What is included
- A written brief, drafted by us after the first conversation and approved by you, that states the purpose, the budget with and without finishing, the cities or districts, the building type and the deadline.
- A screen of the whole market that fits the brief, including properties that are not advertised and properties from developers who pay no commission.
- Screening visits by our property adviser to every candidate before it reaches you, with dated photographs.
- A shortlist of five to ten properties, each with price, floor plan, our photographs, the cadastral code, a note on the building and the street, and a frank line on what is wrong with it.
- A summary of what was considered and why the rest was dropped, so that the shortlist is understood as a selection and not as everything the market had.
- Disclosure, on the shortlist itself, of any third-party payment attached to any property on it, under the rules on our independence page.
- A second shortlist if the first produces no match, with the brief adjusted in writing.
Who this service is for
The search is for buyers who know what they want the property to do and do not know the market: a family moving to Tbilisi who need a district near a school, an investor abroad who wants a letting apartment with steady tenants, a buyer whose goal is the residence permit and who needs a property whose appraised value will reach the threshold, a holiday-home buyer choosing between the coast and the mountains. It is also for buyers who have been looking on their own for months and keep finding the same listings, because the listings portals show a fraction of what is for sale and show it in the seller's words. It is not for a buyer who already has a property and wants it checked; that is the legal due diligence service, which can be ordered on its own.
Timeline
Free consultation
We talk through purpose, budget, timing, travel and residency, and tell you what is realistic. You receive a written summary.
Brief and quote
We draft the brief from the conversation; you correct and approve it. The quote for the search follows the brief and nothing starts until you approve the quote.
Screen
We list everything that fits, from portals, developers, owners and our own contacts, and remove what fails the brief on paper: wrong district, wrong building type, land category, price out of range.
Screening visits
The property adviser visits what survives the paper screen and drops what fails in person: the entrance, the street, the view that the listing cropped, the site that has not moved.
Shortlist
You receive the shortlist with its notes and the screening summary, and we go through it with you on a call.
Decision
You choose properties to view in person or by video, or you tell us to adjust the brief and search again, or you tell us to stop.
We do not state a number of days for the whole search, because it depends on the brief: a one-bedroom for letting in Saburtalo is a short search, a house with a specific view and non-agricultural land is a long one. The quote gives a stage timeline for your case and we update it in writing when a stage moves.
How the screen is run
The screen has two halves. The paper half removes properties that fail the brief before anyone travels: the district or city is wrong, the building is older or newer than you asked for, the floor or the lift does not fit, the price per square metre is outside the range even after negotiation, the land under a house is agricultural, or the seller cannot be identified. Properties from developers are checked against the developer's record where we have it, and a project with a permit mismatch or a long delay history does not reach the shortlist whatever its price. The in-person half is the property adviser's visit: the entrance, the stairwell, the neighbours' doors, the noise at the hour of the visit, the construction next door, the actual view from the actual floor. A property that passes both halves gets a note in the same structure as every other, including the line on what is wrong with it, because a shortlist without that line is an advertisement.
What a shortlist entry looks like
| Identification | Address, cadastral code, floor, area as registered and as measured, building year or construction stage, finishing level. |
|---|---|
| Price | Asking price, our view of the negotiating room, the price per square metre against the published context for the district, and the finishing cost to add if the apartment is a white frame. |
| Plan and photographs | The floor plan and our own photographs from the visit, dated, including the view and the common areas. |
| Building and street | Management, lifts, heating system, parking, the street at the hour we visited, what is being built nearby. |
| Fit with the brief | Which of your criteria it meets, which it misses, and how it ranks against the others on the list. |
| What is wrong with it | The line every entry must have: the defect, the risk or the compromise, in plain words. |
| Disclosure | Whether anyone other than you would pay us if you bought this property, and on what basis. |
What we need from you
- Honest answers in the first conversation about budget, timing and purpose; a search built on a budget that is not real wastes everyone's time.
- Approval of the brief in writing, and of any change to it later.
- A decision on each shortlist within a reasonable time, because good properties go; we tell you which ones are likely to.
