Why we don't do inspection flights I was asked a litany of questions by a client yesterday evening and I am very happy to answer them all but one was particularly surprising, and I quote; "Can you fly us out there to look at the properties?" Now in the good old days there were so many companies doing this that it was unbelievable. There could only be one reason of course, they could afford to do so. I will give you a quick example of how they could afford to do so and perhaps it serves as an illustration as to why I don't and never have. A friend of mine worked for some of the bigger estate agents between Alicante and Murcia. They gave free inspection trips. The inspection trips involved free flights, free accommodation and food and drink while there. Cool! However not everyone could come on one. There was a questionnaire and a series of phone interviews. They had the process of elimination down to a T. So much so that at one stage around 2004-5 they were getting a success rate, making a sale, of 50%. When this success rate dropped to 33% in 2006-7 they started losing money, or rather not earning as much and after that date they stopped it. Each journey was estimated to cost the company around 3000 Euros if they took everything into consideration but that high estimate was wrong. My mate did an estimation of 2000 maximum. A 50% success rate meant they were paying out 6000 Euros per client sale (4000 Really). Nevertheless they were selling properties at an average of 120-150k. Now my commission on sale is 3%. Even if we take the top rate of average sale at the time of 150k the commission would be 4500 Euros. Totally unfeasible. So how did they manage to eke out a living? Well the commissions they were getting from builders ranged from a minimum of 8% up to a ridiculous maximum of 18%!! I even saw one advertised to agents once at 21%. No wonder they didn't do the due diligence of making sure the properties were legal! They got paid half up front on deposit. Do the maths. If you are selling even at the low end of 120k with an 8% commission that is 9600 Euros in commission. The average was 12% giving them a whopping 14400 Euros on a sale of 120000 Euros. Now are you surprised at how they could afford to be so nice (sic) to you when you came on an inspection trip? Related Reading 1) Busy Busy Busy 2) Selling A House In Spain - The Process 3) You Have To Be Quick These Days