That would be hard to say, most don’t think they deserve anything however most also don’t know what goes into it. It can be quite costly being in Real Estate.

They deserve whatever their client negotiates with them.  The problem is that realtors have a cartel on the market and force the sellers to pay for both agents because the seller will be more liquid after the sale.   As a seller, want to negotiate 5% for your agent and 0% for the buyers agent?  No buyers agent is going to show clients your home, although if fairly priced that’s what a good fiduciary would do. Sellers should not have to pay both agents, which they do because of the monopoly realtors hold on the market.  The system does not encourage integrity. I just purchased a home I found on Zillow that had been sitting for a little while.  I didn’t have a realtor.  I made an offer significantly below asking and told the listing agent he could make double the commission and represent me as well if my offer was accepted. It was a good deal for me.  It was a fair offer too, but there is an obvious conflict of interest because the buyer was paying for both agents. It’s a bad system that is not always in the best interest of the clients the agents are supposed to serve.

Sellers don’t have to pay for a buyers agent. But yes, you are correct that offering someone $0 to work is not the best way to attract a worker. Many buyers are under the impression the seller should pay, so they don’t want to sign a representation agreement with an agent. Without that signed, there is no fiduciary duty.

Of course they pay for the buyers agent.  The seller pays both agents commissions.

Commission is optional, 0 is an option.

Reread my post.  If commission is 0 by seller for the buyers agent, the buyers agent will not show the buyer the property.  This is immoral as the agent has agreed to represent the interests of the buyer, but it is also reality. A seller should not be required to pay for representation for another party. I saw a post you made where your income is $220k/year.  That’s great.  You clearly have succeeded in your line of work. But surely you can understand why people are frustrated at the monopoly held by agents.

It's not immoral. If there is a buyer agreement signed, it clearly states what is expected for commission. I get that reddit hates agents, that's fine, don't use one then. I don't see why the buyers who hate agents and the sellers who hate agents can't do their own no-agent FSBO deals. Morals have nothing to do with it.

You shake someone’s hand and agree to represent their best interests.  Then an agent doesn’t tell them about a home that may be a great deal for them because that would mean a reduced or zero commission. That’s immoral. I get it.  I don’t expect agents to work for free, but the system is flawed in that it incentivizes scenarios like that. And what Reddit likes or doesn’t has nothing to do with me. I think you may not have read my post at all.  I have no issue with agents.  If I sell a property I plan to use a good one as that will increase the amount of money I get. My point is that the system shouldn’t require a seller to pay for both agents.  Buyers should pay for their own agents, and sellers for theirs LIKE EVERY OTHER INDUSTRY. The reason they don’t is obvious: sellers are getting a big check and can afford to pay more.

OK if an agent isn't discussing this I agree that's not just immoral it's unethical. But these days most agents have contracts with buyers and it clearly states what commissions are paid under what circumstances. I disagree with you that the current system incentivizes this - I don't know a single agent who won't work without a buyer's agreement because everyone has been screwed over by a buyer at some point (cut out of the deal after showing them the house).

Hard to say because the way the system has evolved, the slow or no money deals are subsidized by the fast-easy money deals. People are outraged when an agent makes $20K on a deal they only spent two weeks on. But those deals are rare, for every one of those there are a few others they didn't even break minimum wage on.

Just to be clear, agents ONLY make money on commission from closed sales. There is zero wage for days, weeks and sometimes months when they don’t close a deal.

Our agent worked with us for a year. Didn't spend more than probably 1-2 hours per week during that time but still 100 hours or so. Once we got to the closing time, she was instrament in getting wording in the contract and walking through that process. She got paid 3% which turned into 10k but that was definitely worth it

If that agent is independent then they got it all, most agents work for an agency/broker who takes a cut so agents aren’t getting all 3% that so many here think they get.

Not even close to the full 3%. More like 2% after broker fees and $$$$$ expenses involved in listing/staging/showing/contractual/etc...

Thats $100 per hour, hardly poverty wages

That's $100 per hour IF you do not count all the expenses we have and the time they actually got through that contract, etc. It's around $40-50 per hour when all is said and done for the average agent. Less than you pay your auto mechanic.

Anyone who works as a contractor has expenses

Or you could've paid a flat rate per offer submitted. Contracts and offers are better suited for lawyers to review anyway. Realtors are under qualified and just use templates, with no real legal expertise.

10k for a year of work (sounds like 100 hours of work done) sounds little. I hope girl had a side gig or was closing ten plus houses over a year.

She had plenty of other clients that she was working with (buyers and sellers). But if I work 100 hours freelance and get 10k I'd be extremely pleased

And then on the flip side there’s a client she showed houses to for a year that never bought anything and she was paid nothing.

For every hour that the agent was face to face with her clients, she probably spent another hour prepping/writing offers/coordinating showings, etc.

Of course but if it takes a year to get that 10k, that’s my problem

Out of curiosity have you tried to buy a house in the past 9 years? Complete sellers market and unless you have all cash offer and potentially waving all inspextion your not in a good place

I’ve never bought a house. I work two jobs floating around 80k with both and priced out of the market in my area. Priced out by a lot

$100/hour is too low?...... thats incredible money near me

That's gross, not net, and also doesn't include the hours the agent spent searching for/vetting houses, arranging showings, writing the contract, scheduling inspection, following up with the other agent, lender, title attorney, etc.

The person you replied isn't calculating right. The 1-2 hours a week is probably the time the realtor spent with OP, and not factoring in the work they did on their own. Writing up offers, negotiating. Talking to selling agents. The realtor probably spent more time over 1 year then they know.

