What an independent estate agent spends in Spain

We tell you and analyse, based on a number of assumptions, the "costs" that an independent estate agent assumes in Spain.

In my last post -What an estate agent bills in Spain- calculated different turnover scenarios for a real estate agent based on market data, its level of productivity and its location. In terms of the income statement, it analysed only the "profit" part. Let's see what happens with the "costs".

As always, I will start with a description of the assumptions I will use, because every market is different and every agent operating in this market is probably different. I will assume that these are:

1. An independent agent operating in a large provincial capital (Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga...).
2. Turnover €50,000 per year or the equivalent of 4-5 sales.
3. That it takes its work seriously - with a business mentality - and consequently invests with reasonable ambition in the tools and resources that enable it to achieve and maintain or improve year on year that level of turnover.
4. It does not have a physical office.

In more detail, I will assume that:

1. To make the equivalent of those 4-5 sales (it could also be sales and rentals), you must capture the equivalent of 7-8 properties and you will be advertising an average of 5-6 properties on a permanent basis on portals.
2. That he/she is a member of a professional association or, failing that, that he/she pays a civil liability insurance and a surety insurance.

For ease of reference, let's look at it in the form of a cost account:

* First scenario: For an annual turnover of €50,000 operating alone, an agent bears costs equivalent to 57% of his/her turnover.

And as some of you will tell me that there are items that are dispensable and that only unnecessarily increase the cost account, I propose a second scenario from which I can subtract those costs that are "optional" or less related to the practice of the profession: I will remove "Prescriptions", "After-sales", "Other production costs" (Home StagingI will halve the items "Recruitment actions"; "Suppliers" and "Lifelong learning". It will look like this:

* Second scenario: To achieve an annual turnover of €50,000 operating alone, an agent bears costs equivalent to 44% of his/her turnover. The difference between one scenario and the other may be that one agent has ambitions to grow and the other just wants to "stay where he/she is". Or one may invest more in systems and work fewer hours (to achieve the same sales)... In short, there will be as many scenarios as there are agents and the combinations of resource allocation are virtually infinite.

Once again, the aim of this post is not to give an unquestionable fact, but a reasoned order of magnitude that will be useful to all of you who are already in the market or considering a life - full of emotions and not without risks - as a real estate agent.

I am sure it is quite possible that those of you reading this post will have different and nuanced opinions. I would love to hear your comments.

And if you are an active and experienced real estate agent, with a vocation for improvement and growth, at Monapart we invite you to become part of the Buenagente CommunityFind out what we can do for you, the community of agents who love being agents! Shall we talk?