Reputable Real Estate Agents

Most international developers use estate agents to market their properties overseas, making agents a useful source of information. Good real estate agents can prove their weight in gold, helping you through a hassle-free process, particularly when dealing with developers and service providers in a foreign country.

Unlike in some countries such as the USA or the UK, real estate elsewhere is a largely unregulated business. This creates opportunity for abuse, so it is important to question and watch out for the tell-tale signs of non-professionals:

Is your agent professional?

• Can the agent show you a real estate license?
• Is your agent linked to any professionally recognised bodies? Often industry professionals share their members’ local expertise to build up a network of recommended agents in different countries.
• Is real estate your agent’s only work activity? If it’s a part-time concern, you can be pretty sure that the level of service will not be as professional as a main business.
• Does your agent return your phone calls on time?
• Does your agent remember you?
• How well-staffed is the office? Is there an assistant there to ensure that no deals are overlooked?
• Does he/she listen to your requirements and advise accordingly?
• Are you pushed into using a particular lender or legal company they recommend to you? You should be free to select the service providers you wish to use. Be aware that some agents receive commissions for recommending you to them.
• Watch out for agents that are obviously pushing you towards a particular property. Commission arrangements may affect their impartiality.
• Good real estate agents should not only show you properties they are representing but also offer other listings through partners, allowing them to show you a maximum range of products to suit your needs.
• Is the agent marketing properties widely enough for you to obtain the latest deals as quickly as possible?
• Your agent should be ready and willing to discuss the country and location of your property, and produce a comparative market analysis of recent prices in your chosen area.
• Can your agent supply a guarantee that your deposit money will be held in an independent account?
• Does the agent/developer have a professional indemnity insurance to ensure that if your deposit/installment monies “disappear”, they will be returned to you?
• Good agents will keep their clients informed on the progress (or delays) of an off-plan construction.
• Will your agent be accompanying you to the notary on the day of completion?
• Does your agent provide after-sales support and other important services such as optional financial advice, letting or furnishing services?
• Are your agent’s fees comparable with those of other real estate agents in the area?