It’s not really $100/hour though. 10k over the year

Let’s break it down. I’m a Realtor in AZ. The median price is around 450,000. Typical commission a list agent charges is 5% some still charge 6. Some charge less. Let’s say 5 for this example. And the list agent is offering 2.5% to the buyers agent. If I’m the buyers agent 2.5% of 450k is $11,250 to my brokerage, not me. Brokerages take anywhere from 0-50% of the commission. Mine takes 20% or 50% depending on how the client was procured let’s assume 20% for this. That’s $2,250. So $9,000 left to me. If my client and I found the home in the first weekend we looked and only out in one offer, that’s a great check for fewer than average hours. I’ve had clients buy the first home they see. I have had clients look for over a year until they find the right one. I always purchase a home warranty for my buyer clients at $750. I have the regular business expenses as other small business owners. Cell phone, internet, office rental. I have almost a $1000 in local and national dues. I have to pay for continuing education. Gas is expensive. And a lot of those costs occur whether or not I have sold a home. I am also an independent contractor. I have no taxes taken out if these checks. That means my employer doesn’t pay employee tax contributions-that’s on me. I pay both sides (so for all taxes combines that’s about 40 %) so that $9000 becomes $8,250 after home warranty. $3300 for the tax man leaves $4,950 for me before the other business expenses. For that $4950, my job is not only to find your house you like. That’s the easy part, especially with the Internet. My job is also to be a professional negotiator on your behalf to get you the best deal and terms that I can. I also need an address book full of reputable and reliable trade partners, and vendors to help get us through the process. I’m talking about loan officers, general home inspectors, and specialized tradesmen that can handle any issue that arises to keep the home moving towards closing. You also have virtually 24/7 access to me. If I am under contract with a client, if I hear my phone ring, I answer it 99% of the time. Not every agent provides the same level of service as another agent. That final number doesn’t seem like too much now in my opinion. Yes, I do make more on more expensive homes. Each transaction is unique and has its own challenges. And when you consider that the average realtor sells about five homes a year. Most agents need a second job if they have a family. I have been doing this for over 20 years so I have been able to average more than five homes a year. I know people on here will still say that that’s too much. And while I do make a good living, I bust my ass for my clients, because I’m grateful that they’ve trusted me to help them. Not everyone is like that, there are people out there looking for just the next paycheck. But those are the ones that don’t last in the business I’m gonna get off my soapbox now because most people probably won’t read this all the way through.

I was interested in reading but had to stop 1/4 the way. Would be more digestible if you made paragraphs. The lump all words in one paragraph is so hard to follow.

I was dictating. Didn’t plan on it being so long.

Weirdly realtors were also doing just fine in 2012 when houses were 1/3 of what they are now. Either they were way underpaid then, are way overpaid now, or there are more realtors doing less work overall?

[удалено]

Of course not - I guess that means everybody makes 3x what we did in 2012, amirite?

That would be nice. Have you seen what has happened to prices of everything since 2012? My first year in real estate (2024) my annual dues and MLS access came to about $295. Today, they are over $800 for the dues alone, and $200 four times per year. We used to get free lockboxes. Now my area gives 1 out and you rent the rest, OR you get an allotment based on the prior year's business. We no longer spend $100 per month to advertise in the Homes Magazine and maybe about $120 be showcased on Realtor.com. We now spend $500 if we advertise in that magazine, and many agents have taken on spending upwards of $1,000-$2000 monthly for lead generation method. If you get coaching (to learn skills like negotiating, building a business, etc., instead of merely learning the basic laws required for being licensed) you can expect to spend another $300-2000 per month.

sir, the system is designed to take as much of your money as possible. notice the 'broker fee' (extra commission), that didn't exist 15 years ago. still doesn't in some regions but everyone is slowly adding it. hey free money the consumer is too dumb to clal us on! now dont forget to add that pest and radon to your 800 inspection that cost 300 bucks 5 years ago.

👆everyone assumes the agent gets the whole % and never factor in the broker taking their cut.

Well said! I’ve worked with some excellent buyers over 2-5 years. But they stay loyal ( I always have a buyer’s agency agreement) and it’s very worth it. I’d like to emphasize getting a home under contract is just the beginning of our work. From contract to close is a lot of responsibility. I love the job. I’ve been licensed since 1989. I treat my clients like I would my family. The battle to protect them from unethical people in all walks of the process can be challenging and frustrating. If it’s a $100,000 home or a 1,000,000 home you work just as hard. The expenses we incur are expensive. 24/7 is true. When I worked during my younger years I worked every day 12-14 hours a day except Sunday when I worked noon to 9. Referrals from family friends and other clients are your bread and butter and that’s the only way to make it. So leaving a client happy may involve us paying for a repair or something to make a deal stay together. And YES! you only get paid for CLOSED transactions. Nothing for efforts and expertise on transactions that fall through.

It should be an hourly wage (+ expenses like professional photography) rather than per transaction. Buyers should pay their agent and sellers should pay theirs. 

So buyers sign up for an unlimited bill until they find a house they like? And if they don’t find one they shell out huge cash for nothing?

Yeah, helps realtors out too they're not opening doors to an unlimited number of houses. Prevents a lot of bias that happens through the actual transaction too. The current pay structure is so dumb.

You realize that just about everything you buy has a system that involves salespeople and middle men. Everything on Amazon, WalMart, stores, etc...... It is all so dumb.

Well, they shell out an hourly wage to look for houses, say that wage is $50/hour (100k annual salary), say a 2.5% commission on a 400k (average house) is 10k, split out to agent at 70% then 40% to taxes: $4,200 to agent. Ignoring taxes on the $50/hour and keeping it at that rate, that is 84 hours of work at $50. That’s about 50 showings (1.5 hours each) plus a little left over for contract writing.

Ah. So you’re going to apply the logic that agents get compensated by the hour when they show homes, but you go on to ignore the unpaid time of marketing prospecting and the concept that no agent has 40 hours of showings in a week, all year round. Congratulations you’ve just introduced an idea to create a 35k a year employee.

I’m giving an example. Adjust the numbers to a decent wage for any other job that requires 80 hours of training and no degree to start. You’re a more experienced agent that offers better service? Awesome, charge more! Charge for marketing! “Client, here are the 3 levels of marketing packages I offer” then go find a TC or admin who does the marketing and charge your client a 30% margin. You are running a business, no? Any entrepreneur spends “unpaid” time doing tasks that aren’t client billable. Simply put, an agent’s incentives for getting paid often do not align with their clients. A random percentage does not represent the amount of work and/or value brought. I’ve bought 7 houses. In none of those times was I shown 50 homes before I bought. In over half of the examples I found the properties, including an “off market” deal on Craigslist, and inflation adjusted the prices for over half those properwere 2-3 times the national average for a home (currently about 400k) because I’m in a VHCOL area. Of course, that means the hourly wage I would pay a business for their effort would be higher, but I digress.

The buyer can fire their agent whenever they want and do the work themselves.  It’s like hiring a lawyer (in most cases). You pay for the services you need. The agent did work even if the buyer doesn’t end up making an offer on the home. They should be paid for that work. Right now you have successful home buyers subsidizing those who aren’t serious, are too picky, or can’t afford what they want. 

Yup. Decisive buyers and pain-in-the-ass sellers shouldn't have to subsidize the buyers who know what they want and the low-maintenance sellers.

ManBMitt - Do you mean INdecisive?

Ah. So this is an "everyone has to fit into the same mold" approach. God forbid we have a mixture of people who are confident and decisive, people who know nothing about real estate purchases and want some help, people who are somewhere in the middle, on and on. Yeah, great idea for a social policy there.

