Myths and Facts about Real Estate Agents in Nepal

There are a lot of myths when it comes to real estate agents in Nepal. Well, most of these misconceptions are bad- they adversely affect the trust that people need to have with their agents to make a good sale or discover great deals.

We debunk some of the misconceptions people have regarding real estate agents in Nepal and also tell the real facts.

Real Estate Agent is Supposed to be a Disorganized Job

This is the biggest problem. People think that anyone can be a real estate agent, and that idea itself has been making everyone a real estate agent. You see, you need to register as a real estate agent if you want to work as one in Nepal. Anyway, people don’t know it- buyers, sellers, and even the people who label themselves as ‘agents’ don’t know the concept of being a certified appraiser or an agent.

Thus, real estate owners (or buyers) work with anyone who says they know people who can sell or buy. Also, almost all of these people working on commissions don’t make tax bills. This grants them the right to increase the price as much as they can to increase their piece of the pie.

All of these add to sully the name of the entire industry. Right now, being an agent is seen as an easy and quick way of making money. Tell us- when was the last time you heard someone say ‘they were a proud Dalal?’

Fact: Being a real estate agent is supposed to be a noble job, just like any other form of entrepreneurship. The only problem is that people don’t know the concept of registered real estate agents or agency.

Real Estate Agents Will Tell You Anything to Make the Sale

Well, this has some base to believe, doesn’t it? After all, the agent is trying to make a sale and money. Thus, it is practical for them to point out only the good thing about real estate whether it is the house or land.

Again, the problem is with the registration. Reviews matter- registered agents have a company to run. They can only operate well and find more customers if their existing clients spread the good word about them.

They can’t get it right if they lie to people just to sell land or a house. The agents will have a hard time sustaining in the market if their property doesn’t meet expectations.

Thus, we will say you only work with a registered real estate agency. If not, ask the locals about the place and take an experienced individual with you while inspecting the house you want to buy.

Fact: Many might lie about the property to make a quick sale, but that will backfire. So, serious real estate agents will become as transparent as they can.

You Don’t Need Real Estate Agents, especially because of the Internet

First, let us not misinterpret it. We made our website to make it convenient and simple for people all over Nepal to buy and sell real estate in Nepal. One of our goals is to make it possible for buyers and sellers to meet without a broker.

With the internet being more easily accessible in Nepal, people might think that they don’t need real estate agents at all. After all, they have websites and social media sites and ads where they can post their ads themselves and find sellers.

The thing is that buyers don’t automatically come to you after posting an ad on Facebook. The internet doesn’t know who the seller and the buyer is.

This means you need to have good knowledge of internet marketing. There are basically hundreds of real estate ads every day, and you would want your post to stand above everyone else.

Do you know anything about SEO? It means using techniques to show your post or ad on the front on Google or Social Media sites on Facebook or Twitter when people search for it.

What about running a Facebook advertisement? By the way, you need a Paypal or a Mastercard (Payoneer) to run a Facebook ad and if not done properly, you can spend hundreds of dollars showing ads to people who don’t have enough money to buy your real estate. For example, your house for sale ads can only be shown to teenagers if you don’t know how to work with the settings.

Real Estate Agency will take care of it for you.

Also, real estate agents help with negotiating and verifying the property. For example, in our website, you have two options. One is to upload your property listing and search for a buyer yourself.

On the other hand, you can pay an extra fee so that we can send attorneys for legal verification and also professional camera people to record your site and make great advertisements. We will also run it with a Sponsored post on our Facebook and Instagram which have tens of thousands of followers.

If you are lucky enough, you can find a buyer by yourself in a few seconds after announcing to sell your real estate on the internet. Anyway, that is very unlikely to happen. Having a real estate agent means you can promote better, and get a lot of good deals. Thus, you can sell fast at the perfect price.

It also works the other way around. Real Estate Agents can help you with their immense understanding and network when you want to buy on the internet.

Fact: Internet is not enough. You need skills to network, thus need real estate agents with the necessary understanding.

Real Estate Agents Always Make a Lot of Money

Or, the bigger misconception is ‘real estate brokers set their own prices for the houses they are selling.’

The thing here is that just like the concept of a registered real estate agent, people don’t know about appraisers. In many developed countries around the world, there are real estate appraisers, who have taken a special kind of certification. They check into a real estate, analyze its condition and the future investment prospect, and set the price for it. They recommend a range suitable for both buyer and seller, and there isn’t any bias.

Well, we might not have a lot of appraisers in Nepal, but the people who are actually making a career out of real estate will never over-price. They will help negotiate in a way that the property deserves the money, and the buyer is not overpaying. Just like we said before, you need good words about you in the market to cement an authority.

Fact: The truth is that decent agents won’t overprice. Moreover, some work on the percentage and not on a fixed commission, so even increasing the cost a lot won’t affect their share by a huge margin. Rather, snowballing the price increases the risk of losing the client.

You Don’t Need to Pay Your Real Estate Agent to Promote on the Internet

This point is based on a question we have been getting very frequently. ‘Why do we need to pay if your website says it wants to help people, and you already have a Facebook Page to promote us?’

Mmm, let us start here. First thing first, our website offers free services. You can register for an account, upload your real estate ad, and then wait for buyers to find you.

Anyway, that doesn’t guarantee that you will sell your property, does it?

To help you, we need to outreach your property post to as many potential buyers as we can. And that is exactly what we take money for, it isn’t anything else.

First, we assess all your paperwork to ensure you own the property. We have connections with legal professionals- prospects will be more assured if they verify al the legal documents. After that, we will send professional videographers to your space and run social media campaigns.

Not only that, but we will also recommend a good price range and help you negotiate.

Fact: You see, you might need to pay some money upfront for your real estate agent’s website, but it will be worth it. After all, you will be getting a long list of the potential buyers, and sell in the most reasonable yet, best price.

You can check our website to see land and houses for rent and sale in Nepal.