Frequent questions during a property sale.
- How do I find a trustworthy agency?
- How do I find the best agency to sell my property?
- How can I be sure that my property is listed for sale at the right price?
- How to be sure my agent remains committed?
- What if the sale of my property does not progress as planned?
- Wouldn't I be better off entrusting my property to 2 or 3 agencies?
- What is "The Broker Certificate"?
- Is the use of an agency really worth the usual commission of 3%?
- What will using Homexperts cost me?
- Is there a risk that the agency will go out of business along the way?
Question 1
How do I find a trustworthy agency?
In an overcrowded market of more than 800 real estate agencies, this is probably the most important question you need to ask yourself. But it is also the most difficult one.
A trustworthy agent meets five main criteria. The agency must be:
- Competent, i.e. they know their business and know are able to advise you in all related matters
- Efficient, i.e. they have a good network and use the right channels of communication
- Committed, i.e. they don't shy away from any effort to sell your property quickly
- Honest, i.e. they align their interests with yours and respect a strict code of ethics
- Sustainable, i.e. they are financially sound.
Through Homexperts, we guarantee you will work with such an agency. One you can trust 100%. Neutral and objective, we retain for our portal only the agencies that have achieved the very highest scores in "The Broker Certificate". The Broker Certificate.
Question 2
How do I find the best agency to sell my property?
Even among the best agencies, there are a lot of differences. Some are more specialised in specific regions, others are specialised in selling a particular type of estates etc. Thus, a good agency to sell a villa in the center is not necessarily the best one to sell a condo in the south. To help you choose among our partner agencies, we can of course direct you objectively in a first screening and we provide you with all the necessary insight to make the right choice:
- You will get access to their main certification results and you will see the number they sell in your region and that are similar to your property.
- The human feeling being very important, you can of course meet the agents and you will have access to a video presentation of each agency owner, allowing you to get a good upfront idea of the person and the main differentiation factors of each agency.
- In addition the agencies must answer three specific questions which you can ask them via our platform.
Question 3
How can I be sure that my property is listed for sale at the right price?
This question is indeed crucial. If the price is too low, you do not optimise your financial return, but if the price is too high, you risk waiting too long and, most importantly, devaluing your property on the market.
On average, it takes over 16 months to sell a property in Luxembourg! This is mainly because the prices are not estimated correctly right from the start. Our unique valuation method spares you from losing precious time and devaluing your property on the market.
When we submit your property to our certified partner agencies, each one is invited to make an independent assessment based on the detailed information we provide them about your property. We thus collect the independent estimates of some of the most experienced agencies in the country and can determine the best price range for your property. Based on these estimates, will then agree on the final price together with you.
Question 4
How to be sure my agent remains committed?
This is again a very important question. All too often the agents tap into their close network and lose interest if they don't find a buyer quickly.
Besides flawless commitment and professionalism, the Homexperts partner agencies all have extensive networks, expensive subscriptions to the leading real estate portals and substantial marketing budgets. Besides, we follow-up on the activity of the agency you selected during the complete sales process.
And finally, we grant the agency you retained an exclusive mandate of only 3 months. The exclusivity is essential, since an agent logically devotes more consistent efforts to exclusive mandates. But limiting it to 3 months and keeping open the possibility to give another mandate to a second certified agency after this period grants you a double assurance about their commitment.
Question 5
What if the sale of my property does not progress as planned?
First, we assure a regular follow-up of the agency you selected. If things do not progress as they should, we are there to intervene quickly.
But if the results are not conclusive after three months, we can decide together to entrust a second mandate to another certified agency.
We thus guarantee the best possible motivation of your agent, while retaining the possibility of involving an additional agency, if necessary.
Question 6
Wouldn't I be better off entrusting my property to 2 or 3 agencies?
This may seem tempting at first glance. But put yourself in the agency's shoes...
Would you be more motivated to do your best if you were sure to reap the rewards of your efforts or if you risked working for nothing?
Generally, motivation and performance are better if the agency has an exclusivity on your property.
However, this exclusivity should not last too long, or else there is a risk that the agency will become too complacent. That is why we guarantee exclusivity for three months to the agency that you have selected, but beyond this period we can, if necessary and with your agreement, involve a second certified agency.
Question 7
What is "The Broker Certificate"?
The Broker Certificate is an independent, 100% neutral and objective certification,
created to evaluate estate agencies according to four themes:
- Business skills and competence
- Ethics & Compliance
- Customer experience and satisfaction
- Continuous improvement.
The accreditation has itself been validated by ESCEM (European Society for Certification of Management Systems), a private and independent certification body created in 1997 and accredited according to ISO 17021 for ISO 9001, ISO certification activities. 14001 and OHSAS 18001 by the Luxembourg Office for Accreditation and Surveillance (OLAS), which is the national accreditation body of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
The Broker Certificate is open to every interested agency. But on Homexperts, we only retain a very strict selection of, what we consider, the best and most trustworthy agencies having passed the certification.
Question 8
Is the use of an agency really worth the usual commission of 3%?
It all depends of course on the competence and commitment of the agency.
A trustworthy and competent agency brings you many advantages, which absolutely justify the commission:
- It helps you determine the right price, which is essential in selling your property quickly, instead of the market average of over 17 months for houses and 15 months for flats (2016 statistics of Observatoire de l'Habitat). But determining this "market price" requires extensive expertise, experience and most of all honesty and transparency from the agency. Otherwise you risk to end up in the all too common trap of the agency accepting whatever price in order to get the mandate, which will devalue your property on the market, just to end up selling it after more than a year of wasted time... at the market price.
- It advises you on how best to showcase your property and thus to increase its value. It will also detect the possible opportunities to pull a higher price, e.g. if your house can be legally transformed into residential property...
- It can advise and assist you on legal and tax matters.
- It has an extensive database of potential buyers, which is a big benefit to only listing your property on the Internet.
- It invests sizeable budgets in the leading real estate portals and other on-line channels. And it makes sure to present your property in a highly professional manner, i.e. with attractive multilingual texts and professional pictures.
- It takes care of the visits and most of all of professional negotiations with buyers.
Question 9
What will using Homexperts cost me?
We work on the usual commission of 3%, as charged by any competent agency.
We then share the commission with the certified agency that finds you the buyer.
Using Homexperts is thus not more expensive than working with a regular agency, but provides you with many important advantages:
- We ensure you will be working with a first class agency.
- Thanks to the price estimates from several certified agencies, you have the best possible assurance of determining the right price.
- Thanks to this « market price” you will sell your property in a reasonable timeframe instead of the market average of over 16 months.
- You find a trustworthy agency very quickly, without worries, via our portal and with our assistance.
- The agency you retained will be highly committed and motivated because it has an exclusivity of 3 months on your property.
- After the 3 months, we can decide -together- to involve a second certified agency.
- We check up on the agency's work until the completion of the sale.
- We assist you until the sale, so that you have at any time two trusted partners: your certified agency and us.
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Question 10
Is there a risk that the agency will go out of business along the way?
It is true that every year, a hundred estate agencies close in Luxembourg... The question is thus quite important.
If such a closure happens during the sale of your property, you will have wasted valuable time.
But rest assured: the certified agencies retained on our portal have been checked for their financial health, sou you don't run any risk.