In my experience they try and do both at the same time. Many agents will push their own listings because they could make money on both ends. At the end of the day, no one gets into real estate because it’s their life purpose, they get into real estate because there is lots of money to be made and some will do just about anything to maximize their profit.

They don't make a commission on your buying.

But they definitely make a commision and charge for services provided when selling.

Unless your a serial house buyer. You don't give them any money or repeat business. The seller pays the fees. So they suck ip to seller as a tactic to push the price higher, increasing the commission.

They also meet 200 tire kickers a day, and in this market, they have no shortage of people wanting a house.

> 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??

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

Because of the commission split.

X% of the value of the home price goes to realtors as a commission. The realtors split up this commission amongst themselves as sellers and buyers agents.

The seller's agent usually spends less effort, and claims a bigger portion of the commission, hence it's preferable to be a seller's agent than a buyers.

That's not true. The seller pays the commission and it's split evenly between the buying and selling agent, unless there's some weird contract to the contrary. At least in the US.

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

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

No, they almost always make a commission.

Technically the commission comes from the seller. In the sales contract it typically says what the distribution is, like 3% to the buyer's agent and 3% to the seller's. In California, 2.5% / 2.5% is common.

Occasionally a seller will try to sell "by owner" and not offer a commission to the buyer's agent, but that's still pretty rare.

I think it varies by state but I know where I live realtors don’t make money when they help you buy a house. Only when they sell a house.

I don’t really understand how it works because my realtor worked really hard to help me find a (cheap in comparison) house to buy but I was renting before. He did a lot of work ton of get paid. But I guess it works out.

You may have a bad agent...they should want to do both.

Selling is somewhat easier (less time commitment from the agent) but if someone is selling then someone must be buying so it's in the agent's best interest to facilitate both...they make money on both sides of the transaction.

They may want to sell *more* than buy but they should never want to *only* sell.

Perhaps the realtors you've dealt with have had bad experiences as buyer's agents. Most realtors of which I am aware (admittedly not a huge number) work as both buyer and seller agents.

If you are a serious buyer, I'd expect that a realtor would rather represent you than a seller (although as I said previously they'll likely still handle both sides). The buyer's and seller's agents split the commission, but the seller's agent might have additional costs in marketing the property. The buyer's agent is just out a bit of time and gas on their vehicle.

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Because to be a listing agent they don't have to do shit except put it up on MLS and take phone calls.

A buyer's agent has to find houses, look for neighborhood comps, schedule showing times (often evenings and weekends), write offers, negotiate, etc.

All the work is on the buyer's end, but it pays the same commission as the seller's.

I agree, but I think it depends on the market.

In a hot seller's market, then indeed it can be super easy to sell a home, so real estate agents will make more money for less work doing that. In that same market, working with buyers won't be as easy at all because a typical buyer might have to make offers a dozen or more times before successfully closing, and some may never end up being able to buy.

But, the opposite can exist. In a slow market with a lot of inventory and low demand, it can be much easier to be a buyer's agent since the buyers have lots to choose from and all of the leverage.

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).

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.

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.