Selling an apartment: myths and reality

Selling an apartment is a complex process, which requires knowledge and experience.? To repeat the mistakes of others, it is worth to know in advance? About the most common misconceptions of sellers.

Myth # 1: The most important thing is to find a good agent.

“Often, sellers choose an agent on the basis of acquaintance -“ the half-brother of the niece of the third wife of the brother-in-law, ”says Tatyana Chuprina, deputy director of Bekar Agency CJSC.“ At the same time, sellers forget to pay attention to which agency the chosen realtor works in. This is the main mistake.

It is the choice of agency that should be approached most carefully. It is necessary to find out how many years the company has been operating in the market, whether it is a member of a professional organization, what range of services it provides. It is also important to learn about the reputation of the agency, ask about awards and certificates, etc. ”

By carefully choosing an agency, the seller already provides himself with good service: a serious agency will not keep unprofessional employees on its staff. Large agencies have a mentoring system: more experienced employees oversee newcomers and are fully responsible for their activities. In such circumstances, the agent’s personal experience becomes less important.

Myth No. 2: The apartment can be evaluated by phone

Many sellers suggest that to assess the cost of an apartment it is enough to describe it to a competent realtor. If a specialist cannot immediately name the exact price – he does not understand anything in the real estate market. Some believe that by phoning several real estate agencies, you can calculate the arithmetic average, which will be the real price of the apartment. Of course, you can determine the order of the cost of the apartment by correspondence description. However, even in the same house, apartments of the same size can cost differently. The price of an “express assessment” may differ from the final one not even by hundreds, but by thousands of dollars. A specialist can name the exact price of real estate only after a thorough examination.

Myth number 3: You need to contact several agencies at once

Serious real estate agencies work with apartment sellers only by agreement. However, this agreement implies an exclusive relationship – that is, it obliges the seller not to contact other agencies for a certain period of time. This condition alarms many sellers: they mistakenly believe that the conclusion of an exclusive contract significantly reduces their chances of quickly selling an apartment.

It would seem that if not one but ten realtors from ten agencies deal with the sale of an apartment, the sale will be faster and more profitable. However, given that today all realtors work with open databases and catalogs, the seller will not benefit from his cunning. In the best case, his apartment will appear in several free directories (and at the same time). There will be little benefit from such “advertising”.

According to Tatyana Chuprina, the seller can receive a competent advertising campaign of his object only upon conclusion of an agreement. In this case, the agency, confident that its costs will pay off, fully pays for the object’s advertising campaign in leading real estate publications. With an “exclusive” agency carefully monitors that the object is advertised competently and as efficiently as possible. Of course, large-scale advertising can not affect the speed of sale of the object.

After the conclusion of the contract, the realtor is obliged to “report” on the work done to both the client and the agency management. This stimulates the agent to work faster and better. Thus, having concluded an exclusive contract, the client gets the opportunity to control his agent.

Myth No. 4: The seller does not need to check the history of the apartment

Checking the history of the apartment involves an examination of the occurrence and transfer of ownership of the property by professional lawyers. The main objective of the audit is to identify factors that may subsequently lead to the appeal of the transaction in a judicial proceeding. At first glance, only the apartment buyer is interested in this service.

However, in reality, such a check is also necessary for the seller. Checking the history positively affects the price of the apartment and the speed of its sale: the buyer makes a choice in favor of the verified objects and is willing to pay more for them.

Myth No. 5: There is a single list of documents needed to sell an apartment

Each transaction has its own characteristics that affect the composition of the necessary package of documents. Many factors play a role here: the number and age of owners, the presence of minors, people with disabilities among the owners, type of ownership, type of home, redevelopment made, etc. When collecting documents, it is important to know many practical details: the work schedule of PIBs, passport desks, personal contacts, etc. That is why sellers are not advised to collect documents on their own: this is fraught with a loss of time and spent nerves.

Myth # 6: The more people viewed an object, the better the agent works.

Typically, a large number of views occur in cases where the seller is trying to act on their own or hires an inexperienced agent.

