured the property we heard at that time she was in the process of moving her house, she totally prioritized for us.
After our offer was accepted the process of securing the property and subsequent settlement period was more complex than what we had anticipated. Cate was with us all the way ensuring everything was correct until we were happily living in the home.
Now we are very happy to live in our dream home with our children, we thought we should share our story to everyone especially the busy young family. Without Cate, we would have much more stress and less success in buying our home.

You did a superb job and we couldn’t be happier. We are so thrilled that we had you on our side. Could not have done it without you! You have secured our family dream and for that we will be forever grateful. As we’re enjoying the celebration of our purchase, I hope you enjoy the feeling of making a miracle happen. You’re a true professional and we’ll certainly recommend you to anyone on the hunt for a property. Thanks Cate!

I had a team of good people helping us make the decision to buy this investment property.We had a great mortgage broker (John Bruitzman from Select-a-Mortgage) and a wonderful buyers agent – Cate Bakos from Cate Bakos Property. They both (independently of eachother) helped my husband and I in a way that was above and beyond…and we would not have been able to do it as seamlessly and easily had it not been for them and we are very, very grateful for their help and support.

Cate was lovely to deal with as a buyer’s advocate. She responded promptly (and patiently) to all our queries. Throughout the process, we felt that she was genuinely giving us advice that was in our interests and in line with our needs.

While we considered ourselves fairly organised house buyers, Cate provided us with greater confidence about what to do in the current market and things to look for when buying a house. She also was able to remove some of the stress associated with the pre-auction negotiations with the agent and of course bidding on the day.

In addition, as we were looking for a house in Melbourne’s inner north-west, Cate’s local knowledge was invaluable in terms of understanding the local market dynamics as well as knowing the selling tactics of the local agents.

If you are extremely organised, happy to do lots of research and are comfortable dealing with agents and auctions (negotiating contract terms and haggling on price) – a buyer’s advocate might not be for you. However, we felt that using a buyer’s advocate was a great investment and provided piece of mind. And to that end Cate was an excellent choice!

I can’t thank you enough for your efforts in helping me achieve my dream. I know you were only doing your job but you made the whole process a pleasure and very easy. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours and hope great success is continued throughout your career. Thank you!

Thank you so much for all your assistance over the last few months. Your expertise and wonderful personality is one of a kind! We really appreciate everything you’ve done for us and will definitely be in touch when the next one rolls around!

I certainly could of not done this with out you for sure, and our journey is something i will never forget. You deserve all the credit you get your passion for property and helping others follow their dream shows in you and you are seeing the success in your advocacy business from this i’m sure.

I am sitting in our beautiful new home, delighted at how it suits us. I know this would not have been possible without Cate’s support and guidance. Her depth of knowledge of Real Estate, her diligence, her friendliness, her patience and support were invaluable as she helped us navigate the highs and lows of buying our new home. Thanks to her the process was seamless. I feel grateful that she listened and understood our needs. I regularly recommend Cate to anyone thinking about buying a new property because of the remarkable service she provides.