Safe lease wih real estate agency

Since in Poland the profession of professional broker and property manager was released (deregulation, what means: no obligation of higher education, six-month of work practice and exam), new agencies and new brokers appeared on the real estate market like mushrooms after the rain.

Deregulation of course did not “kill” good real estate agencies, but for sure it caused a mess. Besides the fact that the competition increased (unfortunately, often cheating), arrived many ineffective agents with zero knowledge and a lot of frauds, whom depends only on fast gains.

If you have just arrived in Warsaw and you are looking for your dream home via real estate agency, here are a few tips that – we hope – will help you not to get into trouble:
– read the brokerage agreement carefully, it should be simple and clear, specify the period for which it was concluded, what is the period of notice and wage rate (if in doubt – ask, negotiate and change obscure points);
– if you are a foreigner do not sign Polish documents “blindly” (solid real estate agency usually has agreements in English or/and German);
– good real estate agency has an office, “accidental” broker has only an address for correspondence (if you have any problems – “wild-goose chase”);
– never pay for viewing the estate (commission should be paid only when you rent a property with the broker);
– never pay for address (broker-fraud gets approx. 100-300 PLN for providing addresses of the real estates, then it turns out that the places do not exist, or the offer is out of date);
– remember that very cheap flats do not exist, this is unrealistic to rent studio apartment in Warsaw for 800 PLN;
– always ask about the amount of commission (customarily it is a certain percentage calculated from the transaction amount);
– do not let anyone to force you to something, good broker should be your advisor and protector, and the decision is always on your side…

…and remember also that in case of any problem there is LOCO Real Estate Agency.