VIVA 2% commission?

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festival
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VIVA 2% commission?

Postby festival » Fri Aug 25, 2006 2:16 pm

VIVA 2% commission?

How is it possible that Viva can drop their commission rate by 5% overnight! (do I hear pile it high and sell it cheap? or do they have another agenda? or maybe I've missed the point!

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claire4james
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Postby claire4james » Fri Aug 25, 2006 3:08 pm

i heard that they have recently dropped their affiliation to a major "network". As part of this network they had to pay a % of the commission out to 3rd parties....

It may be that dropping the affiliation will have a detremental effect on business levels in the short term, and in order to avoid this, maybe a reduction in thier fees is designed to compensate for this (even if a bit of a loss leader)

That however is purely my interpretation of what "could have caused" such a drop and the limited info i have......
from La Cala with love...........

Cornflake
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Postby Cornflake » Fri Aug 25, 2006 4:21 pm

basic business/marketing practice . . . kill off the competition (ad* for example, and the small fry who can't make any kind living on those margins and against Viv'as range of properties).
What will ad* and M*jstic and M*cA do . . .

It's been known for some time that V were going to do this.

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Postby Cornflake » Fri Aug 25, 2006 4:30 pm

there is another possibility, of course
[how cynical!]

That is, that V overvalue their properties to recover the commission they've 'given up' on the 'market price' (whatever that might be .....!!!). Many punters would not know, and just pay the V asking price . . .

BAS
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Postby BAS » Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:48 pm

Hi,

My neighbor in Coin has just listed with Viva, they are to be charged 1000 euros up front and 2% of the sale price. Viva insisted on doing the conveyance themselves and if the sale is successful they the 1000 is set against the legal charges.

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Postby Beachcomber » Fri Aug 25, 2006 7:17 pm

Viva have been finding the pinch along with all the other estate agents on the coast.

They don't do the conveyancing themselves they use a bunch of toe-rag lawyers from Alhaurín el Grande from whom they get a back-hander.

If you insist on using your own legal representative or doing your own conveyancing they will back down.

festival
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1000 euros up front to list

Postby festival » Fri Aug 25, 2006 7:43 pm

BAS wrote:Hi,

My neighbor in Coin has just listed with Viva, they are to be charged 1000 euros up front and 2% of the sale price. Viva insisted on doing the conveyance themselves and if the sale is successful they the 1000 is set against the legal charges.
This stinks of a registration fee! What happens if you sell it your self, do you get your money back?

Lorraine - Mijas
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Postby Lorraine - Mijas » Fri Aug 25, 2006 8:41 pm

This has been discussed at length elsewhere, with answers coming direct from the horse's mouth.
The up front fee appears to be non refundable and is described as an upfront conveyancing fee, their fee is now 2% + an additional 1% for their in house conveyancing , from now on they will only take you on as a client if you pay 20% of the 1% CONVEYANCING FEE up front, this is capped at a max of 1000€ for properties valued at 500K upwards.
If you sell privately or elsewhere then the only way to get your money back from V is to use them for the conveyancing. :roll:

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Postby Beachcomber » Sat Aug 26, 2006 10:44 am

So when they finally follow their predecessors down the pan some Viva fat-cat is going to be walking around with a lot of clients money in his back pocket.

masterob
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Postby masterob » Sat Aug 26, 2006 12:15 pm

Exactly, giving them the money up front with no security guarantee is like putting it in the dustbin!

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sunkissed
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Postby sunkissed » Sat Aug 26, 2006 4:22 pm

This weeks news..

The Innetwork MLS in Spain Bites the dust
news date: Wednesday, August 16, 2006

On Monday the 14th of August VIVA Estates officially announced they were leaving the Interagency Network MLS despite being majority shareholders in the Property MLS System.

This move has resulted in the Interagency Network MLS S.L being closed down leaving all its other members in a state of transition.

John Holloway of the Inntework said "It is a fact that VIVA were the main contributors in both revenue and listings to the IN Network and without their support the IN Network is no longer a viable business and therefore the Interagency Network MLS will cease day to day trading operations as of today."

For those who don't know them it's the company with the big "IN" signs you see on many of the major estate doors and literature after spending millions on marketing. The website is also gone.

