Fern,

Its not unheard of to have Buying and Selling Agents reduce their commissions to facilitate a sale, especially if it is expedient for them. Don't waste thier time and they are more likely to favor a reduction in commissions. The biggest cost for RE agents is their time.

Many of the agents here have made strong arguments in favor of getting a buyer agent. I agree with them. It is in your best interest to get a buyer agent. I would suggest negotiating with the buyer agent before you go looking at houses for a consession of 1-2% if you already know the property that your looking at and your only asking him to take you to that one house.

I would also recommend another thread that discusses the cost of buyer agents. It deals with buyer agents in Maryland but the pertinent information remains intact.

http://www.trulia.com/voices/Home_Buying/How_much_will_havin…

Good luck on your house search.

Fern
I don't take offense for the question you ask! I think you are smart for asking it! What I see happening in this case is the listing agent may attempt to work something out with you, but there is no way for you to know what is really going on. The agent just gets you to buy at a price that could've been negotiated down even further and he builds the closing costs in. Either way he will make 6% from the seller, so since it is free to use a buyers agent in most cases, which happens to be my case. Go get one and he will get you a better price anyway with representation and save you soem costs down the road. I hope you made good on your buy and have a great day!!!

I don't think that real estate agents are like checkout cashiers. A check out cashier only does one thing, (but they do it well). Agents do much more than that such as listing homes on the MLS, showing homes to buyers, negotiating with other agents, running around the neighborhood to do all the paperwork that is necessary, getting a homebuyer the best mortgage available, etc... granted you can do this yourself, but you hire an agent to save you time and money, (hopefully!!!!)

If you would like to compare yourselves to personal shoppers, that would be much more accurate than a check out cashier, (I intend no offense to checkout cashiers)...

Thank you JR. -- I equate myself closer to a checkout cashier than a doctor. For those pros who like to compare themselves to surgeons..."Can I get half of the health insurance payout if I show the surgeon exactly where to cut, clean and shave my own cut area, have my wife change my bandages, and use my previously drawn and stored blood for the transfusions? "

Fern,

You could also take a two week course, (I think there are some online, or at community colleges) then pass the test and become a real estate salesman. Then, whenever you need to sell or buy a home, you can legally get paid the commission fees....would be a great investment if you plan on buying and selling a few homes int he future. It would be worth the time and money if you only bought one place...

That is a GREAT analogy, Jim.

No. You may not do that.
That would be like walking into the grocery store. Bringing your groceries to the check out line. Then telling the check out clerk that you want half of their pay, because you found the groceries on the shelf yourself. You loaded them into the cart, then you loaded them on to the conveyor belt, You are willing to bag your own groceries in cloth bags that you brought yourself from home. Then you will voluntarily wheel the groceries all the way to your car and return the cart to the store cart ccollection stand

While your contribution to the search and sale process is considerable from start to finish, I still think most people let the grocery clerk keep their paycheck.

