Unlike the U.K. when using a Real Estate Agent in Spain, the fees are very different. In general they can range between 3% to 10%, and even more in some scenarios.
Things you have to be aware of when listing your property for sale, is the commission payable by you, the home seller. Many Real Estate Agents, tell you that their commission is 3%, but “buyer beware,” because what they don’t tell you, is that if they sell your home through a secondary agent, i.e. another agent brings the buyer, you have to pay the secondary agent’s commission too, which usually ends up costing you another 3%, that you hadn’t initially budgeted for. Totalling 6%.
In Spain, it is customary for the seller to pay the listing agent’s fees, however don’t be surprised if your buyer asks you how much commission they must pay. In Germany, it is custom for the buyer to pay the agent’s fee, not the seller.
If you have listed your property for sale with a Real Estate Agent and you’ve agreed that they can charge whatever they want to the buyer, by adding it on top of the price you are happy to achieve, this is known as a “Nett Listing.” This means that if you are happy to sell for a price of €200,000, for example. The listing agent can sell the property for, say €220,000, thus meaning the €20,000 will be the agents commission. This is extremely popular amongst the Spanish Real Estate Agents. Not so much a favoured practice amongst the British sellers, but it does happen. If you’ve ever registered your property for sale with an agent, thinking that you’ve agreed a marketing price for your home, but later checked on their advertising, and can see that they are offering your property for a much higher price, then this is exactly what they’re doing. The only difference is, that it could be that you did not authorize a “Nett Listing.” Remember, asking above the current market value could turn a lot of buyers off.
Don’t expect your Real Estate Agent to charge you the percentages or even the fixed amounts, of that in the U.K. Marketing is very different here, especially as most of the buyers are sought internationally.
Obviously commissions do vary, as it mainly depends on how much advertising your Real Estate Agent is doing.
Like everything, you get what you pay for. You can’t buy a Rolls Royce for a Skoda price. ;-)
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