How to choose a real estate agency?
Have you decided to leave the sale or lease of your property to professionals, and now all you have to do is choose who you’ll start cooperating with? It’s not as easy as it seems at first glance. At the moment there are about a thousand real estate agents operating in Prague, among them both individuals and larger companies.
Where to list your property?
Each of these companies has a different focus and offers different benefits to appeal to you with.
First of all, I’d recommend you to check, whether your property meets any of the following criteria:
Is it located next to the city centre, or in a locality with an interesting history or a trend potential? A promising location would be, for example, a residential area or a city of about 30 minutes travelling time from downtown Prague.
In case the property you’re selling is before reconstruction, does it have the potential to become a luxury property?
Is it a villa or an apartment with an area of 140 m2 or more?
If you answered “yes“ to any of the above questions, you should seek your partner among real estate agencies specializing in more luxurious property, whose offer is similar to the real estate you wish to sell.
If you’re offering a luxury apartment in a great location, a villa, or a property with potential for appreciation, and the real estate agency offers only apartments in blocks of flats or villas in the business Baroque style, you are probably in the wrong place.
Is it really commission-free?
Don’t fall for advertising slogans, such as “Free property valuation“ or “Free of commission“ from agencies posing as “genuinely Czech“. Property valuation is a standard part of a real estate agent’s services. And a “commission-free“ promotional offer is nothing but a marketing trick that transfers the commission fee from the seller to the buyer.
Take, for example, an apartment being offered for a price of 10 300 000 CZK (300 thousand of which being the real estate agency commission fee). A real estate agency offering the “commission-free“ package would advertise this flat for only 10 000 000 CZK, later surprising the buyer with an additional 300 000 CZK commission fee. The price is still 10 300 000 CZK altogether, but such behaviour does not look professional.
Think twice – do you really want to be a part of such a “promotion“?
What does the number of properties in the portfolio tell you?
If you're offering a luxurious or potentially luxurious property, you should search among real estate agencies specializing in such property.
Before contacting any of them, it’s worth to check how many listings they offer. Some of you may be thinking “What do I care about anyone else’s property for sale?“ Don’t be mistaken – the number of listings a real estate agency has to offer indicates its success rate. And where there are goods to sell, there are also customers – which is exactly what you’re looking for to sell your property!
How about Google and Facebook?
Don’t forget to look at the real estate agency’s rating on Google and Facebook as well. While going through the reviews, don’t take too seriously those written by competitors, who give the agency one star, claiming they wouldn't want to cooperate with it.
Other real estate companies often try to harm their competition this way. And even though Google technically prohibits competitor reviews, they never get deleted, leaving the problem for the business listing owners to solve.
Next to the number of stars in the rating (4.6, 4.7, 5.0), you should pay attention to the number of reviewers as well. An agency with a rating of 4.6 stars and 70 reviews shall make a better partner than one with 5.0 stars from a mere 10 reviews.
What are foreign real estate agencies represented in the Czech Republic good for?
Some domestic real estate companies buy international brands to add to their name to make a better impression, some have foreign representation in the Czech Republic or an extensive franchise network.
Real estate companies running franchise networks will claim their affiliates will hand you a client on a platter. However, it’s quite the opposite. Why would anyone in, say, Germany, turn to a real estate agency affiliate to contact its Czech franchise and have it find a property for him to buy?
Everyone knows that in business, no “help“ from any interested party comes free of charge. Therefore, buyers won‘t even think of doing it this way. They’ll look for the property directly in the Czech Republic, caring only about its qualities, not special brands.
When choosing a real estate agency, the decisive factors are:
Which category your property belongs to, the size of the portfolio, the rating of the real estate agency on Google and Facebook.
What’s not important:
The number of the agency’s franchises, international headquarters that will never send you clients, and a foreign brand that means nothing on the Czech market.
