An independent property analyst for foreign buyers.

What does an independent property analyst do?

An independent property analyst decides, with the buyer, which property is worth buying. The analyst pulls every listing in the buyer's city and budget, removes the duplicates, checks rents against real lets, works through every cost of owning and the resale picture, and ranks what survives. The analyst sells nothing, so the answer can be: none of these.

That is the job an agent is not paid to do. An agent is paid when a sale completes, usually by the seller. That is a legitimate job, and a good agent does it well. The analyst's job comes first: choosing what deserves your money at all.

Who is Brinkman Data?

Brinkman Data is an independent property research business for foreign buyers, founded and run by property analyst Stan Brinkman. It has delivered more than ten client reports, analysed 33,030 distinct listings, and published building files for four cities. Stan owns two condos bought with his own money using the same method, both published line by line.

• Not an agent. No listings, no commission, no seller side.
• Paid only by the buyer. The fee is the same whichever property you buy, or if you buy nothing.
• Shows the work. Every figure in a report links to its source listing.
• Own money in. The second unit and the first unit, every cost published.

Read buyer reviews and the track record or about Stan Brinkman.

What do you get from the report?

The five properties worth buying in your city and budget, one page each, every figure linked to its source listing, plus the spreadsheet of every listing that was analysed. It is delivered in five days for $499, with a full refund until the research starts.

• Every listing for sale in your city and budget, analysed from scratch that week.
• Rent checked against what similar units actually let for.
• Purchase fees, taxes, service charges and maintenance worked through for each one.
• Resale: who buys it from you, and what it competes with.
• The five worth buying, ranked, and the full spreadsheet.

See a real report, page by page.

How is this different from a buyer's agent?

A buyer's agent finds and negotiates a purchase, and is often paid from the seller's commission when the sale completes. An independent analyst only decides what is worth buying and is paid only by the buyer, whatever the outcome. The two work well together: the analyst produces the shortlist, an agent arranges viewings, and your lawyer checks the title and contract.

The full comparison of agents, portals, buyer's agents, lawyers and research is in how to find a property to buy abroad.

Which cities and property types does it cover?

Any city, in any country, where property is for sale: condos, apartments, villas and houses. Every report is a fresh analysis of the listings for sale in that city that week. The deepest published research is on Thailand and Southeast Asia.

Header photo: Στέφανος Νικολάου, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. All credits: image credits.