Looking at how their apartment turns into a passage yard, sellers rejoice: the more visitors, the more profitable the sale. However, it should be remembered that not all visitors are potential buyers. Perhaps they misunderstood the data indicated in the advertisement, perhaps they hope to significantly change the conditions in their favor, or perhaps they are just curious. There is even such a category of visitors – “eternal browsers” looking for super-profitable options that do not exist in nature. Bekara’s specialists are sure that an experienced realtor will dismiss people who are “just interested” and not ready to buy this property at the stage of a telephone conversation. At the same time, only a few buyers come to the seller’s apartment, one of which eventually concludes a deal to buy a home with the seller.

Myth No. 7: The main task of an agent is to find a buyer.

One of the most common misconceptions, which leads to sad consequences. Finding a buyer is a simple task. However, it is from this moment that the most responsible part of the work for the agent and the most important for the seller begins. Indeed, the task of a realtor is to provide his client with the most favorable price conditions – this requires experience in negotiating. After reaching an agreement, it is necessary to notarize the transaction and register ownership. And most importantly, the realtor must provide the seller with reliable and safe payments.

Often the misconception that, having found a buyer, the agent fulfilled its main function, leads the seller to the temptation to deceive the realtor .. The seller argues this way: the buyer is found, we will probably agree with him, and we no longer need an intermediary. Moreover, the option of “personal negotiations” is sometimes offered by the buyers themselves. However, the seller should think: if the buyer is ready to deceive the agent, where is the guarantee that in the calculations he will not deceive the seller himself? For the seller, the most important thing is to get the money owed to him – this is where he needs the help of a realtor.

Myth No. 8: A notary formalizes ownership

According to Tatyana Chuprina, often after notarizing the transaction, the seller is sincerely sure that the sale has already taken place and now he can receive money without delay for his living space. However, it is not. The notary only certifies the transaction: checks the identity and legal capacity of citizens, ownership of the object, fixes the terms of the transaction. However, even after notarization, the transaction may be broken. The transfer of ownership takes place at Rosregistration, and for various reasons, registration of rights may be refused. That is why, before the notarization of the transaction, there is only a tab in the cell. The seller can receive the money owed to him only after receiving documents from the Federal Registration Service.

Myth # 9: Registration Dates Are Always the Same

Officially, the deadlines for registering property rights today are 10 days. However, the ill-conceived system of work of Rosregistration leads to the fact that citizens simply can not submit and receive their documents: they have to defend endless lines. On average, the process of registering property rights today takes up to three months (taking into account standing in lines).

The introduction of a single all-Russian body for registration of rights to real estate (since January 2005) has led to the destruction of the established system of work of the former GBR with real estate agencies. Since the beginning of the year, agents had to register property rights for their customers in a general manner. Naturally, this did not contribute to reducing the queues.

However, in August, agencies managed to reach an agreement with Rosregistratsiya. A special branch of Rosregistration has been opened, in which only legal entities are served. Thanks to this, registration of transactions through a real estate agency is several times faster today. Of course, the previous registration deadlines of 3 and 5 days are still unattainable even for agencies, however, realtors hope that this is a matter of time.

Myth # 10: A seller can pick up money from a bank cell on his own

As already mentioned, the buyer of the apartment puts the money in the bank box before notarizing the contract. After registering property rights, the seller can pick them up. However, the difficulty is that money can be withdrawn from the cell only in the presence of both parties (seller and buyer). Prior to registering a transaction, this guarantees the safety of the buyer: the seller cannot independently withdraw money until documents from Rosregistration are received. But after registering the rights, difficulties may arise – after all, the buyer has received everything he needs and is no longer associated with the seller. He can go on vacation, change his place of residence, not answer phone calls, etc. Sometimes, buyers even commit deliberate fraud, blackmailing the previous owner of the apartment – he agrees to come to the bank for money only if a certain amount is paid to him.

That is why, when calculating, a realtor from a reliable agency is especially necessary – he will not allow the parties to manipulate each other. When renting a cell, the agency becomes a third party that monitors the fulfillment of the terms of the transaction and determines who has the right to open the cell.