Buying an apartment from real estate agency or without any intermediaries?

Would you like to buy an apartment from real estate agency or without any intermediaries? In this case, of course, you should decide on your own.

Pros of real estate agency:

• If it is your first contract and you are going to buy an apartment for the first time, it is better not to risk. There are many intricacies known and faced by the qualified intermediaries in their practice. 
• If you have to buy an apartment or real estate urgently, it is easier to contact a real estate agency directly.
• What concerns real estate offers: No matter how many newspapers with advertisements you buy and how many Internet websites or portals you browse on your own, a good agency will have a larger database. In practice, the larger database offers an opportunity to buy cheaper or better apartment. So, often real estate with 5 percent of the agency’s fee may cost cheaper than you will find on your own, not mentioning that it is safer and easier.
• If you do not have enough time, do not want to take effort and get through the agent’s school on your own, you should rely on the realtors.
• Competent agents know better than you who sells what, where and for how much, and also where and how you can bargain the price. Therefore, intermediaries are often very popular. 

Cons of the real estate agency:

• You have enough free time and you are not afraid of risks.
• If an agency is not a quality one, it is better to buy on your own.

Without an agency and an intermediary’s assistance:

What to do if you are looking for real estate without an intermediary’s assistance: 

• If you are looking for real estate without an agency’s assistance, then this is the key advice: do not wait and play along, as you will have to compete with the market full of buyers and intermediaries also looking for real estate. The search for direct offers of apartments from owners may not be as easy as it may seem at the first sight, therefore you should have enough time to choose between some variants.
• The major objective at the initial stage is to research the market and market offers.
• Also, you should try hard to learn maximum information as to process of buying real estate, as you will have to secure oneself from danger, which may happen on the stage of filing the bargain money, preparation of documents, verification of documents.
• In practice, it is not safe to rely on just one notary, as the notary will often make what you ask him and within the legal framework. There may emerge any unexpected situations, even according to the law, and risks may cost expensive.

If you would like to deal with agency, then what agency to choose?

How to choose an agency, what is important in real estate agency, at what to pay attention to:

No. 1

• The most important person for you is an expert of the agency who manages the contract. 
  
  Before working with an agency, you may make an appointment with an expert, who will manage your contract after your decision «I will buy, this fits». Pay attention to the fact that often this is not the realtor, who shows you offers. So, you should clarify: who will work with you after you choose an apartment.

You should make previous appointment with the expert and discuss all the details, which may be interesting to you. After evaluating the most important representative of the agency, you will most likely understand whether the agency matches you or not, because everything will depend on the representative.

The worse thing that may happen, when intermediaries work together with each other, and you see a few realtors in a contract. Sometimes, it may seem very funny: one realtor on your behalf, one broker on the owner’s behalf, and sometimes one intermediary (between the two realtors).

What is negative in such scheme of brokers? Usually, in such situations, it is difficult to achieve compromise and contraction, negotiations are accompanied with quarrels and many manipulations. Such situations often happen in case of dealing with small agencies or private intermediaries, who have to cooperate closely for offering you any apartments. This is caused by the fact that the lack of their own big database should be compensated for.

No. 2

• The second important characteristic is an agency’s database. If an agency does not have many offers, you may not buy profitably and choose better real estate on the market. It is difficult to argue, as no buyer wants to sell too cheap‎. 

A quality agency may find a perfect variant for you, but for this purpose, this perfect variant should appearin a database, often before you contact them for servicing.

A good agency does not randomly look for real estate for you, it has offers for you when you contact them or immediately after this. As it takes not a week or even month to fill in a high-quality real estate database for sale, but at least a year.

No. 3 

• The third important characteristic of a real estate agency is its experience, i.e. the period from the foundation of the agency. Many new real estate agencies open every year, but only very small part is capable to gain a client. An agency may not exist without a client and fees for a long time. Every year is a trial for an agency, and the clients’ evaluation plays the most important role, as real estate market is very competitive. So, it is completely justified to select better real estate agencies according to their age.

No. 4

• Fees: What is the difference between the agencies in terms of fees. Usually, every real estate market has its own developing and dominant real estate agencies. 
   

Developing real estate agencies work without clearly defined percentage of fees, usually they reduce the fees randomly, because they want to earn something this month.

It is convenient to work with such agencies, because you may bargain more than you expect. Usually, such agencies do not have offers and you will have to limit your requirements. Also, often, the quality of work in a contract, the qualification and skills of the personnel leave a lot to be desired.