Yes, it is worth it! But many owners vacillate when it comes to making the decision to hire a real estate agency on an exclusivity regime, due to the weight of a higher commission: the price to pay for having a consultant fully committed to selling or letting their properties! Perhaps this is why the open regime or non-exclusivity regime is the most common in Portugal, lowering the level of service, contrary to what happens in more developed countries, such as the United States, Canada, South Africa, France and Belgium, where owners prefer to work with real estate agencies on an exclusive basis because they know that the selling process is quicker and more efficient.
It means that you will make the decision to work only with one real estate agency, the only one that will have the right to promote the business that is the object of the real estate mediation contract, during the respective period of validity.
Unlike the open regime, in the exclusivity regime your house will only be represented (and sold) by one real estate agency, and you will have only one representative (or one team) promoting the property, at least during the period stipulated in the contract. During that time, you cannot hire another real estate agent nor should you promote the sale of the property on your own.
What is an open regime?
Open regime is when you establish a real estate mediation contract with several agencies at the same time, and here your house can be sold by any of them, being up to you to choose the most favorable sale proposal, without the other real estate agencies being able to complain. The great disadvantage of the open regime, in comparison with hiring a real estate agency on an exclusive basis, has to do with the lack of investment in the promotion and advertising of the property by the mediator because there are more colleagues in the market trying to make the same sale and because the commission you will receive if you sell, is always lower. Therefore, what at first sight may seem advantageous to the owner - lower commission - may end up becoming a sales difficulty - lower investment.
If you still have your doubts about a real estate agency on an exclusive basis, learn about the main advantages of this option:
1. A single property consultant
You will be represented by only one real estate consultant during the whole negotiation process, which translates into better purchase proposals, always defending your interests. And that is because there is a big investment in advertising and promotion of your house and a better filtering of potential interested parties (also of requests for visits and proposals), which avoids you to be constantly bothered with contacts from mere curious people and other real estate agents.
2. Bigger and better promotion of the property
Both the real estate agency on an exclusivity regime and the consultant in charge of the search, will spare no effort to promote the property, since the commission they will receive is higher than they would receive on an open basis, even if half of the commission has to go to another estate agency, in shared deal situations.
This way, you are most likely to see your house promoted in different communication channels, through excellent quality advertisements with detailed descriptions, photographs, professional videos and virtual visits.
3. Consistency in promoting your home
Your house with different prices, descriptions and photos? This will never happen if you hire a real estate agency on an exclusive basis because there is only one intermediary passing on information about the property. On the contrary, in an open regime you may come across different advertisements that may give an image of desperation to sell to potential buyers, who will end up making offers well below the requested value.
4. More rigorous selection process of potential buyers
If you hire a real estate agency on an exclusivity regime you will only be visited by potential buyers who already know all the characteristics of your house and have the financial or financing capacity to buy it. In a non-exclusive regime, the screening is rushed and therefore you may waste time and money receiving visits from curious people.
5. Consultant accountability
Do you need feedback on the property sales process? With an exclusivity regime you already know who to turn to because there is only one person or team managing the whole process of promoting and negotiating your home. So, you can get feedback, but also justifications about some delay or some procedure that is motivating your displeasure. You can and should even be demanding with your real estate consultant and ask for satisfactions whenever necessary or the presentation of active promotion actions of the property and the results of those actions. Your advisor has the obligation to respond and provide you with a good service: the success of the sale is their responsibility, but so is the failure, so if something goes wrong, they should immediately develop a more efficient sales strategy.
6. Faster sale
With so many advantages, hiring a real estate agency on an exclusivity regime can only translate into a faster sale, can't it? As the real estate consultant knows that the sale of the property depends only on him, he gets involved in a more exclusive and consistent way so that the promise of purchase and sale contract comes true quickly!
Are you looking for an exclusive real estate agency to sell or rent your house in the Algarve? Contact Engel & Völkers Portimão! We guarantee full commitment and professionalism in an open and closed regime!