Opinions

[realestatemart]

Dear Forum MembersIn Hurghada REal Estate Agents Charge Buyer 2.5% of the property price against Agent services plus tour to have an idea about different properties, do you think this is ok how it should work?
Also finishing sometimes a problem because buyers expect to have easily same standards Like Europ with cheap prices!!!!!!!!!!!
Sometimes buyers expectations doesn't meet the real life prices and ways that it became..
I wish to find a way that agents, sellers and buyers live in the same world that it don't became like a fight who is right and who is wrong???!!!!1 difficult to say!!!!!
Trust is a matter of experience of people you know so How we build the bridge of trust in this community!!!
Wish to know your opinions and solutions

[awahee123]

Hi realestate,

I don't think anybody would mind any agent receiving their rightful commission as many provide a valuable service to their clients.
What buyers require from my point of view are truthful statements from agents,builders/developers and property to be finished on time or near the dates given.
What buyers also expect are good finishing standards with good build quality backed by a comprehensive building guarantee usually 10 years.
As we all know the Egyptian property market is definately taking off and the builder/developers are making very good money,so it is only fair that the buyers expect excellent developments for the right price with fair maintenance charges.
Any other services that are offered are a bonus for the buyer.
If an agent shows you around 10 properties and doesn't create any interest just remember he is the loser,on the other hand there are situations where the agent will sell directly off the web without any viewings.
So the agent is doing some work for you from the point of contact right upto and beyond you receiving your keys.
It is a job and yes I agree everyone needs to show a profit in the business world, just be fair and look after your customers then you will not have to advertise, your customers will do that for you.

[realestatemart]

what a great opinion Awahee123
sure you are correct about all what you said the problem sometimes the clients choose the wrong person or wrong agent who makes others looks bad, problem in Egypt sometimes the developers don't have this mentality of gurantee or maintenance fees this you find in individual developers like a person who have a land and money and just build a building and sell the flat and that is it after he finish selling all the flats his role is fininshed and all on the flats owners in the buildingso the concept of yearly maintenance fees doesn't exist but the prices are fair and we tell how much we charge from begining and if there is any point we should clear we should do as its number one periorty is honesty.
On other hand someclients are realy difficult and expect more than it realy worth what they want to pay.
And I'm telling you good agents even should make follow up with the buyers even after delivering the key till they adapt in the new community and be aware of the world arround and never to hesitate to help if they need or ask for it

[lyndsay552]

As long as the agent is up front about things from the start then everyone should be happy. The big problem I've been having is that websites are not being up-dated on a regular basis. It seems that everyone is wanting to sell property in Egypt and there are hundreds of websites but no-body is taking the time to update them. As a buyer it is really, really frustrating when you find the ideal villa, send off for information and the price has jumped by 25%. This doesn't happen over night and if the agents kept their websites up to date it would save this frustration (and the feally that you are being conned).

Lyndsay

[Peter Mitry]

I am amazed that according to realestatesmart Hurghada agents are charging clients for property finding services! Agents get paid by the Developer and commissions are very similar wherever you buy.
Most agents are interested in one thing; happy clients, both before, during and after their purchase.
There is absolutely no justification in my opinion for charging clients a finders fee.
Our role quite simply is to find the best property for our client according to his/her needs. Get it wrong and we lose a client forever; get it right and we gain a friend forever. Its that simple.

[Peter Mitry]

I agree with you Lyndsay. Thanks to Nick Egypt Real is updated daily although many agents with static sites have to wait weeks to get changes made.

[awahee123]

It's a matter of agents taking time to make these changes,some daily.
If I ever enquire about a property on the web as I did recently and the price comes back £10000 more then advertised I don't even bother to reply to the agent, if they can't be bothered to update their sites they deserve no business from anybody.
Regarding talking about agents charges if everything is agreed upfront then that is ok, whatever agents charge or commission they receive they will always make money but what SOME won't ALWAYS do is tell you the truth.
There are a few exceptions and I have seen a few that are really helpful on this forum (mentioning no names),this is where the agent gains respect being helpful even though they didn't sell you the property you purchased in the first place.
Please do not start sending me pms about this post these are my thoughts and like yourselves I am entitled to my opinion.

[realestatemart]

its realy 100% true that real agents charge the client 2.5% but those agents are telling form the begining about these charges they don't make it as a surprise for the buyer so its not a hidden rule that might makes the client angry and all work this way, sometimes not but in this case some agnets not all took this money from other side from the seller by increasing the price which is not honesty in my opinion so isn't it better that you have a realy helpful honest agent who tells you everything and even if it might makes you think to buy or not? isn't it better to find someone who digs in every details of the property to be safe and no one steal your money??? isn't it good that this agent do all this, plus the time they spend in finding the realy nice properties that meets the client requirments???? sure the agent take from property owner a percentage but sometimes this percentage as you know is 2.5% so!!!!! what you think?????
Also don't the agent in your opinion deserve to be paid for these services.
i don't think the client will be sad or agent will lose him or her if the agent do all the best for the client to find his property and get paid and why not become friends if you see that your agent is realy honest and never try to lie about any thing??? truth is most important thing in any human or business relation its not about Money its about time, effort and work hours the agent desrve to get paid for isn't it or what???????

[Rivermead Global Property]

Having read many of these threads and posts it seems to me that there are many agents not fulfiling any of these points. I am amazed at the amount of people left to fend for themselves against developers and agencies. The point about websites being kept up-to-date is a good one. If you look on websites many agents put the properties on at the initial pre-release or low price and never update the price. I try to keep mine updated as much as possible and increase the price as the cheaper ones are sold. Who do you think gets all the enquiries????? It has come to a point where i feel i need to lower my standards just to make sure i get enquires through. I then read on here that all the people that have bought from other agents are now having so many problems. I have helped everyone that has got in touch with me and will continue to do so but will that stop people using these agents? No. Do i need to change my ways and start to advertise lower prices knowing they are not available, probably, yes i do.

All agents reading this any chance of updating your adverts????

[realestatemart]

Dear
I think if you are honest and its the right way people will recognize this so keep the way you do its the best to be honest