Finding an Estate Agent in a Country You Do Not Live In

The single most important fact about the estate agent showing you a property in another European country is one that almost no buyer asks about: in most of Europe, that agent is working for the seller. They are being paid by the seller, their duty runs to the seller, and the friendly conversation about what you can afford is information flowing in one direction. This is not misconduct, it is the structure of the market. Not knowing it is what costs foreign buyers money.

Who pays, and therefore who the agent serves

The default across most of continental Europe is a seller's mandate. The seller instructs the agent, the commission comes out of the sale proceeds, and the agent's job is to achieve the best price and terms for the seller. In France and Italy it is common for the commission to be split, with the buyer paying a share directly, which creates the confusing situation of paying a fee to someone who does not represent you. In Germany the split between buyer and seller was reformed in 2020 so the seller now carries at least half. In the Netherlands the makelaar model is well established on both sides, and hiring your own is normal rather than exotic.

The practical consequence is the same everywhere: unless you have separately engaged and are paying someone to act for you, assume every agent in the transaction is on the other side of it.

The buyer’s agent question

A buyer's agent, sometimes called a buying agent or a chasseur immobilier in France, is engaged and paid by you to find, assess, and negotiate on a property. In markets where you do not live, do not speak the language fluently, and cannot view at short notice, they solve real problems: access to listings before they hit the portals, an honest read on whether an asking price is defensible, and someone to attend a viewing when you cannot.

They also cost money, typically a percentage of the purchase price or a flat fee, and the market for them is uneven. In France, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands the role is well established. In much of central and eastern Europe it barely exists as a distinct profession, and someone advertising as one may simply be an agent with a different business card. Ask directly how they are paid, by whom, and whether they take any fee from the seller's side. If the answer is anything other than a clean 'only by you', they are not a buyer's agent.

Dual agency is legal in some countries and forbidden in others

Representing both sides of the same transaction is normal practice in parts of Europe and prohibited in others, and the rules are not intuitive. Where it is permitted, the agent who introduced you to the property may also be collecting from the seller, which means the person negotiating on your behalf is paid more when you pay more. Ask whether the agent is acting for both parties, and get the answer before you disclose a budget or a maximum.

Finding one when you are not there

The remote search has a reliable failure mode: you find the agent through the property rather than finding the agent first. You spot a listing on a portal, contact whoever posted it, and by default that agent becomes your guide to the entire market. They are, of course, guiding you around the properties they are mandated to sell.

A better sequence is to identify two or three agents in the specific town first, on their own merits, before you fall for a particular building. Look for a real trading history in that town rather than a national franchise with a local phone number, check the professional registration the country requires, read the review history for what the complaints say rather than what the praise says, and speak to them before you have an emotional stake in one property.

The registration to check, country by country

Estate agency is a regulated profession in much of Europe, which gives you something concrete to verify. Italy requires agents to be registered with the local chamber of commerce, and an unregistered intermediary cannot legally claim a commission. Spain has moved to regional registers, with mandatory registration in Catalonia, Andalusia, Madrid, and the Basque Country among others. Portugal requires an AMI licence from IMPIC, and the number should be displayed on every listing and document. France requires a carte professionnelle issued by the chamber of commerce, together with professional indemnity insurance and, where the agent handles client money, a financial guarantee. Ireland licenses agents through the Property Services Regulatory Authority.

Asking for the number and checking it takes ten minutes, and it is the cheapest due diligence in the entire transaction.

Language is a due-diligence problem, not a convenience problem

An agent who speaks your language is easier to deal with, and that ease is worth something. What it is not is evidence of competence, and there is a persistent pattern in foreign-buyer markets where the agents who market hardest in English are not the ones with the best inventory or the deepest local knowledge. They are the ones who identified foreign buyers as a segment.

The stronger combination is a locally embedded agent plus your own independent translation of the documents that matter. You need to understand the contract, not the small talk, and a bilingual agent is not a substitute for reading the preliminary agreement with someone who works for you.

What to establish before you sign anything

• Who pays your agent, and whether they receive anything from the seller.
• Their registration number in the relevant national or regional register, verified rather than quoted.
• Whether the mandate is exclusive, and for how long, if you are engaging them.
• What the commission actually is, expressed in cash rather than a percentage, and whether it includes VAT.
• Whether they hold client money, and if so, what guarantee or insurance protects it.
• What happens if you find the property yourself while their mandate is running.

None of this makes the agent an adversary. A good local agent is genuinely useful, and in an unfamiliar market their knowledge of which streets flood, which building has a pending assessment, and which seller is actually motivated is worth real money. It only becomes a problem when a buyer mistakes a professional acting properly for the seller as someone acting for them. Know which one you are dealing with, verify the licence, keep your ceiling to yourself, and the relationship works exactly as it should.