Seller or buyer, who never thought they were paying too much commission to the real estate agent?
Visibly few people.
In any case, this is what emerges from a survey carried out by Opinion System on what the French think of agents.
The honorary / service ratio obtains the lowest score (6.5 / 10) of the five criteria proposed.
How to explain this figure and how to improve it?
This feeling would come mainly from two specific French features.
“The law imposes three months between the compromise and the deed of sale, details Jean-David Lépineux, boss of Opinion System, an opinion certification platform on the Internet.
However, during this period of time, the agent generally has no further contact with the seller or the buyer.
So when the day of signing at the notary arrives, they often feel that the note is too high.
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Another reason, the separation of roles.
“In France, unlike the United States for example, it is notaries and not agents who write deeds of sale,” he continues.
As a result, the latter have to hand over and no longer really have a role to play, giving the feeling of an unfinished job.
Thus, across the Atlantic, 98% of transactions go through an agent because he really takes care of everything.
In France, this figure drops to just 68%.
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"Customers do not realize all the work upstream"
On average, the fees are around 4.5 to 6% of the price of the property.
And to answer a question that everyone is asking, it is the seller who pays them.
"It is he who chooses and, possibly negotiates the commission, with the agent, analyzes Jean-Marc Torrollion, president of the Federation of real estate agents (FNAIM).
The price that he sets for his accommodation therefore includes agency fees.
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If he recognizes that the issue of fees has always been sensitive, he is no more worried than that by the survey figure.
“At the end of the 1980s, agents only handled 37% of transactions compared to 68% today, which shows their value,” he insists.
Without doubt, professionals should detail their fees a little more to explain what they really correspond to.
Because the customers see only the visits but do not realize all the work that there has been upstream and all the costs (rent, salaries…) of a classic real estate agency.
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For Jean-David Lépineux, the feeling of the survey is mainly linked to a lack of communication.
“The agent must keep in touch with his clients after the compromise even if it is to take news,” he emphasizes.
And possibly offer services such as welcoming contractors if there is work, helping with administrative procedures… ”
Fees set ... by the clients themselves
Clever people took advantage of this situation to launch the concept of fixed cost fees regardless of the amount of the sale.
These are essentially companies present on the Internet which therefore do not have to pay for premises.
Others have even taken logic to the limit by allowing clients ... to set the level of remuneration themselves.
This is the case with Comm'il vous plaira founded by Grégory Vaillant.
“I am, on average, below the market but that does not bother me because I am paid according to the efforts I have made,” he says.
And clearly, the higher the percentage during the compromise, the more I get involved afterwards until the signing at the notary.
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The real estate madness, especially in Paris, has contributed to distort judgments according to Jean-Marc Torrolion.
"Housing that leaves in two hours at very high prices, of course that exists but only in the capital," he maintains.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, there is significant fieldwork on the part of the agents.
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