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Postby Nell » Mon Aug 28, 2006 11:43 am

As Lorraine said, this has been discussed - at some length - elsewhere so let's not go over it all again.

To be fair to V, their MD (brave guy!) went on to the forum to directly answer the rumours and views, he spent a whole week up there, and so instead of doing it all again here, why don’t you just go to the link (I found it fascinating) and deals with all the things that are on here and more in real detail. So why don’t you just take a look before we end up with another 10 pages on the subject here!

As someone planning to buy in an area served by V, I welcome the lower commission - and lower prices. Gives those of us looking for a mortgage a bit more of a chance. We have all slagged them off for the huge commissions charged, let's not slag them off now for slashing the rate. I must say I was initially sceptical too, but having read the other forum and having seen them put the word "FOREVER" on their publicity in the SUR on Friday, it looks like the lower rate is here to stay!

mijas-lady
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Postby mijas-lady » Mon Aug 28, 2006 1:16 pm

Wheres the link? :?

Nell
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Postby Nell » Mon Aug 28, 2006 1:42 pm

Oops! It was here before! :oops: Ed at work somewhere! It is the forum on spanish property insight website. 10-page debate on EA commissions.

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freecatsrus
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Postby freecatsrus » Mon Aug 28, 2006 6:44 pm

Been following this thread with interest and have also passed it onto the agent i used when we bought our house out here and the observation she has made is as follows:

"Hi John,

One of the `people who have written in I think has hit the nail on the head.
Viva overvalues the properties and the buyers pay the prices because they think a big company is a good company. We have an English vendor who was told their house was worth 425,000 euros about 4 weeks ago when Viva was still chargiing 7½ % , we think the house is worth no more than 300,000.
Also they are in effect charging 3 % as they are charging 1% for conveyencing which is not necessary.
A vendor does not need a lawyer, all they have to do is give the agent photocopies of their deeds and the buyers lawyer does the rest. They need to discuss the declared price with the agent and that is all so in fact the only thing that Viva has to do is fax the papers to the buyers lawyer. Our Spanish vendors rarely use a lawyer and I tell our English vendors that they are wasting their money if they use a lawyer. Your agent can give you advice about the tax free of charge. "

You can send this in if you like.
Love, Sheila

If anyone would like to comment further on what this agent has to say,she has a reputable reputation in Andalucia, you will have to pm me for her site addy as i am not allowed to post the link on here.

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Postby Nell » Tue Aug 29, 2006 4:01 pm

Thanks to freecatsrus for the website for that agent. I had a look with high expectations - and recognised a couple of propertys that I'd looked at on V's website a few weeks ago (before this whole 2% thing kicked off). Given what she had said, I assumed that I would find her showing them at a much lower price. But No. There they were at the same prices and yet she says here they are overvalued!!!

Surely if the commission rate is now 2%, we´ll have the chance to buy (and sell) at the right price?

Despite what that agent has said on here, and having gone back and read what the V boss said on that other forum about over-pricing and the conveyancing charges, I just don’t see that her argument stands up.

festival
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VIVA 2%+1%

Postby festival » Sat Sep 09, 2006 5:51 pm

I have just had a call from VIVA where I have had my house listed for sale for over 2 years (and not 1 viewer) I was told the good news that they have reduced their commission rate to 2%+1% and would reduce the cost of my house accordingly (they overpriced in the first place) and that I now needed to pay 500€ up front in order for them to re-list it!! has anyone else had this experience?

Lorraine - Mijas
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Postby Lorraine - Mijas » Sat Sep 09, 2006 6:18 pm

festival, everyone who is listed with Viva, will get the same call, although they say it'll take time to contact all it's clients.
Apparantly if you refuse to pay up front, they will remove your property from there listings :shock:

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Postby Beachcomber » Sat Sep 09, 2006 7:05 pm

Their loss not yours! Do you get the €500 back if you sell privately or with another agent? :?

Don't allow yourself to be pressured into anything by these people no matter how desperate you may be.

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Postby katy » Sat Sep 09, 2006 11:49 pm

they say that Viva have about 9000 properties listed, quite a nice little earner to ask them to pay a listing fee, now why didn't I think of doing something like that. I go with Beachcomber on this

I started the thread on the other forum but didn't think you peeps would be interested.


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