Found out recently just how much realtors charge for selling your property, 7% at least, and on a $300,000 property that is £21,000 plus tax at 13%, a whopping $23,730! I thought British estate agents charged a lot, the last house I sold was 1% fee, and I thought that was expensive. So make sure that whatever house you buy it is really what you want!

Yes, but they do more for the money (particularly if you are buying) and you always have the choice of goingn For Sale by Owner.....

What more?

It is usually 7% on the first $100,000 and then 3% on the balance

They take you through the houses and will compare like properties to advise you on what offer to put in. Not like in England where estate agents are little more than databases. Over here, the owners are very rarely in when you view so, without a realtor, you are very unlikely to obtain access to the house in the first place (unless you "use" the seller's realtor).

Until you have experienced the practice you will not comprehend how different the services that Estate Agents and Realtors are

Still a lot of money to charge though, as the objective is really just to sell your property isn't it, and U.K. estate agents negotiate the sale and liaise with the solicitor, etc.

I've never bought a house in the UK and was surprised to hear the realtors fees were only around 1% but from what I heard the agents don't do much for their money.

From my experience in Toronto (I work in a real estate lawyer's office) 7% is on the high end usually it's closer to 4%.
Also FWIW I think the lawyers fees here are lower than in the UK.

Is the fee not split between the selling realtor and the buying realtor though?

We just bought a house and we didn't pay our realtor anything directly - she gets a share of the other realtor's fee as far as we understood.

That's right, when your buying you don't pay the realtor. So before you go to look at properties get your own agent who will be working for you not the seller.

You don't pay when buying a property in the U.K. either.

I've never lived in the UK, so I don't have a basis for comparison, at least not from personal experience.

But I've been shocked at the lack of service from UK real estate salespeople that I've seen reported on this forum.

A Canadian who wants to sell his/her house has the following choices:

• Sell the house him/herself.
• Give an exclusive listing to a real estate salesperson (that is, only that salesperson will earn a commission from the sale)
• Give an open listing to a real estate salesperson

The vast majority of home sellers choose an open listing. This means that the real estate salesperson publishes the details of the house through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). If another real estate salesperson brings a buyer to the transaction, the seller's and buyer's real estate salespeople split the commission between them (although the commission is paid by the seller).

The MLS system makes the process very transparent. From the statistics of recent sales in a given neighbourhood, it is possible to pinpoint with quite a high degree of accuracy what a reasonable price is. The statistics are available to both sellers and buyers.

The real estate salespeople take buyers through houses for sale. Real estate salespeople actually prefer it if the home owner is absent during showings. I was astonished to learn, from this forum, the number of showings that British home owners do for themselves, even when they've engaged the services of a real estate salesperson.

In Canada, real estate salespeople also host a lot of Open Houses in the homes that they sell. These typically are held for the public on Sunday afternoons. There also are Open Houses for other realtors mid-week.

Real estate people in Canada also advertise the homes in their portfolios extensively, in local newspapers.

I don't know how it is in the UK, but in Canada a decent real estate salesperson knows a lot of information about neighbourhood amenities, like schools, and can advise buyers on neighbourhoods that would be in their price range and that would tick the right boxes for their family.

A real estate salesperson usually also has a list of other service providers who could be helpful -- mortgage brokers, building inspectors, lawyers, moving companies, etc.

Real estate transactions in Canada are quick and smooth. There is not the backing out on the part of buyers that I've seen reported on this forum by UK buyers. In a Canadian real estate transaction, a buyer has to put down a deposit that is big enough that he/she really will think twice about breaking the deal. It is extremely rare for a home buyer in Canada to pull out of the deal. I've lived in Canada for 31 years, and I've heard of only one instance in which a buyer has backed out at the last minute. I'm not saying it's happened only one time in the whole of Canada in 31 years. I'm just saying that I'm aware of only one couple who have experienced that in our circle of friends and acquaintances.

There usually is a final inspection of the house close to the time that the buyers are due to take possession. If the hand over of keys is due to take place at noon, the inspection might be done that morning or the previous day. The purpose is to ensure that the house is being handed over in substantially the condition that was promised. The buyer wants to ensure that light fixtures, bathroom fixtures, kitchen fixtures, etc., that supposedly were part of the house are still there. The buyer's realtor accompanies the buyer during this inspection.

Years ago my husband and I decided we'd save the realtor's commission and sell our house ourselves. We didn't manage to do it, even after spending money on advertising, etc. We gave in and engaged the services of a realtor. He did a brilliant job of marketing our house. After we counted the expense, time and effort that we'd spent (unsuccessfully) on marketing our house ourselves, we felt that our realtor (who held Open Houses, showed the house to prospective buyers, etc.), earned his commission.
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Thanks Judy for letting me know what they do for their money, but I still think that a realtor who charges up to 7% to sell a property is asking a lot of money, but I suppose the buying/selling experience in Canada is a lot different to the U.K. and the market is very different. I have bought and sold a lot of properties in the U.K. over the past 20 years, and was never charged more than 1.5% commission, and the end result is the same, 'a sale', which is what it is really all about at the end of the day. I suppose the turn over in the U.K. of properties is millions more, so they do not need to charge as much money.

Our estate agent in the UK asked us to leave when he showed the house.

But the person who ended up BUYING the house in the end was shown around by myself, and we had agreed and fixed a price before the estate agent arrived!

It's certainly true that you pay more in realtor fees to sell a house in Canada than in UK albeit for arguable a higher service level. It can still be a fair chunk of change which might make selling a house within a year or two of buying it a money losing propostion. Obviously depends upon how hot house price inflation is in the area. So choose your house with care!

Incidentally in these parts fees are around the 4-5% level. I think I'd still be tempted to FSBO first though!

That's what I really meant in my first post though, as being new to an area and buying so as not to have to waste money on rent is a risky business if you find out you are not happy and have to pay a lot of money to sell it soon after buying, it is quite a shock to have to pay so much to sell your home.