Property Sales and Marketing - Essay Example

Question: Discuss and describe the various crucial stages in the sale of residential property from an agent’s point of view from original instructionto marketing a property through to eventual completion? Legislation The first and foremost crucial aspect of a real estate agent involved in residential property is knowledge of all the relevant property laws. There are a number of laws that affect UK real estate agents and are as follow: Estate Agents Act 1979 PMA Act 1991 Data Protection Act 1998 Housing Act 2004 Discrimination Legislation Implementation The process of looking for a house that is a sales prospect is also very critical. First of all the agent must ascertain that all the necessary information about the property is available and is fair. The next step is to get a HIP before a real estate agent can take on marketing aspect of the sale. The HIP or Home information Pack is a must for houses being sold in Wales and England. This ensures that complete information is available on the market. According to law a HIP should contain key information on the property being marketed and must be provided by the seller’s agent. The HIP ensures that there are no confusions about property being sold in minds of the buyers and give buyers important information at start of the sales process. Therefore there are fewer chances of delays etc because of misinterpretation of information. Components of HIP A very comprehensive way of gathering information about a property is through a property questionnaire. This is a document filled in by prospective home seller and contains information such as property size, expected value, items available, condition, any issues etc. This questionnaire must accompany EPC (Energy Performance Report), Sustainability certificate (for new homes only) and sale statement of address. The sale statement of address must include the name of seller, title and address etc. The agent must make sure that seller ha submitted copies of original documents which show ownership of the property. These official copies are usually held by the land registry. Some time properties are mortgaged etc. Evidence of this extra information that includes any other tenancies affecting the property must be gathered as well. After gathering all related documents about the property, agent should conduct a survey to ensure all the information checks out. This survey would usually include a complete house check and a visit to local authorities. Marketing The real skills of each sales agent is seen when he has to market a sales, therefore each real estate broker has to be as creative as possible, in order to gain a competitive edge over rivals. There are a number of marketing tools a sales agent can use such as television, display boards, newspaper and brochures. However before the stage of advertising and promotion, is another stage which we usually call marketing plan. In this stage the sales agent describes the effective target market of the sale. This target market can be described according to a number of factors. The primary factor is the price; different categories of buyers are interested in properties with varying prices. According to old sales data or responses from customer, a sales agent chooses which people to target for which properties. The best method for sale of a house is an open house. In an open house, the sales agent welcomes everyone interested in buying the house and offers refreshments while they view different aspects of the house. This however is the final marketing stage. In order to attract people into open houses, sales agents must make leaflets and brochures with picture of the property. These provide prospective buyers with a rough idea of what could be expected from a property. More and more sales agents now a day use websites as a source of advertisement. These sites are usually agent specific and contain complete information, including pictures about properties on sale. Viewings Every agent must keep in touch with the sellers at all times. They must make sure that the seller is in line with all the decisions an agent is taking. The relationship of a sales agent with the seller is very crucial. The must keep him happy and understand that a sellers point of view matters the most. Most of the times sellers are busy and do not have the time to be at property visits each time. Therefore an agent should keep record of all the visits etc of buyers, their respective interest levels and bids. Offers The agents should make it their primary responsibility to inform sellers of each bid right away. This is a very important ethical aspect of a real estate agent. No information about any aspect of the bid must be kept hidden from the seller. There should also be no favors. An agent can give his own expert opinion to the seller but not in any away try to influence decision unethically. The best practice is to take bids in writing and forward those documents as such to the seller. The agent must however investigate financial stability of a bidder on their own. This information must also be communicated to the seller in respect of an agent’s expert opinion. The agent can also keep other interest buyers informed on the competition. This information must only be kept to ‘high and low’. This means that an agent can tell another prospective buyer if there are other bids more than theirs; no monetary figures must be shared. If an agent shares information with one buyer; then it’s their obligation to share it with all the prospective buyers. Once a seller has selected a prospective buyer, other buyers must be informed immediately and not kept in the dark. Negotiations When both parties come to the negotiations table, an agent should have comprehensive information about their perspective. In this entire process, both parties should feel that the agent is on their side. This means that an agent should be in complete control of the negotiation process. He must begin by giving clients a complete overview of the entire situation and present amended terms. Once negotiation process ends, an agent should put all the proceedings in writing which is called a pro forma. The buyer must be informed if a seller rejects the offer at this point. If an offer is however accepted all prospective buyers must be informed that the property has been sold. Agreed sale Once both seller and buyer agree to buy a property at agreed terms and conditions, processing of documents commences. At this point a sales agent must keep in touch with solicitors from both sides and follow their instructions closely. All the contents at this point are shared on equal basis with both parties. The form of payment plan is than agreed, a contract is drawn out. Before a contract is drawn out all conditions must be agreed upon. Any conditions attached are then also made part of contract. Key dates are very crucial in this stage. Both seller and buyer negotiate on key dates regarding transfer of money and handing over of property keys. This step also includes any additional payments a buyer has to make. These usually include items in the house sellers are willing to sell along with house, it’s usually on buyer’s content if they are willing to accept them or not. Exchange of contracts If the buyer is interest then prices are negotiated for those items. After all the paper work is taken care of deposits are transferred from buyer to seller and contracts are signed. The real estate agent should keep copies of these contracts, for future record purposes, only however if both parties permit. Completion It is duty of a sales agent to make sure that both parties meet obligations specified in the contract. A check list should be prepared containing entire after contract actions. These range from moving out of the seller to handing over the property to buyers. Once the buyer moves in they must check if seller has met all the terms of agreement. After the buyer confirms that everything is in order, solicitor is contacted by the agent who ensures completion of funds transfer and keys are handed over to the buyer. The ‘For Sales’ board is than removed and little contact is kept with seller or buyers until further services are required. Read More