Broker for owners - benefits / advantages?

Well, whoever orders the music should also pay for it. However, the seller will probably increase the price accordingly. Disadvantages for the buyer: - he also pays real estate transfer tax and notary fees for the included broker fees Advantages for the buyer: - his equity capital towards the bank increases by the broker commission otherwise paid directly

That's exactly right. Here is a broker who always advertises: Profisionsfrei. He is the same charlatan as the daily price today only for you in the kitchen studio. The commission is simply included in the asking price. Karsten

for me it is also exaggerated, I also don't understand why the seller doesn't have to pay the agent. He is the one who gives the order and not the buyer. As a buyer, you already have enough costs etc. It's not a fair construct, in my opinion.

You don't have to buy. And as I've said 100 times: supply and demand. If the owner sells his house, it's none of his business what the buyer has to pay.
If no one wants to buy the house, he just has to pay the agent himself.
Of course, then comes the saying that the agent is included in the purchase price. But that is only half the truth, since most people know exactly what a house is worth.
The agent is worthwhile for the owner if the demand is high. The agent knows how to set the price high and is not easily negotiated down. The agent has no sales pressure and has a financial interest in the highest possible sale price.
An agent can also be worthwhile if you live far away yourself (e.g. inherited house) and don't want to come by for every viewing.
In areas where houses are often on the market for a long time, an agent is actually never worthwhile. You slave away for him, potential buyers decline because of the costs. We ourselves had it twice that we were interested in a house and contacted the owners directly. Both times we then got a call from the agent about an appointment. We then canceled. The house stayed on the market forever... I'm not paying €10,000 for nothing...

As I said, it is simply more convenient for the seller. In the end, I only decided which party to sell to. With the agent, maybe some buyers are put off, but also those who complain without reason to push the price down as much as possible. I didn't want to expose myself to that either. At first, it got to the point where my wife was stopped by a guy on her way home who wanted to view the house immediately. She then politely gave him the agent’s card, after which he didn’t get in touch anymore. And the rest is simply regulated by supply and demand. A few years ago, I probably wouldn’t have agreed to pay the agent as the buyer either. With our new house, we simply had no choice.

Unfortunately, the topic of real estate agents is a double-edged sword.

We ourselves had the case where we wanted to sell an inherited house and hired a real estate agent for it. He kept coming around and wanted to push the price down. As it turned out in the end, the potential buyer was an acquaintance of the agent.

Then another agent was hired and suddenly the house sold for 100k more, all within a very short time. Especially in cases like this, where the house is several hundred kilometers away, it is quite dangerous. You have no connection to it because it’s too far away. The agent can come up with anything. Moreover, you cannot really estimate the price level there well.

On the other hand, I have very often seen private individuals listing their properties at prices that were well above the average. The worst thing about it is that every day far too many fools still get up thinking, oh how great, I save the agent’s commission, that’s basically a bargain. I once listed a plot of land on Scout. The first thing interested parties asked on the phone was whether the plot was commission-free.

In this respect, I would claim that agents rather keep the price level lower. Of course, an agent wants to sell as high as possible, but he definitely will not recommend moon prices to the sellers, because otherwise he probably won’t sell it. An exception here is our regional Sparkasse, who think they can charge whatever they want. Accordingly, properties sell very sluggishly.

Normally, both parties, i.e. the seller and the buyer, each pay a 3% commission (plus VAT) at least in our case. And I can only say, it often pays off for both sides if you get a good real estate agent. On the one hand, they already have several potential buyers for a property, so the sale goes very quickly and the asking price is paid. For buyers, the advantage is that the agent often sees offers before you discover them yourself.