I often encounter potential clients misunderstanding what kind of services a realtor can provide in order to qualify for a high commission? In general, for some reason, people have a stereotype that a realtor does not have to pay for the consultations and information provided.
In fact, realtors are very hard workers, because in order to have the right to give professional advice and objective information, you must have practical experience and theoretical training, and these qualities are not acquired in one day.
The services provided to the public by our professional realtors are quite extensive. Our universal realtors provide services to support turnkey transactions until the signing of the transfer and acceptance certificate of the property, unlike foreign colleagues of realtors who are engaged only in narrow intermediary activities
The versatility lies in the fact that a realtor is simultaneously an agent, lawyer, surveyor, appraiser, tour guide, psychologist, sales manager and many other related professions. Naturally, I’m now talking about real professional realtors in their field.
What are the stages of the work of a real estate specialist?
Real estate services for selling real estate can be divided into the following stages:
- Getting started, launching an advertising campaign;
- Active sales of the property;
- Conclusion of a preliminary agreement;
- Collection and preparation of documents for the transaction;
- Making a deal.
As a rule, most problems arise in the first two stages. People do not understand how sales happen, what is done and what is not done. And most often, applications to other companies occur due to the fact that clients do not see the results of their work. Therefore, we will concentrate on them.
An approximate list of realtor services for the Buyer:
- consultation on real estate prices
- selection of the right option for purchasing a property
- monitoring of similar options and prices
- conducting views of selected objects
- checking title documents for the selected property
- consultations on the package of documents for the buyer (passport, spousal consent, package for a legal entity, power of attorney)
- negotiations with the Seller in the interests of the buyer
- organization of making an advance or deposit for an object
- organizing the conclusion of a Preliminary Agreement
- organization of the conclusion of the Main Agreement
- organization and assistance in signing the Acceptance and Transfer Certificate of the object
Launch of an advertising campaign
At the beginning of cooperation, you should receive a report on the assessment of your property. What should it contain?
- Links to advertisements of competing properties;
- Information on transactions with similar objects;
- Recommended price at which to start advertising your property.
This is the first control point. If you were not provided with the document, but were told about it verbally in a nutshell, then you should think about whether everything is okay. And request such a document. When the cost of the object and other nuances are agreed upon, work on advertising begins.
A real estate advertising report is the result of the launch of an advertising campaign. When signing the contract, a specialist can assure you that a wide advertising campaign will be carried out, but it will be quite difficult to verify this without such a report.
It should list all the sites where advertisements are posted, with active links to them. After receiving the report, you need to click on all the links to make sure that the advertising is running.
Check the quality of advertising prepared for your property. What a good ad should contain:
- High quality photos. They must be done professionally. How to understand this? Here is an example of good photographs for the subject.
Ideally, photographs should be taken by a professional interior photographer. It is acceptable if the photographs were taken by the agent using professional photographic equipment from several angles, and not with a mobile phone camera. We have already discussed how to take the right photographs so that people want to buy an apartment in a separate article.
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How to photograph an apartment so that people want to buy it
Compare what the apartment looks like in photos taken with professional equipment and with a mobile phone. If you are not satisfied with the quality of the photos, ask them to redo them.
- Availability of a selling description. Is there a text with a detailed description or are only the required characteristics indicated when placing an ad? A detailed description allows potential buyers to become better acquainted with the property.
- It’s good if a virtual tour or video review is used in advertising an object. This increases attention to him. High-quality advertising makes your property more visible and attracts more potential buyers.
For example, we at Avangard Real Estate use 20+ sites to post advertisements. We engage a professional interior photographer, prepare a detailed description text, a virtual reality tour and a video from a quadcopter. And all this is included in the standard package of services, so it is free for clients.
Active sales
This stage involves regular communication with your agent or realtor. It's cause for concern if you don't receive a call from your specialist within 7-10 days and don't know how the sale is going.
Clients who come to us after working with other agencies often say that they felt abandoned and did not understand what was happening in the sale. The agent disappeared for several weeks and even months and did not inform about the progress of the sale. Clients called on their own and asked to adjust the price downwards.
It is correct when the client is provided not only with a verbal report, but also with a special document where you can track how the sale is going. Our company has built a system of regular reporting to the client. We prepare and update reports where you can find out how many views there are for each ad placed on sites, how many calls, impressions, and price offers there were. Is there any dynamics compared to previous periods? You need to know this to understand whether your property is in demand on the market.
Based on this data, recommendations should be formulated during the sale. It may be worth using additional paid promotion or adjusting the cost or changing something in the advertising. You should receive all this information regularly from a specialist. If you don’t receive it, then work with you is not carried out to the required extent.
Also, as a client, you have the right to regularly receive operational information on current real estate market analytics: how demand is changing, where the average price is moving.
It is at this stage that clients are most often dissatisfied: sales are going poorly, important indicators are not monitored, and feedback on the situation is not given. Due to ineffective agent performance, subsequent stages may not take place. Therefore, at this stage there should be concentrated attention and established contact between you and the agent.
Registration of the deposit
It is preceded by bidding and negotiations between the parties on the terms of acquisition of the object. It is important that the buyer's offer is communicated to you promptly. And you, as a client, received a full amount of information to respond to the offer to make a transaction. If you encounter slow actions by an agent, some delays, or do not receive the agent’s recommendation that a decision needs to be made promptly, then this is a reason to think about it.
The buyer's offer is usually limited in time. Currently, the buyer has a huge range of offers. He may receive a discount on an alternative option or give preference to a new property that has gone on sale. Therefore, when a buyer has expressed interest, you need to negotiate with him promptly.
And this does not mean agreeing to all its terms. This means: being in touch, responding to his questions, discussing conditions and equipment, payment format, timing of the transaction. The buyer must see that there is feedback from the agent and the seller. The subtlety is that, on the one hand, the specialist must be prompt, and on the other hand, not demonstrate excessive interest in the transaction in order to avoid strong bargaining. This is the agent's job at the bargaining stage.
If the agent does not inform you about offers, does not give recommendations if any offer is received, and cannot promptly provide information for making a decision, then this is also a reason to think about changing the specialist.
In addition, before concluding a preliminary agreement, the agent should discuss its contents with you:
- Apartment furnishings. What do you plan to leave and what will you take from the apartment?
- Deadlines for re-registration of the seller and his family members;
- Deadlines for transfer of real estate: upon signing the contract or after the transaction;
- All necessary actions for preparing documents. At least in general terms. This will be discussed in more detail with the realtor-designer during the preliminary contract.
A preliminary agreement is necessary to avoid future conflicts with the buyer due to non-compliance with agreements.
The agreed conditions are recorded in the document. Your task is to check the presence of all the conditions discussed. This is not only control over the work of the agent, but also the company’s realtors.
What is important to check:
- Sale amount;
- Terms of the transaction;
- Deadlines for re-registration and release;
- Terms and form of payment;
- Complete set;
- No uncoordinated redevelopments;
- Additional terms and conditions of the transaction. For example, such a condition may be the buyer’s sale of his property, or the seller’s purchase of a counter option.
Separately, it is necessary to dwell on the responsibility of the parties for refusing the transaction. What sanctions will be provided for the parties if they refuse the transaction without a good reason.
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Why do you need a preliminary agreement when buying and selling real estate on the secondary market?
Who is a realtor and what services does he provide?
As long as people live in houses and apartments, the services of a realtor will be in demand. And although some of us think that we can easily buy or sell real estate without this person, in reality it is very difficult and almost impossible to cope without a qualified specialist. The responsibilities of a realtor include a huge number of tasks, to perform which it is necessary to have experience, professional skills, operate with reliable data and be able to use accumulated knowledge. And, of course, connections.
So, why should you contact a realtor, and not friends and, especially, strangers who can help you:
- Transaction security. There are scammers in the real estate market who are very difficult to catch. Their schemes are cunning and well thought out, so you can easily fall for the tricks and be left without money and housing. Cooperation with a realtor will help protect you from scammers. The specialist will allow you to take rash actions, highlight the advantages of the upcoming transaction and warn you about existing disadvantages.
- Providing complete information on the property, which will help reduce risks. This point means conducting a comprehensive analysis, checking documentation, and realistically assessing the cost. Thus, the client does not have to waste his time figuring out all these points. The realtor presents ready-made information, which can only be studied and the appropriate conclusions drawn.
- Conducting an inspection of the property and the person who owns it. How do you know that third parties are not claiming the apartment? The realtor must find out all the ins and outs of the property: by whom and when it was acquired, payment history, existence of arrest, claims from third parties, reasons for the sale. No less important is checking the owner, which includes studying personal documents, powers of attorney, establishing legal capacity, the presence of guarantors, guardians and other aspects. This information will help reduce the risks that are always present when concluding real estate transactions. Collecting this information is the direct responsibility of the realtor, who cannot shift part of his work to the client.
Also, the realtor is obliged to study the wishes of his client and select several options at once that will meet the needs and capabilities. Each of these options needs to be examined. To do this, the real estate agent needs to arrange a meeting, agreeing on a date and time. The more correctly the property is selected in accordance with the client’s requests, the less time will have to be spent inspecting the selected objects.
All claims that the buyer or seller may have must be settled by the realtor. To negotiate, you need to be a good psychologist and understand how to improve relationships.
