How Northern Beaches Buyers Agent Julie Kim Helped a Growing Family Find Their Dream Home in Fairlight
Clarke and Amy had outgrown their home but had no intention of leaving the Northern Beaches. After years in the area, the lifestyle was non-negotiable, they just needed more room to grow into. What they were missing was the time to search properly, the market knowledge to value what they were finding, and the confidence to pull the trigger on the right property. That’s where Julie Kim came in.
This is the story of how Cohen Handler Northern Beaches buyers agent Julie Kim helped a busy family secure their dream home in Fairlight, a property they genuinely didn’t think was achievable until it was theirs.
What They Were Looking For
The family had been in a small home they loved, in a location they loved, but the space simply wasn’t working anymore. Two kids who needed room to grow, a lifestyle built around the beach and the Northern Beaches community, and a checklist that kept growing every time they sat down to write it.
Their brief was clear in broad terms but complex in practice: more space, same location, same lifestyle, no compromises on the things that mattered most. Finding a property that genuinely delivered all of that, at a price that made sense, in one of Sydney’s most competitive coastal markets, was never going to be straightforward.
The Challenges They Were Facing Before Engaging Julie
Before working with Julie, Clarke and Amy were trying to navigate the search themselves. Both working full time, both managing two young kids, their weekends were quickly consumed by open home inspections that rarely led anywhere useful.
The bigger problem was value. They kept finding properties they liked but couldn’t accurately assess what those properties were genuinely worth once competition arrived. They were getting outbid regularly, and the gap between listed price and final sale price kept catching them off guard.
“We thought we knew the market,” Clarke said. “But once it came to actually looking, we kept getting outbid. It would soar way above what we thought the price was going to be. We needed somebody that would know what a place was actually going to sell for.”
Why They Chose to Work with Julie Kim
Clarke and Amy were introduced to Julie through a referral and interviewed a number of buyers agents before making a decision. Julie’s manner, her knowledge of the Northern Beaches market, and the way she listened to what the family actually needed made the choice straightforward once they met her.
What set the working relationship apart from the start was that Julie took the time to understand how the family actually lived, not just what they said they were looking for on paper. She met the whole family, spent time understanding their day-to-day life, and built a picture of what the right home would genuinely look like for them.
“Julie took the time to understand our family and how we live and what our lifestyle looked like, as well as what our girls needed,” Amy said. “Taking that time really helped her bring the right place for us.”
How Julie Guided the Family Through the Process
With a clear picture of the brief, Julie took over the search entirely. That meant Clarke and Amy only needed to inspect a property if Julie had already assessed it, walked through it, and determined it was genuinely worth their time.
One of the most significant advantages was off-market access. Properties that never appeared on any public listing site were coming across Julie’s desk through her network of agent relationships across the Northern Beaches, giving the family options that the open market simply wouldn’t have surfaced.
Beyond access, Julie handled all the due diligence the family wouldn’t have known to do themselves. Independent building reports, questions that most buyers don’t think to ask, and a thorough assessment of every property before the family was ever asked to consider it seriously.
“The whole process is shrouded in mystery for a lot of people,” Carke said. “Working with a buyers agent provides you data and detail that you just don’t have access to on your own.”
Amy described the shift in how the whole search felt once Julie was involved. “Working with Julie filled us with so much more peace at every open house. With somebody who knew what questions to ask and what extra steps to take, it took that intimidating edge right off. The whole process became so much more relaxed, which gave us the ability to really think harder about whether a place was right for us.”
[Internal link opportunity: link “off-market access” to Off-Market or Our Process page] [Internal link opportunity: link “due diligence” to Property Due Diligence service page]
The Negotiation That Made It Happen
When the right property came up in Fairlight, Julie’s preparation meant the family walked in with confidence. She had already done the groundwork, knew what the property was worth, and handled the negotiation with the selling agent on their behalf.
“Because of three things,” Clarke said, “the access to properties, the preparation, and then the negotiation with the real estate agents.”
The result was a home in Fairlight that the family genuinely didn’t believe was within reach when they started the search.
Life in Fairlight
Clarke and Amy have been in the home long enough now to know it was the right call. The lifestyle they’d worked to protect throughout the search has not only been preserved, it’s grown into something better than they expected. “We didn’t actually think that we would be able to keep the lifestyle we had and be so close to all the things that we love,” Amy said. “Julie really made that dream of ours come true, because we’ve got everything that we need here and more.” The beach is right there. The dog goes in the water. The kids jump off the rocks with snorkels on. A glass of wine at the end of the street at sunset has become a regular part of the week. “It’s an absolute dream to be here, and it keeps unfolding in more and more positive ways that we never even saw coming,” Amy said. “Without Julie, this just would not have been possible. For Clarke, who had spent years living abroad before returning to settle on the Northern Beaches, the outcome carried extra weight.”We didn’t realise it would be achievable to come back into our dream home in our dream location. But working with Julie made that a reality.”
What Clarke and Amy Would Say to Anyone Considering a Buyers Agent
When asked what they’d tell someone thinking about working with a Northern Beaches buyers agent, both Clarke and Amy came back to the same themes: the access, the preparation behind the scenes, and the negotiation. “The whole thing in our experience has just been so positive from beginning to end,” Amy said. “The care that was taken every step of the way, the way she invested in the interests of our family. She didn’t try to push any ideas onto us. She listened and understood what the journey looked like for us.” “Julie did all the hard yards for us,” Clarke added. “And then we went and saw only the best ones.” If you’re looking for a buyers agent on the Northern Beaches, whether you’re upsizing, relocating, or trying to break into one of Sydney’s most competitive coastal markets, the Cohen Handler team is worth speaking to.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Northern Beaches buyers agent works exclusively for the buyer throughout the entire purchase process. That means identifying suitable properties, including those that never reach a public listing, assessing each one for value, carrying out due diligence on building condition, zoning, and comparable sales, and then negotiating the purchase price on the buyer’s behalf. For a market like Manly, Fairlight, and the surrounding Northern Beaches suburbs, where competition is strong and price guides can be unreliable, that expertise makes a material difference to what you buy and what you pay for it.
Julie takes the time to understand how a client actually lives before she starts searching, not just the number of bedrooms and bathrooms on a brief. That means she can assess a property quickly and accurately against what a family genuinely needs, which saves clients from spending weekends at open homes that were never going to be the right fit. She also draws on an established network of agent relationships across the Northern Beaches that gives clients access to off-market opportunities well before any public campaign begins.
The Northern Beaches market, and Manly and Fairlight in particular, is one where the gap between listed price and final sale price can be significant and where the best properties regularly sell before they’re publicly advertised. A buyers agent who knows the local market well, has relationships with the agents who control that off-market stock, and can accurately assess what a property will actually sell for under competition is a meaningful advantage in that environment. For most buyers, the fee is a fraction of what the right guidance saves at the negotiation table.
Off-market properties are homes that are available for sale but haven’t been listed publicly on sites like realestate.com.au or Domain. They move through agent networks, and buyers without those connections never hear about them. On the Northern Beaches, where desirable stock is limited and competition is consistent, off-market access means you’re seeing opportunities that the general buying public isn’t, which gives you more options, less competition, and often a better price. Cohen Handler’s buyers agents maintain active relationships with selling agents across the Northern Beaches specifically to keep this access open for clients.
The first step is a conversation about what you’re looking for, your budget, and your timeline. From there, the team can give you an honest read on what the current Northern Beaches market looks like for your brief and whether professional buyers advocacy is the right fit for your situation. You can reach the Cohen Handler Northern Beaches team through the website or by phone.