Who Pays The Real Estate Agent?
Now that you’ve learned how much does a real estate agent make, you’re wondering who pays the real estate agent?
Get ready for a non-answer. Or a super-answer. It’s a half-full/half-empty situation.
The thing is that both the home buyer and the home seller pay the real estate agents involved with the sale of a property but if you want to get too technical and literal, it’s the home seller.
Confusing? Ok, let’s go step by step of a sale and after we’ll comment and set things straight:
If Home Buyer Sam and his agent Steve close the deal with Seller Diane and her agent Roxanne, Home Buyer Sam pays up Home Seller Diane, who is obligated to give Agent Roxanne her real estate commission of 6%, that will be, then, split 50-50 with Agent Steve.
So, as you can see, the 6% commission is included in the payment done by the buyer and passed on by the seller. It’s a matter of point of view if you want to look at it as one specific party paying for that commission. And, of course, many greedy people see it this way: home buyers complain they could have spent less for the property if it wasn’t for the real estate commission and home sellers complain they could keep more of the money in their pockets if it wasn’t for the real estate commission.
But the truth is that they are both wrong. What is positively correct is the exact opposite: going about a house sale by way of a For Sale By Owner with no real estate agent involved will make you lose money. Whether you are the seller – by pricing it below (or even worse: above!) its true market value potential – or if you are the buyer – by not knowing how to detect and negotiate through the pitfalls of real estate and failing to avoid problems with paperwork and home inspection that will come to haunt you later and cost you lots of money.
Contact one of our local real estate agents right now so you don’t have to worry who pays for the real estate agent. Actually, you know what? We’re adding another answer to the question of who pays for the real estate agent! It’s not the seller or the buyer or the combination of the two… if you think about it, the agent actually pays for himself through the great work and return over your investment in hiring him! Do it!
Popular Real Estate Questions
Popular Real Estate Glossary Terms
Real estate sales contract where possession and use is provided to the buyer, but the deed is kept by the seller until the full purchase price is met whereupon the title is placed in the ...
Value of property is reduced form usage oven time. The problem is worsened when repairs and maintenance have not been made. ...
Money payments to be delayed for a future date or extended over a period of time. ...
See concrete block. ...
Generally speaking, the meaning of warehousing refers to the act of storing assets and keeping a physical inventory expecting a sale or distribution of goods at a later date. Warehousing is ...
If you’re a renter and you own a pet, you might be familiar with the term pet rent. There has been a lot of discussion about the meaning of pet rent and controversy as it isn’t ...
The geographic moving of an individual from one region to another usually because of a change in employment. Relocation normally involves the complete moving of the individual's ...
The phrase used for the period in which the escrow agent communicates to both the buyer and the seller as to what documents or moneys have to be deposited with the escrow agent to satisfy ...
Property that is similar in characteristic and when exchanged is a nontaxable transaction. Any property that is not like-king, such as cash (boot), is taxed. As a result, a gain is not ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.