What does a real estate agency actually do?

What does a real estate agency do, what exactly does it do?

This is the question that many people are looking for answers to, especially those who are facing the decision to sell their property. They wonder whether they will really be able to sell the house on their own. They also often think that all they need to do is take pictures and put the listing on some portal.

Is this really the case?

Unfortunately, no. If selling real estate was such a simple thing, the profession of realtor would not be common in many countries. In the US, Scandinavia or England, any sale, purchase or rental does not take place without an agent. It is as standard as in Poland the use of notaries for a purchase or sale agreement.

So what is a real estate agency responsible for?

For a number of activities. First of all, for supervising and carrying out the entire process of selling, buying, renting, renting from A to Z.
To explain in more detail what kind of work a real estate agent does, I will focus on the service of selling a house.

So where does a real estate agency start its activities?

Checking the legal status of the property

The first thing a realtor does is to check the legal status of the property in question and the necessary documents proving ownership. Without knowing the legal aspects of the property, we can miss a lot of very important things, by which the sales process will be very prolonged or impossible, for example, we will not check the claim to the land on which the property is located, we will not know about the encumbrances of the property in question, such as against the Social Security Administration. etc.

Valuation of real estate

He then proceeds to value such property. Real estate agents are experienced in valuing apartments, houses. They also have various programs and methods to check whether their valuation can be supported by specific data. Suggesting house prices on portals is not the best idea, because first – these properties have not sold, and second – this is not the transaction price, which can vary a lot at the time of sale. Giving the right value to a property is a process that consists of many factors and careful analysis.

Professional photo shoot and films of the property's interiors

The next step is to take professional photos to encourage people to see the property in person. Inadequate equipment, as well as unfamiliarity with photography, can greatly discourage a purchase. Visually diminish, darken the house. Sometimes the smallest detail matters. Also, not showing the assets, can greatly underestimate the scale of attractiveness of the house, however, the agent has the advantage of being able to objectively assess the assets of the property. In addition, by shooting videos of the interior, we have a better chance to reach out to other potential customers. Once the photos are finished, the realtor proceeds to create a description of the property. This is also a crucial stage. Failing to write about the assets, or poorly explaining certain things about the house, can also discourage viewers.

Planning the sales process

Namely – preparing a thorough analysis of the sales process. Before presenting an offer to clients, it is necessary to analyze exactly how the sale will take place, so as not to do it in a lax manner and not to lose the value of the property by acting inappropriately. That is, exactly what steps the real estate agent will take to successfully sell the property within a certain period of time and what steps will be most appropriate for the property. There are not the same sales strategies for every house. A person who is doing it for the first time does not have the right knowledge and can also lose a lot of time as well as money.

Effective Listing Marketing

Next, the real estate agency invests in marketing and tries to get the offer out to as large an audience as possible and to its clients. This is an additional cost that the real estate agency incurs. Only after the transaction is completed does the real estate agency charge a commission. Before that, we pay nothing for the work done. The cost of marketing with a single offer can reach 5 thousand zlotys, in addition to a large amount of time spent on effective marketing and knowledge of different ways to reach potential customers.

Telephone contact with customers

Several phone calls a day, duplication of very often the same information. Detailed questions from customers, sometimes conversations lasting tens of minutes. Making appointments – this is another stage for which you need to be prepared. Have a lot of time as well as patience.

Meetings, property presentation

After the initial analysis of clients comes the time for meetings. They can take place several times a day or at non-standard hours, to which you need to adjust. In addition, the time spent, as well as the ability to get to know the buyer are key issues. After all, we don’t want to sell our house to the wrong person, which is why it’s so important to check the potential client to see if he or she is solvent, so that we don’t waste months selling to someone who ultimately won’t get a loan.

Negotiating the price

Many times, selling on your own without a real estate agency attracts people who are looking for price bargains. They use various manipulative and negotiating techniques just before the deal itself is completed. We often make hasty decisions because we don’t want that time to be wasted and decide to sell the house at a significant price reduction. A professional real estate agent has years of experience in negotiation and is able to assess as an outsider what price we could get, so that we do not sell the property too cheaply or reject a favorable offer from a potential buyer, counting on the fact that a better offer may come right away, which may never come. By negotiation we also mean establishing other terms of the transaction, which are also very important from the point of view of the seller, such as the amount of the down payment or deposit, the form of conclusion of the preliminary agreement, appropriate provisions in the preliminary agreement that will protect the seller against the withdrawal of the buyer from the transaction, etc.

Sale, signing of contracts

Selling the house itself is often a time-consuming process. It requires knowledge of the law and the correctness of the provisions of contracts, careful analysis of various legal aspects. If you do not work with a good real estate agency, you should take the help of a good lawyer, and thus additional costs and time.

Finalization of the sale transaction

After signing the preliminary agreement to the final agreement, it can take two or several months (if the buyer finances partly with a loan). During this time, the real estate agency works with banks and financial advisors to ensure that the process of obtaining a loan by the buyer goes smoothly.

Transfer of the apartment, assistance with the transcription of utilities

The real estate agent prepares a property handover report, which includes home furnishings, utility consumption states and helps to rewrite contracts with utility providers.

Summary:

The real estate agency is insured against liability, should the realtor neglect his duties or act to your detriment – you are entitled to insurance. Selling a house is a time-consuming process that requires you to devote many hours, money and patience, and to be ready to answer the phone at any time seven days a week. Is the commission really the amount you save? I think everyone should answer the question for themselves.

Translating the price of the commission into how much we ourselves have to pay for the various activities and, in addition, how much time and patience we have to have in doing so, is it a saved amount or is it the other way around? It is also worth remembering that when selling your own home, you need to have a thick skin and be resistant to all sorts of comments, and it is worth understanding that what was beautiful for us, some people will not like.

We invite you to cooperate and meet with us, we will tell you more about what we do for you and how we work 🙂