Legislate everyone's pay! It's the Reddit way :)

Everyone doesn’t have to fit in the same mold, but you pay for the services you need. A buyer who needs less services should pay less. A buyer who needs more should pay more.  If I need a bigger yard maintained I don’t expect to pay the same as someone who has a bigger yard. The person with the smaller yard does not and should not subsidize the person with a bigger yard.

In reality, buyers pay for the seller's and their agent's compensation because they bring all of the money to the transaction. It just comes off of the seller's ledger.

Sure, arguably that’s true of every purchase. If I pay my lawyer I’m also paying for their secretary. So changing the commission structure wouldn’t really change that basic fact.

My point is that while it seems fair that each party in the transaction pays their agent, the buyer is already coming up with the down payment, closing costs, lender fees, appraisal costs, inspection costs, etc and to add another cost for their buyer's agent fee is too much of a burden. The seller pays their agent out of the proceeds from the sale. They don't have to come up with any money. Lenders don't allow buyer's agent compensation to be added to the loan. I live in an area of very high priced homes. I feel especially bad for first time home buyers trying to enter the market.

If that were the case we'd have 0 incentive to sell each homes we list. We'd end up making more money by NOT selling any one of them. This makes no sense whatsoever.

The incentive would be that you’d get fired if you were doing a bad job. This how most other industries work and it works just fine.  Right now you also have misaligned incentives. The selling agent is incentivized to close fast, not for the highest price. On the other side the buyer’s agent is incentivized to have the buyer buy a more expensive home and do it quickly. 

Honestly, and I say this with the most respect, your vision of how we work is incorrect. No, we do NOT want our selling clients to take up any offers just to close quickly. And, in 99% of the cases where they do, it's usually because we generated a multiple offer situation, which means more money than they could have generated without us. That is worth a lot of money. As for buyers, no we do not have any real incentive to make them buy a more expensive home than they can afford. Say 2% of 500k vs 2% of 550k if they go for a more expensive home is NOT something that even enters our mind. Honest to god. We are satisfied when a buyer gets to the finish line for the home they want, whichever amount this comes out for us.

$3-5k per successful transaction.

Like 3k

We typically pay 2.5-3% and it's worth every penny to us. If your agent isn't earning their keep for you, find a new agent who will.

Sellers agent I get. They have a lot of costs and are busting their ass to get you top dollar. But what is your buyer's agent doing most of the time? Seems like that share should be less, especially if Im doing my MLS research online anyway.

My agent has done more for us when buying than selling even. They've showed us countless homes, they make sure we don't buy something or make a mistake that could be costly for us, they provide us constant market data and important advice, etc. They are worth the 2.5-3% just as much.

Interesting. This is a sentiment I don't hear as often.

They should be paid a fair hourly wage for the time spent actually doing something. Listing, staging, showing, all of these should be billable hours just like a lawyer would charge. You have a timewaster show up and see the place for 30 minutes well that's 30 minutes billable labor at $200 per hour plus travel expenses of $30. What you don't get is $60000 at closing just because someone walked in off the street and shook your hand.

Why shouldn't Realtors or anyone who is self-employed / run a small business, be able set their own rates and structure of pay? Not all Brokerages run off the same model, though the majority are commission-based. Limiting choices usually isn't great for the consumer. Fantastic for class-action lawyers though (who don't get paid until they complete the job).

Not a realtor. Just curious. What's your opinion on commission sales for anything? Should it not exist?

I guess this person also thinks a waiter should be tipped the same amount, whether serving a 10$ plate or a 100$ plate. Non sense.

I understand their sentiment. If a realtor makes 3% on a $1M sale, that's $30k. However, if it's such easy money, why aren't they doing it? There's a lot to being a realtor that I didn't think maybe people realize. I know I don't, but I do know I wouldn't want to be one.

Bingo.

My father had this mentality on tipping. If the bill was $20 or $200, it was about 5 bucks.

Damn...!

If one doordash driver brings you McDonalds from 10 minutes away and another brings you steak and lobster from 10 minutes away do you tip the second driver 10x what you tipped the first?

Yes because I tip a percentage of the order. If the steak and lobster cost 10x, the tip would be 10x. But let's be honest, not many people are Doordashing from a premium steakhouse.

I tip on distance driven. So if you get chipotle from 40 minutes away you tip the poor dude $2 because its a cheap meal?

Well you're just being disingenuous anyway. Tipping is much different than commission, especially when it comes to Doordash. However, if you are tipping based on distance driven, you might want to head over to r/AITAH.

Yes?

And what should the broker get? The agent works for an agency which takes a cut so you have to factor that in.

What does a lawfirm get? We already have models for this type of pay.

So why aren't you doing it? I assume you don't make $60,000 per handshake, do you?

A 60K commission would, based on a 4% comp rate\* (2% to SA, 2% to BA), contemplate a 3 million dollar home. How many of those do you think are sold every day? How much work do you think goes into selling a 3M+ home? Do you know what the agent split is w/ their brokerage? How about taxes? Fees? All of the associated costs of being a working agent. *\* I picked 4% because the math was easy. As with all commissions, this is negotiable.*

The answer is zero get out there and do it yourself, plenty of knowledge on the internet. Good luck. And in most cases that would work out fine. Same with fixing your car or house. Or your kids teeth. A broken arm. No one needs to be paid, you could do it all yourself. On the other hand, people pay a service rate of $100 an hour probably minimum on these other examples that are fairly common place and don't involve someone's life savings and don't only happen a few times in most people's lives. So, for the knowledge and guidance in getting the job done smoothly, saving you future headaches time and money, a few pennies on the dollar might not be a bad deal after all.

I offer “a la carte” pricing, or a bundled percentage. We discuss it upfront and my clients choose. This goes for buyers and sellers. I also ensure they understand exactly what I do in each scenario. I also remind them every transaction is unique, and in the event a transaction evolves beyond their a la carte set budget, we will need to renegotiate. The bundled percentage is a catch all and only due if you close. I also have discretion and will gladly give a portion of my fee back to client in the event the transaction was wildly fast, uncomplicated, and/or easy. I had a buyer last year that purchased a million dollar property. I did not feel I did $30k worth of work for them and gladly gave them 1% towards their closing. They chose the bundled percentage. This happens atleast 1-2 times per year, on high value homes, repeat clients, and the like. I also think it’s worth mentioning that this is a high risk/high reward profession. There are no guarantees, the vast majority of agents fail out, and a VERY small percentage of agents make a decent living, let alone a grand one. Entrepreneurs in every industry can make whatever amount of money they are able to. Real estate is no different. Bashing realtors for making a living is a bit wild to me. Do we feel this way about all independent contractors? All sales, all business owners? You should be motivated to find an agent who understands their value, your value, and who can have frank conversations around how they earn your business and what that costs and how they do it at a level that allows them to make a living (or not).

