Tips for moving your house in Istanbul - Part II - Estate Agent

1- Most of the real estate agents are really not that smart. They stuck with an idea that buyer will con them somehow and deal with the house owner. It happens most of the time i guess, however when real estate guy is more careful than yourself, you feel unsafe and the idea of a fraud comes to your mind easily.

2- You need to pay some percentage. Officialy it is 3% for the buyer and 3% for the seller. If you buy a house for 100k then you pay 3 and the house owner pays 3 as well to the agent. But in times of crisis this is debatable. Most of the real estate agents are ok with 2 or 1,5 percent.

3- It is very important for a real estate agent to look trustworthy, however there are not so many trusthworthy types around.

4- A new house needs some new appliances. The real estate agent is the only one that can help you around with the plumber, electrician etc. He gets a share from these costs for sure but as he is not so smart he does not offer a whole maintanance pack for my house. And when gives the price piece by piece i can easily understand his "smart" way of earning some more money. He loses the job and my trust.

5- If i was an estate agent i would have created a group of neighbour technicians and get the best price from them. Then I would create packages for the potential buyers and renters. In the end i would have offered the packages with a sensible pricing policy.

6- The estate agent deals with your bureucratic duties as well. At some point the money shall be transferred. If the house owner is impatient he asks for cash. But walking in Istanbul with 100k is pretty dangerous. How you solve it? You go to your bank, ask for a delayed cheque, when everybody signs the papers then the money is released by the bank. However bank sometimes like to keep the money to itself for more than 3 days. Like our case.

7- No house is perfect. There surely is a minor problem in it. If you like to avoid it you go and buy the house, if you can't you look for another one. Don't listen estate agent bullshitting about the house, you probably know it much better.

8- Do not try to solve the paper duty by yourself. You may end up with no money and no house in the end.

9- Try to make the estate agent feel he fooled you, then he stops being stupid and act like a normal person.

10- There is some bribery going on in estate business, the estate agent deals with it as well. The cost of total paper duty is around 2000 TL.