Perhaps we should start with some basics so you have something to contrast with. In the US, each State regulates Real Estate. As you would imagine, the State Government writes laws concerning the transfer of property and sets requirements that every sales contract must meet.
There is also a Board or Realtors. The Board of Realtors is a private organization that has become quite powerful. They set behavior requirements for agents and brokers. They also set commissions. The standard is six percent and of that amount, half goes to the buying brokerage and half goes to the selling brokerage. It’s further split between agent and office.
This has set-up a monopoly system where a private organization is running the industry. There are currently several lawsuits working to break the monopoly. The plaintiffs resent paying six percent for the transaction.
Now, that’s one system. The system in North Cyprus is a bit more free-wheeling. There is no Board of Realtors and the basic requirements are set by the Federal Government. Because of this open nature, a seller, called the vendor locally, can list the same house with several Estate Agents.
Each Agency has it’s own website showing it’s listings. Incredibly, from personal experience the author can say the exact same property can have different prices on different websites.
It should be noted there is not a high bar in terms of licensing and test a prospective Broker must pass. Therefore, you really need to ask about things like license and insurance. Often, an agent who has been fired will simply go out and rent a small office and open an agency. These are unregulated and the Government tries to find and close these agencies down.
Because of the Ukraine war, there has been a rash of new agencies. This is not to trash people trying to go out and better themselves. Many of these new agencies are legal and perfectly fine. Obviously, the safe route is to use an established Estate Agency with a reputation in the community. There is an exact registration and tax process you must follow when buying a home to insure your deed is legal and recognized.