- Your citizenship and country of residence, because they decide document legalisation and bank routes, which affect which sellers and developers are practical for you.
- If you are already looking at a property or a project, its name, link or cadastral code, so that we can check it alongside the rest.
Price basis
The search is quoted in writing after the free consultation, on the basis described on the prices and fees page: a fixed fee, a percentage or an hourly rate, stated in the quote with the amount or the estimate and the moment it becomes payable. There are no third-party costs in a search; your own travel for viewings is yours. A search that produces a shortlist is paid as a search even if you buy nothing, because the work was done; a search that we stop because nothing fits the brief is settled as the quote states. If a property on the shortlist carries a third-party payment to us, it is disclosed on the list, and you may ask us to decline it.
To be added by the team: the price basis and amount for the search service, and the cancellation terms, to be supplied by the owner and written into the standard quote.
What can go wrong, and what we do about it
The property you liked most is sold before you decide: we say on the shortlist which properties are likely to go quickly, and we do not reserve anything for you without your written instruction and a reservation agreement with a refund clause. The brief turns out to be unrealistic for the budget: we say so after the paper screen rather than after a month, and we propose which criterion to relax. A property passes our screen and fails the lawyer's check: that is what the check is for, and the search continues from the shortlist without a new fee for that property's replacement. You change your mind about the purpose halfway: the brief is rewritten, and the quote says what, if anything, that changes. Nothing on the shortlist suits you: the second shortlist is part of the service, with the brief adjusted in writing, and if a second shortlist also fails we tell you honestly whether the market has what you want.
Owners, developers and the unadvertised market
A large part of what is for sale in Tbilisi and Batumi never appears on a portal: apartments sold by word of mouth, units a developer releases only to agencies, resale flats whose owners do not want strangers from the internet at the door. The screen reaches that stock through the owners and developers we deal with every week, and through asking: a building that fits a brief is a building whose owners we contact. With developers we ask for the current price list, the availability by floor and the contract template, and we treat the answers as data for the shortlist, not as a reason to prefer that developer. With owners we explain who the buyer is and what the process will be, because a foreign buyer with a lawyer and a bank transfer is a different and, to most owners, better buyer than one with cash and a friend. The result is that a shortlist usually contains properties you could not have found alone, alongside the best of what is public, all held to the same notes.
After the shortlist
A shortlist leads to viewings, in person on a viewing trip or by live video, and then to the legal due diligence on the property you choose. The search service ends when you choose or stop; the purchase support that follows, from reservation to registration, is quoted separately or as part of a package, as the services page describes. Everything the search produced, the brief, the screening summary, the shortlist and the notes, stays in your file and is the starting point for the next stage, so that nobody asks you to explain your purpose twice.
Frequently asked questions
Do you only show properties from developers who pay you?
No. The screen covers everything that fits the brief, including resale apartments where nobody pays us but you, and developers who pay no commission. Any third-party payment attached to a shortlisted property is disclosed on the list, and you can ask us to decline it.
Can I search without travelling to Georgia?
Yes. The shortlist is built from our visits, with dated photographs, and viewings can be done by live video. The purchase itself can then be completed remotely under a power of attorney, as the remote purchase service describes.
How many properties will I see?
Five to ten on a shortlist, chosen from a much larger number screened on paper and in person. We tell you how many were considered and why the rest were dropped. More than ten is a listings feed, not a selection.
What if I already found a property myself?
Send its link or cadastral code. We can check it alongside the search, or, if you do not need a search, run only the legal due diligence on it.
Will you tell me if nothing on the list is a good idea?
Yes, in writing. A shortlist can end with the advice to wait, to change the brief or to look at a different district, and that is a normal outcome, not a failure of the service.
Do you negotiate the price?
Negotiation is part of the purchase support that follows the search, led by the founder, and it covers terms as well as price. The shortlist gives our view of the negotiating room for each property so that you decide with that in mind.
What happens to the search fee if I buy nothing?
A search that produced a shortlist is paid as a search, because the work was done. The quote states this before you approve it, together with what you owe if the search is stopped early.
Change log
- - Service page created with the full description of the search process; price basis to be supplied by the owner.