Is it worth renting real estate in Georgia through agencies? Real Estate Rental Tips
Useful tips when renting an apartment or house in Georgia. For those who wish to rent housing, the search for acceptable options for an apartment or house often faces the problem of finding options. How to rent an apartment without unnecessary problems, read the exact instructions for renting
There are a huge number of real estate agency, in Georgia, and agents can't be counted at all, because in order to become a real estate agent, nothing special is needed. A person who has decided to start such a business does not need any special education, courses or certificate, it is enough to correctly design his Facebook profile, writing that he– real estate agent with a huge base.
One page in the social network gives the right to offer gullible people housing options. At the same time, such an agent can combine several options of activity: in the morning he is a fitness trainer, at lunch he is a yoga master, and in the evening he is a real estate agent on Facebook.
The author of these lines somehow fell for this bait, sitting in a comfortable office in Minsk. I thought that everything was extremely simple: I find an agent or a real estate agency website where I will be offered different options, and upon arrival in Georgia I will be met and driven, showing all kinds of apartments and houses. So, forget everything you knew about real estate agencies while in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, or in another country. It doesn't work that way in Georgia.
Main Featurerental housing in Georgia – in 90% of cases, no contract is concluded with the landlord. You can, of course, recall the basic rule of any real estate transaction: there is no contract, there is no conversation, but it does not apply in this situation. The so-called "merchant's word" operates here, and almost all transactions are based on such oral agreements.
You probably read the information on Facebook or YouTube that real estate agencies do not charge a fee from the tenant, they take a commission from the owner of the apartment or house. This is true, but there is a certain nuance. Imagine that you have agreed to rent an apartment for $ 350, so, in this amount, $ 50 is a commission in favor of an agency or agent. When you rent such an apartment for a year, you get $ 600 overpayment in favor of an intermediary.
What can a real estate agency give?
When I tried to clarify with the agency whether there would be any guarantees, a contract, they answered me that they might try. As you understand, such an answer does not give any guarantees. If the owner somehow wants to evict you, then he will find a way to do it, that is, the agency does not bear any responsibility for your future fate. And here we are talking about large, serious organizations.
The agents who are mostly represented on Facebook also do not guarantee anything. Citizens of Georgia become such agents,expatriates, who are very well aware of the expectations of Russian-speaking customers. They know that you are used to this kind of services when you are met, conditionally, taken by the handle and led around the objects. We were taken.
In this regard, I remembered one story that came as a shock to me personally. I was in Minsk, and my family had already arrived in Georgia, where they arranged a meeting with an agent and the selection of housing, but the agent did not arrive. She just overslept the appointed time, and then called with an apology and an offer to reschedule the meeting for the day after tomorrow, because tomorrow she would have time for it.
Of course, we refused the services of such a "specialist". We found another agent who promised a large base, a lot of options, and private houses, and apartments, and townhouses. The truth is that you will be shown one or two mediocre, suspended objects that the owners would be happy to hand over to at least someone. And we must understand that such options will be much worse than those that you could pick up yourself.
There is no such Internet coverage in Georgia as, say, in Europe. On the one hand, this is good, on the other hand, if some sensible ad is hanging on the Internet, then the most advanced tenants immediately take it away, and the agents get nothing out of it. In this country, everything is built on word of mouth. Everyone knows who is renting, what is being rented and at what price.
Moreover, the whole atmosphere of the real estate market, almost 90% of ads, whetherBatumi or Tbilisi, frozen in flea markets. These are such bulletin boards on Facebook. You go into a group, write an ad there that you are going, for example, to rent an apartment of three or two rooms, not adjacent, with a separate entrance, a large bathroom, clean and quiet. Wait. Hundreds of messages will start pouring in to you, from which it is clear that people are spamming without reading your wishes, just to catch a client.
Moreover, they write at an inconvenient time, they can write at two or three in the morning and not consider it indecent. And there is not the format that you are used to when communicating about renting a home. They will not write to you: "I offer you an apartment in such an area, at such an address, in such a house, such a number of floors, such a passability, here are the photos." You will have a dialogue.
You will be asked if you really plan to rent an apartment, they will inform you that there is an option. Photos in this case are a separate story. You will be sent parquet, laminate, tile in the bathroom, but you will definitely not see a photo of a sleeping place in this collection. These people very often present themselves as real estate agents.
The whole job of such agents is to sit on Facebook and catch gullible citizens who are used to a different style of communication, uncharacteristic for Georgia. You are used to the fact that you come to the agency, tell them what you want to find, they take you by the hand, lead you through the options, and you don't even communicate with the owner, because the agent, as a rule, has keys.
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What is the disadvantage of real estate agencies?
They are mainly focused on the sale of land plots, houses, apartments. And how much will they charge you if you have a budget of $ 300 per month. You want to rent an apartment on this budget, you have certain expectations from the options offered, and you are interesting to the agency as far as.
Over time, you will probably become picky, your expectations will increase, new requirements will appear, in short, you are not the most chocolate customer possible. And they will treat you accordingly: they will give you a piece of paper with the address of the apartment or house, the owner's phone number and advise you to say when you call that you are, for example, from Nana.
This is the end of the agency's assistance, you will do everything else yourself, but at the end you will be surprised in the form of an invoice for assistance in search for housing.
Do you need real estate agencies?
You don't need real estate agencies. When you live in Georgia for a year, you will smile listening to what stories are told to naive customers in these establishments. The agencies say they will conclude a contract, but the contract is different. In this case, you can get a contract sample of Moscow 2013-14.
All that will be written there is that you, so-and-so, rented an apartment with the help of this agency, and that's it. No guarantees. And to your legitimate claims about this, they will say to you: "Did you pay for it? You don't pay for anything." The commission is paid by the landlord. But I assure you, if you look into this issue, you can find a much better option and for less money.
On Facebook you will find many stories about how wonderful it was to rent a house with an agent. However, I recommend thinking about who wrote these reviews. Most likely, the praises of working with agents are written either by the agents themselves, or by their friends and acquaintances. For example, I personally know about 15 people who will smile condescendingly when they hear that someone is going to rent a house in Georgia through an agent.
So how do I protect myself?
First of all, understand that real estate agents and agencies do not give any guarantees. And if you have a conflict situation with the landlord, then you will be sent to solve your problems yourself, stating that they do not bear any responsibility for all this.
If you want to rent a house and at the same time fix the contract on paper, then look for a good lawyer who will at least prescribe conditions in case of force majeure or threat of eviction. Youneed a lawyer, who will prescribe all the nuances, check this apartment and the owner himself, so that you can conclude a guaranteed safe deal.
I propose to put an end to the real estate agency, because, I repeat, you will not receive any guarantees, and you will have to pay an overpayment or an invoice for ephemeral assistance in choosing housing.
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