11 Oct 2010 9:36 PM:

More fool your friend I am afraid to say Justin. No one would get a lunch out of me until after they had bought! You can't expect people to buy just because you have driven them around a lot and taken them out for nice lunch. You need to do a lot of background work and make sure that the properties you are showing are what the client actually wants. Surely this guy must have known the prices before he decided to view so he could have told they weren't enough of a bargain for him. Probably a time waster admitedly but he could and should have been better managed so your friend didn't waste his time and money.

Also, all the agents on here have been getting very defensive about their hard earned commission, but they are missing the point. No one begrudges sales agents earning a reasonable commission for the work they do - 5% seems to be about the norm at the moment which seems fair and reasonable to me. The point that I and others have made here before is when an extortionate amount of 'commission' get added on top of the vendors price by certain agents. This is not declared to the buyer and the buyer ends up paying a much higher price than necessary as a result of greed by the agent concerned.

Hopefully this practice is on its way out. All we are asking for is fair and transparent system that is fair for all.

Thread: Estate Agents Commission

--------------------------------------

09 Sep 2010 11:07 PM:

Being a little sensitive aren't we Georgia?? I, and I am sure most people on this forum, don't object to estate agents making a fair commission for the work they do, and most do provide a valuable service, but as I have said many, many times before on here, it is the crooked ones that spoil the market for everyone, buyers, sellers and honest agents alike.

There really is no justification for the same property being offered at substantially different prices by different agents just because the crooked agents think that some buyers won't notice and will unwittingly pay a higher price, giving the agent extra commission - often substantial amounts. This is simply crooked, deceitful and dishonest in my opinion.

Nor is there any justification for the agent Vee describes behaving in the way she does. Again, simply dishonest and crooked behaviour. This type of behaviour does more harm to the Spanish market than anything else.

You cannot deny this type of thing goes on and is more widespread than people realise. It is a shame that the system in Spain allows it to happen, unchecked. Not only do buyers suffer, but the good honest agents (like yourself) do too. Why don't you good guys get together and try to do something to stop it - lobby parliament or something. Start a campaign to drive out all the dodgy agents from Spain. That would help to boost sales!

 

Thread: Property prices

--------------------------------------

05 Sep 2010 10:25 AM:

You are right, any 'Tom, Dick or Harry' can set themselves up as an agent and the problem is there is no professional body to set and monitor standards.

It is a question of transparency and who pays the agent. If agents don't act for the seller then who do they act for and who pays them? If they are acting for the buyer as a 'property finder' and the buyer is paying them then surely the buyer is entitled to know how much they are paying for this service. But this is never disclosed and because the agent (or multiple agents as you say) add their slice on top, their commission is effectively hidden within the asking price and this can mean the asking price varies considerably from agent to agent as already illustrated, leaving unwary buyers vunerable to being ripped off.

I believe many agents, particularly the British agents, prey on this vunerability and buyers will often pay a far higher price than needed because they don't understand how the system works.

Many agents, not all, seem to exist somewhere in a grey area between seller and buyer but don't act specifically for either - so they must be acting for themselves. To clarify things and to make the market place transparent, agents should state clearly who they are acting for and who is paying them. The person paying them, either buyer or seller, should then be told how much the fee is. We don't mind paying for a service as long as we know what the service is, how much it costs and what we are getting for our money.

Thread: Property prices

--------------------------------------

04 Sep 2010 8:38 PM:

Fpegman

Let me illustrate. Below I have copied a post I made earlier today on another thread in this forum under 'Estate Agents'.

Hi Vee

You mention two agents below. If you check their respective websites you will see they both have the same house advertised at two different prices: Casa Andaluza 110,000, Undiscovered Spain 118,000. (There may well be others too) Undiscovered Spain state on their homepage "we bring you the best houses at the lowest prices direct from the owners" - oh really!! Who is going to pocket the extra 8 grand then - the owner, I don't think so...

It seems things are just carrying on as 'normal' in Spain. Unsuspecting buyers are STILL being ripped off by greedy agents adding large commissions on top.

Fpegman, How do you explain the 8k difference in price? In my experience, the way it generally works is the vendor sets a net price they want to receive and the agent adds their fee on top of the vendors price. Lets assume that the vendor has set a price and wants to net 105k after agents fees. If Casa Andaluza sell the property for their asking price of 110k they will receive 5,000 commission and the vendor nets their 105,000 - seems reasonable.

However, if Undiscovered Spain sell the property at their asking price of 118k, they will still only give the vendor 105,000 (why would they give them anymore?) and they take 13,000. Outrageous!!

However, what is even more likely is that the vendor has set a net price of 100k so Casa Anadaluza would get 10,000 (not quite so reasonable) and Undiscovered Spain will get 18,000!!!! (Totally outrageuos and dishonest!!!!)

I appreaciate that there are honest and hard working agents out there trying to do the best for their clients (remember estate agents usually work for the seller not the buyer). However, as long as the practice illustrated above continues, how the hell can buyers trust ANYONE?? I think it is time that this sort of practice is exposed and the agents that are guilty of doing it are named and shamed and surely the good agents (I assume you count yourself as one) should be taking the lead on this. Your job would be much easier if buyers knew that this type of corruption, as far as I am concerned that is what it is, no longer existed. Why don't you property professionals try and do something about it?

I suppose the problem is that the corruption goes so deep in Spain that even if you managed to stamp it out amongst the agents that still leaves the vendors, the lawyers, the notary's, the mayors etc etc etc. We live in hope...

 

Thread: Property prices

--------------------------------------

04 Sep 2010 10:12 AM:

Hi Vee

You mention two agents below. If you check their respective websites you will see they both have the same house advertised at two different prices: Casa Andaluza 110,000, Undiscovered Spain 118,000. (There may well be others too) Undiscovered Spain state on their homepage "we bring you the best houses at the lowest prices direct from the owners" - oh really!! Who is going to pocket the extra 8 grand then - the owner, I don't think so...

It seems things are just carrying on as 'normal' in Spain. Unsuspecting buyers are STILL being ripped off by greedy agents adding large commissions on top.

Thread: Agents in Granada ?

--------------------------------------