Lettings or sales: is it worth an agency doing both
One letting pays about a fifth of a sale commission and takes comparable time, so as a standalone business it does not add up. It works when treated as a source of future sellers and buyers — the landlord sells in a few years, the tenant buys. The condition is that lettings are counted separately and worked fast.
The bare arithmetic
Letting commission is usually one month’s rent. On a flat at 700 euro that is 700 euro, split according to the agency’s practice.
Sale commission on the same flat at 150,000 euro and two and a half percent is 3,750 euro.
The work, however, does not differ fivefold. Viewings are the same, sometimes more, because tenants view faster and decline more often. Fewer documents, but more conversations.
The conclusion from the bare arithmetic is plain: as a standalone business, lettings do not hold up inside an agency that also does sales.
Why they are still worth it
Because they are not a business, they are a funnel.
A landlord owns a property. In three or five years a large share of those people sell — and they call the agency that found them tenants without fuss.
A tenant is someone who cannot buy yet. In two or three years some of them can. If you were useful in the meantime, the call comes to you.
So the letting is paid for now at a low price and pays back years later. Agencies that drop lettings over the arithmetic above lose exactly that flow.
How to make them bearable
- A separate person, or separate time. A broker on a 200,000 deal today will not take a 600-euro letting seriously tomorrow. Better that lettings have their own person, even part-time.
- Speed instead of effort. Lettings resolve in days. Listing, three viewings in one afternoon, contract — that is the rhythm, not two weeks of drift.
- Ready templates. Contract, handover protocol, inventory. One fill-in instead of writing from scratch.
- Property management as a separate service. A monthly fee for collecting rent and handling problems. That is recurring revenue, not a one-off commission.
Why they are counted separately
The most common mistake is mixing lettings and sales into one report. Then the averages mean nothing: an average commission of 900 euro describes neither.
Split the report, and compare brokers within their own type of work. Otherwise whoever handles lettings looks weak at every monthly meeting and eventually stops handling them.
Separating them is technical: rental agreements have their own terms and are flagged before they expire, and the reports are read apart from the sales ones.
And one measurement worth having: how many of this year’s sellers were once your landlords. That is the number that tells you whether lettings work as a funnel or only consume time.
Frequently asked questions
What is the usual letting commission?
Most commonly one month’s rent paid by the tenant, though practice differs by city and property type. On long leases for expensive properties a split between both sides also occurs.
Is property management worth offering?
Yes, if you have enough units. It is recurring monthly revenue that smooths the seasonality of sales. It does demand organisation, though — otherwise it turns into constant firefighting.
How do you avoid problem tenants?
With checks before the contract and a clear inventory at move-in. Photographs of the condition and a signed inventory resolve ninety percent of future disputes.
The OptiEstate teamWe build the software Bulgarian agencies use every day. We write about what we see there.
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