If you’re a seller that wants to pay a commission to real estate agents, you may think that there’s a fixed amount. But did you know that you can negotiate how much of a commission you give to the real estate agent? You actually can totally negotiate this. real estate commission rates aren’t actually regulated in every state, and they’re totally negotiable. What this means for you, is if you’re thinking about selling your home, you’ll consider hiring the service of a real estate agent. You may think that they’re “set in the area,” meaning you have to pay a certain amount in order to get help from the service. However, that’s not the case, so you can actually pay whatever you agree to.
Now, what’s the general “fair” price of a real estate agent? Well, fair is really what you decide to be fair, and I’s what you and the agent agree on, and you’re actually not under any sort of condition to pay more than you agree to, and the agent isn’t under obligation to work with you if they don’t like the commission. That’s fair, and it’s how it works. Now, typically you might find out that the agent wants something between 4-7 percent, which may seem like a bit much. But here’s the thing, there are a few conditions that go along with this.
First, is that the agent isn’t actually getting the complete amount for this. in fact, it’s only about 37.5 percent of the total of that, but again, this varies by each area geographically. Reminder that the buyer’s agent also gets about half of it as well, and the remaining half of that goes to the listing agent company, so it may not be that much.
Plus, if the sale is smooth, the agent may not have a huge amount of effort in the process, but if there are complications, the agent will have to work a lot more, and put in energy on the evenings and weekends.
The agent isn’t guaranteed they’ll be paid and remember that you may change your mind to not sell, which means all of that was done for nothing. Then there is the fact that the agent is often having to pay all of the business costs for everything out of their pocket.
And plus, while it does seem to be understood that the listing pays for the marketing and facilitating of the showings, and the feedback, the listing agent is also a key player when it comes to keeping both the buyer and the seller negotiating. For example, let’s say that the buyer has a price that’s 15K less, but then the seller counters this, with about 5K under, and from there, the buyer responded that they gave the lowest amount possible, and then there wouldn’t be any more of a counter, and then seller gets upset that the talks are of. The agent about two weeks later may try to get the seller to counter once again and get the buyer to the table to see if they can come up with a happy medium, and if that works, everything is good and happy. It also means that ultimately, there was some coaching involved, so it’s definitely a big thing. You may also want to, if this is “too much” get an incentive based commission agent.
Now, remember that if you go lower, chances are people aren’t going to want to work with you. the answer to most of this, is look at the value of your home, and look at the rates of the agent. If your home isn’t going to sell for much, chances are you’ll have to offer less, and you may get a bit burned by a few agents in some cases. Typically, though, buyer agents want to find the buyer a home, so they can get it done. in essence, what you want to work on the most, and what matters the most here is the ability to get the sale done fast in a way that’s favorable to everyone. In essence, so long as you go for that, that’s really what you need.
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