selling a house in france

[seamus]

the house is selling, i have had an offer, for 68000 euros.the estate agent is charging me 6000euro. This seems very expensive

[Pommier]

I'd check the contract you signed with the agent, as normally it's the buyer who pays the agents fees (and the notaires fees). The percentage seems very high too! What percentage does the contract state?

[Pickles]

Assuming that the offer is inclusive of the agent's fees, and that it is somewhat less than the price at which it was advertised, then you might want to consider saying to the agent (for example) "It's below the price that I wanted, and I'm prepared to lower my expectations, but if you can get the offer increased to say 70K FAI, and you are prepared to make "un petit effort" and drop your fees to 5K, then I will accept 65K net vendor in order to make the sale". That way, everyone is making "un petit effort": the vendor pays a little more, the agent accepts a little less, and you are accepting a lower price than you had originally expected, everyone is happy, and you get a sale agreed.

Regards

Pickles

[Anton Redman II]

Immobeliers should display their tarifs in their shop window and it should be listed in in the mandate you signed. It does not matter who writes the cheque it still comes out of the gap between what the purchaser pays and what the vender receives.

Depends on whether the figure includes TVA but it sounds like toward the top of 4% to 8% range but house is toward the bottom the proce range

[KathyF]

In my experience, the lower the price, the higher the fees (both agent's and notaire's) as a proportion of that price.  I'm guessing it's probably because there is about the same amount of work involved whatever the price.

[Chancer]

The notaires fees for the purchase of my property at €40k were a tad under €6k IIRC.

No agents fees as I bought direct from the liquidator.

 

[bluebaguette]

Fees on that amount in my area are 10% - sometimes fees can be as much as 15%, so I don't think you are paying over the odds. There is an official sliding scale. The more expensive the property the lower the percentage.

You should remember that agency fees are negotiable - and also that there is no obligation to go through an agence immobilier. You can sell or buy privately and pay only notaire's fees.