Are you considering hiring a Chania real estate agent to assist you with buying or selling your property…
Are you considering hiring a Chania real estate agent to assist you with buying or selling your property? This is a big decision, as the sale of a real estate asset involves large amounts of money and personal efforts and there is always a lot of things to keep track of.
Hiring the wrong Chania real estate agent can be a disaster. Whether buying or selling, it’s critically important that you ask the right questions when you visiting a real estate agent to sell or buy a property.
How To Interview A Chania Real Estate Agent
1. Are you a Full-Time real estate agent? Are you available on short notice to show me homes for sale (or handle potential buyers for my house)? Do you have time to work with me now?
Not all agents in Chania, Crete work full time, many have second jobs or other things they prefer doing. As a Chania property buyer or seller, you’ll have to decide what level of service and professionalism you want. In a fast-moving real estate market it’s important to stay on top of things, to know what’s going on and how to negotiate.
Availability can make a vital difference. This is the time to find out about preferred communication methods and for the agent to tell you what you can expect. Everyone understands that no one is available 24/7, find out how they plan to handle things if they can’t be there themselves.
2. How long have you been in the real estate sector?
This doesn’t mean a new real estate agent can’t or won’t do a great job. There are real estate agents and realtors who have been in the business for years and perhaps or perhaps not do a great job. The most critical thing here is the number and effectiveness of transactions. How your Chania real estate agent can demonstrate the successful property transactions?
3. How many transactions have you closed in the past 12 months?
You can ask for the number of transactions any real agent should be able to easily generate a report showing their current, past listings and sales. Chania real estate market can vary greatly with other major real estate markets in Europe. Thus, there’s no magic number of transactions to look for but 5-10 or more closed transactions a year is absolutely fine.
4. Do you have any other experience or skills that would be helpful to me as a home Buyer/Seller?
Is the agent technologically and educated adept? Do they have specific experience in negotiation, engineering, consultation, property marketing, design, energy efficiency or sales?
5. Show me your online presence.
For property sellers this is significantly important. You want your property professionally displayed on all major digital real estate portals both in Greece and abroad. Does the real estate agent has a website and how professional is it? Is it one that actively attracts buyers and investors on its own? How many websites or digital media do they distribute to? If you Google their firm what do you find? Check online reviews and testimonials.
6. What will it cost me to work with you? How long will the contract be for and what happens if I’m unhappy with your service?
Without doubt, these are important questions regardless of whether you’re a property buyer or seller. There are no set prices or terms and different real estate firms have different policies and agreements. You should be clear on what their policies are and what you’re expect to pay. The Association of Real Estate Brokers in Chania Prefecture (SYMENOX) should always be the point of reference for you.
Things to Consider as a Property Seller:
What is the commission rate and what do you get for it? Do you need to sign an agreement? Selecting a Chania real estate agent or listing with ARENCORES means that your property will be promoted and published via intelligent marketing tools, professional consultation, property valuation and professional photography which may include aerial photography. ARENCORES also includes virtual tours and youtube videos created to promote your property in a professional and reliable way.
Buyers need to understand if there any fees to the agent that they are responsible for. Is there a minimum commission your agent expects to receive? If so, how much and what happens if the seller side doesn’t pay it? What happens if you end up buying a For Sale By Owner? What happens if there are bonuses offered as an incentive to the buyer’s agent? Again there’s no one magic formula, what matters is that you understand your obligations with your real estate agent.
7. I’m going to be selling and buying, can you help me with both? Do you have any policies about this? What happens if I want to buy one of your listings or if one of your buyers wants to buy my home?
Every state allows a real estate agent to “represent” both a property buyer and seller within a single transaction. There are different names for this form of representation but in the Greek rel estate market this is referred to as Dual Agency. You need to be clear on what the real estate agent’s policy is and what the obligations from the agreements- if any.
8. What happens once I’m under contract? Will you personally be keeping me on track regarding the important dates of the contract? Will you be at my home inspections? (for the Buyer) What about the closing? Can you help me with inspectors, lenders, contractors, attorneys, and anyone else I may need throughout the process?
Again, it differs among real estate agents, some use various assistants or services to help with some of these tasks, some expect you to take care of these things, others are more hands on. At ARENCORES we commit to being with our clients from start to finish and beyond. We know that this is what the job requires to make the process as low stress as possible for our buyers and sellers.
There is a lot that needs to get done from the time a real estate contract is signed and most people don’t have a lot of experience with real estate transactions as they only are involved in a few over their lifetime. Isn’t avoiding stress and problems the main reason for hiring a Chania real estate agent – professional in the first place? Think smart. Think ARENCORES.
9. Can I see your reviews or speak with recent buyers (or sellers) you’ve worked with?
If you still have any questions about a Chania real estate agent or firm you need to find out what others property buyers or sellers think of them. With luck they have a strong online presence with sufficient number of ratings and recommendations, if not they should be able to provide you the names of people you can speak with.
Asking these questions to a Chania real estate agent is the best way of making certain you get a top-notch, professional who will do a great job getting your home sold and/or helping you find a great property in Chania, Crete. Having the right professional Chania real estate agent on your side will make the entire process more enjoyable, reliable and less stressful.
