Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

But generally (in the US) the seller's commission of 6% (or whatever) is a contractual agreement between the seller and their agent, and then the seller's agent pays out the commission to the buyer's agent (as specified in the purchase contract, which is a different contract than the one between the seller and their agent).

If you go in without an agent, you must write into the sale contract that you want part of the seller's commission taken off the price, otherwise the seller's agent gets the whole 6% for herself. But in my experience, most buyers are clueless about how all this works and would never know to do that, and would not get a discount, regardless what the seller's agent might say.

(Of course actually it's a bit more complicated, the 6% actually goes to the seller's broker, who pays out both the seller's agent and also the buyer's broker, who then pays out the buyer's agent.)



Geez. 6% is insanely expensive. The 6% commission fee for an $800,000 house is $48,000.

The 3% is now $24,000. At that rate, the agent only needs to sell 1 house a month, to earn a decent living making $288,000/year.

It’s no wonder the real estate profession’s goals are to make houses more expensive for everyone. This is a racket, and they just skim off the top.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: