FADEI claims the service and customer service of real-estate real estate, before the online models

Employers remember that agencies with an establishment open to the public offer a comprehensive service, personalized advice and commitment

Regrets that these online platforms use advertising claims based on the discrediting of the work of the presence agency

Certain advertising of online models may incur unfair competition

Barcelona, ​​March 19, 2018. - " Online agencies offer some services, and have their place in the market. It is a management model that fragments the buying or selling process, leaving the initiative and control of the operation in the hands of the client. It is a very different methodology from the real estate agencies with establishment open to the public that offer a comprehensive service with the involvement in the entire sales process, personalized advice and commitment to the client ", assures the president of the Federation of Associations of Real Estate Agencies, (FADEI), Montserrat Junyent. After a careful study of this type of platform from the employers say that "is not acceptable that most of these platforms based their advertising strategy to attract customers in slogans that discredit the conventional model of real estate agency, Certain advertising of these online models may incur unfair competition by discrediting and underestimating the rest of the agencies in the sector "

Review of online platforms

FADEI has made a careful examination of this type of online activity . " We can not deny the evolution of the market, but the proliferation of these businesses creates doubts. The online agency guides the customer, but unlike the rest of the agencies, it is not involved in sales management nor does its work aim at selling. It is like buying a "kit" of bricolage in which you have at your disposal all the materials and a sheet of instructions and in which you are in charge of giving shape to the piece acquired, with greater or lesser skill, in short a "Self service", assure from the employer. For these reasons , FADEI defends that the real estate agency of integral services - the agency at street level -, is not the same as the online agency . " The intervention is different, with other services and personalized advice and commitment and that differentiation is what we want to value, defend and protect from FADEI. Without closing the evolution, it is necessary to clarify that these online businesses do not act as mediators between buyer and seller, however they are shown as such, creating confusion for the user, we must specify what their activity really is and in what conditions they exercise these businesses that in view of the comparison that they themselves establish, they should do so with full submission to the regulations that affect the rest of the real estate agencies ".

In this sense, remember that there are several autonomous communities in Spain that regulate real estate mediation with official records (Catalonia, Basque Country, and recently the creation has been announced in Madrid) and that require a registration number to be able to practice. " Certain advertising of these online models may incur unfair competition by discrediting and undervaluing other agencies in the sector. You can not denigrate your competitors and belittle your work and even less show it to the consumer, as an anachronistic agent, when what you offer is not the same service ", remember.

In terms of prices, FADEI ensures that " we do not know any online real estate that offers services for free. One thing is that they do not use the term commission, but all their services have a price. " On the savings promised by many of these platforms in relation to conventional agencies, FADEI warns that "can save on commissions with the online model, but the service it receives the client does not have any relationship with the presence agencies and without personalized attention ".

On the other hand, the examination carried out by FADEI of these online businesses shows that some of these platforms offer services such as housing price evaluations, publication of advertisements in real estate portals - in some cases, up to a hundred of these platforms -, photographic report, plans, energy certificate, standardized models of legal documentation, personalized advice, signature accompaniment in notaries, for prices that may range between 295 and 1990 € plus VAT.

FADEI concludes that " is economically untenable that these services can be provided in the way that the conventional agent provides with such rates". And he adds, " it is not the same to accompany the client in the firm in the notary to provide assistance and advice. It is not the same to offer legal documents as a form that involve you in its preparation and thus with the whole process. We are facing a different model, but we can not accept that its positioning in the market passes by degrading the competitors ".

Author of the article : FADEI.

Source of the image.