10 Things Your Tel Aviv Real Estate Agent Won’t Tell You

When buying a home, a good real estate agent is an incredibly valuable resource, especially if it’s your first time in Tel Aviv. Your local agent serves as a guide to the neighborhood and the home buying process, which is probably different from what you are accustomed to. Your agent is familiar with mortgage consultants, home inspectors, and sometimes even has listings that the rest of the public does not.

Many people like to consider themselves armchair experts when it comes to real estate, but the business is a nuanced one, best navigated by a professional.

Here are some insights your real estate agent is probably too polite to say around you, and you might want to take into consideration when working with one.

1. Qualified clients are my priority: If you have been pre-approved for a mortgage, your finances are in order and know how much you can put as a down payment, any real estate agent will be happy to spend day and night finding you the perfect home.

If you’re just getting your feet wet to either rent or buy a new place or don’t quite have the cash to start the process, start off by seeking all the information you need on line. You will be amazed at the amount of useful resources you can find on the internet.

Browse through different sites, send out inquiry e-mails and subscribe to newsletters.

When scheduling meetings with agents, make sure to be honest and transparent and tell them your exact status. Along the way you may find an agent you want to work with who can get into specifics for your budget and needs, when you’re ready to pull the trigger.

Generally speaking, the real estate agent will ask you about your finances up front and if you’ve been pre approved for a loan. If you haven’t, then it’s best to start off by getting your paperwork in order. You don’t want to find yourself in a position where you have found your dream home and can’t pursue it because of lack of finances.

2. My time is money: Real estate agents work on a 100% commission structure, so it’s not very cost-effective to work with people who aren’t serious about buying or renting a place in the immediate future. Real estate agents try to prescreen their clients on the phone and will ask questions such as: When are you looking to move? Are your finances in order? Have you spoken to a mortgage consultant? How many apartments have you seen? They have to make sure that time with a client is spent wisely.

Value your agents’ time the same way you want him/her to value yours. Honesty and transparency is the best policy, and keeping an open communication is key to a successful transaction.

3. It’s not always a buyer’s market: Tel Aviv has high demand almost all year round and the city that never sleeps is a hotbed for both renters and buyers alike.

It’s not uncommon for clients with unrealistic expectations to lose out on apartments when negotiating, so keep in mind that part of the process, is staying in line with the markets’ rhythm.

4. Aggressive negotiating will get you nowhere: There is no reason to start negotiations with a wildly low offer and make outrageous demands.

At the end of the day, what is this apartment worth? Sometimes the house is worth exactly what the seller priced it at. And it’s OK to pay that. If you like an apartment and it fits your budget, playing backwards and forwards with pricing and demands, often means starting things off on the wrong foot.

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5. Just because information is on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true: Apartment-hunting stories are the stuff of cocktail party legend, and in places like Tel Aviv, where rumors upon rumors of the real estate market prices going up / down, it’s a buyers’ market, it’s a sellers’ market… it’s all just too confusing.

Some sites can give unreasonably low estimates about what apartments cost in Tel Aviv, simply because they’re looking at the entire city as w hole when calculating averages, and although characteristics are taken into consideration, such as size and features, it is normally the location that sets the tone.

Prices can vary wildly by just a few streets. The only way to really know the cost is by viewing apartments and seeing what’s available.

6. Cash isn’t always king: It’s commonly thought that coming into a real estate deal with all cash gives a buyer more negotiating power.

Buyers may think it also gives them a license to make offers well below ask, because the deal will close sooner. In a tight market, though, this can be counterintuitive.

There’s a lot of emotion that goes into a real estate transaction, and even if someone’s coming in all cash, if they’re not making a fair offer, they could easily lose out to someone else who’s taking out a mortgage to finance the deal.

7. There is no advantage to lowering my commission: Sometimes sellers, think they can save money by asking their agent to lower their commission, even by just 0.5%.

While an agent will take on the listing, the service you receive due to a lower commission might be affected.

Maybe the apartment won’t be promoted as heavily.

Real estate agents invest both time and money in advertising and promoting their listings. In addition, agents tend to collaborate and share deals with other agents, so when you lower a broker’s fee, you’re not only asking your agent to work for less, but the buyer’s broker has to work for less as well.

If the deal gets hairy, that can mean two people doing more work for less money, and no one wants that.

Value for money doesn’t necessarily mean paying less, but rather seeing it as money well spent.

8. I’m no magician: Often clients who are unfamiliar with the market tend to have unrealistic expectations. To avoid disappointments and to save time, rather than seeking for an apartment that doesn’t exist, adapting yourself to the market is necessary. Proving you’re a serious buyer isn’t just by having your finances in order, but also by being flexible with your search parameters and understanding what the market has to offer.

Discuss with your agent the different options, and be prepared to widen your search criterias and lower your expectations.

9. Some of the best listings never make it to the public: Even with all the online resources available, it is not uncommon for some listings to never make it into the multi-listing service, and then to the public.

All in all, Tel Aviv is a small city and real estate agents talk to one another and collaborate with each other. If an agent just got a great listing, and another agent happens to have a client that it’s perfect for, it’s going to be shown and bid on without ever getting into the public market.

This is why you need a seasoned real estate agent, especially when you’re buying a home. A good agent’s network of others in the business could be your magic bullet.

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10. Sometimes you have to miss out on an apartment: Unfortunately, there will always be people who will insist that they know more about the local real estate than their broker. But these are often the same people who lose out on apartments over and over again.