Estate agents

3%-5% appears to be the going rate...

Lux del sol are charging 2.5%

Hi Bob1

If you are there to do viewings or you have friends there to do that, sell it through Rightmove yourself for £300 (last time I looked)

I sold my house in Sucina via that route. There is IVA (VAT) on the 10k too!!!!!

Good luck

Bob (2) lol 

Thanks a lot for that. Certainly worth a look.

Rightmove charges are based on the price of the property! We put our villa in Lanzarote on with them privately and it cost us 780€. In the first year (2018/2019) we had precisely one viewing and half a dozen enquiries from people who were dreaming of moving to Lanzarote but weren't in a position to do so. Frankly, we found them a waste of money and eventually sold our villa through a local agent who charged the standard rate of 5%. Selling privately can be done but it's not as easy these days with buyers wanting everything done for them and knowing that few private sellers can offer the same services. I've privately sold 2 of the 5 properties that I have owned over the past 38 years but both of these were to people already living locally. Some agents will reduce the 5% commission at the moment of sale, if the offer made by the buyer is under the actual sale price and they want to land the sale. Vendors should take into consideration that the commission has to cover the advertising, photos and personal attention to any buyer that they find, as well as paying them and their staff's salaries and commission. Many properties are given to several agents to sell, so it stand to reason that the one with the best website, office, photos and agents, is most likely to be the one who finds a buyer for the property. Nowadays, many agents use professional photographers to present their properties and since Covid, may of them have been doing virtual viewings and getting sales and these are not cheap! Once a sale is agreed, the (UK) buyer generally expects their agent to be at their beck and call, asking for information and expecting an answer at the drop of a hat. A good agent will nurture their clients through the entire buying process and will continue even after the property has been signed at the Notary. I worked in real estate in the Canary Islands for 10 years before I retired and moved to Murcia and I still have buyers from then who keep in touch and until we left the islands, we met up regularly for a meal or a drink. I wonder how many UK residents can even remember the name of the person who sold them their current house. 5% is not cheap but you only get what you pay for!

Thank you very much for that. It has certainly given me food for thought although I still

 think 5% is outrageous.

It's even worse being the purchaser - 8% property tax versus 0.75% Stamp Duty in the UK (pre- or post- the current Stamp Duty holiday), so in your example, €16k in Spain -v- £1.5k in the UK !

Ouch! That stings. Thank you

Anyone that enjoys twisted logic might like this: I took an estate agent to task about the ridiculous rates here, and he replied

"Yes, you are right. I know that in Uk the comms are less but that is because the market is diferent. My boss is English too and when he came to Spain, he was also surprised of how the market was here and the comms that were charged. Most agents here charge 5 to 8 percent of comms and we thought that 4% was fair enough for the clients and for the Company. The market in Spain for selling and bying properties goes slower than in UK. the average to sell a property is around 6 to  12 months so the Agents, has to charge that commissions to keep on going. Also, salary in Spain is less than in UK so there are less possibilities to sell a property between spanish people because there are less earnings, this doesnt happen in UK...and well, I can tell you more reasons but I dont want to take more time from you. I guess you have asked more agents about the commissions they charge so I hope you can find one that suits you better, however, if you decide to list with us, we will be more than glad to help you."

So people are poor, so they must charge more, salaries are less so they must charge more...absolute madness!