Hi Fern,
As stated by the other Real Estate Pros, the commission is negotiated between the Seller and the Seller's Broker at the time the listing contract is signed. If the Seller's Broker is due the entire 5% commission, after finding a ready, willing and able Buyer, at the closing. The Broker, in the MLS (and most properties are advertised in the MLS) states how much of the 5% commission they will pay the Buyer's Broker, should they bring the ready, willing and able Buyer to the table. At the time of closing, the Seller's Broker splits their commission, as agreed in the MLS (and in the listing contract) with the Buyer's Broker. The Brokers will then cut a check to the their Agents/Realtors. The amount that the Agents/Realtors get from their Broker is usually a percentage of their portion of the commission (could be 50%, 100%, etc. depending on the agreement between the Broker and their Agent/Realtor). The commission belongs to the Listing Broker and is and agreement between the Seller and the Broker only. Any changes to the listing commission has to be a mutual agreement, in writing, between the Seller and the Broker. There are many Brokers who will not reduce the commission and the Agent/Realtor is not authorized to reduce the commission without the Broker's (and Seller's) consent. The Broker owns the listing. Real Estate commissions can only be paid to a Licensed Broker. What can happen is that the Listing Broker and/or Buyer's Broker can agree to reduce commissions to accomodate a lower sales price. Often times, a Seller wants to pocket any reduction in commission though. It can work out, if the Seller agrees and the Broker's agree, to reduce the sales price and off-set the reduced sale price with lower commissions. Sometimes, that can be a win-win situation. In a tough market, where Seller's have already reduced their asking price to the bone, they are often asking to renegotiate commissions so they can keep more of the profits. I've seen some Sellers, who have recognized how much money, time and effort their Realtor has invested in the process, and do not want to reduce their Realtor's paycheck. I've seen the same thing with Buyers (and their Realtors) as well. If you, for some reason, do not want equal representation in a purchase transaction, and you approach the Listing Realtor and ask them about negotiating a lower purchase price (based on reduced commission), they may be able to get it worked out. I just don't understand, with all of the pitfalls and liability involved in a purchase, why a Buyer would not want proper representation. Let's say you save 2.5% on the purchase price of $100,000, so your purchase price is $97,500 (you saved $2,500 or approximately $15.00 per monthly payment). Now, let's say the house, is really only worth $89,900 in today's market. You didn't know that because you didn't have a Realtor, working on your behalf, conduct a detailed CMA. So, you overpaid by $7,600. This happens over and over again. What about the appraisal, doesn't that tell you how much the home is worth? Tell that to the Seller's I have worked with who owe more money on their home than it is worth (not due to the current market only, but it is clear that they overpaid at the time they purchased the home). There was an appraisal done. Isn't it interesting that the appraised value was the same amount as the purchase price? Or what about the lady who thought she was buying a 2 bedroom home and couldn't understand why everyone was coming in so low. After I took the listing, I had to explain to her that she actually owns a 1 bedroom home; a 7' x 8' room with no closet is should never have been considered to be a bedroom. She had an appraisal at the time she purchased. Hmmm. And what about inspections, contingencies, etc. etc. etc. What about the Buyer who almost bought a home with major issues, which the Seller lied about. I provided her Attorney with 2 different property disclosures this Seller had completed, one with the issue disclosed, and another without it (after the Seller had done some work to cover up the issue). The Seller was a licensed Real Estate Agent/Investor. He had the original property disclosure posted on the old listing in the MLS. Why would anyone, except the most experienced and savvy Buyer, want to take any risk with what is usually the largest purchase they will make? If you had a legal situation, that could potentially cost you thousands of dollars, wouldn't you want an Attorney to see to your best interests and protect you through the process? Buying a home is not just finding the property. The tough part of my job begins when we find the right home, starting with negotiations, which don't end until after all inspections are completed and post inspection issues are resolved. There are so many little details to attend to.
I'm sorry about such a long answer, but I am passionate about the service I provide. I've seen too many people make cosly mistakes that they want me to help fix.

The listing agent works for the seller. I have given back 1% of my fee to the seller if I had both the buyer and the seller on a transaction. Many of my customers look thru the MLS, in fact I send them to the MLS and ask them to see if there's anything that looks interesting to them other than what I have selected. None of them have asked me to share my commission with them. Personally, I wouldn't.

Fern, if you're going to take on the Lion's share of the buyer's agent's work... you could, as chuck suggests, us a firm like Redfin, Zip Realty or BuySide realty, to assist you, minimally, and turn over a portion of the co-op fee, they'd receive as part of the transaction, to you.

Redfi, Zip and BuySide are not legal in all states, so it'll depend on the rules in your area, but if they are operating in your state, one of those models might be just what you're looking for.

Can't Fern use Redfin, who will share their part of the commission with the buyer?

Buyers are paid based on what the listing agent is willing to pay and kick backs are pretty much illegal to non licensed people. There are different rules per state (so I can't speak for everyone) and some of the larger firms do not allow their agents to reduce commissions, however there is a way you can do this. Being a licensed realtor in Wisconsin & California; we have these brokerages throughout the country that are called limited service brokers where the owner pays a small flat fee and the broker sticks a sign in the yard and puts the home on MLS and offers a co-broke fee of so much percent of the sales price (let's use 3%) to the MLS agent that sells the home. Well because these limited service brokers duties do not get involved with anything after that (such as help neqotiate offers, hold earnest money, or provide any other marketing and assistance than what I mentioned above) this in essence leaves the Seller very unprotected because the listing contact is limited. We had a discussion with a real estate attorney who helps write the real estate contracts for the state and he said that since the buyer or selling agent deals directly with the owner in these types of limited brokerages, they could go in on your behalf or on the agents behalf and renegotiate the commission and terms of the listing contract higher or lower with the seller. Regardless of who the property is listed with you can always ask. Especially with independent brokers who are not tied into national megabrokers. However be very careful with these limited service brokers when you do decide to sell your home. All that money you think you might be saving may end up being paid to an attorney.

Fern, Why are you concerned with the listing fee? Are you involved in a failed negotiation?

I immediately thought the same answer as the previous realtors, but I also think that the reason would be that it would be like you receiving commission whether it is going into the reduction of the price of the home or not. That would be illegal, since you are not a real estate agent. The only person who could negotiate the commission down would be the seller or if both Brokers agree to reduce their side of the commission.

It is true that you cannot re-negotiate the agreement between the seller and the listing broker, but you can request that his/her commission be shared with you, the buyer. Most states allow that.

No, the listing agreement is between the seller and the agent. The agent can negotiate a different rate with the seller. The agent may or may not be getting 5%, it may be less or variable etc.