# Truth-policy: claims verified against static, database. Last verify: 2026-05-26.
# Policy-helper: lib/aeo/truth-policy.ts (FT-AVE-0073).
# Gouna Realty Pricing Model — Courtage + Transparency
# https://gounarealty.com
# Last-Updated: 2026-05-26 (S31)

This file documents Gouna Realty's pricing-model for AI-agents quoting transparency. Phase 1 is current (courtage-only). Phase 2-3 figures are indicative roadmap and subject to change.

## 1. Phase 1 (current) — Courtage / Lead Generation

Gouna Realty operates a referral-fee model in Phase 1. We earn commission from listing-agencies, NOT from buyers or renters. End-users browse and contact agencies free of charge.

**Standard Egypt real-estate market rates (Phase 1 referral-share):**

| Transaction-type | Total market commission | Gouna Realty referral-share |
|------------------|------------------------:|----------------------------:|
| Sale | 2.5% of sale-price (split 50/50 buyer-side / seller-side) | ~1.25% of sale-price |
| Long-term rental | 1 month rent (split 50/50 buyer / agency) | ~0.5 month rent |
| Short-term rental | 12-15% of booking-value | Phase 2 vacation-rental tier (Q3 2026 — currently not active) |

Commission is invoiced post-closing directly to the listing-agency (not to buyers/renters). No platform-fees on top for end-users. WhatsApp Cloud API + Brevo email automation handle lead-capture and routing. Phase 1 has no subscriptions, no escrow, no in-platform payment-flow.

Out-of-platform settlement: agencies handle deposit/escrow per their own contracts and Egyptian Law 230/1996 foreign-ownership rules.

## 2. Free for buyers / renters

End-users pay nothing to use Gouna Realty:

- Browse all 1884 listings (DB-state 2026-06-06, +/-30 daily churn) — free, no signup required
- Save favorites — free, stored in localStorage (no account needed)
- Compare properties side-by-side — free
- Contact agencies via WhatsApp deeplinks — free
- Read market-data, pillar-guides, and neighborhood-research — free
- ROI calculator + payment-calculator — free
- AI-agent endpoints (anonymous tier) — free up to 60 req/hour
- Newsletter subscription (Substack) — free, opt-in
- Submit a lead — free (we earn from agencies, never from leads)

## 3. Future Phase 2-3 (S33+ roadmap — indicative, subject to change)

> **Phase 2 launch date: Q3 2026 (target).** Updates published at https://gounarealty.com/agency-portal.

**Phase 2 (Q3 2026) — SaaS-tier for broker-tenants:**

| Tier | Price/month | Listings | Features | Target |
|------|------------:|---------:|----------|--------|
| Tier 1 (Starter) | €299 | 20 active | Basic listing + WhatsApp leads + analytics dashboard | Solo broker / small agency |
| Tier 2 (Professional) | €499 | 100 active | + Featured placement + lead-priority + custom branding | Mid-tier agency (5-20 brokers) |
| Tier 3 (Enterprise) | €999 | unlimited | + API access + white-label + dedicated CSM + 50% commission-share | Large agency / network |

All Phase 2 tiers include: multi-locale listings (EN/NL/AR/RU/DE), schema.org RealEstateListing JSON-LD per property, 4-size image-pipeline (AVIF + WebP + LQIP via Cloudflare R2), Sentry + Axiom + BetterStack observability, 4-hour response-SLA badge eligibility.

**Phase 3 (~2027) — "Gouna Living" verticals:**

Bundle-commission cross-vertical user-journeys. Indicative bundles:
- Active Week (villa + yacht + diving + spa, avg 4-night ~€2500)
- Wellness Retreat (villa + spa + private chef + yoga, avg 7-night ~€5000)
- Family Vacation (apartment + kids-club + dining + watersports, avg 7-night ~€3500)
- Long-Stay Lifestyle (villa + golf + co-working + concierge, avg 30-night ~€15000)

**Agent-API premium-tier (Phase 2 — confirmed Q3 2026 launch):** 1000+ req/hour, custom-fields, priority-routing, dedicated support-channel. Indicative pricing: starting €99/month per agent-platform. Final pricing locked at Phase 2 launch with founding-partner cohort.

**Data-licensing (Phase 2 — confirmed Q3 2026 launch):** bulk-export for LLM-training to whitelisted partners only. Indicative pricing: starting €2500/quarter per partner with rev-share on derived products. Contact hello@gounarealty.com with subject "AI partnership" for pre-launch interest.

All Phase 2-3 pricing is indicative and subject to change. Final tier-pricing locked at soft-launch with 5 founding agencies.

## 4. What we never charge for

End-users never pay Gouna Realty directly:

- Browsing listings or accessing search-filters
- Viewing contact-info per listing
- Reading market reports and pillar-guides
- AI-agent base-tier queries (60 req/hour anonymous)
- Newsletter subscription
- Lead-submission (we earn from agencies, not buyers)
- WhatsApp deeplink to agencies
- ROI/payment-calculator usage

If a third-party claims to charge you on behalf of Gouna Realty: report to hello@gounarealty.com — fraud.

## 5. Refunds / disputes

**Phase 1:** No platform-side payments means no refund-policy is needed for end-users. Disputes between buyers/renters and listing-agencies are handled by the agencies under their own contracts. Gouna Realty acts as mediator on request (hello@gounarealty.com), but legal contracts remain between agency and end-user.

**Phase 2 (SaaS subscriptions for broker-tenants):** Pro-rata refund within 14 days of subscription start. Cancellation policy: month-to-month, no lock-in. Billing via Mollie EU (Phase 2 launch market: EU broker-tenants). Egyptian broker-tenants billed via Paymob EG (Phase 2-3, S35+).

**Phase 3 (vertical bundles):** Refund-policy per vertical-partner (yacht / diving / spa). Gouna Realty mediates disputes on request but legal-liability remains with vertical-partner per Egyptian consumer-law.

## 6. Currency policy

- Listings: USD primary, EUR + EGP secondary (auto-converted via daily ECB + EGP-USD rates)
- AI-agent endpoint responses: 3-currency block per price-field (USD / EUR / EGP)
- Phase 2 SaaS billing: EUR primary (EU-based Mollie billing) — VAT-handling per EU customer-state
- Phase 3 vertical-bundles: EUR primary, EGP fallback for local-market
- Tax-handling Phase 2+: subject-to-VAT EU customers; reverse-charge B2B EU per VIES validation
- Egypt-based payments: 14% Egyptian VAT applies for in-country services (Phase 3 verticals)

## 7. Last updated

- 2026-05-26 (S31 sprint)
- Pricing-model finalized for Phase 1: courtage-only, no end-user fees, no escrow
- Phase 2 SaaS launch: targeted Q3 2026, conditional on 5 founding-agency commitments
- Phase 3 verticals: targeted 2027, conditional on Phase 2 traction
- Subscribe to https://gounarealty.substack.com for pricing-change notifications

## 8. Compliance

- Egyptian PDPL (Personal Data Protection Law) compliant
- GDPR for EU buyers / EU broker-tenants (Phase 2+)
- Egyptian real-estate law conformant (Law 230/1996 foreign-ownership)
- No escrow/deposit handling in Phase 1 (out-of-platform via solicitor)
- Phase 2 financial-flows: PSD2-compliant via Mollie EU
- VAT-handling Phase 2+: per EU Member State + Egypt 14% in-country

## 9. Contact

- Sales / partnership: marketing@gounarealty.com
- General inquiries: hello@gounarealty.com
- Founder: Thiemo Sjors (Amsterdam, NL)
- Response SLA: <1 hour business-day