Internet brokers are cheap, but also deliver less

A good real estate agent will sell your house for about 10 percent more. This is evident from research by comparison site DatHuis into the best and worst performing real estate agents in Amsterdam.

The Amsterdam housing market is overstrained. Houses are being sold at lightning speed and often above the asking price. But who drags the most money out of your stulpje?

Comparison site DatHuis investigated the proceeds of 375 houses sold in Amsterdam and its surroundings. The house prices ranged from 110,000 euros for the cheapest house to 527,000 euros for the most expensive house. The average selling price of the 375 houses sold was 240,000 euros.

The homes were sold by fifteen internet brokers and 140 full-service brokers. DatHuis wanted to know if there is a difference between these two brokerage groups, as little information is available on the performance of individual brokers.

Big differences

The differences are big. Internet brokers are a lot cheaper. On average, they charge 1250 euros for their services. Traditional estate agents charge on average about 1.4 percent over the selling price of a house. That is 3350 euros for a sales price of 240,000 euros.

But you quickly recoup this amount if you look at who subsequently sells your house for the best price. Then the more expensive full-service real estate agents win.

Price difference 19,376 euros

On average they will sell your house for five percent more than online real estate agents, for an average house this will save you 12,000 euros. In the most extreme case, the difference even amounts to 19,376 euros, between the best full-service broker and the worst internet broker.

Joel Konijn of DatHuis says: "Internet brokers sell houses faster, but this does not result in the maximum purchase price. With regular brokers, houses are on sale on average eight days longer, but that also yields a better price."

10 percent more

"If you look purely (regardless of whether it's an online or full-service broker) at the difference in yield between the best and worst broker, it's ten percent on average," he said.

"Five percent of the price difference depends on the type of broker. The other five percent comes from the experience of the realtor. That who understands the type of house, the neighborhood and the price range," says Konijn.

Quality real estate agents

Konijn bought a house himself two years ago and could find very little information about the quality of real estate agents. Together with Philipp Beau, he decided to set up DatHuis: a comparison site for realtors.

"I thought why isn't there one yet? My generation compares everything: from television to energy. But nothing can be found about real estate agents. I want to make it clear to everyone which real estate agent can best sell your house and at what price."

Source: RTL Z