Apartment hunter, real estate agency: what is the difference (s)?
Are you looking for an apartment? Who should you refer to? In the city of Paris alone, there are around 2,000 real estate agencies, each offering its own apartments for sale. Finding an apartment can become a real headache. In order not to waste time on unnecessary visits, calling on a real estate hunter is a solution.
The real estate agency
The agency is responsible for selling apartments, houses, lofts, duplexes. Some specialize in luxury properties, atypical apartments and even some on the ground floors. However, most of the time, they are located in a neighborhood and sell real estate only in their area.
The real estate agency signs a contract (sales mandate) with the sellers. She represents them and defends their interests. Agencies manage a portfolio of apartments that they generally do not share with other agencies.
When a buyer calls them, too often, the agency does not have in its portfolio the property that could correspond to his search, it tries to sell him what could be more or less suitable. In addition, they sometimes show property just to show the owner that they are doing their job and then convince him that the property is overvalued. This explains the unnecessary visits, an unpleasant moment for the buyer.
Fortunately, there are many conscientious real estate agents who will not push buyers to visit apartments unnecessarily. But how do you avoid the others?
The real estate hunter
He does not have any apartments for sale. He signs a contract with the buyer (search mandate) and takes note of his specifications. The real estate hunter will review the entire real estate market, select the ads and visit alone at first.
When an apartment corresponds very precisely to the buyer's search, he makes a second visit with the buyer.
Finally, once the hunter has found the rare pearl, he advises the buyer in order to negotiate the apartment, house or loft at the best price.
The apartment hunter then organizes the signatures with the notaries. It can also present to the purchaser brokers, architects, decorators...
The aim of the apartment hunter:
- Don't waste the buyer's time
- The advisor so that he buys a quality property and makes a good investment
- Make the buyer benefit from his network
After several months of research (in a very targeted neighborhood), I decided to call on Talk to me about Paris to get out of this spiral of visits that were not successful. An investment that proved to be very effective since I made an offer at the end of the 5th visit.
Great experience with Talk to me about Paris. Patrick is a professional who accompanies his clients very well in the search for their future place to live. Very attentive, he creates a favourable environment that encourages exchanges with the various stakeholders.
The agency was able to perfectly identify our needs and found us the apartment that ticked all the boxes in a few days and at first glance when we had been looking for several months. Beyond efficiency: professionalism, expertise, availability and a lot of people.
Let's discuss together