If you are looking for real estate agents in Prague or anywhere in Czech Republic, for that matter, there is a real need for caution. As we have written in previous articles, the real estate industry is totally unregulated so any individual with 1000 CZK can get a trade license and be in the real estate business.
That this caution is not being overblown can be seen from some recent horror stories in the Czech news. (The articles are in Czech so the links below open them directly in Google-Translate)
Story 1: An attorney cooperating with Century 21 and acting as the escrow agent, has been accused of embezzling millions of client’s money.
Story 2: The client of a well known Ostrava real estate agent allowed the buyer’s money to be paid into the real estate agent’s bank account with the agent acting as escrow. The ownership has now been transferred to the buyer but the client has not been paid the money. Police are investigating for embezzlement. The article called the Ostrava real estate agents “slippery as eels” (in Czech: “kloužou jako úhoři”).
Watch a video explaining the role escrow plays in a Czech purchase or sale.
Updated/Aktualizováno: July 22, 2014,
