Today, we want to share with you a real, authentic, and recent story that happened to us with a client. It demonstrates, once again, the pivotal role that a real estate agency plays in the sale of a property. Most importantly, it underscores how the work the agents do undeniably justifies their fees.
It turns out that a young man, owner of an apartment in Mahón, was interested in putting his property up for sale. With the aim of saving on real estate brokerage fees, he tried, first, on his own; without external help and managing the entire sales process himself. This included: preparing all the necessary documents to put the apartment up for sale, publishing the property on various real estate portals (taking care of the description, taking professional images, videos, 360º tour (and subsequently edit them); but, above all, managing all requests, informational inquiries, and visits from potential buyers to the property. The owner consulted an online guide with tips for selling a house and got to work following each of the sales phases and actions step by step.
Scenario: «An owner wants to put a property up for sale in Mahón, thinking that the property is attractive enough and priced at market value, he can sell it on his own, quickly and without worries».
This owner, thinking he had an attractive, well-maintained property with good presentation, at a correct price for the market, etc. was surprised that 4 months later he still hadn’t managed to sell it, and moreover, had invested much more time, effort, and budget than he had initially considered. He was beginning to consider the option of turning to a real estate agency to carry out this operation.
Problematic: «The owner has spent 4 months dedicating time, money, and effort to selling the property, and for one reason or another, has not yet managed to close the sale; and what’s worse, it seems he is still far from doing so».
Several times this owner had the feeling of having found the ideal buyer and in all these situations, the operation ended up being thwarted for one reason or another (lack of final financing, pending other previous operations to carry out the purchase, etc.). His patience (and his time as well) had reached its limit. He finally decided to turn to a real estate agency despite having to pay the agency commission or fees.
As we were saying, the owner contacted an agency from the Portal Menorca group, specifically Fincas Mantolan, to have them take care of and manage the sale of the property. The final result? The property ended up being sold after 2 weeks.
It was entirely true that the product was attractive but, on the one hand, there was a discrepancy between the sale price and the market value; and secondly, better, more efficient management of information requests and visit requests was needed. Thanks to the experience of the real estate agents, the opportunities received began to be prioritized based on their quality («lead scoring») and this was, among other things, what made the difference in the process.
Conclusion: «Although at first glance it seems that the value provided by a real estate agency does not justify its fees, you would be surprised at all the work, experience, and knowledge they bring you and the relief in terms of stress and headaches that a real estate sale can bring».
What was the final conclusion reached by the owner? Although at first, he did not see or understand why working with a real estate agency to sell his property (and especially prioritizing saving on brokerage fees), he finally convinced himself that the experience and knowledge provided by the agency were key in achieving a quick sale, at an agreed price according to market value and, more importantly, without headaches.
According to the owner: «if I had known all the time, money, and effort I put into the sale during the first 4 months, without getting any result other than headaches, I would have turned to a specialized real estate agency sooner.»