Last updated: September 2026 · Written by Nathan Prasad, Director of Invision Property (QLD Licence 4613035). Transparency first: Invision is a boutique buyers agency, so we have a horse in this race. We’ve kept every claim about Cohen Handler factual and sourced from their own published materials, and we tell you honestly where the big-brand model wins.
The short answer
Cohen Handler is a legitimate, established operator — one of Australia’s largest buyers agencies, founded in 2009 by Simon Cohen, reporting more than $13 billion in property purchased for clients across nine locations including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Whether it’s worth it for you as an interstate investor comes down to what your brief needs: national infrastructure and brand assurance (big-brand strengths), or concentrated local depth and director-level attention in your specific target market (where boutiques compete). Neither model is universally better; the fit is decided by five questions we set out below.
What Cohen Handler offers (the facts)
- Scale and footprint: offices and coverage across nine Australian locations, giving investors a single firm for multi-city portfolios.
- Track record: operating since 2009; the firm reports over $13 billion in purchases for clients.
- Investor products: CH Secure, its investment arm launched in 2023, targets affordable stock in the $200,000–$700,000 range; Costi Cohen covers commercial property.
- Research output: publishes substantive investor content, including data-led market analysis with named economists — genuinely useful reading regardless of who you engage.
- Process: a structured six-step buying process with published FAQs covering areas like the tax treatment of fees.
- Fees: not published — quotes are provided per brief, so comparing like-for-like requires getting an itemised proposal.
What boutique agencies do differently
Boutiques concentrate rather than spread. The structural differences — not criticisms, just trade-offs of scale:
- Who does the work. At a boutique, the director who signs you typically runs your search. Larger organisations necessarily distribute work across teams — fine if the team is strong, but worth asking about explicitly at any agency (question 2 in our interview checklist).
- Market concentration. A boutique buying in two or three markets every week develops street-level pattern recognition — which complexes have levy problems, which streets flood, which sales agents’ “off-markets” are real. Breadth and depth pull against each other at any size.
- Client load. Fewer concurrent clients per adviser generally means faster movement when the right property appears — which matters in Brisbane, where offers go in on signed contracts and hesitation loses deals.
- Fee transparency. Many boutiques (including us) publish or quote transparent fixed fees up front; larger firms more often price per brief.
Big brand vs boutique: decision framework for interstate investors
| Your situation | Leans big-brand | Leans boutique |
|---|---|---|
| Buying in multiple cities over time | ✔ One relationship, national coverage | |
| Targeting one specific market (e.g. Brisbane or Melbourne) | ✔ Depth beats breadth for a single-market brief | |
| Want director-level attention end to end | ✔ Structurally easier at a boutique | |
| Prestige bracket ($3m+) or commercial | ✔ Established prestige/commercial arms | |
| Budget $500k–$1.5m investment purchase | Both compete here — compare itemised quotes | Both compete here — compare itemised quotes |
| Priority on fixed, transparent fees | ✔ More commonly published up front |
The five questions that actually decide it
- Who personally runs my search, and how many purchases have they settled in my target suburbs in six months? Ask this identically of Cohen Handler, Invision, or anyone else — it’s the great equaliser.
- What’s the itemised fee — engagement, success, GST, scope — in writing?
- What share of recent purchases in my target area came off-market or pre-market?
- Show me a recent comparable-sales analysis. Data-led pricing should be demonstrable at any size firm.
- When would you tell me not to buy? The answer reveals whose interests the process serves.
Put those to two or three agencies — mix a big brand and a boutique — and the right choice usually becomes obvious within the meetings themselves.
Where Invision fits
We’re the concentrated end of the spectrum: a fixed-fee, data-and-AI-driven boutique buying only in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Melbourne, mostly for interstate investors. If your brief is one of those markets, we’d welcome being one of the agencies you interview — and if it’s Sydney or Perth, we’ll say so and point you elsewhere, including to the firms in our national rankings.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cohen Handler worth it for interstate property investing?
For investors wanting one firm across multiple cities, an established brand since 2009, and products spanning affordable investment stock (CH Secure, $200k–$700k) through to prestige, Cohen Handler is a credible choice. Investors targeting a single market who prioritise director-level attention and published fixed fees should also interview a specialist boutique in that market and compare itemised quotes.
How much does Cohen Handler charge?
Cohen Handler doesn’t publish fees; quotes are provided per brief. Industry-typical full-service fees run $10,000–$25,000 fixed or 1.5%–3% — see our 2026 fee guide for city-by-city ranges to benchmark any quote against.
Are big buyers agencies better than boutique ones?
Neither is inherently better. Scale buys footprint, infrastructure and multi-market reach; concentration buys depth, speed and senior attention. Match the model to the brief, and judge the individual who’ll run your search rather than the logo.