Realtor Commissions are initially set by the Seller and the Sellers agent. However, on a Short Sale, the banks who are loosing money in the sale often insist the agents take less commission. If you are concerned that your agent is not being fairly compensated, you can, as MaryAnn recommended, use the Buyer Broker Agreement to make sure your agent is paid a set commission from escrow. If the Sellers (banks) refuse to pay the full amount, the difference of that amount would come from your funds in the form of a closing cost.

Hi Sidney
Have you considered using an exclusive Buyer Representation Agreement with your agent?

That is so nice of you...but you don't need to give your agent anything. This is just what we do. Some properties we make a lot of money on and others not so much!

You can ask your agent anything you want

Would it be rude for me to ask my agent what she will be making? I feel like if it's not a lot, I should pitch in and give her something out of pocket.

I just sold a short sale property and the bank reduced the commission so that each side only got 2%

Sidney,

Like Matt just mentioned: "We've seen it all over the map!..."

I've seen 6% paid on a $90,000 house sale ($5,400) and I've seen a $10,000 commission paid on a $600,000 home sale .... go figure.

I'm sure in the next 12/15 months we'll be seeing flat fee's across the board, National City is already setting up their structure for it ...


:^)

It's very negotiable. We've seen it all over the map! (like a lot of things this year in real estate).
Make sure you have a buyer's agent representing you that has done this a few times (at least)

The lender decides. The lowest I have seen is 2% on each side. The split is up to Listing Agents. On a few of my listings I did the 60/40 of the selling agent to listing agent ratio. It works well whenever sales are slow.

No. It is whatever the bank decides in some circumstances. When this occurs, the agents should split what commission is given 50/50.

No. It is whatever the bank decides in some circumstances. When this occurs, the agents should split what commission is given 50/50.