Estate Agent and commission - Page 2

abelhas · #11 11-01-2008, 11:38 PM

get some legal advice. most estate agents have exclusive contracts, so you have to pay them even if you end up selling to a friend.

there are plenty of good and honest UK advertising companies, advertising property in portugal, who ask a lower fee and dont ask for exclusivity.
one such is pure portugal - although mainly focussing on central portugal and low impact properties, renovations and smallholdings...

Mamacats · #12 12-01-2008, 11:28 PM

Interesting reading for me considering I am looking into purchasing property.

Diane aka Mamacats
Ragdoll Breeder
Portugal

michelle2007 · #13 13-01-2008, 04:58 PM

I think really in any case such that has any problems relating to Real Estate Agents in Portugal, then you are best to either contact a lawyer or for free advice contact Apemip who are based in Vilamoura

abelhas · #14 13-01-2008, 07:59 PM

good advice - talk to a solicitor. in fact, anyone considering buying a property in portugal should get a lawyer to check the paperwork, and an architect to make sure you can do what you want (if you plan to renovate or build)...

there are a number of things that can go wrong, a number of cons that could be going on, and sound advice from a solicitor will cost a couple 100 euros, but potentially save you 1000s...

jonw · #15 14-01-2008, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abelhas

there are plenty of good and honest UK advertising companies, advertising property in portugal, who ask a lower fee and dont ask for exclusivity.

The problem with these advertising companies and thier commision is this, although some of them charge 2 or 3 % commission, they also advertise properties from estate agents, and they charge 3 to 5 % commission, both the agent and the advertiser will wat to be paid so overall the commission to the seller could be a very expensive 8% so if you are trying to buy a property and its on an advertising site through estate agents (and lot of agents use advertisers to target the british market) remember that the price the seller gets is a lot lower, why waste your money paying all these middle men.

i speak from personal experiance of dealing with these advertisers, in my experiance it will cost you more to buy your house. just go straight to the agent, or better still go straight to the seller. save yourself thousands of euros.

abelhas · #16 15-01-2008, 05:35 PM

not actually true. if you advertise with one of these companies you only pay them, and if you advertise with an estate agent you may find that they use the advertisers, but that fee comes out of your 5 or 8% (which are normal estate agent fees).
an advertiser can not use an estate agent and then charge you the seller for that, unless you have agreed that.

but, if you do both, you may find that the advertiser sells the property, but you still have an exclusive contract with an estate agent, and so have to pay them too. i suspect this is the situation you speak of.

the reason a lot of estate agents use the advertising companies now, is because the good ones get results! i've seen houses with estate agents sit unsold for several years, and then sell in a few days via an internet company. using a company that is solely dedicated to keeping their page at the top of search engines, and putting adverts in magazines etc will obviously get better results than simply putting a poster in a window. although many estate agents do offer a good service in terms of showing the property, helping the buyer with fiscal numbers etc - that is what you pay for.

jonw · #17 18-01-2008, 07:34 PM

The point here is that a lot of estate agents do use these advertisers, including on the one you are plugging here.
So when someone sees a property on an advertisers website that has been placed there by and agency, then if they buy the house through that contact, then the advertiser would get their cut and the agent would get his cut all adds up to between 7% and 10% by your own figures.

regardless of whether the contract is exclusive or not!!

thats why I said that the agents or the advertisers put huge sums of money on top of the price the seller wants. to cover ALL these commissions,

It happens its a fact, if you look at these advertisers sites, everyday there are dozens of overpriced properties. Its a fact that some agents have properties at one price on their own site and a higher price for the same house on an advertisers website! so someone is getting the extra money? can you tell me who that is?

abelhas · #18 19-01-2008, 01:30 PM

actually most properties on pure portugal are listed by the owners... prices do vary in portugal, mainly due to owners asking for what they want or think they can get. but everything is always negotiable.

several estate agents also advertise, and they have their own contract with the owner, which is normally 5 to 8%. the advertising fee comes out of this. so the owner is paying no more than they would do anyway.

yes, there are some unscrupulous websites, who put deposits on properties then advertise them for quite a bit more. there are also people trying to sell properties they dont own, and some buyers have been known to get stitched.

then there are businesses who are licensed to buy and sell property - they obviously make money somewhere.

my point was that its cheaper, and often more effective for sellers to list with a reputable advertiser, and end up paying only 2%, rather than the normal 5-8% - but then you dont get an estate agent showing the property for you... it all depends if you want that service.

either registered portuguese estate agents or registered and incorporated UK advertisers can be relied on. if they dont have a registered office and registered number that can be traced then yes there is some risk to both buyers and sellers.

i've seen some unscrupulous advertisers listing properties that they dont even know, just to get their google ranks up, and also advertising for 3x the real price. so yes, be careful.