So, you think WE have it bad . . .

Surely Liz means 10% of her own fee... and that should be clear to all of you...give the lady a break!!

• 17 December 2008 09:48 AM

I've long been intrigued by the 10% and more being offered in Cyprus and Spain. The properties have got to increase in value by that before the buyer breaks even. How does anyone expect this to work? Buyers have got to be crazy to buy properties in places where these sort of commissions are the norm.
Bear in mind, too, that these are often REFERRAL commissions, so the local agent is expecting even more!

• 15 December 2008 06:38 AM

Have been in Spain for last 6 years selling on the coast, the market effectively stopped last November and since we have seen falls of around 20-30% - difficult to see the majority of properties fallen further as the banks lent 70-80% so many of the properties purchased in the last 4 years are now fallen into negative equity and the Spanish banks (finally) have realised that it is no good getting keys returned as they are trying to get back more than the properties are now worth. As for the 2 bed villa at 59K euros - this development is one of the worse adverts for Spanish builders and has appeared on more than one occasion on ´holiday homes from hell´ so yes I could understand this but certainly would not recommend to any clients. The market has changed from new properties to resale homes this year but has begun moving back as the builders have so much stock that they are now coming down in price as well - but the best bargains are still in the resale are where desperate sellers are outnumbering the few buyers who have cash ready to go as it is near on impossible to get mortgages at the moment. As for Liz I agree with your comments about UK residents still wanting to come here but perhaps you should alter you commision rates down to 2-3% per sale which is now becoming the norm amongst local independant estate agents in the area maybe this would generate more income!

• 15 December 2008 03:57 AM

I've been selling property in Spain for many years and have never heard of reductions up to 89%. True there are some big discounts available either where they were overpriced or oversupplied (eg Polaris) and many builders are sitting on completed houses that are costing them a fortune so are slashing prices. However most of these reductions tend to be in the region of 20-30% and only if you are very lucky will you find anything much larger which is most likely a distressed sale where it has to be sold within a short timescale.
Oh, and I can understand offering 10% commission when some developers are offering 16% or more to shift their houses. Unfortunately I deal mainly with the rural residential market where commissions are way, way lower....that's when I can manage to sell anything! As Liz says...clients can't buy as they can't sell up in the UK.

• 15 December 2008 01:53 AM

To Liz. Who would trust, let alone work with someone offering a 10% commission in Spain? and as to anyone believing that house prices in Spain have dropped 89%, I just give up!

• 15 December 2008 01:16 AM

I have been working in spain selling houses for the past 4 years and we are getting even more enquiries from uk residents who have had enough of the high cost of living and the bad weather the big problem is they can't sell thier uk property,so if any of you know anyone who wants to buy here while prices are at their lowest send them to me and earn 10%of the selling price.

• 15 December 2008 12:24 PM

Not that bad really....at least you can sit outside in the sun and have a nice cold beer whilst watching your main asset depreciate in value...cant excatly do the same here!

• 15 December 2008 11:41 AM