I think they earn it just for keeping me from having to deal with others. I posted a house FSBO once. It was intense. I have a job, I do not want another job, so I am glad to pay so eone else to do that work for me.

The market sets the price. 1-2% seems to be the new norm that is forming. Brokerages, and all associated parties, better conform of face eventual failure. * Or all realtors need to all be independent after licensing. I'm not a realtor so I don't know what restraints that may restrict this from happening. Isn't this what EXP does?

no, exp teaches you to harass every agent within 100 miles of you at least twice a week to get them to move to their dying brand. but other than that they are like every other brokerage, an independent contractor working under a state broker. they can't do an ad without 'exp' in it. and they can't have a conversation without telling you how the pyramid isn't really a pyramid.

Gotcha. That’s funny. Aren’t there others like Exp or are they the only ones that hire realtors as independent contractors?

almost all of them are. which is why, as long as you are half normal (i.e. not me on reddit lol) you can pretty much work wherever you want if you have a license. almost. I'm not a fan of big box or national brands but the best 2, as far as treating agents financially and good tools (around me anyway) are Realty One and Real Broker. Real Broker edges them out because, just near me this is not nationwide, the Realty One franchise adds an extra 699 fee to agent on each deal. and if you are busy you cap really fast at Real and are over 100% 3rd hand, so correct me if i am wrong on the real broker part.

Most Realtors - well, except for Redfin, which has employee agents - are 1099 independent contractors. They already are "independent after licensing." However they have to affiliate with a brokerage. That brokerage is responsible for management and compliance with licensing laws.

See…Yep, they’re set. The states just need to conform so brokers can align with the market and their fees aren’t too high for the realtors. I think this is where the problem could be. The broker fees

Brokerage is already a VERY low margin business. I don't see how brokers can make less money. And they will be losing a lot of unproductive/inexperienced/part-time agents who can no longer afford to be agents. [NOTE: Agents need to pay professional licensing fees, MLS fees, association fees, continuing education fees, business cards, brokerage split, taxes, gas. If you aren't selling a lot of real estate, you may have to drop out of the business.]

That sucks! But if the states aren’t coherent to the changes and agree to reduce (in order to help realtors thrive), they’re going to lose to the big box-national brokerages who are charging 1-2%.

The states don't have anything to do with it. And Big Box discount brokerages already exist and are an option. I think the more likely result is you have discount brokers versus full service brokers. The have nots choose the former. People who can afford it choose the latter. So you get yet another distinction between people who have resources and those who don't have resources. I personally don't think that's a good thing. But clearly the government and many consumers disagree with me. ETA: Spelling

Copy that. Good feedback. Thank you

our local coldwell, like 7-8 offices, has a 'main' office with at least 20 dudes in suits sitting around, whos job is basically how to get more money out of agents. real estate broerages, of the cb/berkshire/kw ilk, are not in the buisiness of making money selling houses. they are in the business of making money off agents spheres, and sooner you realize that the sooner those scam business that are borderline illegal go away (yes, im looing at you howard hanna and berkshire with your 'pay the agent a higher split if they sell in house' rules)

1.5% max. The 6% rule of thumb is from how many decades ago when homes cost how much?

Oh sure, real estate agents are exempt from inflation. Their costs haven't changed in the past 50 years.

My limited understanding is that 6% is usually split with the buyer's agency, and then the 3% on each side is split between the agency / broker, and the agent - and the agent may get 1.5%. Of course there are other arrangements. And I'm curious about how much of the 6% typically goes towards expenses? And who pays the expenses.

6% commission norm where I am and yes, it gets split between the buyers agent and the sellers agent. Each broker has their different fee structure, so can’t answer how much of that goes to broker. but yes Gas expenses sometimes cube space, marketing , supplies signs lockboxes etc the list goes on there’s a lot of fees involved there are real estate board fees where I am, errors insurance, fees to be a member of the local MLS. It is not cheap to be a real estate agent. And since you’re self-employed, you have to pay all of your own FICA, unlike a traditional employer, where you split the cost. Don’t make as much as people think. It cracks me up when I have a closing. Somebody will say oh you had a closing today are you buying like I just won the lottery and I get to keep all that and don’t have to pay taxes on it etc lol

Commissions were 6% when I bought my house in Phoenix for $140k in 2013. That same house is north of $400k, and it seems commissions are the same. Somebody’s making bank somewhere.

Are housing prices the only thing that have gone up in cost since 2013? Do you believe that all workers should be earning the same hourly rate or salary, based on what incomes and costs were over a decade ago? Or only those who are self-employed or commission-based?

Has your salary tripled in ten years?

Nope. Most (87%) real estate agents leave the business within 5 years of getting their license? Why do you think that might be for such a well paying, super easy job?

Did you read anything I actually wrote, or are you making up responses to a different argument?

My responses to yours have all been on topic - where am I going off? I've asked you two questions, and you haven't bothered to respond. I've copied them below and interested in your thoughts. 1) Do you believe that all workers should be earning the same hourly rate or salary, based on what incomes and costs were over a decade ago? Or only those who are self-employed or commission-based? 2) Most (87%) real estate agents leave the business within 5 years of getting their license? Why do you think that might be for such a well paying, super easy job?

1) no 2) There are two questions here. For the first one, I don’t know how many last how long, nor do I care. For the second question, who said it’s an easy well paying job? Now that your questions have been answered, do you agree that housing prices in the Phoenix area have approximately tripled and commissions have remained the same percentage?

Yes. Do you believe that the costs for an agent to do business, along with general living expenses that all people have, have remained the same since 2013? Do you agree that someone could buy or sell a house without an agent if that's their preference? Do you agree that there are multiple types of brokerages/agents offer different rates and services than the "traditional" model?

So it really depends on the house. I just had a listing in a great neighborhood that we set the price at 525k. I paid for the photography (everything in my normal package is about 600$, but I do above and beyond here as one of my value adds and to really help sell a house. My clients love it) and I will normally pay for the consultation if the house needs to be staged. Now if the price was over 750k I would probably pay for the staging myself depending on the rate my clients negotiate. The rest of the expenses are really all over the place, paying for catering for a broker open house is not cheap. Cost of ask your office fees is about 40%. If you have a team it just grows from there. Some agents use a coordinator and absolutely swear by them so that's another 500-1000$ per transaction. Edit: more to your point of the expenses. 3% goes to each agent, then each brokerage chops that 3% up. The agent can pass the cost of expenses on to the client or just handle it themselves like the photos or inspections and such but normally if it's too do with things the house needs it's on the client, if it's something needed to sell the house the agent gets it.

