What do you see as the advantages of selling/renting without a real estate agency?

If the owner has enough experience, the (apparent) advantage may be the fact that they won’t pay the agency a commission. At the same time, however, they must be willing to invest their valuable time and energy.

In sales, though, it’s far from certain that the owner will be able to sell their property at a comparable price and with as smooth a process as an experienced agent could deliver. In addition, the owner bears all the costs connected with the entire transaction.

In rentals, from the owner’s point of view, an advantage might be that more applicants respond to their listing since tenants won’t have to pay a commission to the agency. However, this doesn’t guarantee that among those applicants will be the most suitable candidate. For instance, at Stone & Belter, property owners often don’t pay us anything for our rental services.

What do you see as the disadvantages of selling/renting without a real estate agency?

To turn the previous answer around—the transaction will cost the owner at least their valuable time and energy. A lack of experience with real estate deals can also lead to financial loss and sometimes even irreversible mistakes.

From practice, I know that owners often set the wrong price, present the property with unsuitable photos, leave out a video, floor plan, or a clear description, conduct viewings incorrectly, use highly inadequate contract documentation (which is particularly dangerous), or simply lack the healthy and balanced business acumen that helps a deal succeed.

I am very glad that our clients are aware of these pitfalls and entrust us with the care of their properties. In return, we guarantee them a smooth process from start to finish.

Are sale prices higher when selling with an agent?

An experienced agent who consistently acts in the best interest of the property owner will, on average, achieve a higher selling price.

We are going through a difficult period, with few buyers willing to pay current asking prices. Potential buyers are simply choosing properties with realistically set prices, while ignoring overpriced listings altogether—meaning the seller loses out on buyers who would have been willing to pay a fair price. To make a sale, the owner may then have to go below this realistic price. In today’s market, it may even happen that the property doesn’t sell at all.

It’s common for an agency to offer a property that was already listed before. The result is often that the same property gets sold or rented for at least the same price. What’s the difference? Usually, the quality of work delivered.

What do you think is missing or excessive in the domestic real estate market?

I don’t think I’m speaking just for myself when I say that what’s missing is more affordable housing for those who want to live in their own home. On the other hand, there are sometimes too many buildings that lack creativity.

Despite various flaws and imperfections—by which I mean shortcomings of actors whose behavior affects the functioning of the real estate market, which I don’t even want to describe in detail—the domestic real estate market still operates relatively normally. On a narrower level, it’s good to see that the work of agents is continually becoming more professional. What was good enough yesterday may no longer be enough today.

Did Covid change the tendencies regarding self-sales?

At Stone & Belter, we didn’t notice any significant changes in tendencies among our clients. Even we, as agents, behaved consistently during the turbulent period at the end of Covid and never “took advantage” of the situation. At the beginning of Covid, when the real estate market came to a halt, we were cautious, conservative in our judgment, and didn’t recommend speculation on falling prices.

For a more precise answer covering the entire real estate market, I don’t have comprehensive data. But one can say that the Covid crisis was smoothly replaced by another unfortunate international crisis, making it hard to evaluate the isolated impact of Covid. A good agent must be able to manage in any situation and be a reliable support for clients—especially in such complex circumstances.