Everybody hates lawyers and realtors, until the need one.

I am not a realtor but I do have a side hustle doing listing photos. Over the ten years or so I have been doing that, I have learned a lot about what agents do behind the scenes that the seller rarely knows about.

As someone else posted, in most areas the commission is paid by seller and split between buyer and seller's agents. They have marketing costs (could be $1K or more) photos ($500ish depending on property) they have to pay their office a cut, and of course taxes.

The really unseen part and what separates a good agent fro a great agent is the negotiations of not only the sale, but the inspections, knowing all the paperwork, local requirements, vetting legit buyers, and hammering out a deal.

Just like a lot of occupations, you aren't necessarily paying for their time, you are paying for their knowledge.


Generally the higher the sales price, the more room you have to budge on commission 6% of 100K house is only six grand, so $3k gross to each agent. $500K and that commission skyrockets to $30K to split. If your agent manages to get be the buyers agent as well (where legal) there is no split and they should be willing to go lower.


My good friend and personal agent, is very successful in our area and the "standard" is 4-6% split with higher sales prices giving lower percentage. How I know he is a real friend is on the deals he has done for me he has never taken more than 1.5% for his side.


YMMV, interview several agents in the area, look at their stats, and look at what the norm is in your market.

Thanks guys. As LS1 mentioned. It is getting more common to have buyers pay the commission to their realtor. Sure, realtors do not like this, but the reality is it is going to happen more and more.
We talked with the realtor and went over things thoroughly.
Made her an offer as was mentioned everything is negotiable. She said she would run it buy her broker and get back to us. So we will see.
All parties are looking out for their own interests. Seller, buyer, sellers realtor and buyers realtor. Keeping that in mind is important in trying to hammer out something that works for everyone.

Appreciate all your thoughts.

I believe the shift we are seeing is due in part to that lawsuit / court ruling a year or two ago where, seller pays their agent and buyer pays theirs.

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Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
I believe the shift we are seeing is due in part to that lawsuit / court ruling a year or two ago where, seller pays their agent and buyer pays theirs.

Yes^^^^^^^^^

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One tactic I have seen on the sales side is establish a listing price and tell buyers you will accept offers for two weeks and evaluate them at that time.

I think there are laws regarding response times to accept/decline formal, written offers.

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Originally posted by Graniteguy:

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One tactic I have seen on the sales side is establish a listing price and tell buyers you will accept offers for two weeks and evaluate them at that time.

I think there are laws regarding response times to accept/decline formal, written offers.

Not unless it is state specific.

In my situation as Seller; a buyer came in and toured less than 24 hours going live and offered 1.2% over asking, cash deal, offer valid for 24 hours. They got a solid "no", told to extend validity out to COB next Tuesday, and reconsider the offered priced (ie, they are low).

In the case of the house i placed an offer on in TN (completely different market including upper-middle suburbs to rural middle TN), we offered $15k over ask with a 24 hour validity (house was live about 36 hours). Instead of asking for an extension of validity, selling agent used some delaying tactics in order to see if additional offers would come in over weekend.

There are no "laws" for how long an offer must be good for or cannot be good for, it is all about the negotiation and buyer/seller agreement.

If the seller will not entertain offers expiring in less three weeks, the buyer has the option to walk away.

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offered 1.2% over asking, cash deal, offer valid for 24 hours. They got a solid "no", told to extend validity out to COB next Tuesday, and reconsider the offered priced (ie, they are low).

How are they "low" when they offered "more" than what you were asking?

Sounds like you priced it below what you were willing to accept. When most people offer something for sale they either offer it at a higher price willing to negotiate to a lower price, or for exactly what they'll take.

For some reason this unethical nonsense seems to be "normal" in real estate, but you don't see it anywhere else. Wonder why. How do you think that would fly here in the classifieds?

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Originally posted by a1abdj:

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offered 1.2% over asking, cash deal, offer valid for 24 hours. They got a solid "no", told to extend validity out to COB next Tuesday, and reconsider the offered priced (ie, they are low).

How are they "low" when they offered "more" than what you were asking?

Sounds like you priced it below what you were willing to accept. When most people offer something for sale they either offer it at a higher price willing to negotiate to a lower price, or for exactly what they'll take.

For some reason this unethical nonsense seems to be "normal" in real estate, but you don't see it anywhere else. Wonder why. How do you think that would fly here in the classifieds?

My agent and i will be reviewing all offers on Monday evening. The person is an investor who insisted my agent present it to me now (my agent informed the offer provider about The Monday review).

Yes, in the situation for my house, we priced it low to get the traffic and, hopefully, create a bidding war.

Fir real estate, as i have been learning, the longer it sits on the market, the less you get. Also, even though i am 10 miles from the Pacific and while air conditioning is needed maybe 10 days a year, some people insist all homes in SoCal must it or it’s overpriced.

Agreed, this is unique to real estate and akin to e-bay with a hidden reserve price.