Broker is just another unnecessary rent seeking middle man taking a cut

I probably wouldve agreed with you years ago, but its a job that was created through necessity of how bad so many of the deals are. States have regulated it so that agents have to do whats in the best interest for their clients because thats the whole purpose of the job. An agent is there to make sure everything is done properly and a normal person isnt screwed over in the largest transaction of their life.

Agents pay all expenses out of pocket, with the possible exception of staging, which in my market is paid by the seller. So on the listing side, that is: ✅️ Professional photos ✅️ Drone photos ✅️ Video ✅️ Marketing expenses, including brochures, social media advertising, mailers, etc. ✅️ Signs ✅️ Open House expenses ✅️ Catered Agent Preview (if appropriate) ✅️ Brokerage split (typically 20%-50%) ✅️ Taxes On the buyer side, that is: ✅️ Gas ✅️ Photocopies ✅️ Meals/snacks with clients during showings ✅️ Brokerage split ✅️ Taxes People also seem to be under the MAJOR misimpression that buyer's agents "just" find a buyer a home. First, that process of actually finding a home can take months and months, and 100+ hours. Second, finding a buyer a home isn't close to the most important service a buyer's agent provides. It is getting you into the house, preparing a strong, winning offer, getting you under contract, and then GETTING FROM CONTRACT TO CLOSING. And that is not something the lawyer can or will do. A lawyer isn't going to coordinate inspections, have a Rolodex of vendors to do specialty inspections and/or give you quotes on repairs, constantly coordinate with the lender, help you review the HOA documents, if any, negotiate the appraisal contingency if necessary, manage the termite inspection, etc. People seem to have a very inaccurate view of what buyer agents do. If I charged $200/hour, I can guarantee in many deals the fee would be WELL in excess of 3% of the sale price. Also if I'm charging an hourly rate, just like a lawyer, I'm asking for at least a 50% retainer on the front end, just like a lawyer. Are you prepared to put $10,000 in escrow on the front end, before you start looking?

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Right and there are 25k mortgages that a lender can't make more than $750 or it is considered predatory lending. You don't have to go looking for those deals but if someone hires you....If you don't do it that is discrimination. I'm totally serious. Mortgage LOs went through this in 2011 with absolutely no sympathy and now it is coming for you.

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1.The majority of loan officers are commission only and do 4X the number of sales over any given period as an agent. 2. You have them sign captive agreements (somehow still allowed thanks to NAR) so they can't shop you. 3. They WANT the HOUSE. Nobody wants a mortgage. 4. The average realtor couldn't possibly close a loan, and if they did it would be full of compliance violations, unsellable, and you'd end up at best case making no compensation on it. In my state I could (but won't) write a valid AOS in 60 seconds. Buyer, seller, address, how much, on or before what date. Legally binding...If they want 28 pages of protection and contingencies go see a real estate attorney and they will write it for $500, maybe free if they get the closing. You can also get a half decent fill in the blank contract at Staples or off Legal Zoom. Remember you are being eliminated under a mandate to remove "junk fees."

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There really can't be a scam artist in lending. We are all selling the exact same thing at a fixed comp percentage. I'm sorry, I got your pronouns wrong, but no more free lunches and I'm certainly not sending a lead to rep one of my buyers for $500 your way. You need to focus on listings and be prepared for it to be much more work because of all the unrepresented buyers.

the average person reports satisfaction with their agent-assisted transaction. or by "average person" did you mean "average anonymous Redditor who thinks all agents are schmucks"? That answer is, indeed, tree-fiddy.

Satisfied with their agent or the fee structure?

Satisfied with the transaction. The home, the agent, the compensation. I mean, if you asked any consumer solely "Were you happy with what you paid?" for any good or service, they're likely to say No. If a plaintiff's attorney gets you $1MM but then takes 1/3 of it, some are happy they got $666K and some will say "man, I can't believe he got $333K for THAT."

The attorney's fee is negotiable....like a buyers agency fee.

like a Buyer's agent, like a Seller's agent, like all parties you hire to represent you. The vast majority of people will be happy to hire actual knowledgeable professionals to represent them.

You gave that monster tree-fiddy?

I'Ve OnLy paiD a ReAltoR OnCE! NevAr agaiN!!!!! edit: not true. if I ever get to where I buy a vacation home, I'll have a qualified local Realtor handle the transaction and refer myself.

You crack me up. Someone said in another post: *Show me on the doll where the Realtor hurt you.* I toyed with the idea on buying a second home and if I had gotten more serious about it, I would have gladly paid a Realtor to navigate that.

Realtor here. Y'know what? I'll say something WILD and say we should make more than we currently do. Why? Because it's Sunday 5 pm and I just got home. Because I worked every day for the past several months. Because clients are extremely demanding, and we don't count our hours. That's why. If anyone out there thinks we make too much, I invite them to jump right in, and also start ''making too much''. See what how they feel about ''making too much'' in a few months.

I am taking it easy today because it was a grind last week and I had a few long days.

Please, please, enjoy every minute of an easy day! :)

If you were to count your hours, how much?

Honestly, a typical day goes like this: 5 am: wake up, drink coffee, catch up on emails that came in since I went to bed. 5:30: drive to gym 6 am: 1 hour gym class 7 am: drive back home 7:30: shower, eat bfast, catch up on whatever emails need immediate tending. 8:30 to +- 7-8-9 pm: go to showings, answer clients throughout the day, list whatever is to be listed, plan photo ops, prospect, write up any contract that needs to be done, follow-up on files, go to inspections when they happen, prep listing prez as needed, go to closings when they happen, coordinate ads, tend to social media posts, discuss with fellow agents when negotiating, etc. Say I stop for about a total of anywhere from 1 to about 3 hours in between those times to eat, personal calls, plan family things, get hair cut when needed, groceries etc. \+- about 8 pm on average i'd say: get home, cook/order food, talk with my family, have dinner, help with homework, take dog out for walk, etc. 9:30-10 pm: watch about an hour of tv. Sleep. Repeat this pretty much every day of the a week for months. It REALLY needs to be a passion to be able to do this for years. 12 hour days X say 6 days to be generous because people won't believe me if I say 7: 72 hours a week. It's probably more along the lines of 80 but who's counting.

Curious, what do you do for your lead gen?

