WHY DO I RECOMMEND YOU TO PAY A COMMISSION / REAL ESTATE FEE TO AN AGENT?

Serban G. Spirea
CEO & Founder
FGREALTY Qatar

Just like in any other business or industry, no service is offered for free. Starting from banking to stock market platforms or even your laundry, any service needs to be paid for, and paid for well, to maximise its quality.

Have you ever noticed, when entering a restaurant as a client known to leave a good tip, that the staff ensures to provide that “extra mile” service?

When buying or leasing any real estate unit, agents must be invigorated that you understand and value their service. This is how an agent provides the maximum effort to find the right product, represent your interest and negotiate a great deal on your behalf.

“Cheap is expensive,” a colleague of mine once told me. What do you mean, I asked? When you meet agents telling you that the commission/real estate fee is not applicable, what they are telling you is that the fee is incorporated into the price you pay. Therefore, the value of the commission that you must pay is the trigger to negotiating a better deal than a “free” one. What do you need to do? Pay the real estate fee and watch the magic.

To maximise the right choice process for a real estate deal, a few steps should be followed:

• Research the right agency

• Dive into its team • Interview a minimum of three agents

• Shortlist from the group • Check ratings and references

• Enjoy the journey My advice is that choosing the right agent to represent you in the process is the smartest money you can invest as a first time buyer, investor, or tenant.

1. Research the right agency
Like any product or service, before making sure that is the right choice, personal research is required. The government is eligible to attest and approve real estate brokerages to operate real estate services in Qatar. Having a variety of properties is another point that you must keep in consideration. The exposed properties must be verified and updated. Of course, the market reputation is an extremely important factor in the process of selecting the right agency.

2. Dive into its team
I believe that in our industry people choose people. Therefore, making sure that the agents and real estate consultants are exposed correctly by the agency that they are part of is a crucial point in being selected to work with.

3. Interview a minimum of three agents
Qualifying the right agent to work for your needs is the first step in finding the right deal that is crucial. Look for the knowledge, reputation, communication, responsiveness as well as the available offer. Understand that an agent will give his or her maximum attention to a client that values the provided service. Leveraging the relationships and networks that an agent and agency have with the stakeholders of the real estate business must be within your scope.

4. Shortlist from the group
Why do I insist on selecting the right agent? Because the process of selecting and negotiating the property in question will be much easier to go through. Our platform will help users in this step by offering a much simplified feature of ranking the agents that are providing real estate service to the local and international markets.

5. Check ratings and references
How do you research a doctor? The same process must be followed when understanding the agent’s reputation.

6. Enjoy the journey
We are in the industry of consulting our partners to make wise decisions. Being a client and having a great agent working with you, it’s about the synergy of having great deals.

This article was published as part of the eighth edition of Property Finder Qatar’s Trends Report.

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