Immobilier's fees

[Edward Trunk]

I have a feeling this topic has been raised before, so apologies. Can you negotiate estate agents down on their outrageous fees? Has anyone tried it successfully?

[mint]

Depends, Edward.  If the property is sold FAI and you make an offer which is accepted by the seller, sometimes the seller and the agent come to an agreement whereby both take a bit less so that your offer is accepted.

Last year, an agent kept coming back to us about a property that we liked and kept saying the seller would take this amount and then that amount.  In the end, the seller came up with a final figure which wasn't unreasonable.

As the agent was an independent one, that is, not in a chain (where perhaps fees are fixed), I waited for him to offer to reduce his fees.

He didn't despite me leaving the question hanging in the air on several occasions.  So, I went off and found another property.

[Will]

Fees are not fixed, and agents will often vary their fees in order to get a decent offer accepted. There's a lot more scope for negotiation on fees with higher priced houses, particularly when you go to the agent direct rather than through a British referral agent. If you want a reduction on a 20,000€ hovel forget it, but you'd be daft to pay 7% on a 750,000€ manoir.

You might consider the fees to be 'outrageous' but they are high for good reasons. Particularly at present, selling houses is a very competitive business and if any agent could corner the market by charging 2% they would. Even at 8% many are going out of business.