Estate Agent's Commission
Who pays it, the buyer or the seller?

So who pays the Real Estate Agent's Commission?

We know from our clients, that both sellers and buyers are very unhappy with the high commission charged by most estate agents.

That is why we formed Properties Direct - to give you a choice.

When a property is sold in Spain, who pays the commission to the real estate agent? The buyer of the property or the seller?

Ask the seller of a property in Spain and he will say he is paying the commission. Ask the buyer, and he will say HE is paying the commission. So who is correct?

The buyer always pays the commission for the sale of a property

Rubbish, you may say! But before you dismiss this, look at a couple of examples. To keep them simple we have assumed the asking price is paid, with no offers.

You are selling your property for 420,000 Euros, and you expect to get 400,000 Euros after paying sales commission to the real estate agent. So when a buyer purchases your property, he must pay 420,000 Euros (assuming he does not offer a lower price). But you will only get 400,000 Euros, whilst the buyer has had to find another 20,000 Euros to buy your property.

Does this money go to the seller? You could argue that it is paid to the seller first. But ultimately, it is paid to the estate agent as his agreed 5% commission.

How to save 5% on buying a property!

If you sell your house privately there is no estate agent involved, so your price is 400,000 Euros - not 420,000 Euros. If your buyer purchases your property for 400,000 Euros, he has saved a massive 20,000 Euros. And even though he has saved 20,000 Euros, you will still get your asking price.

House prices in Spain are usually set by their owners

In the UK, the practice of selling your house is totally different. You will usually have your house officially valued, and a fee will be charged by the estate agent based on this value. In Spain, you are usually asked how much you want to sell your home for, and the estate agent adds his commission to this - usually 5%.

Buy or Sell your home for only 1.5% commission!

Because so many real estate agents in Spain are charging this high level of commission, Properties Direct decided to offer the same service for a maximum of only 1.5% commission. This is as close as you can get to selling your home privately.

So, if you sold your 400,000 Euros home through us, we would get a commission of only 6,000 Euros (1.5% of 400,000 Euros) – saving the buyer 14,000 Euros.

We make sure both buyers and sellers win!

If you are a seller, you may ask what difference our low commission actually makes to you. Why should you put your home on our books? Because we only charge 1.5% commission, our sale price will be lower, so we will attract more interest from buyers.

If you are a buyer, by purchasing though us, you will save a great deal of money.