Apartment hunter, real estate agency: what is the difference (s)?
Are you looking for an apartment? Who should you refer to? In the city of Paris alone, there are around 2,000 real estate agencies, each offering its own apartments for sale. Finding an apartment can become a real headache. In order not to waste time on unnecessary visits, calling on a real estate hunter is a solution.
The real estate agency
The agency is responsible for selling apartments, houses, lofts, duplexes. Some specialize in luxury properties, atypical apartments and even some on the ground floors. However, most of the time, they are located in a neighborhood and sell real estate only in their area.
The real estate agency signs a contract (sales mandate) with the sellers. She represents them and defends their interests. Agencies manage a portfolio of apartments that they generally do not share with other agencies.
When a buyer calls them, too often, the agency does not have in its portfolio the property that could correspond to his search, it tries to sell him what could be more or less suitable. In addition, they sometimes show property just to show the owner that they are doing their job and then convince him that the property is overvalued. This explains the unnecessary visits, an unpleasant moment for the buyer.
Fortunately, there are many conscientious real estate agents who will not push buyers to visit apartments unnecessarily. But how do you avoid the others?
The real estate hunter
He does not have any apartments for sale. He signs a contract with the buyer (search mandate) and takes note of his specifications. The real estate hunter will review the entire real estate market, select the ads and visit alone at first.
When an apartment corresponds very precisely to the buyer's search, he makes a second visit with the buyer.
Finally, once the hunter has found the rare pearl, he advises the buyer in order to negotiate the apartment, house or loft at the best price.
The apartment hunter then organizes the signatures with the notaries. It can also present to the purchaser brokers, architects, decorators...
The aim of the apartment hunter:
- Don't waste the buyer's time
- The advisor so that he buys a quality property and makes a good investment
- Make the buyer benefit from his network
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mme Josephine Dumoulin. From the moment I reached out, she was responsive and welcoming. As I’m based in the United States, staying in touch via WhatsApp was very convenient. Ms. Dumoulin was very knowledgeable and double checked key pieces of details to answer my questions. She was also very flexible with me during my last visit, which was a key moment for us to move forward on things. She also has a great network of notaires who have been very professional and helpful. I’ve been very pleased with Ms. Dumoulin’s partnership!
Great collaboration with Patrick Martinez! Very professional, relevant and friendly, I highly recommend him.
I needed support for this real estate project due to lack of time and the need to be reassured when choosing the property. I opted for Tell me about Paris, and I don't regret it. Susan who helped me was perfect. Always responsive and with good advice, she helped me well in the procedures and the research, she was always present, which allowed me to quickly find a very interesting property and in Paris what was unexpected for me. I highly recommend their support!
