GeniB

I will reinterate EMR.. That the buyers were not conned. It was normal practice only a few yrs ago for builders to add a room or an extension here and there beyond their building licence... That has now more or less stopped..Owners will be asked to pay for past owners not having done so.. Like we were.. Thats a builders problem and nothing to do with Estate Agents
Estate agents buying and 'flipping' properties ? Thats a new one on me .I would like to meet one who can afford to do that these days.
Exclusiivity agreements are very rare in Portugal. Thats a British thing. My YD's experience is to share information about property sales . so that a client gets the full picture of whats on offer. If it falls under another agents remit,they do indeed share the commission . which seems to me to be fair. Not double dealing.
As I have said before. People have choices,They do not have to either buy or sell with an agent. Its up to them If they want to go with some con artists like Purple Bricks or the one who advertises constantly in the paper as charging no commission.. Then do so. They will find its in there somewhere...nothing is free in this life.
I guess someone will post about cheating car salesman next....

GeniB

As you will have seen from some of the replies. you will be entering a tough business,where many will see you as a con artist,lying bastard,,cheat etc. You will have to develop a tough skin. Be willing to listen to an awful lot of moaning Brits,Fussy French,difficult Germans. Taciturn Swedes. Accept insults from same on a daily basis. Be ready to take them to visit properties on your days off, knock up owners out of bed, or bring them back off holiday ( happened to us when were selling ) only to lose the sale as a Bank goes bankrupt on you (happened to YD)..Are you sure you want to do this ? Good luck if you do

Furfanus Postumus

The only exam I can imagine they need to pass is in knowing how to be super-crafty in the most imaginative and charming way possible. I have so far dealt with three agents on three properties I was interested in.

First one only told me price had increased by 70K during the post-viewing cup of coffee, despite my having asked him to confirm the sale price by e-mail the day before I got the flight from London to view the property. But it was a nice long weekend, albeit it cost me £1,000 (expensive dog-watcher). A week later he sent me an e-mail begging me to buy at original price, by which time the delights of the property had escaped me.

Second agent, looking at a walnut tree farm of 14 hectares. Before my trip I asked for a map of the boundaries. No response, I assumed he forgot, so booked another £1,000 trip. Having looked at the delightful property for a whole morning, I noticed another part of the house I hadn't seen. On asking the owner's son, he informed me very breezily that it was "his uncle's part of the building". It was semi-detached! When the agent finally did give me the map, the red boundary line went right through the centre of the building. lol. He was a charming fellow, swore blind he knew nothing about it, bought me a great lunch afterwards.

Third agent, great property, shook on a deal with owner, a week later an e-mail arrived from agent telling me owner wanted to keep one barn (only building on property with a decent roof where I intended to store my stuff) and graze his cattle on the property for two years, oh yes, and he wanted to tend the veg-garden bang in front of the house until December too. lol. Also, map of boundaries grossly inaccurate, on purpose, I haven't yet quite worked out why... everything shunted over 100 yards north, same acreage... But I think this property is the one for me, when I can cut through all the haze and insist on vacant possession.

weebobsgrampa

we are in the process of viewing properties in the albufiera area with a view to buying soon, have met and dealt with about 6 agents through different firms, they were as i expected as they are in sales and thats what being in sales teaches them, we are old enough to understand the rules and wont be too badly hit by their promises

GeniB

See I don't get this.... What is being ' super crafty' here ? It's just been in the paper that prices are rising like bread dough at the moment.. This is called 'supply and demand' It is NOT the agent who puts the price up.. It is the OWNER.. and i am darn sure that if you are living in London (of all places ) you have been surrounded by that well known situation 'gazumping' That you have 'arrived' (heh get you ) to find the price has changed is just the way it is when you don't live here..(.and boo hoo at 'having to pay for your dog FFS)
The agent actually 'BEGGED'you to buy the property...? Please supply evidence of this because ..sorry I don't believe you..In this market ...no agent needs to beg..He was possible giving you the 'heads up' that it was likely to go soon..If you didn't like the property ..say so...saves everyone a lot of hassle don't you think?

Second property.. Walnut Farm... You REALLY have to do some homework before you launch into British assumptions on Portuguese property... ANY old property is more than likely to be owned by several family members...Knowledge of who or what takes time to find out. My YD's first apartment in Lagos might have been being sold by one man ,but it was owned by 27 family members who all had to sign to sell it. Whining about having to pay 'another 1,000 euro's to come over here ...Pleeeze.. your breaking my heart
Boundary lines ,maps? again ..homework... These things are relatively new to the Portuguese..sometimes difficult to prove/find as well..Estate Agents often have their work cut out now since the law changed. An agent will take you to see the property first to see if you wish to proceed. he/she isn't likely to know who owns what straight away...not unusual.. If your interested .. the fun begins. If not.. it saves he or she a lot of unnecessary work.
Third property. well .. see second... It appears that you are looking at country places .. but have no idea of how country people live.....again 'homework' This attitude (of farmer) would be deemed perfectly normal in rural areas of France etc... not sure your cut out for this.....Good luck anyway..

liveaboard

I also had estate agents blatantly lie about property borders. He tried to tell me the next plot was part of the one I was looking at, and the property was twice as wide as it really was.
And confirm land was still available even though it had already been contracted for sale to another party.
Why?
Well, once I was there, they could try to sell me something else.
On the other hand, the agent we did finally buy through proved to be completely honest about all of those things. We didn't have a single thing to complain about before, during, or after.
The agent works for the seller, not the buyer. Keep that in mind.

Several of my neighbors [all Portuguese actually, but from the city] allow the ex-owners to still farm the land.
I find this odd; they've sold it and yet they're still there!
At the same time, it's practical. The new owners don't have the time to look after the land they've bought, really they just wanted the house. The arrangement makes everyone happy it seems.
The owners get nothing tangible in return for the use of the land.

Anyway, this seems to be a regular thing here so I guess it's a negotiable position. When we bought our place, the sellers asked if they could harvest the onions they'd planted, which wouldn't be ready until several months after we took possession.
The cash value of the onions was less than .01% of the cash we paid for the property; it was emotional.
A year later, I collected some fruit from the orchard and took it to the old lady [who now lives in a nice apartment in town]. She literally broke into tears.

We don't allow anyone to graze their animals on our place. For one thing, it's difficult to avoid misunderstandings with the language barrier. Another [important!] point is the bugs.
All the locally kept livestock comes with ticks, fleas, and horseflies. These insects will easily move 50 or 100 meters and pester us, not to mention real danger of disease.

GeniB

I think you understand the country system better than most Live....It is however no different as I said than places in France. etc. So much of Portugal is privately owned by families (unlike the UK where most is in the hands of the few big landowners) Selling has always been a no no..'.keep it in the family' the motto No wonder the old lady cried. Seeing hard won grazing land go to waste on a 'tourist' who comes twice a year must be like sacrilege .. Or lovingly tended veggie gardens go to waste..I can understand your reluctance where the bugs are concerned.,but also the farmers point of view when grazing land is so scarce here. Poverty ,the need to sell,drives people. eventually. Their connection to the land never dies though....