Spain Real Estate News

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Estate agents being ripped off too
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 @ 1:51 PM

I was talking to a friend today who's an estate agent and he was telling me about some trouble he's going through with the sale of a villa.

He's been working on the sale of this property for over 9 months, with both the seller and the buyer proving incredibly difficult. I can personally vouch for the amount of time and effort he's put into this sale.

It now transpires that they are all happy to proceed with the sale....but the seller no longer wants to include the agent's commission as part of the transaction!

Even in the current dire market conditions some agents are still managing to keep their heads above water and it really bothers me that the decent ones are getting into such grief when every sale matters.

If you've found a buyer through an agent and agreed a commission with them, then it's only fair that they respect the terms of the original agreement.

Anyone got any advice for my friend?

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3 Comments

SharonW said:
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 @ 12:30 PM

So the seller no longer wants to part with the agreed commission due to the agent? What does the buyer say? as ultimately the buyer is paying the commission in with the asking price! Would the buyer agree to pay the amount 'outside' the deal? I know this is not conventional but could be a solution? But if there is a private sale agreement, with amounts stipulated and signed off I cannot see how the seller can get out of it! Also I thought all the separate amounts were taken care of and overseen at the notary!

promedia said:
Saturday, August 2, 2008 @ 9:42 AM

This problem is happening all over europe not just in Spain, buyers and sellers are trying to cut out the middle men and save themselves some money on already reduced property prices. My property sales friend believes as many as 3 in ten who are being flown over,put up in a hotel and driven about to see properties are not making any committment and then coming back a couple of weeks later and knocking on the door of the property they want and looking to do a private deal.
Unfortunately estate agents in Spain where 10%-15% commission is the norm compared to 1% -2% in the uk dont get much sympathy and in truth however ethical anyone is, in the current climate if you were buying and saw a way of saving yourself 30,000 euro's on your properety by knocking on the door and doing a private deal savvy and sharp people are going to do it, how many estate agents in spain if they were buying their own property which is for sale with another agency would do this?
I'D BET ALL OF THEM......so we cannot feel sorry for an industry that when the going gets tough, the tough start whinging!

John N said:
Thursday, September 11, 2008 @ 1:01 PM

Hi I have been working as a private property agent in Spain since 2002 paying my taxes and DSS payments, often with great difficulty.I have never earned a commission anywhere near 10 or 15% but if it is true and some companies do manage to get away with it we are all tarred with the same brush. Even the agants offering an honest service and charging reasonable fees are still regarded as rip off merchants. I think my days as a property agent are numbered now as I cannot go on being seen as a crook when I am not and often it has been the clients who were trying to rip me off.

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