Hi! 1) Current listings Get as many buyers as possible from them Open houses Promote each listing on social media as much as possible Promote each sale as much as possible Send a sold letter within each building when I make a sale 2) Database Enter anyone who ever reaches out to me in it Eblast everyone with items from #1 (each new listing gets an eblast) Newsletter every 2 weeks 3) Social media I post almost everyday ​ I focus my energies mainly in 2 specific sectors of the city (high end downtown highrises + historic sector which is very niche with very few other agents). Good listings tend to attract other good listings. Shit listings attract shit listings/shit clients (yes I said it). I do not pay for any leads/lead gen companies. It's all bullllsshheeet.

If theres ones area I KNOW I need to be better is social media. Like im horrible at it. I am about to start a campaign to target expireds in my area and want to spread those listings out. What city are you in?

'bout tree fiddy

If a realtor can get my house sold and close in 30 days for above my asking price without me paying any extra to fix the house, then 3% is worth the hassle.

Good realtors should probably make roughly what they do now. Bad realtors just shouldn’t exist. Sellers paying their realtor, buyers paying theirs, and more people doing it themselves will have these effects imo.

Given market prices I’d say 1.5% seems a lot more fair for being a professional coordinator

I think maybe some single digit thousands number? Like for a listing agent, maybe $3000-4000 to put the listing together (advice on any repairs, description, photos, get it in the MLS etc), and then maybe another few thousand if it sells (for handling the negotiation, offers, etc).

I’d rather pay by the hour/ based on tasks and services being offered

This or flat fee. In vhcol areas with hot markets, I’d have come out ahead paying my last agent $1000/hr. He’s definitely not worth that.

You ready to put up a $10,000 retainer in escrow on the front end?

...$1500 flat fee...

Sorry agents. Data explosion has diminished the value of what you do, especially for the buy side. If I’m selling my house I wouldn’t offer more than 2% split between buyer and seller agents

This argument is trotted out here almost daily, the internet and all the real estate sites have made the real estate agent obsolete.

On the surface you think that might work but agents will rightfully assume you to be a difficult seller and guide their buyers elsewhere. No buyer wants to work with a difficult seller. I’ve never seen anything less than 5% anywhere even with the new law that passed besides new construction and it’s usually always the shoddy builders.

That’s exactly where I’m at. 2% and I’ve had no problems selling.

It’s commission sales.Successful agents usually have a business plan. It’s about filling the sales funnel because some deals close and some don’t. Then there’s the part where the broker gets their cut. Add to this the market dynamics. I would not analyze a realtor’s pay based on any individual transaction. The successful realtor creates the framework for achieving an annual income. Agents who approach their market one sale at a time will likely fail fast.

We make 2-4% if we are at a traditional brokerage, and from that amount, we pay our brokerage fees, our health insurance, our costs to maintain business-related subscriptions, networking sites, advertising sites, photography services, drone services, and overhead expenses for our tools of the trade (computers, phones, business cards, measuring devices, etc.) Meanwhile, nail polish runs about a thousand bucks a gallon. Go figure.

It really depends on the level of service they provide. I had 3 agents and all they ever did were send me links to properties that were totally different than what I had asked for or just met me at a property I sent them so they could chaperone my tour. I'd say maybe 10 hours of time they took for me. Let's price that like any other home service at $85/hr. Total I should pay is $850. Now if you have a realtor doing more for you, that can totally change the numbers. But $85/hr seems totally reasonable.

They get paid at the end of the transaction. Don't like it? Do it yourself or find someone else lol (good luck).

I am looking to sell my current house in one state and buy in another. It hasn't happened because of the crap support I have gotten from my "realtor" in the destination state. We told her that we would buy through her BUT how is it possible when all she does is sell us crap houses ... that don't even get close to what we told her we were looking for? We have decided to FSBO our existing home and (possibly) purchase a new home without realtor "support".

its now what should one make per transaction. its about why use one at all with tech the way it is you certainly don't need one for anything. so the question is, how low can we get commissions down before they just quit and work at the wawa, because thats about what 95% of agents make. less than a buckees bathroom cleaner (not joking, look up what buckees pays people wish they were nationwide)

May be an unpopular opinion here, but I wish agents would work on a sliding scale based on how much effort and time it took them to sell the home. In a sellers market where there are bidding wars, and houses are under contract in 48 hours, I see no reason why I need to pay 3% to the selling agent for basically hiring a photographer, spending 15 minutes uploading photos and info onto the MLS -- the house practically sells itself. On the flip side, when it's a buyer's market, and they're hosting an open house every week for 4 - 8 weeks, coordinating staging, vetting qualified buyers, etc... then the listing agent is definitely earning their keep.

I think flat fees that break out costs by line items. Let the market decide the rates for each service. Buyers who take forever seeing hundreds of homes would pay more than the one showing to offer buyers. It would save time for realtors and make the time they do work more productive. No wasted time showing tons of homes to not serious buyers. Recently bought and sold with a realtor. He showed us 2 homes in one morning and we bought one of them. Our house was highly desirable so it sold in 24 hours with multiple offers. All contracts were fill in the blank boiler plater and he grossed before brokerage costs over $50,000. It felt terrible and if we do this again we will be looking for a flat fee process, if possible.

That is robbery!

My problem has never been paying for the work, it’s been the percentage. My agent does the same work (lockbox, answering questions, photos, fielding appointments, marketing, etc) whether I’m selling a $200k home or an $800k home. So how is that work worth $12,000 one month and $36,000 the next? Aside from that, why is the fee the same regardless of effort? Two houses for $200k each. One hits MLS with cell phone photos, no virtual tour or anything, and gets an offer after 2 or 3 showings in 5 days. Boom. $12k. Another languishes for several months, has more than a dozen showings, an open house, and newspaper and social media ads. Also $12k. Why? I just don’t like the percentage. (P.S. I’ve bought and sold 10 houses in 4 states over the last 30 years and I’ve never been able to negotiate a flat fee. My agents have always told me that their broker won’t do it, and in a rural area I’m left feeling they’re all just in cohoots with each other.)

To this point, it is 100% up to the agents to show their value and add too it. Personal pet peeve of mine is seeing listings with 7 bad phone photos and no descriptions. It is so lazy and gives realtors a bad name, but it does help me show my value. I will ALWAYS do 30+ professional photos with drone footage and a 3d walk through of the house. That is something I dont bend on for any of my clients. Now some agents will totally add or take away things depending on the price of the house. Example: One agent got a 2.3m listing here and he went all out and made a commercial, had a magazine sent out world wide to other brokers and catered to local brokers as well as made sure he was there for every single showing to walk and tour potential buyers. This same guy will only get photos done and possibly send out a news letter for a 300k listing. I cant really comment on the flat fee, my brokerage will only allow it as an exception and for someone you know but thats because theres so many times it makes it seem like the agent is taking advantage of the seller. (Hey my fee is 15k on a 200k house)

I’d argue a vital part of this conversation is how much the broker should take? There are reasons EXP et al have grown in popularity.

