Estate agent

An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting, or management of properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent. Estate agents are mainly engaged in the marketing of property available for sale, and a solicitor or licensed conveyancer is used to prepare the legal documents. In Scotland, however, many solicitors also act as estate agents, a practice that is rare in England and Wales.The term originally referred to a person responsible for managing a landed estate, while those engaged in the buying and selling of homes were 'House Agents', and those selling land were 'Land Agents'. However, in the 20th century, 'Estate Agent' started to be used as a generic term. Estate agent is roughly synonymous with the United States term real estate broker.The full legal term and definition of an estate agent within the UK can be found on the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) website. Enforcement of these regulations is also the responsibility of the OFT. (Annotation: The OFT was dissolved in 2014).A handful of national residential estate agents chains exist, with the majority being locally or regionally specialised companies.Estate agents fees are charged to the seller of the property. Estate agents normally charge the seller, on a 'no sale, no fee' basis, so that if property doesn't sell, then the customer will not pay anything to the estate agent and the agent will have worked for the customer, free of charge. If the seller does sell the property and complete the sale of their property to a buyer that was introduced by the estate agent, then the estate agent will charge anything from 1% to 2%, with the average in 2018 being reported as 1.18%+VAT and this is calculated based on the sale price of the property.Estate agents use estate agency software to manage their buying applicants, property viewings, marketing and property sales. Estate agents can use the software to prepare property particulars which are used to advertise the property either online or in print. They can also record the requirements of a buying applicant and automatically match them against their database of properties. Once a sale is agreed, they can manage the chain of linked property sales using the software.There are no formal qualifications required to become an estate agent, however local property knowledge and customer service skills are considered worthwhile.Estate agents are known for their unique way of putting a positive spin on their description of properties. For example, 'in need of modernisation' or 'excellent potential for improvement' may actually mean a great deal of repair work is required to a house; this is necessary to avoid offending any clients who may like the way their home is currently finished. Equally with buyers alike may give feedback that 'too much work is required' on a house, yet the next person finds the property perfectly fine, so there is a degree of opinion when it comes to describing the condition of a property.