# Pricing Transparency — Every Fee We Charge

Most Marbella agencies will not put their commission in writing until you have already signed something. We will, on this page, before you fill in any form.

Real-estate pricing on the Costa del Sol is opaque by tradition rather than by necessity. Buyers are told "the seller pays" without being told that some agencies then quietly take a second commission from the buyer side; sellers are quoted "standard 5%" without anyone explaining that the standard is whatever the agent thinks they can get away with. Muse Marbella publishes its full fee schedule here. The numbers below are the same ones that appear in our mandate contracts and the same ones founder Max Bykov will quote you in a face-to-face meeting at our [Marbella offices](/offices).

If anything on this page differs from what is later proposed to you in a contract, you have grounds to push back. We have written it that way deliberately.

## Buyer-side fees

**Standard property purchase: zero.** When you buy a property represented by Muse on the seller side, you pay us nothing. The commission is paid by the seller out of closing proceeds at the notary. This is the legal and customary structure on the Costa del Sol, and it is the structure we use on every standard transaction.

When you buy a property represented by another agency and we act as your buying agent, the commission is still paid by the seller — we negotiate the split with the listing agency. You do not pay us a second commission on top. We are explicit about this in writing before viewings begin.

**Off-market exclusive retainer: €5,000-25,000.** For buyers who need genuine off-market access — typically clients looking for a specific trophy asset in La Zagaleta or Sierra Blanca where the relevant inventory is one or two villas in the entire 12-month pipeline — we charge a retainer. The retainer covers exclusive search, weekly written market notes on the named target zones, first-look access to off-market dossiers, and direct introductions to vendors. The €5K-25K band depends on brief complexity and search horizon; a six-month €5M-10M brief in two named urbanisations sits at the lower end, a 12-month €15M+ trophy search across the whole western Costa del Sol sits at the upper end. The retainer is credited in full against commission if the search closes a deal with us. If we cannot find the asset, the retainer is non-refundable — it covers the work done.

**Advisory hourly (non-transactional): €350-500.** Occasionally clients want our market view without an active transaction in flight. Inheritance planning conversations, refinancing assessments, "should I sell now or hold three years" discussions, expert-witness work in a dispute. The hourly rate sits at €350-500 depending on seniority and complexity, billed in 15-minute increments, invoiced monthly. Minimum two-hour engagement.

## Seller-side fees

**Public listing: 3-5% commission** of closing price, payable at close. Marketing is fully included — professional photography, drone-and-twilight session where appropriate, multi-language dossier (EN, ES, RU as standard), portal placement on the platforms relevant to your buyer pool, viewings management, offer negotiation, notary attendance. The 3-5% band depends on asking price: properties under €2M sit at the upper end (the absolute commission is smaller relative to fixed marketing costs); above €5M sit at the lower end. Exact percentage agreed in writing before the mandate is signed.

**Off-market discreet: 2-3% commission** of closing price. Lower marketing cost — no portal fees, no public photography campaign, dossier-only stills — so the commission is correspondingly lower. Trade-off is a smaller buyer pool and a typically longer campaign. See [list your property](/list-your-property) for the full off-market process.

**Trophy asset (€10M+): 1.5-2% commission.** Above €10M the absolute commission becomes large enough that the percentage should compress, and we compress it. La Zagaleta villas, beachfront Marina Puente Romano apartments, and the rare frontline-beach plots on the Golden Mile fall in this band. We will quote you the specific percentage in writing during the initial assessment.

**No upfront fees.** Nothing charged for the initial brief assessment. Nothing charged for the Tinsa-aligned valuation. Nothing charged for the marketing plan. If the property does not sell during the mandate and you choose not to renew, you owe us nothing. We invoice only on close.

**No tied legal or financial kickbacks.** We do not receive referral commissions from abogados, gestorías, notaries, mortgage brokers, or wealth managers. If we recommend a firm it is because we have worked with them, not because we are paid to send them clients. The full reasoning is in our [professional partnerships page](/professional-partnerships).

## Advisory and adjacent services (non-transactional)

These are services we offer outside the standard buy-or-sell mandate, typically to clients who want help with specific paperwork rather than a full transaction.

**Tax structuring introduction: €750.** A 90-minute session with one of two vetted Spanish tax advisors we work with regularly, plus a one-page written summary of options discussed. Covers Beckham Law eligibility, Modelo 720 obligations, Spanish inheritance and gift tax exposure, and basic cross-border structuring questions. The €750 covers the introduction, the session and the written summary; any subsequent engagement is between you and the advisor at their rates.

**Spanish abogado introduction: included.** Free of charge when associated with an active mandate. We introduce you to one of three Marbella legal firms we work with regularly. The abogado's fees are their own and are billed directly to you — typically 1% of property value for full conveyancing, sometimes with a fixed minimum.

**Gestoría introduction: included.** Free of charge when associated with an active mandate. For NIE applications, residency administration, vehicle registration, and the kind of routine Spanish paperwork that confounds new arrivals.

**Formal property valuation (Tinsa or equivalent): €600-1,500.** When you need a Tinsa-stamped valuation for mortgage purposes, inheritance settlement, divorce proceedings, or pre-listing benchmarking, we coordinate with Tinsa directly or with one of two other certified valuers. The €600-1,500 band reflects Tinsa's own fee schedule by property type; our coordination is included. The valuation report is legally formatted and admissible in Spanish court or bank proceedings.

**Search fee for very-niche briefs: case-by-case.** For unusual briefs that fall outside the standard buyer-side service — a working horse property within 30 minutes of Marbella, a frontline-beach plot for ground-up construction, a specific historic finca in the Sierra de las Nieves — we may quote a search fee in addition to standard commission, because the search work itself can run hundreds of hours with no certain outcome. The quote is given in writing before any work begins. You can decline and we walk away.