Financial issues are also the responsibility of the realtor, who takes upon himself the transfer of the prepayment and the organization of all further mutual settlements. As well as the preparation of documentation for the transaction (creation of a draft purchase and sale agreement, signing by both parties, registration of its state registration, execution of a real estate acceptance certificate).
All these and some other services are specified in an agreement that must be concluded with a realtor or agency before starting cooperation. A real estate agent must only perform those duties that are specified in the contract. It happens that some important points for the client are not specified or, on the contrary, the contract specifies unnecessary services for which in the future you will still have to pay. Therefore, you must study the contract proposed to you very carefully and, if unacceptable points are identified, express your complaints. Please pay attention to the following points:
- Duration of the contract;
- Grounds for termination of cooperation, what are the penalties for this and who pays the penalty for what;
- Liability for failure to comply with the conditions specified in the contract.
What services does a realtor provide:
- Search for objects according to specified requirements;
- Showing objects to the client at a time convenient for all parties;
- Studying documents for the presented object, real estate valuation;
- Conducting negotiations with all parties involved in the purchase and sale, delivery and rental;
- Transfer of prepayment, organization of mutual settlements, rental of cells;
- Legal support: collection of documents necessary for the transaction and registration of state registration of the agreement after signing;
- Organization of acceptance and transfer of the object to the new owner;
- Registration of inheritance
- Advertising company, customer search, market monitoring;
- Consultation on real estate issues, etc.
“Please note: its activities are regulated by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and the Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights.” Thus, the realtor himself has no right to carry out legal actions. This is an ordinary sales consultant who accompanies the transaction from start to finish. Therefore, you should not blindly trust the representative, always monitor his work,” explains Alexey Shmonov, CEO of the real estate portal Move.Ru.
There are no institutions in our country that train realtors. There are only specialized courses, which, unfortunately, are ignored by many. That is why it is widely believed that only scammers are involved in this area. Judge for yourself: what kind of help can be provided by a person who had nothing to do with real estate, but decided that being a realtor is a profitable business. He does not even have basic knowledge of current legislation. In this case, the client may suffer both material and moral damage. And don’t forget about “black realtors”.
How much do realtor services cost? It all depends on the level of the specialist and his work experience. In most cases there is no fixed rate, they receive commissions.
Collection and preparation of documents for the transaction
At this point, the agent should agree with you on a time to meet with the notary. It is needed in order to issue a power of attorney to collect and prepare documents for your transaction. There is no need to be afraid of this. A power of attorney is issued for a purpose only for the collection of documents.
Most agencies independently collect paperwork for the transaction. But there are a number of procedures that require your participation as the owner. The specialist is obliged to inform you at what stage the collection of documents is at. Keep abreast of how the actions specified by him are performed on the buyer's side. For example, how is the sale or paperwork going if your buyer is also selling their property.
The agent should tell you all the steps ahead of time. Warn when and where to arrive.
Deal
Before the transaction, the agent must remind you of the list of documents that must be available. And also about the necessary amounts that are required to complete it. Remind people whose presence is required. For example, a spouse giving consent to a transaction.
The specialist also describes in detail the procedure for completing the transaction, which will be contained in the purchase and sale agreement. Warns you about your movements that day. Those present from the agency side at the transaction. This will be the agent and realtor who prepared the transaction, or some other team of company specialists.
At Avangard Real Estate, the transaction is usually accompanied by a responsible agent and an experienced realtor-designer who controls its progress at all stages. The realtor provides explanations on the contents of the purchase and sale agreement. In advance or directly on the day of the transaction, BTI explains important nuances.
The result of successful work is the happy parties to the transaction.
Now you know how to understand that a specialist is doing his job well or, conversely, is not putting in the proper effort. If you see that the agent is not doing his job properly and is not bringing you any closer to achieving your goal, we recommend looking for another assistant.
But remember about trust. Excessive control of every step of a specialist and scrupulous adherence to all recommendations can sometimes harm the successful solution of your task. By following the recommendations of a professional, you will achieve results. Good luck!
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An approximate list of services for real estate sellers:
- overview information on the state of the real estate market in the region as a whole
- practical examination of the readiness of documents for the sale of real estate
- preparation of documents for the sale of an object under a notarized power of attorney
- development of an advertising strategy for sales purposes
- adoption of a set of measures to find a buyer
- conducting property viewings
- organizing the signing of the Preliminary and Main Sales and Purchase Agreements
- assistance in organizing mutual settlements between clients, including non-cash payments
- building chains and selecting counter options
- conducting negotiations with buyers, including “difficult” ones
- consultations in resolving complex non-realtor issues (eviction, divorce, children, disabled people, pensioners)