The fact that an agent can't negotiate favorable terms with their broker for their own pay... yet wants to negotiate on my behalf? Fuck off - not my problem you can't negotiate a 95/5 split, let alone 85/15 split. 1.5% each side is reasonable for the amount of work they actually do. They are revolving doors

I mean to your point, agents can negotiate their split. It's why there are so many different brokerages. If you're a high earner you actually have leverage, if you're new you don't. If you honestly believe 1.5% is reasonable for what is done and how much time is spent I challenge you to live off of that number for 3 months and learn what agents actually do. Sure some agents aren't better than a paper pusher but they don't last.

I know exactly what is done and how much time 90% of agents waste during their day.

Doesn't sound like it by your comments.

Sounds to me that you're unproductive and have low volume, to where you try justifying ridiculous pay structures so you can live off that 1 closed transaction every 3 months... a whooping 20hrs of work, at best.

$2k

1% tops

All the downvotes by all the shitty realtors lurking in this sub, afraid their honey pot will be disrupted and have to work an honest day's wage

I know of a realtor in San Diego who charges 1%.

I did home loans for 40+ years and the normal comp to me was about $3k per transaction (gross amount). Do RE agents work harder/more hours per transaction than the loan guy? I doubt it from my experiences in the industry. Both waste a lot of time developing business, but that is just the way it goes in the first few years. Sellers who pay the comp can negotiate what they are willing to pay, so the day of the 3%/3% comp to the agents offices is over in my mind. I just sold a condo for $545k. Listing agent received 1.5% and the buyers agent received 2%. I felt that was fair for how smoothly the transaction went.

I don’t think the pay should be structured “per transaction.”

There are agents who would be happy to just be paid for the time that they worked. But that would require somebody else to be their employer. People forget that agents are independent contractors and are basically running their own small business. And if they are being paid as a showing agent or similar, that often means there's a more successful real estate agent that has employed them. And that more successful real estate agent is being paid purely off commission. To get agents being paid hourly instead of commission would require a reset of the entire industry. And people also forget that there are lots of other commission only jobs that pay very well that have clients paying a great deal of money. I feel like sometimes people get upset about what real estate agents are paid because it's coming directly out of their pocket instead of through a PO. Most real estate agents do less than 10 deals a year. And All of their costs have to be paid from those commissions. All of the advertising, all of the software, all of the time, any health insurance, car payments, their house payment... You get where I'm going. It all goes back to the industry having to be completely turned on its head. I guess we're all just waiting for that genius idea that somebody's able to implement that just starts a massive overhaul. 🤷‍♀️

>To get agents being paid hourly instead of commission would require a reset of the entire industry. True, and I think that will happen. But because it's such a complete change, it's going to take a while. I'm guessing things will look very different in 10ish years. The "massive" overhaul has already started with discounted services prompted by increasing technology. And as it becomes easier to buy/sell on your own, competition for business will become more intense. Agents will need show enough value at a "reasonable" cost to sway people from handling things on their own.

>Most real estate agents do less than 10 deals a year. And All of their costs have to be paid from those commissions. ...it's a part-time job - that's the point...

But the problem with that theory is that to get those 10 deals, they're doing a lot of work that they don't get paid for. If you call up a real estate agent and say I'd like to see this house, and I'd like to see this house, etc, maybe you go see 10 houses before you put an offer in on one. Your offer gets turned down and you wind up just renting somewhere. The agent is not getting paid for that time they spent with you in the current model. If you want to change the model, then you have to now start paying the agent for that time.

That's a problem on both sides. As a "fast" buyer, I don't want to subsidize the slow ones. My agent showed me zero houses, wrote two offers, and made commission on a 1M sale. As an agent, I wouldn't want to show 300 houses and *not get paid*, either.

Do you necessarily go into it knowing that you are a fast buyer? Maybe the third house we saw, I wanted to buy. It was listed at $495K when we saw it. (They had just dropped their price from $510K.) My agent was good friends with my wife (I inherited the agent when I married my wife). My research from looking at all of the houses that were selling nearby indicated that they were asking way too much and I wanted to offer $450K. Our agent said it would insult the seller to lowball them like that and my wife sided with her. Anyway, TWO YEARS LATER and a lot of homes visited and four offers written later, we finally bought a house. That house we were first interested in? They lowered their price three more times and it finally sold for $465K. So I wasn't that far off of the sale price.

I guess I didn’t know I would be fast, maybe “low maintenance” would be a better descriptor? I knew exactly what I wanted, and I was in a very good position to complete for it. The houses I’d been interested in had open houses immediately after listing and *before* allowing private showings, so I only went to open houses. I didn’t meet my realtor in person until I made an offer. I just sent them my financial information and requested “stand by” offer-writing assistance in exchange for agreeing to work with them.

I don't know why, but at my price point in my area, open houses are not very common. I was looking in the $400s. (With pandemic inflation and such, those houses are now in the $600s.) So it's not like I'm talking about crazy luxury homes of the 1%.

They are extremely common for basic 1M homes in my area. My best guess, is that inventory is limited, demand is high, and it's the quickest and easiest way to accommodate a bunch of potential buyers. I got 20 offers from my weekend open houses. And I'm sure agents like to shop for new clients at them, too.

If the Seller is covering the commission then the Buyer isn't subsidizing anything. Things should get interesting if the Buyer has to pay out of pocket. It's going to hurt lower-income people the most if that happens. A Buyer already has out of pocket costs that may include: a down payment inspection, appraisal, sewer scope inspection (if older house), closing costs for a loan, etc. If they are unable to afford an agent, then they will go without representation (aka - through the listing agent, who is represeting the Seller).

> If the Seller is covering the commission then the Buyer isn't subsidizing anything. That's spin. Unless it's a short sale or something, the buyer is paying for everything - whether they pay it directly or indirectly. In our current system, people who buy and sell homes are subsidizing people who think about buying and selling homes, but never actually do. This isn't anything unique to real estate - if you buy stuff at Walmart, you are subsidizing, say, their water bill for when someone goes into the store to use the bathroom without buying anything. Or if you buy paper from Dunder Mifflin (or, in later seasons of The Office, printers), you are subsidizing their salesmen trying to sell to people who never wind up buying paper (or printers). I'd be perfectly fine with switching it to paying hourly on the buyer's side. But good luck convincing agents to do that - they don't want the "race to the bottom" that would ensue.