## Where we differ from competitors

Most Costa del Sol agencies operate within roughly the same headline numbers — the 3-5% seller commission is genuinely standard. The differences sit underneath the headline:

**Some boutiques charge 5-7% to sellers and 1-2% to buyers.** This is called double-commissioning. The listing agency takes a full commission from the seller at close, then quietly negotiates a "buyer's-side advisory fee" with the buyer on top, sometimes structured as a separate invoice through a sister company. We never do this. It misaligns the agency's interest with both sides simultaneously.

**Many agencies charge for the valuation.** A standard pre-listing valuation walk-through and indicative price band runs €200-500 at most agencies in Marbella. We do not charge for ours when it is associated with a potential mandate. The formal Tinsa-stamped valuation is the only walk-through-style fee we ever charge, and only when you specifically want the stamped document.

**Several agencies have undisclosed kickbacks with legal and financial firms.** Spanish law does not require disclosure of inter-professional referral fees. Many agencies receive 10-20% of the abogado's fees, the gestoría's fees, the mortgage broker's commission, occasionally the surveyor's bill. We accept zero referral commissions from any third-party professional. If we recommend a lawyer it is because we have worked with them on more than five transactions and trust their work.

**Some agencies charge "marketing fees" on top of commission.** Front-loaded photography fees of €1,500-3,000, signed-mandate "campaign-launch fees" of €5,000+, professional-staging upcharges that exceed the actual third-party cost. Our standard 3-5% commission includes all marketing. The only items billed separately are formal Tinsa valuations (if you want the stamped document) and the search retainer for off-market exclusive briefs (deducted from commission at close).

We are not making the case that every other Marbella agency operates badly. Several operate honestly within the same headline numbers we do. We are making the case that the question to ask any agency before signing a mandate is "show me, in writing, every fee you will charge me, every kickback you receive from any third party, and every situation in which you act for both sides of the transaction." If they will not put it in writing, ask why.

## Frequently asked questions

**If buyers do not pay, why would an agent ever work harder for me as the buyer?**
Because we want repeat business and referrals. Roughly 60% of our annual transactions come from a previous client, a previous client's referral, or a buyer we represented who later sells through us. An agent who delivers a bad buying experience to win a single listing on the other side has destroyed the long-term economics of the relationship. The [referral program](/referral-program) page covers how we formalise this.

**Is the off-market retainer really required, or can I get off-market access for free?**
For most active buyer mandates above €3M, we provide off-market access without a retainer — it is part of the standard buyer-side service. The €5K-25K retainer applies only when the brief is so specific that the search work itself will dominate, and when the buyer wants the search to be exclusive (we will not show the same off-market opportunity to anyone else during the engagement). For a buyer happy to be one of several active mandates on our books, no retainer is required.

**Why is the trophy commission lower than the standard?**
Pure economics. A 3% commission on a €15M villa is €450,000; a 3% commission on a €2M apartment is €60,000. The marketing work for the €15M villa is genuinely more extensive than the apartment, but not 7.5 times more. Compressing the percentage on trophy assets reflects the real cost-to-revenue ratio and keeps us honest about pricing.

**Can I negotiate the commission?**
Yes, within reason. The 3-5% band on public listings exists precisely because every mandate is slightly different — a freshly renovated villa with strong existing dossier material costs us less to market than a never-listed property requiring a full photography and copywriting build, and the commission can reflect that. We do not negotiate below 3% on standard public listings (it does not cover our marketing cost) and we do not negotiate above 5% (it stops being competitive). Within the 3-5% range, we will talk.

**What happens to the commission if a deal collapses at the notary?**
You pay us nothing. Commission is invoiced at close, payable from sale proceeds. If the buyer's funding falls through, if the seller withdraws, if the survey reveals a structural issue we cannot reasonably price into a renegotiation — no invoice. We absorb the marketing cost. This is the trade-off for working on a no-upfront-fee basis: occasional uncompensated work, in exchange for sellers and buyers knowing we are aligned with completion rather than just signature.

## Where to go from here

If you are thinking about selling, the next step is [/list-your-property](/list-your-property) — submit a brief and Max Bykov will respond within 48 working hours with an indicative price band and the specific commission percentage we would propose. If you are a buyer, the [/buyer-guide-2026.html](/buyer-guide-2026.html) covers the full purchase process and our standard buyer-side workflow. For partnership conversations with lawyers, tax advisors and family offices, see [/professional-partnerships](/professional-partnerships). The full philosophy behind our pricing decisions sits in the [/muse-philosophy-manifesto](/muse-philosophy-manifesto). Visit us in person at one of our two [/offices](/offices) — we will walk through the fee schedule line by line if you want.



## Related Reading

- [Client Referral Program — 1.5% Kickback or Charity | Muse Marbella](/referral-program)
- [Professional Partnerships for Lawyers and Family Offices | Muse Marbella](/professional-partnerships)
- [The Muse Team — Founder-Led Boutique Marbella RE | Muse Marbella](/muse-team)
- [Muse Marbella Philosophy & Founding Principles | Muse Marbella](/muse-philosophy-manifesto)
- [Security & Privacy Policy — GDPR, AML, Off-Market NDA | Muse Marbella](/security-privacy-policy)
- [Visit Our Marbella Offices — Two Locations | Muse Marbella](/offices)
- [List Your Marbella Property With Muse](/list-your-property)
- [Muse Marbella Buyer Guide 2026](/buyer-guide-2026.html)