Real-estate agents are professionals who help in connecting the buyer to the seller. A lot of real-estate agents also do rentals wherein they connect renters to owners and even maintain the property on the behalf of the landlords. The property agents work by linking together the 2 interested parties and charging a commission for their services.
For sales, they charge commission only to the vendor but for rentals ( i.e. Agent managed rentals ) the commission is charged to both parties involved in the transaction. Real estate agents sometimes calculate their charge as a proportion of the selling price ( in the event of sales ) and as a part of the rent ( for rentals ).
People, who want to sell / let their property, leave the small print of their property with the property agent ( and in reality even leave the keys of the house so that the property agent can arrange for viewings without them getting into any bother ). The other interested party ( i.e. The purchaser / tenant ), gets access to this information by making contact with the real-estate agent. That is how the estate agents become a heart of info.
A large amount of home hunters ( including real estate investors ) use the services of real-estate agents not just for getting excellent deals but also getting them fast. Since real-estate agents are probably most acquainted with the market situation in their area of operation, it makes sense to approach them to get an idea of a fair rate for properties in that region. Property agents would generally know the prices of various properties of different types and at varied locations in the region.
A property seller can probably get a few thousands more for his / her property by using the information received from a good real-estate agent. A good real estate agent will also analyse the wants of a house buyer / tenant and provide ideas on what sort of home could be open to them inside their budget.
So a good real-estate agent won't only throw a listing of available properties to the purchaser / tenant but will really discuss their desires and make a proposal. This, actually works in the favor of property agent in two ways.
Firstly , if the property agent is able to sell the house they get their commission and second, if they make the buyer contented too they earn a good reputation ( and thus more business ).
But it is worth pointing out that property agents work on seller's behalf. Therefore beware if they're trying too earnestly to sell a property.