Real estate agent, negotiator and mandatary: what's the difference?

Particularities of the real estate agent

THErealtor holds a professional card, issued by the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Territorial Industry (CCI). He acts on behalf of the owner or the lessor and has a written mandate for this, authorizing him to negotiate and make commitments on behalf of his client.

Negotiators, commercial agents and real estate agents

Real estate professionals who are not listed can carry out most of the procedures accompanying the transaction, provided that they themselves have been mandated by an agent holding a professional card. Concretely, this leaves them two possibilities:

• offer their services to a classic real estate agency
• or join a network of agents

The first solution is also the most historic. Well-established agencies continue to use sales agents to supplement their sales force. But the attractiveness of the maneuver with self-employed workers (TNS) tends to decrease in favor of networks.

In full development, the networks of agents are organized around a manager holding a professional card. These independent professionals then become the bearer's agents and are authorized to carry out the missions that could have been entrusted to them in a branch (more information on the real estate agent salary).

Competition or complementarity?

Real estate agents and agents have a slightly different positioning in the market. The real estate agent derives his legitimacy from his background, giving him targeted expertise on the technical and legal aspects of the profession. If the agent does not necessarily come from a specific training in the real estate sector, he is generally a seasoned professional of the sale, as the term "real estate sales agent" implies.