> US realtors seem crazy -- charging tens of thousands for doing what exactly?
It's not just the US. In Germany, it can be up to 7.14% of the purchase price (depends on the state [1])... so for a 750k unit you're looking at 53k of realtor fees alone, and anything between 3.5-6.5% of sales tax [2], 1.5% for title fees (notary + land register), and on top of that fees from the bank for the credit line... so for that unit you're paying at least 115k in taxes and fees alone. It's nuts, and yet people complain nobody is buying houses any more.
It's not just the US. In Germany, it can be up to 7.14% of the purchase price (depends on the state [1])... so for a 750k unit you're looking at 53k of realtor fees alone, and anything between 3.5-6.5% of sales tax [2], 1.5% for title fees (notary + land register), and on top of that fees from the bank for the credit line... so for that unit you're paying at least 115k in taxes and fees alone. It's nuts, and yet people complain nobody is buying houses any more.
[1] https://www.immobilienscout24.de/wissen/verkaufen/maklerprov...
[2] https://www.finanztip.de/grunderwerbsteuer/