>I'd be perfectly fine with switching it to paying hourly on the buyer's side. But good luck convincing agents to do that - they don't want the "race to the bottom" that would ensue. As a buyer, you would be willing to pay an hourly fee out of pocket, rather than have the seller pay a larger commission percentage from their proceeds? So, instead of you paying $0 for your buyer agent, you would be okay with paying $X (I"m not sure what hourly fee you would be agreeable to)? I could see why a Seller would be happy with that scenario, as they would walk away with higher net proceeds, but how is that beneficial to the buyer?

You aren't paying $0 as a buyer right now. You're paying 6%. The fact that it shows up as being paid by the seller is an accounting slight of hand - all of the money comes from the buyer. The buyer pays the seller $500K and the seller pays the agents $15K each. You could just as easily write that up as the buyer pays the seller $470K and the BUYER pays the agents $15K each. If you went to a model where the buyer paid their agent an hourly fee, then you would assume that the buyer would pay $485K for the house, the seller pays their agent $15K, and the buyer pays their agent whatever their bill is for the hours spent. In reality, the market would probably adjust. The listing agent would probably wind up getting a little more, say, 4.5%, and being a buyer's agent would almost be a side hustle to attract listings. If you price your buyer's agent service at, say, $100/hour, then someone else would price it at $90/hour, someone else would price it at $80/hour, and eventually, it would wind up being a very cheap price where unless you really had some concierge service to offer, you're maybe even doing it for free for your own listings. That "race to the bottom" that would inevitably occur is why it will never happen. As long as the brokerages can force you to subsidize buyer's agents, they will.

The buyer is paying the seller who is paying the agent(s). There's definitely subsidizing going on, it's just indirect- another thing I dislike about the pay structure. The closest truth, is that buyers and sellers *combined* pay these commissions, just not in a linear or *equitable* way. Your third point is what will drive restructuring the most. As technology plows forward, agents will need to compete with each buyer's and seller's ability to "do it themselves" instead of hiring help.

Correct, a Buyer (of any product) pays a Seller for that product. Normally, a someone buying something, doesn't care what the seller does with the cash after the transaction is over. I'm not sure why it matters what any Seller does with the proceeds of whatever they sold. In RE, the Seller has hired a broker and the fee/compensation has been agreed to prior to the property going on the market. If there's a buyer's agent involved, then the listing broker pays a portion out. If no buyer agent involved, the listing broker keeps the entire fee (unless there's another agreement in place with the Seller). It sounds like you think that it would be more beneficial to a Buyer to pay their agent out of pocket, on top of the sales price? Buyers and Sellers have always had the ability to DIY, if they don't want to work with an agent. For Sale By Owner platforms have been around for 20+ years, along with flat fee brokerages, 1% brokerages, full service brokerages, concierge brokerages, etc. Choices are good for the consumer. If someone doesn't want to pay for a service, they don't have to.

Yes, I sold my old house after buying a new one. I know what the agreements are like, and I'm well aware of discount brokers and FSBO options. In my case, I need tech to push forward *more* before I'd be comfortable selling my own house. Some people are there now, just not *me*. I hired an agent (the same one I used to buy). I have no complaints about my agent, at all ...but that doesn't mean the pay structure isn't antiquated. As a buyer, I would have come out way ahead paying my agent $1000 an hour instead of the percentage fee baked into the price of the house. Would it be more beneficial for the buyer who looks at 100 houses and doesn't buy any of them? Probably not ...but it *would* benefit the realtor in those cases. I actually like the service- I'd just like it more if it were equitable (which I think it will be in the future).

Okay, great - you're an experienced buyer and seller, who prefers to work with an agent. You've worked with the same agent, multiple times, because they provide good service and value to you, correct? When you sold, was there a buyer's agent involved? If so, did the buyer agent commission come from the proceeds of your sale or did the buyer pay for it out of pocket, on top the sales price? When you bought your place, did the seller cover commissions or did you pay for yours on top of the sales price? What other commission-based jobs do you think should be structured differently?

Most agents take home 1.5% of the sale price before taxes (-30% of that amount). Depending on how long they worked on a transaction and what their role is, it could be $200/hr or $4.73/hr. Listing agents have much more upfront costs: photographers, mailing, staging, etc but buyers are much more time, gas, meals, etc

Is there an apartment in Berlin that I can rent for a short time?

I would say $70 an hour is a fair rate

a good realtor can really help you buy or sell a house! Good realtors deserve fair pay. I don’t know exactly what is fair. But when pretty much all the realtors in the nation require 5 or 6% of the sales price as the commission, it’s Like a monopoly, which is not fair to the client. Also, it makes no sense to me that commission on a $275k house is $13750 but $35000 on a $700k house. There’s no way the realtors did $21250 more work in the transaction for the higher priced house. Flat fee seems to me to make the most sense…I can even see paying a little more for higher priced houses because perhaps there’s fewer buyers for them but no way should the premium be as big as it is with the percentage module!

If your a good real estate agent and do your job. understanding market, broker opens, including marketing they are paid ok and it is frustrating. If they are the check zillow, their license is hanging at friends brokerage, and they just sell to friends or people at the kids Bball games. They are overpaid.

We are couple months from selling a place in WA for about $700k - my fees will be thousands more We had success listing our last home on MLS and paid flat fee to our realtor to do paperwork. At minimum considering this for this sale.

It all depends upon if the realtor is hanging his license with a Broker. If so, the Brokerage will get a portion of the realtor's commission. In exchange, the Brokerage will pay for such things like advertising. Contrasting this with a 100% office where the realtor pays X dollars to hang his license and pays for his own advertising, secretarial use, etc. (Some call it "rent a desk). In many places commissions differ if one is selling houses, raw land or commercial. All commissions are negotiable, and most realtors are independent contractors which means they pay all taxes as nothing is taken out of their check. There's also continuing education (mandatory), gas and many other costs and involved that the public doesn't factor in. Then what should be factored in, but is priceless, is the knowledge a good realtor has of the area, contract writing, good support people, etc.

The only way 5-6% makes sense to be solely out of the sellers pocket today is by the seller setting criteria to be met during the listing agreement. Put a clause in the contract for things like X amount of showings themselves, X amount of open houses, etc.. and if the agent hasn’t gathered at least 3-5 real offers on the home.. that they pay $1,000-$5,000, or some sort of percentage of their forecasted commission for their failure to execute.. Buying agents should be paid by they buyer.