Hello everyone! These past few months I've been idly shaping a short story in my mind, but due to lack of knowledge I can't give it a definite form. In this story of mine a party of real estate investors approach a mythological place (thus non-existent) throughout a broker, who informs the individuals who live there that his clients are interested in buying the place and turning it into a lavish residential area. This sets the story into motion, causing said individuals to discuss the why's and wherefore's. And this is where I'm stuck. How do this kind of transaction works? What exactly does the broker do, and what type of interactions can be found between buyers and sellers? Anything to fill me in would be very kind, thank you!
Have you tried googling? There is simply so much information available on the web, it is really easy these days to research almost anything. I can't help you with specifics since I'm in the UK and things work differently here, but I'd be amazed if you couldn't answer your question in 20 minutes of googling.
Hi, In NZ normally sellers list their properties with various realters, and its the realter's job simply to represent their interests by advertising the property, maybe auctioning it etc, and conducting walk throughs etc. They also do the contracting and can do the purchase agreement. Transfer of title is done generally by lawyers. Realters take their cut from the seller. In the situation you describe, things sound a bit shonky. Periodically I get cards through my mail box from realters asking me if I want to sell my home and if so to call them, but an unsolicited cold call would be extreme. Maybe if property investors went to a realter and asked about a specific property, they might. It'd be more likely if it was a commercial property. But the main problem with the deal you describe is who your realter is representing. Normally they represent the seller and get their cut from his sales. Here he's representing the would be buyers, so they'll have to pay him, and it would be a major conflict of interest if he were also to represent the seller. Cheers.
I agree that googling would help if you haven't tried it already- I work in real estate and I'd be happy to answer questions but I'm in the UK so I'm probably of little use (we typically have agents rather than brokers). I know there's a wiki page about the real estate broker role in the US, so that might be worth a look.
What you describe happens here in Turkey--an investor wants to put up, say, a villa complex. He goes to a developer. The developer visits the people living in the houses in the area and makes them an offer on their property. Maybe he offers an exchange with other property he can make over to the householder. Then when he's bought all the houses (using his own and the investors money) he usually bulldozes the lot and puts up the villas which are sold and the profits divided. As you can imagine this situation is ripe for coercion and corruption, but fairly recent laws prevent foreign investors from doing this (although they sometimes do it still, in the name of the developer). Lawyers are not needed at any stage, or proof of legitimacy of funds although you pay tax and quite a high registration fee. The sales are registered at a government department which gives you the deeds to the property. It's not always easy to get the necessary building permits, though, and in some areas there's a strict density restriction for the number of houses and types of properties allowed.
Alright, thanks everyone! I have a more concise idea now, although there are still some information holes and instances that I plan to fill with the aid of Google and Wikipedia. I appreciate your time!
keep in mind that a real estate 'broker' is not the same thing as a real estate 'agent'... agents work for a broker... and both must be licensed...
