Jump to content

Selling a house!


Recommended Posts

When you approach  Immobllieres with a view to them selling your property, are you able to haggle over the amount of fees that they add on to your required selling price? I understand that they charge around plus or minus 5%, but it would seem an exorbitant fee if they charged  E10,000, to find you a buyer.

When we purchased our present house, we paid a commission of E6,000; of  which half went to the girl who showed us around. Compared with commission of 2 or 3% charged in the UK, it does seem rather extreme.

It is always said, that the buyer pays the commission, but if it it too high, it would be off-putting to any perspective purchaser!

So, how much clout has one got when negotiating a sale? Would like to know!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that most people, buying a house through an Immobilier, would have already taken the fees into consideration.  Most Immobiliers advertise the property at a price that already includes their fees - so a buyer will know if your property is within budget, or not. 

Ask the Immo if they would consider reducing their fee if a potential buyer offers a lower price, rather than it coming out of your pocket. 

When we first viewed our house the agent knew it was over our budget - she knew the owners would probably accept a lower price but she also reduced her fee (by €5000), to help make the sale. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By law French estate agencies must display in their shop window the amount (percentage) of commission they charge for selling your property, and this will be clearly stated in both percentage terms and euros (nett and with 19.6 per cent TVA) in the mandat de vente you will be asked to sign. Generally the lower the sale price the higher the commission (in my area up to 10 per cent for properties under 100,000 euros) and say around 5 - 6 per cent for higher value properties. Many agencies have to share their fees with foreign partners if you are looking for a non-French buyer, depending on what kind of house you are proposing to sell.

Agency fees are generally not open to negotiation for the above reasons (and high social and other costs of running a French business) and if you feel you don't need their services you can try selling your property privately.

PD de Rouffignac

Link to comment
Share on other sites

P-D de R

I can understand an Immobilier having to cover his running costs but are you saying that just because he has to publicly post his maximum commission charges then you can't negotiate these downwards?

It's what an Immo might say but as far as I'm concerned he still has the room for manoeuvre in a competitive situation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="P-D de Rouffignac"]

Agency fees are generally not open to negotiation for the above reasons (and high social and other costs of running a French business) 

PD de Rouffignac [/quote]

In all 3 of the most recent sales or purchases of friend's houses I know of the immobilier involved has reduced his/her commission to secure the sale. The fees are generally not fixed in stone here.

Sue

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The agency fees are a matter between agent and buyer. The agent and seller set the 'net vendeur' price on top of which the agent will add the fees, the seller normally has no influence over the agency or legal fees. If the seller doesn't like the agency fees, then the choice is to go for one of the chain of low-cost agencies that charge 4%, or to sell via a notaire, whose fee for acting as agent is 2.5% to 5% plus TVA, or of course to sell privately.

Although few people seem to believe it, agents charge what they need to charge in order to stay in business and make a living. It's a very competitive business, there are no cartels or conspiracies to keep fees high. If it was possible to significantkly undercut other agents and survive, then somebody would be doing it. The house buying process and business structure is quite different between England and France, so comparing fees in the two countries is meaningless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The original post concerned a potential vendor of a property and I tried to explain that (a) an agency's rate of commission is publicly displayed, and (b) it is clearly set out in the mandat de vente signed by the vendor. The mandat also sets out the sale price of the property (the price a buyer will pay) and what will be left to the vendor after deduction of the agency's commission (the prix net vendeur). If the vendor does not like these figures, he/she is free to shop around and find an agency offering to sell the property for a lower commission. None of this concerns a potential buyer at this stage.

In the event of an offer (below the asking price) being received by a potential buyer, the agency may try and negotiate a price reduction - and hence receive a lower commission. The agency might even reduce its commission - for example if the sale happened quickly or did not involve paying a shared commission to a foreign partner.

But in every case there must be a reason to bargain - if a property is (fairly) priced at 100,000 euros and you can only afford 75,000 euros that is not a reason to reduce the price simply to accommodate your limited budget!

I hope this clarifies - based on six years in the French property business and being British (despite my French name), selling primarily to British and Irish buyers.

P-D de Rouffignac

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

P-D, I think we are saying the same thing in different ways. Yes, the seller knows what the agency fees are, but I think it would be most unusual for the seller to try to get these reduced. Whereas the buyer can negotiate the price, and there is, in my experience, often scope for a reduction in agency fees which the buyer negotiates or the agent offers - he may absorb a small reduction through a reduction of his own fees. If the buyer has come direct to the agent and there is no sharing of commission involved there can often be scope for movement (hope that is not giving away trade secrets). We both said that if the seller does not like the agency fees, then the only reasonable alternative is to go elsewhere.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unless the OP is intent on limiting his market to a handful of potential British buyers who are likely to make unfavourable (and meaningless) comparisons to UK agency fee structures, most French buyers will be fully aware of the pricing arrangements for immobiliers and will be quite capable of negotiating for themselves.

His best bet is to just place the property with as many agencies as possible in order to maximise its exposure to the French buying public and let them worry about the fees.....

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="Sunday Driver"]

His best bet is to just place the property with as many agencies as possible in order to maximise its exposure to the French buying public and let them worry about the fees.....

[/quote]

Which is exactly what happens where we live.

Sue

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...