Sole agency vs. multiple agencies: why it matters when selling on the Costa Blanca

Selling a property on the Costa Blanca from abroad means managing, at a distance, a process with real fiscal, legal and logistical implications. One of the most common patterns we see with non-resident owners is that they have listed their apartment or villa with four or five agencies simultaneously, convinced that more agencies means more potential buyers. In our experience, since 1988 and with more than 5,000 transactions handled across zones such as La Zenia, Cabo Roig, Playa Flamenca, Punta Prima, Villamartín and Zeniamar, the opposite is true.

The reasoning behind multi-agency listings and why it fails

The initial logic seems sound: if three agencies have your property on their books, three teams are looking for buyers. You pay nothing until the sale completes, so the risk appears to be zero. But this reasoning ignores how agencies actually allocate their commercial resources.

When an agency knows it is competing with four others for the same property, its chance of earning a commission falls below 20%. No business invests significantly in a deal where it has less than a one-in-five chance of recovering that spend. In practice, this is what happens:

• The property appears on portals with mobile phone photos and no professional photography.
• No proper listing copy is written in English, Dutch or Russian for the foreign buyers who dominate the Costa Blanca market.
• No agent books viewings with any urgency: if the buyer has already seen the property through another agency, the first loses their time.
• The asking price is published inconsistently: €189,000 on one portal, €195,000 on another, €185,000 on a third. Buyers notice the discrepancy and negotiate down accordingly.
• Communication between agencies is poor: when a genuine offer comes in, it can take hours or days to reach the owner.

The result is a property sitting on the market for months with no progress. In areas like Orihuela Costa, this creates a burnt-listing effect: active buyers see the same property repeated across several agencies and assume something is wrong with it or the price.

What the seller loses through dispersal

There are three concrete losses that occur when a property is listed with multiple agencies at the same time:

Loss of price control

In the current market across La Zenia and Cabo Roig, well-located two-bedroom apartments are selling between €1,900 and €2,400 per m². A property listed by five agencies at different prices signals desperation and weakens the owner's negotiating position. Experienced buyers, many of them Belgian, Dutch or British and who have been following the market for years, know exactly how long a property has been on the market and use that information.

Loss of presentation quality

Professional photography, a property and area video, a complete technical sheet with floor plans and an energy certificate prepared in multiple languages: all of this requires investment in time and money. No agency competing with four others is going to take on that cost without any guarantee of a return.

Loss of market time

Time on the market carries a real cost. In tourist zones like Playa Flamenca or Punta Prima, every month without a sale means community fees, IBI (property tax), insurance and, for non-residents, the IRNR (Impuesto sobre la Renta de No Residentes — non-resident income tax) on imputed rental income that accrues even when the property sits empty.

A well-structured sole agency agreement: what it must include

Exclusivity is not a blank cheque for the agency. A properly structured sole agency agreement has clear terms that protect the seller:

Duration and measurable targets

A reasonable term is three to six months. During that period, the agency commits to specific deliverables: a minimum number of documented viewings, presence on specific portals — Idealista, Fotocasa, Kyero, Rightmove for the British market, Funda for the Dutch market — professional photography completed within the first fifteen days, and monthly activity reports sent to the owner.

Exit clause

If the agency fails to meet the agreed targets within the first month or six weeks, the owner may cancel the contract. This clause turns the sole agency agreement into a reciprocal arrangement: the agency receives the exclusive mandate and, in return, delivers verifiable results. Without this clause, do not sign a sole agency agreement.

Collaboration network between agencies

Sole agency does not mean only one agency can bring buyers. Professional agencies on the Costa Blanca work within collaboration networks: if another agency has the buyer, the sale goes ahead and the commission is shared between both. The seller pays the same agreed commission, nothing more. This model combines the benefit of serious marketing investment with the reach of multiple agencies.

Sole agency vs. multi-agency: comparison table

Current market data in Orihuela Costa

In Villamartín and Zeniamar, two-bedroom bungalows with a communal pool are currently selling between €145,000 and €175,000. In La Zenia and Cabo Roig, apartments with sea views or on first-line golf courses are exceeding €2,200/m² in transactions that close within the first 60 days of marketing. Properties that have been on the market for more than six months, visible across multiple portals at inconsistent prices, close on average between 8% and 12% below the original asking price.

A 10% gap on a €200,000 property is €20,000. That is considerably more than the cost of a well-negotiated agency commission.

What multi-agency listing does not solve for the overseas seller

For an owner based in Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom or Germany, selling a Spanish property involves coordinating the signing of the escritura pública (title deed) or delegating to a representative via a notarised poder notarial (power of attorney), the 3% retention that the buyer pays directly to the Spanish tax authority on behalf of the non-resident seller, and the subsequent refund claim where applicable. Against that backdrop, having five agencies that do not coordinate, publish different prices and make no investment in presentation simplifies nothing: it adds friction to a process that is already administratively complex.

A sole agency agreement with an agency that has been operating on the Costa Blanca for decades, that knows the buyer profile in each zone, that manages the fiscal process alongside local lawyers and that can guide the seller through every step, is not a concession. It is a management decision.

To discuss the situation of your property in La Zenia, Cabo Roig, Playa Flamenca, Punta Prima, Villamartín, Zeniamar or any other area of Orihuela Costa, call us on +34 965 714 362 or write to info@bennecke.com. We have been handling sales on this coast since 1988 and can tell you, with real data, what price is realistic and which strategy makes the most sense for your property.