Real estate | Am I paying too much commission?

Firstly, both you and the land lord should pay half the fee each, if the owner doesnt want to, then they are trying to rip you off cause you are a foreigner, when they entered into the agree \ment to sell it with the agent this would have been originally discussed.
[Community Manager: SZParty.com]
scott@shenzhenparty.com

Hmmmm... yes and no. First, unlike many other places around the world, there are no "exclusive agency listing" contracts in China, at best the agency here will get something close to an "open listing". Second, even if the seller does agree to pay for his part of the commission, he will tag on the fee to the price of the house, which in simple terms means that the buyer will end up flipping the bill for whatever the seller agreed to pay the agent... (that's what I call getting ripped off Scotty!!!! :-0)

So, if you think about it, it helps the buyer in getting a better deal at the end if the seller doesn't pay the commission because you can then squeez it down to what it should really be...

Business is business, chinese landlord won't pay commission, so the real estate will get it from u. Try u best to cut the price~
Orz....

just threaten to drop the sale, the real estate will be on your side cause they WANT the commission, its their life.
[Community Manager: SZParty.com]
scott@shenzhenparty.com

it's now the situation here(sellers like to get "NET RATE" on the deal,if they need to pay,they would raise the price,that would be the same), 3% for commision paid by buyer are very normal, not just to the foreigner, also the same to chinese,but you can ask for some discount. I am a angent, never tell a lie.

I'm supposed to resume negotiating on Monday since the seller is out of town. So do you guys know how much is right to pay? Is 0.8% too much???
Thanks again...

My personal opinion
As an agent, I understand all the agent work for the commission, not just real estate agent. we service you we deserver to get it. 3% is very fair fig. in shenzhen as most owner will ask for "Net price" which is mean buyer pay for all the fees.

As a buyer before, i evaluated how much did the agent deserver to get, such as the agent's service.

so if you think 0.8% is fair enough to pay the agent's service fee. why not just make both happy as you already derated 2.2%.

as an agent of china merchants.

whichagent you buy from,you should also pay 3%.seller just get the price what you pay.all the other bills you should pay.it is the rule,otherwise you will not buy onw appartment in shenzhen.right now you get discount,but it is small agent,you know buy an appartment is a big thing.if some problem happen,you will cry!

find a big agent is a good idea.of course give you the best discount/

Sorry for the late reply...

I paid 0.7% total commission, I hope this was fair... I feel like still paid too much (again the agent wanted 3% (crazy!!!))

I can't believe all these agents on this site saying that 3% is the law. First of all, commissions are always negotiable!!! Otherwise it would be price fixing and price fixing is illegal!!! Are there really any people out there that have paid over 1%???

Thanks Homehunter, I ended up paying 0.7% which seemed ok to me. My Chinese friens said that it was high but I wanted the place so it's ok....

My pleasure.any question about real estate, you are always welcom to ask.