Sell through Immogo? Make sure you have a clear arrangement with your ‘agent immobilier’.

French property agents and their UK intermediaries are not fond of Immogo. We support the private seller in his quest to find a private buyer. And of course it irks them to see we only ask 1% whereas they – with their more comprehensive services and bigger risks (hence expensive insurance policies) have to ask 5 or 6%. Please be aware that if Immogo finds your buyer, the 1% is always due. Even if you let your broker handle the transaction.

When it comes to the selling process, Immogo only does the international advertising bit. We are an advertising support. Everything that happens after the initial contact between buyer and seller, is out of our hands. Legally, we aren’t allowed to do anything that even remotely resembles an intermediary role. We do not help with negotiations and we do not organise ‘visites’. For sellers who don’t live on site, like British selling their secondary home in France, this is a bit of a disadvantage. If Immogo finds them a potential buyer, they have to find some way to show this buyer around the house. The ideal person is a neighbour or a friend living close by, who can act as a key holder. And sometimes the notary public will be kind enough to do the honours.

Leave the visits to a professional
Many Immogo sellers have also confided their sale to one or more property agents. And some of them actually ‘give’ their private buyers to the agent for the showing of the house. There is one very big disadvantage: if the sale goes through, the broker can ask for payment of the full 6%. Aside from the 1% the seller owes Immogo. It has happened several times in the last year that the owner/seller thinks he does not owe Immogo because his agent has done the sale. Often, the broker will explain to his client that payment is due only to the agent that actually signed the compromis. Any other agent involved gets nothing.

Always payment with success
Indeed, only one agent will get paid in the end. But… Immogo is not n agent. Our activity is completely detached from the selling process and the transaction. This is also why we use the published asking price in stead of the sales price. Just to indicate that we can not and don’t want to influence the outcome of the final transaction. As soon as a candidate buyer was found, our job is done. And if this person effectively buys the house, we are always entitled to our reward.

Make a deal with your broker
If you let your broker handle the ‘visites’, make sure to add a clause to your ‘mandat simple’ that says you get a rebate for finding you own buyer. For instance you pay only 3%. Your agent has put no effort in finding this particular client, so it would be unfair to pay him the full commission. This way, your reap the advantages of finding a buyer through Immogo as well as the expertise of the agent immobilier.