Monday, July 03, 2006

When buying property in Spain, who should the buyer pay?

Extract from our translation of the OFFICIAL SPANISH GUIDE TO BUYING PROPERTY—Released by the Spanish Property Registry Office.

WHO SHOULD THE BUYER PAY; - To the estate agency. It is important to bear in mind that whoever has contracted the services has to pay their fees. Normally, vendors place their properties with estate agents and therefore their services are paid for by the vendor, never by the purchaser. So, buyers should be aware of these extra "charges" which in most cases are purely to cover 2 lots of commission (as most of the time they involve the Spanish agency and their English "partner"!)

For our full 10 page translation of the official guide to buying property in Spain, come and collect it from our office or we can send it out by email.

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PROPERTY GUIDE TO BUYING IN VALENCIA, SPAIN



CLIENTS – Who exactly are our clients, is it the purchaser of the property or is it the vendor? Does it make any difference? This sounds like a complex question for any estate agent, and yes it does make a difference. We have always thought of our purchasers as our clients, and I am sure that in most parts of Europe estate agents also consider their purchasers as their clients, although I understand that in the USA the vendor and purchaser have their own separate agents! So, we are shop keepers, we set out our stall (on sale or return in our case), if the customer likes what he sees he buys it, doesn’t he? Well, not really, in the end we are agents and we have been instructed to sell a property for a certain price. We have no leeway over the price of the goods, we pay for marketing the property, and we receive our commission from the vendor upon the sale. Our purchasers who also instruct us to look for certain properties do not pay us commission and why should they? They are our clients! …….
This is confirmed by the Property Registry office - Guide to Buying a property in Spain.

For the full 10 page translation, come and collect it from our office or we can send it out by email.