Choose the real estate agent

Selling and renting properties is a complex process, a serious real estate agent avoids exposing the participants (owner and buyer or tenant) to significant risks and consequences, following every single step with competence, attention and diligence. In Italy there are over 40,000 real estate agents; sometimes, based on your needs, the experience of a real estate agent represents not only a valid solution, but the only one; choosing a professional and relying on a company, in this great sea, adequately organized and structured becomes necessary and complex. Let's see how to identify a figure suited to our needs, avoiding running into responsibilities with significant consequences both economically and for the availability of the asset:

COMPETENCE:
the real estate agent must be regularly registered with the Chamber of Commerce (trade association, editor's note), preferably for a significant period, and be updated on all modernizations in the fiscal, legislative, technical, etc. sector; must be able to carry out analyzes on the correct origin of the Property and its compliance from an urban planning and cadastral point of view; it must be able to express the most probable sale/rental value of a property, and also provide feedback on the evaluation process by letting us know how it arrived at the indicated value; must apply the appropriate evaluation method, i.e. carry out a careful comparative study with properties similar to yours, it is not based on presumed sensation but on easily verifiable objective data, overestimating a property is harmful in terms of sales times as a value not recognized by potential buyers will cause your property to be ignored in favor of one with a more appropriate price. Let's remember that properties are sold exclusively at market prices. Let's not be fooled by evaluations that have no bearing on reality, they may appear flattering but never lead to the result, to the signing of the contract.

ORGANIZATION:
The team around the real estate agent and his external collaborations are necessary to increase the performance of the agency itself, a motivated staff is more oriented towards success, the network of external collaborators increases the visibility of the property. A One man band will hardly be able to cover all the necessary positions, skills and tasks (from marketing to inspections, from negotiations to answering the telephone). A well-directed orchestra will be more oriented towards achieving the client's objective and will offer a service aimed at excellence.

EXPERIENCE:
The real estate agent's history highlights his specific expertise. If your need is of a commercial nature (shop, warehouse, office, etc.) it is generally better to turn to companies with experience in this field, rather than in the residential sector. The expertise of your real estate agent would be better in line with the type of property you need or for sale/lease. One of the real estate agent's strengths are his contacts: the more specific his previous experience, the more names he will have to whom he can propose your property.

TERRITORY:
Knowledge of the area in which the property falls is fundamental in terms of contacts, technical aspects and skills. An agent present in very distant territories is either a specialist or has an accredited network of collaborators; the two conditions lead to having a lower cost per inspection, to being better performing and to being faster in achieving your objective.

COMPENSATION:
The commission for the agent is everything: low commissions do not allow an entrepreneur to promote your property in the best possible way and force the agent to dedicate more time to properties in which the owners recognize a higher commission. Furthermore, marketing activity can be very expensive, and it is unthinkable to invest in a low potential economic income.

THE ASSIGNMENT:
represents the agent's commitment to being your partner for the time necessary for the sale; this is why it must be in writing and exclusive, non-exclusive verbal assignments do not really bind the real estate agent and the conclusion of the sale will be unlikely. Before signing any document it is best to read it carefully, ask for clarification on points of doubt and unequivocally receive all the necessary explanations from the real estate agent. The timing of the assignment is agreed upon together and will be parametric to the difficulty of having your property absorbed by the market: three months may be sufficient for a 70 m2 apartment in the centre, for an industrial warehouse it is very little and the assignment will have to be valid for no less than one year.