Negotiating selling commission on a $1.2M sale

Member since 2024 · 2 posts · 2 votes

I've sold 6 properties in Denver metro (all under $500K sales price) and the highest commission I've paid to my selling realtor has been 2.5% (+2.5 or 2.8% to the buyer's realtor). I am now prepping to sell a home for $1.1M to $1.2M, so I am planning to offer my selling realtor a max of 2%, and the buyer's realtor the same. Does this seem reasonable?
I also pay for performance, meaning if my selling realtor gets my full net-price or better, I bonus them an extra .2% (which would be $2,400 in this example).

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Christopher Wilken

Investor · Washington, DC · Member since 2014 · 8 posts · 6 votes

Two percent for the listing agent is fair.

With the new flexibility due to the NAR settlement, I wouldn't, as a seller, offer to pay the buyer's commission and have the buyer pay the buyer's commission. After all the buyer is receiving a service from their broker and they are best positioned to negotiate the commission between themselves. I am listing a property now and this is what I am doing. While the listing agent may encourage you to offer a buyer's broker commission to motivate them to have their client consider the property, A) they buyer should now have an agreement regarding the commission and B) the buyer will see the property on online platform, diminishing concerne about the broker steering away from properties that don't offer a buyer's commission.

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Caleb Brown
Real Estate Agent · Kansas City · Member since 2018 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes
2y
That's fair. For those price points around the 2% is common. Good agents will always be worth it
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Christopher Wilken
Investor · Washington, DC · Member since 2014 · 8 posts · 6 votes
2y
Two percent for the listing agent is fair.
With the new flexibility due to the NAR settlement, I wouldn't, as a seller, offer to pay the buyer's commission and have the buyer pay the buyer's commission. After all the buyer is receiving a service from their broker and they are best positioned to negotiate the commission between themselves. I am listing a property now and this is what I am doing. While the listing agent may encourage you to offer a buyer's broker commission to motivate them to have their client consider the property, A) they buyer should now have an agreement regarding the commission and B) the buyer will see the property on online platform, diminishing concerne about the broker steering away from properties that don't offer a buyer's commission.
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Russell BrazilBusiness Member
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Real Estate Agent · Washington, D.C. · Member since 2012 · 17k+ posts · 30k+ votes
2y
The buyer will include in their offer what they are seeking for their buyer agent now. So what you offer, no longer matters.
On the listing side, there's everyone out there from very cheap, to very expensive. You should decide who you want to work with first. Find the person that is a best fit for you. Then when you've found them, look at negotiating the fee and see if you and them can align on a number.
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Terese Victor
OP
Member since 2024 · 2 posts · 2 votes
2y
Quote from @Christopher Wilken:

Two percent for the listing agent is fair.
With the new flexibility due to the NAR settlement, I wouldn't, as a seller, offer to pay the buyer's commission and have the buyer pay the buyer's commission. After all the buyer is receiving a service from their broker and they are best positioned to negotiate the commission between themselves. I am listing a property now and this is what I am doing. While the listing agent may encourage you to offer a buyer's broker commission to motivate them to have their client consider the property, A) they buyer should now have an agreement regarding the commission and B) the buyer will see the property on online platform, diminishing concerne about the broker steering away from properties that don't offer a buyer's commission.
That's right, thanks -- I forgot that NAR takes effect in 9 days and I'll be listing after that. Since many buyers struggle with paying the down payment (in Denver, $1M is no longer luxury) I wonder if they'll have an extra $24K'ish to pay their buyer's agent -- I'm guessing they will want to roll it into the purchase price?
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V.G JasonPro Member
Investor · Member since 2022 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
2y
Just ask a qualified agent that gets done at those price points what they charge and add it to the sales price, and the buyers side too. Then operate from there. On the sell side, you definitely want to push the quality button. Have the agent married to getting it done.
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Matt M.
Realtor · Denver, CO · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2y
You are the seller. You can do what you want.
You'll see what the BA wants in the offer, and you can have your agent negotiate from there. It's going to be just like a commercial deal. You can analyze it all you want, but until you get it on the market, you don't know what the market will dictate. I will say this price point is slow depending on location. If I was selling, I'd do all I could to entice someone to bring me a buyer. We were already seeing 4%+ to the BAs in some cases.
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