Sales Commission
Definition of "Sales commission"
Broadly speaking, a commission is a remuneration a person receives after acting on someone else’s behalf.
In the real estate world, you’ll usually hear the term “sales commission”, which is the remuneration a real estate broker and/or agent earns in regards for his/her service representing the home seller (or the home buyer) in a house buying/selling transaction.
Well… most of the times, at least.
Sorry if you’re looking for easy answers; the real estate market is complex - that’s why an agent expertise is something you should not turn your back to.
Sometimes agents do earn money regardless of a house being sold: Buyer’s agents, for instance, might earn a real estate sales commission even if the prospective home buyer doesn’t end up buying a house. Think about it: the buyer’s agent drove the client around showing houses on the weekend, shared his/her educated knowledge regarding the real estate market… that comes at a cost and it wouldn’t be right if the agent gets nothing out of it should the client decide it’s not the right time to buy a house.
And there are some times when the agent gets no real estate commission at all! Yup; even if the house is sold! If an agent entered an Open Listing or an Exclusive Agency Listing but did not manage to bring the final offer to the table, then the real estate commission will go to the agent who brought it or to the homeowner.
The standard real estate sales commission is 5% to 6% of the final sales price and the listing agent splits it evenly with the buyer’s agent.
Real Estate Tips:
Check our Glossary Terms for more real estate lingo!
And find an agent to help you with the complex task of buying or selling a house!
Popular Real Estate Terms
Changing property ownership. An example is the sale of a home to another. ...
A lender can be a private individual, a private or public group, or an institution that loans funds to a person or business that the lendee would later repay with interest in most cases. In ...
The definition of real estate owned (REO) is known by heart by house flippers or by real estate agents specialized in bank owned properties. These are properties that once used to be in a ...
Provision permitting a lender to charge the borrower a penalty for repaying a loan before its due date. ...
Housing where affirmative action is proactively pursued protecting the housing rights of people of all races, nationalities, and religions. ...
Insurance based on the National Flood Insurance Program, enacted By Congress in 1968. The intent of this legislation is to provide insurance coverage for those people suffering real ...
Individual renting a residential or office unit. ...
In order to define allotment, we have to take into consideration what it refers to. While generally, it refers to a certain amount of something that is allocated to a particular person, the ...
Something that is illegal. An example is an unenforceable debt because it has exceeded the statute of limitations. ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.