Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

whomp1970 t1_j65d31a wrote

Reply to comment by l34rn3d in eli5 why do most realtors only want to sell your house and not help you buy?? (from what i’ve noticed) by yeonbits

> They don't make a commission on your buying.

That's not true in my experience. Usually the seller's agent and the buyer's agent each get 3% of the sale price.

I'm renting right now, but shopping for a house to buy. So I'm not selling anything. I'm only buying.

I have an agent helping me look for a house to buy. He's shown me tons of houses that he's not selling himself.

If my agent didn't make a commission when I buy a house ... why the heck is he helping me at all??

4

Any-Growth8158 t1_j65diwx wrote

You are correct. The buyer and seller agents split the commission.

3

tdscanuck t1_j65dqop wrote

If they're *each* getting 3% (in the US) you're getting screwed. It should be 3% *total*, split 1.5% to each agent.

1

dmazzoni t1_j65eqji wrote

Do you have a source for 1.5% each? I've never heard that before and I've done dozens of real estate transactions in multiple states.

Here's a source showing 6%:

https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/realtor-fees/

In most states, 6% is common (3% each)

In California, 5% is common (2.5% each).

1

tdscanuck t1_j6616nj wrote

I bought and sold three houses through the pandemic, all in WA…apparently our situation here is weird because of the high house prices.

But it’s entirely possible I’ve internalized the “3%” and 50/50 thing and screwed up the math.

2

whomp1970 t1_j65f7hd wrote

Maybe it matters more on location, or state, but I think your number is too low.

I've looked at tons of homes in my region. Here's one. Most of them say the same thing this one does: Buyer's agent commission = 2.5%. If you hover over that, it says:

> The seller is offering 2.5% of this home’s final sale price to the brokerage or agent representing the buyer.

And you can bet that at least another 2.5% is going to the seller's agent too.

So for this case, it's a total of 5%, not 6%, but I've definitely seen it up to 6% before.

More information.

> Typically, real estate commission is 5%–6% of the home’s sale price. In most areas, the buyer’s agent receives 2.5%–3% in commission and the seller’s agent receives 2.5%-3% in commission. This can vary by agent and location.

Now, I admit, I've seen people make deals with agents. An agent friend might take 1.5% as a favor. Or you might talk an agent into taking less if you don't rely on them to do as much as an agent typically does. Or you can do away with those commissions altogether in a private party sale.

But what I'm showing you above, is the norm in the situations I've been. And this is the third home I've bought in my lifetime.

1