Having just read the thread about sellers being able to pull out of a deal hours before settlement and with no valid reason reawakens my gripes about E.A.'s fees.
It's bad enough having that system in the U.K., and I remember it well, with great annoyance. Frustrating as hell for seller and agent. It's not like that here, more like France, as some knowledgeable M.Ner spelled out.
But the fees to the EA!!! It appears that you now have to pay an upfront "management fee" of up to $900, and all sorts of hidden extras, such as the Council search, which used to be the buyer's responsibility. I'm selling a rental, which hopefully will fetch around $650k, but the agents would like to be squeezing $30,000 out of me!!! They might do 4-5 viewings, of an hour tops. They might put photos in their window, advertise in the property handout and online. The management fee covers that, and so the rest of the 30k is money for jam, it seems. To sell one house, at the beach, magical views, 4 bedrooms etc etc...they will pick up 4 months' salary of a nurse or a teacher. They do a few piddling little exams to get their quals, and have no responsibility of any sort. No degree, no post-grad, no specialty training, no real accountability, it seems. How can that be justified? $1000 an hour or so?? Even if they halve it with the agency, it's $500 an hour. Even $100 an hour is excessive. Solicitor relatives have something to say about it! Can some kind EA explain how they earn that sort of money? Specially like a previous property I was selling, she introduced a client who had wandered into the shop, asked me if I wanted to sell, no advertising, no expenses no viewings, that'll be $5000 an hour, thanks.
It's really interesting how they have been working on their image, to launder the "sharp salesman" persona of old. They have been cultivating a cult of personality, with touched-up colour photos, "top salesperson of the year", flash cars...it all costs money....and pushes up the cost of housing to unsustainable levels.
I should add, I'm doing the selling myself, online. Piece of cake. I know, I know, I should have done it myself when I was young and silly.