[Anonymous]

Hi Mark

Ive pulled out of La Tercia because im so Ahhhhhh! about their fees to agents. Was wondering haven looked at your Guide Section to various topics if you could put one together about ‘working and understanding the buyer’s agent’ – or something along those lines.

Many thanks.

[Anonymous]

Hi there Seana

if you PM me with your email address I will send you a guide to buyers agent. It was written by me a few years ago when I was a buyers agent so there is obviously some bias but the principles are still the same – and the advice remains – look for someone batting on your side.

And before I get slated for trying to coerce business, non transparency etc, I declare I am an agent. It is something i have written in the past and you may use it how you wish

Best wishes

Vince

[Anonymous]

Hi Seana,

Are you talking about professionals who only work for the buyer and receive no fees or commission whatsoever from the vendor side? I just want to clarify this as ‘buyer’s agent’ can mean different things to different people.

Mark

[Anonymous]

Hi Mark,

Are you talking about professionals who only work for the buyer and receive no fees or commission whatsoever from the vendor side? I just want to clarify this as ‘buyer’s agent’ can mean different things to different people.

Yes – I want to understand how the buyer works, what the fees are, key differences/similarities between estate agents and buyers agents. Or are the one and the same just give themselves different titles.

I wish to purchase in Spain – my husband lived there many years ago and we would like a place of our own, that is Spanish, not ex-pat (no-offence), a place where the spainish would buy, live, socialise and love.

I just hate the idea of getting ripped off with fees. Who so the Spanish purchase from and is a difference made when a Spanish person buys as opposed to a foreigner buying.

I know I went off in a tangent but while this site is great and I have learned so much. I am a 1+1= 2 kind of person. Keep it simple and I can understand what I need to do to proceed.

Regards and sorry for bending your ear.

ps. You spoke well on tv last week.

[Anonymous]

Seana,

Buyer’s agents are paid by and work exclusively for buyers. They search for properties on behalf of their clients, but unlike search & find companies they do not receive any commission from estate agents and so are not limited by commission sharing agreements. They are also free to search properties from private sellers, which is a big advantage in a country like Spain, where many Spaniards, especially in rural areas, avoid selling through estate agents. This means that buyer’s agents have access to a wider selection of properties than anyone else.

Buyer’s agents will charge their clients a successful search fee, typically around 2.5% of the value of the property that the client buys. They will also charge an upfront fee to ensure that clients are serious and to contribute to the costs of unsuccessful searches. The transparency of their fees is a big advantage to clients, as in all other cases the buyer never knows how much of the cost is being paid in fees.

Like everything in this world, it all depends who you deal with. Some good buying agents are listed here:

http://www.spanishpropertyinsight.com/spanish_property_solutions_buying_agents.htm

Mark

[katy]

In the USA nearly everyone uses a buyers agent but it works differently, they share the commission with the selling agent through the MLS system. Therefore there is no charge to the buyer. It works well and the profession is highly regulated.

In Spain it is unusual for anyone to use a buyers agent, the only ones I know are hand in glove with the selling agents and are infact paid twice by the agent and a hefty sum by you as the buyer. It does say on the website of one advertising on this forum that they often use trusted agents which I would read as the ones they have a financial arangement with

With all the websites selling property now, I can’t see any advantage for using one in spain. If time is the element you may just as well pay someone a daily rate to view and report back on your selected properties. The buyers agents claim to save you money but I would take that with a pinch of salt

[Anonymous]

Hi Mark thanks for your posting – wondered if you would comment on what Katy said in light of the link to the ‘good buyers’ link on this site.

Regards

[Anonymous]

Katy is correct to say that there are people in Spain posing as buyer’s agents whilst actually taking back-handers from estate agents, lawyers, builders, you name it. As always it boils down to the personal integrity of the people you deal with. I’m confident that the people I recommend as buyer’s agents are highly professional and trustworthy. No doubt they work with local estate agents who they trust when searching for property, but I don’t believe they accept any payments from them.

By the way, it’s important to distinguish buyer’s agents (aka buying agents) from search and find agents, who share commissions with estate agents. The important thing is that they should always be 100% transparent about their fees – where the money comes from.

Mark

[Author]

Posts