Selling Crete Property?

This Selling Crete Property page is from the Completely Crete website.

Selling Crete property is big business. There are hundreds of Crete property estate agents, real estate agencies, property developers and house builders selling Crete property all over this wonderful Greek Island. They operate in the Chania, Rethymnon, Heraklion and Lassithi areas and cover north and south coasts and both East Crete and West Crete.

See our Crete Property Guide for lists of just some of them.

If you have a Resale property for sale and are finding it difficult to sell your property then check our Resale Property Section for help and information.

We sold our Crete property within 3 months of putting it on the market and made an excellent return on the price we’d originally paid just two years earlier.

Here's some good general advice on the things you can do to turn your viewers into buyers...

The first thing you need to do when selling your Crete property is to place it with a good Cretan estate agent. This can prove to be the best way to market your Crete property.

What’s a good Cretan Estate Agent?

As far as estate agents go, things work differently here than in the UK. In the UK an estate agent works solely for the vendor and will of course get the best price they can from a buyer. The higher the selling price they can secure – the higher their commission.

In Crete the estate agent is seen as an intermediary between the two parties of seller and buyer, and gets paid by both for putting them together.

The “Contract” between seller and agent is a bit loose and ad hoc. Expect the agent to act for the buyer as much for you, the seller.

When choosing an estate agent, you should shop around. Although all Crete estate agents offer a “no sale, no fee” deal, they do claim commission by way of a percentage of the selling price if they sell for you. In our experience, there is a very wide range of commission fees between different estate agents - from 0% to 4%!

Added to this Crete, estate agents not only get paid fees from the seller, but also charge a commission fee of the same amount from the buyer!

In effect, they "work" for both the seller and buyer, getting paid by both!

So for a property priced at €200,000, an Estate Agent can make a whopping €16,000!

We've experienced being both buyers and sellers, and so we’ve dealt with lots of estate agents throughout the whole Island. We’ve been there, done that and are still wearing the “I love Crete’ T shirts!

While Crete estate agents may not be your best loyal friends, they certainly aren’t your enemies, Just make sure you get good value for your money. To see how, check out our Estate Agents Top Tips

Beware non Greeks bearing gifts!

As a non Greek you may feel more comfortable dealing with a fellow countryman offering a friendly face and speaking fluently in your mother tongue. There are many non Greek estate agents scattered throughout the island. Most are ex pats themselves who’ve turned their amateur hand to the professional real estate business.

But, in our experience the truly genuine, honest and hardworking and experienced Cretans are far better to place your trust in to be your estate agent.

Website

Also, think about who you are looking to attract to buy your property - usually people living in countries other than Crete! So look for an estate agent with a good website, as this will be your most important "shop window".

Also, don't be afraid to go with more than one. There's no problem with this, and there's usually no contracts to sign with the agents. Just agree a price and commission and get them to do the work.

Incidentally, we also put a small classified ad in Greece Magazine and got a good response - even months after selling our property. We could have sold our property 10 times over!

What will a good Estate Agent do?

...at least these 3 things, hopefully.

1 - Present your property in the best light

The best and most productive estate agents will put your property on their (good) web site after taking some excellent photos and getting some property details from you. They will also receive enquiries from prospective buyers, make appointments to view, and accompany them to your property. They will also offer support and offer after sales help to anyone buying through them.

2 - Offer professional advice

A good professional estate agent will also offer you some ‘house doctor’ tips, including suggestions on how you can present your home to appeal to the right buyer. You might not want to always follow their advice, but doing so will probably result in a better offer and a quicker sale.

3 - Introduce only suitable and sincere viewers

The best estate agents will only send suitable candidates to look around your property. For example – it’s surprising how often a bad agent sends a viewer who is looking only for a spacious new build on the coast to view your inland village cottage!

We’ve known some estate agents who don’t rise to this level of service, but we felt that if they find a buyer, all well and good. You can use as many estate agents as you want, so go for it and get your property exposed in as many web sites and "shop windows" as you can.

For more information on how to get the very best from an Estate Agent and make them earn their commission see our Estate Agents Top Tips

What can you do?

Don’t rely solely on your estate agent to sell your property.

If you trawl through some property descriptions and pictures on Crete property websites, you’ll see that not many went on the “How to Present Properties in their Best Light” training course!

We’ve known of real estate agents who’ve taken really bad snaps ‘willy nilly’ and have placed them on their website. The vendor does not stand a chance with badly taken snaps and poor description. We have seen laundry all over the place, building rubble, general rubbish lying around – and in one picture there was a goat in the kitchen!

So, how can YOU sell your Property? (You might be your best chance!)

The starting point is to try and see your property from a prospective buyer’s perspective.

Seriously think about painting the walls and woodwork a new brilliant white. White looks so good in the Mediterranean sunshine!

Fix up everything that’s broke, and get rid of some rubbish.

Don’t be afraid to insist on some creative input with regards to pictures and descriptions. If the estate agent can’t or won’t take excellent pictures and write first class descriptions for you – do it yourself.

Every picture tells a story and a good photograph will speak volumes to potential buyers:

Look at these pictures and think about which kitchen you prefer!

Bear in mind that most estate agents will be only too happy to have you take the pictures and write the copy – and you’ll probably produce better stuff than anything they could produce.

Showing People Round

Except for a few time-wasters that you can't avoid, if someone makes an appointment to view then they are quite interested by what they have seen and what they have read. But they may have several properties to see, and might be seriously considering a new build with pool.

You have to sell your property to your viewers. And there are some common sense approaches to showing people around that will give you the advantage.

Be aware that most people will usually make up their minds within about 10 seconds of walking in.

So aim for shock and awe.

Open up the shutters and let the light in. Deck the rooms with flowers, polish the woodwork and mop the tiles. Kitchens and bathrooms should be spotless. Collect some fresh herbs from the mountains for the kitchen, and fill a bowl full of fruits.

In the winter, make it bright and warm. Get the log fire burning or turn on the heater.

On a hot day in the summer open the windows and let a breeze in. Switch on the air conditioning 30 minutes before they arrive. There’s nothing more pleasant than walking into a light, cool and airy place after trolling round houses all day on a hot afternoon.

Tidy-up, de-clutter, and put away your personal photos and curious nik-naks.

When people come to view your property, they want to imagine themselves living their dream in your home. If it’s over busy with your personality they will find this hard. Kick out the cat and put away its food bowls. Try to encourage your prospects to imagine their new life in your house.

Put a tray of glasses and cold orange juice on the patio or balcony. Tell them how close you are to the beach/taverna/kafeneion. Fill their minds and senses with all those things that they dream of doing when living their new life in Crete – this will give you a vital edge over the competition.

For even further top tips about selling a Resale property we’ve produced a FREE “Selling your Property in Crete Guide.”

It includes: