 |
|
About usCuenca's Best Properties was started by Michael Berger following an unlikely chain of events. Michael left the United States due to the country's continual descent into moral bankruptcy and tyranny. He originally relocated to Paraguay where he lived for nine months until his mother decided to leave the U.S. and come to Cuenca. Michael arrived in Cuenca in January of 2009 at the age of 30 to meet up with his mother for what was initially supposed to be just a visit. He ended up liking Cuenca more than expected and deciding to stay. Michael's involvement in Real Estate started when his mother purchased a condo that did not have a title. It took him a total of about 7 months to finally get the title with no help from the Real Estate agent who had already received the commission money and was then too busy to help. After the first few months of dealing with the indifference and incompetence that permeates all aspects of Ecuadorian Real Estate it became obvious that there was a huge demand for somebody with traditional first world values who cared about doing things correctly. During that time Michael met another ex-pat who was wanting to start an ex-pat services business which was supposed to make money by selling properties. Michael's job, as the bilingual partner, was to go out and get listings and his partner's responsibility was to handle sales. The business was a complete disaster and after many months with no sales Michael starting stepping up to the plate to do some property showings in addition to getting listings. Although not a salesman Michael had a talent for finding great properties which were able to sell themselves. The trouble started as the result of heating arguments between the two partners over transparency issues relating to commissions. Michael pushed for two levels of service with each buyer being able to choose the level of service that they felt best suited them. This was actually a variation on a system that a local tour guide and part time realtor had who been using. His system gave Ecuadorians what they expected without ever confusing them with all the first-world Real Estate stuff and forced ex-pats into Buyer's Agent services but with transparency, full disclosure on commissions, and commitment to perform a specific list of services. Since Michael only owned 30% of the company he was not able to push through very many of the needed reforms. As a result of his partner's insistence on charging commission to both the seller and buyer in every transaction Michael ended up only dealing with ex-pats who expected Buyer's Agent services. It seemed to make sense to Michael to define the Buyer's Agent service level by making a list of specific things that would be done over and above what Ecuadorian Real Estate agents typically do for Ecuadorian buyers. Michael's partner did not want to commit to a specific list of services because he was worried that customers would actually insist on the company following through. He just wanted to charge foreign buyers an additional 3% commission for some undefined "representation" subject to whatever he felt like doing at the time. As arguments between the two partners became even more heated and frequent, a third party started to become interested in trying to turn the business around. He had more business experience and was willing to invest money into the company to replenish some of the thousands of dollars that had been blown on radio advertising and spamming the search engines. An agreement was reached where Michael would give up all ownership in the company and work as an independent contactor earning 50% commissions when any of his listings sold. The new agreement allowed Michael to maintain his own office with up to two employees operating under a distinct business name to distance himself from the reputation his ex-partner had started to earn. Even with this new arrangement Michael's ex-partner kept sticking his fingers into things and screwing them up. Eventually an agreement was forged for both parties to cut all ties and cancel the then existing contract (including the non-compete clause) in exchange for Michael sharing all his listings with the company. At that point Michael was free to run his own Real Estate business and fully implement an open and honest system with two levels of service. At that point Cuenca's Best Properties was born. Since then the curtain has been rolled back for English-speaking buyers allowing them to understand the inner workings of Real Estate in Cuenca. Soon after Cuenca's Best Properties was founded Michael and a friend of his named Benjamin Wheeler-Harsh started up the Cuenca Condos rental and property management agency which today is run exclusively by Mr. Wheeler-Harsh. We are completely separate from and have no affiliation whatsoever with International Living or with Gary Scott. Cuenca's Best Properties does not deal with rental property other than rental investment properties that are For Sale. We do not deal with property management. We seek out the best properties and avoid the rest; this means rejecting more properties than we list. Although we call the properties that we have on our website listings they are not listings from a North American standpoint as no seller representation is ever offered. We do not charge sellers for listing their property and our listings are non-exclusive allowing them to promote their property with other Realtors. Therefore we do not have any fiduciary responsibility to sellers to get them the best price. Considering this people sometimes ask why anyone would ever list their property with us. The reasons sellers list with us are: 1. This is Ecuador (it's not like there are a bunch of agents capable of representing a seller who are knocking down their door). 2. It costs nothing to list the property with us. 3. There is no Multiple Listing Service in Ecuador. 4. Unlike other Realtors who pretend to represent the interests of both sides sellers know exactly what they are getting with us. Not having obligations to sellers allows us to represent buyers who elect to use our Buyer's Agent service without any conflicts of interests. It also allows us to be a completely neutral transactional agent for Buyers who don't want to pay us any commission. For more information on buying in Ecuador and our two levels of service click here When comparing our commissions against other companies that claim to offer a similar level of service it is important to remember to also count the commission paid by the seller which is often collected in secret by those who deal with Gringos. If a Realtor tells you that they will provide you with the same services we provide our clients then get them to put it in writing and agree to wait to receive the full commission until everything on the list is completed. At Cuenca's Best Properties we begin relationships with new clients with a meeting in the office to go over all of your requirements and come up with a list of properties to go see. Be sure to contact us at least a week in advance to assure that we will be available to serve you properly when you arrive. Please do not contact us about things unrelated to Real Estate. |
|
Cuenca's Best Properties • Edificio Acropolis suite #501, Jose Peralta y 12 de Abril • Cuenca, Ecuador
Telf. 089 550 186 • e-mail: michael@cuencasbestproperties.com © 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 - Michael Berger - All Rights Reserved |