There is a new participant that has bursted into the real estate market, causing a great impact because of its special focus on the client: it is the real estate personal shopper.
Coming from Anglo-Saxon countries, the concept of real estate personal shopper is a participant that is gaining more and more ground in the Spanish real estate market. The only difference between this figure and the traditional real estate agent is that the former exclusively represents the client.
A real estate personal shopper gives a ‘complete service’, including counselling at the time of defining the needs of the transaction, finding financing solutions, doing a market research, organizing the visits, solving legal issues and negotiating the final purchase price.
Unlike the traditional service, the real estate personal shopper does its best to find the most suitable product for the client, always making sure that his or her interests are respected.
This is the only way to assure that the client fully trusts on its agent and to avoid wasting time in uncertain searches. Moreover, this type of service makes it possible to be accompanied at any time by an expert in the real estate market and its legal framework.
Its independence and exclusive attention allow this agent to work with all the available properties within a specific area, regardless of them being part of an agency’s portfolio or managed by an individual.
The idea is to search for a ‘made-to-order’ dwelling without any obstacles.
A profile for every taste
As well as in other sectors, the personal shopper must have good taste, a wide knowledge of languages, plenty of autonomy and social skills. This profile is quite similar to the one of a wedding planner, who is able to organize events from their very beginning to their very end.
Most of its clients are upper-middle class, including business people, managers and big investors. The Spanish Entrepreneurship Act has encouraged the arrival of those new clients since it provided for the granting of a residence permit in exchange for the purchase of a property for more than half a million Euros.
However, these professionals have become so popular that their service turned to be seen as a solution more than an exclusive option.
Resorting to these professionals is the best way of finding a high-quality dwelling, especially for those who are planning to change their place of residence, which may face some problems like being in an unknown city, language barriers and legal issues.
A consolidated sector
Nowadays, almost two hundred businesses are offering real estate personal shopper services. Their presence may increase by 50% during the following years.
On the other hand, the presence of the international client, representing 70% of the transactions in 2013, now represents just 50%, compared to the national client, which will not take long to reach 60%.
If the existence of an agent is quite common within other activities, why isn’t it that common in such an important transaction like the purchase of a property?
Investment of savings in the purchase of real estate involves risk; that is why absolute trust on our exclusive agent is of paramount importance.
These agents make the search simpler and study the transactions with all its details.
Conditions of the real estate personal shopper
The new real estate personal shopper is not focused on competing with real estate agencies but they collaborate with each other in the search of the most suitable property for the client. In fact, in the United States, these agents participate in 40% of the transactions without leaving aside the real estate agencies.
During the process, the professional explains the details of the potential property: available budget, areas of interest, details of the property, etc. Then, the personal shopper organizes visits and makes a first selection.
Once there are some potential properties that suit the client’s needs, the personal shopper performs a detailed study, which includes both legal and technical reports for each of the dwellings. The study is supported by registral information and drafting of contracts, apart from other useful information, such as the location of nearby educational institutions.
The agent’s work saves time and money. With a real estate personal shopper, the search for a property may represent 30% of the time that is needed to do the same job without his or her help. Moreover, the personal shopper could get up to a 20% discount over the purchase or rental price.
Real estate personal shoppers are part of the new strategy at the time of searching for a property, a strategy that is being implemented by both businesses and companies.
