California agents: in your experience, what is the typical buyer's agent/seller's agent division of fees for a SFR sale?
- 3% / 3% (44%, 63 Votes)
- 2.5% / 2.5% (42%, 59 Votes)
- Other (6%, 8 Votes)
- 2.5% / 3.5% (5%, 7 Votes)
- 2% / 3% (4%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 142
If you commonly experience a different range of fees and/or fee divisions than those listed above, please let us know in the comments section.
Results from this poll will be released within a first tuesday article discussing real estate agent fees.
Well with ReasLo, it’s none of those options –> it’s a flat $1,000 per listing (http://reaslo.com/). And this is the direction that everything is heading. Oddly enough, ReasLo also has brokers paying them to use the technology to help them manage their clients easier, so ReasLo is also essentially acting as a sub-broker for many brokers. The current archaic model is changing . . .
When I started in this business the commission rates were fixed by the MLS and it was 5% with 60% going to the selling office and 40% to the listing office, so 3% to SA and 2% to LA. Later through the effort of many brokers it got changed to 6% and a 50/50 split. Now the trend is 5% again with the listing agent getting the lions share if it isn’t a 50/50 split.
This might be a greed factor that works in a sellers market, but as basically a listing broker I want the selling agents to be offered 3% or more and direct their buyers to my sellers property, I want the showings. How much is a greedy broker going to make with an unsold listing and how much is a seller going to be asked to reduce his price in a slow market because of a lack of showings and exposure. Maybe they would like to return to the days when the MLS was a place to list white elephants, and almost all the listings were open listings and not on the MLS, that would be fun. You would find one for sale and get your own open listing and then show it.
When offered less than 3% and I have the buyer I put it into the offer that the seller will fund the difference between the amount offered on the MLS and 3%. And because I don’t allow a listing agent to present my offers for me I get to get the experience of a seller getting upset with his agent. The last time was because the agent listed at 7% and offered 2% because it was a very saleable home, priced slightly below actual market, and she expected to double end it. Her trying to explain to the seller the offering of only 2% to selling agents was worth the price of a ticket.
Granted, a listing broker’s expenses are more than a selling brokers, but the listing broker can produce more future business than a selling broker can. What really gets me about this issue is when a listing broker posts a 2% split to the selling office on the MLS, while he is making 3% and not disclosing it. That just doesn’t sit well with my sense of fair play.
Disclosure, yes. But listing brokers these days may have huge advertising expenses and very long listings.
Thank you for talking about this subject. I thing it is unfair when the listing broker earns more than the selling broker and believe listing brokers should be required to disclose their fee agreement to the selling broker.