Talk Quesada forum

Hi.We are seriously thinking about moving to Quesada and were just wondering how much Agents profit is on the sale of a property! We have lived in Spain previously so are not new to the system.My previous experiences were that they charge what they want.Is it still the same.Thanks in advance of any replies.

If you are buying a property without the need to sell one there shouldn’t be any agents fees to pay.

So how do the agents make money! They must have a mark up on what the sellers price Is!

trevali27 wrote:So how do the agents make money! They must have a mark up on what the sellers price Is!

By getting more for the property than the owner wants, I'd think.

Owner wants €100000...agent puts it up at €110000...gets €105000...gives €100000 to the owner.

From recollection, I think the "commission" from the seller to the agent is typically somewhere between 3 and 5%.

It's also the reason why you see properties at differing prices between agents. I've seen properties for €80000 with one agent and €70000 with another one up the road. The €80000 one is trying it on...but the €70000 one will try to convince you that you're getting a bargain!!!

I do sometimes wonder whether they end up splitting the commission!

Thanks toot and ploot.That makes a lot of sense now!Appreciate your quick reply.

The agents charge the seller a fee for selling/marketing/finding a buyer. No buyer should be paying any agents fees.

Tootandploot wrote:The agents charge the seller a fee for selling/marketing/finding a buyer. No buyer should be paying any agents fees.

Not directly of course, in that you agree to pay price x and that is that. Price x of course includes the fees charged by the estate agent. So ultimately the buyer is paying. But if you agree a price it is not really important as to the divvy up. When I bought my property, at the request of the seller and ok-d by my solicitor, I actually gave a cheque to the estate agent directly to cover their fees ( which was an interesting eye opener as it struck me as pretty high for what was relatively little effort, in the circumstances of this sale. Others may be harder.) - but it was not extra to what I had agreed to pay, it was just the slice that the sellers had agreed the estate agent should get. So that was OK...

There’s no answer to that. Whatever you agreed to pay and how you agreed to pay is your business. As a buyer I would not expect to pay agents fees nor would I irrespective of the value or advice. In my experience a value is calculated give or take on square footages and comparables, no mention ever of tagging fees onto the value. The usual caveat applies.... this is Spain

Tootandploot wrote:There’s no answer to that. Whatever you agreed to pay and how you agreed to pay is your business. As a buyer I would not expect to pay agents fees nor would I irrespective of the value or advice. In my experience a value is calculated give or take on square footages and comparables, no mention ever of tagging fees onto the value. The usual caveat applies.... this is Spain

I would agree with you if you are talking about some kind of additional fee on top of the house price you agreed. That would be questionable. But, logically, when you buy a house anywhere including in the UK you are **de facto ** paying to cover costs as presumably the seller has factored in the transaction costs incl selling fees to the price they sell at. And the price you buy at. Hence presumably where people (whether UK or here ) seek to sell privately or to use a basic internet seller ( purple bricks etc ) it is because they don't want to pay the agent fees. It does strike me that estate agent commission in Spain is relatively high but to the buyer that is not a direct issue , the question is what you are willing to pay for a property ( to which the seller has factored in costs.) If its the right price for you what the seller has agreed with estate agent really matters not. Hence, going back to the OP , estate agent fees really should not directly matter to a buyer.

Just like in the UK. The seller pays the agents fees. So same applies here. I think if the buyer is paying the agents fees direct, to agent , reducing it from the house price, The amount of tax the seller has to pay would be lower, saving the seller money. A win win for seller. I know of at least 1 agent , and one solicitor sugesting this. Also solicitor asking buyer to pay both sets of solicitors fees as well. Of course sellers fees , again deducted from the house sale price. Times seem to be changing.