The Truth About Real Estate Commissions
(What buyers & sellers should know)
What is a commission?
Does the word “commission” conjure for you the picture of a car salesman, new or used, a medical salesperson, or a real estate agent? In fact, it might suggest to you any sales person at all.
Let’s take a quick look at commission.
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There are commissioned salespeople, and there are non-commissioned order-takers.
One starts with their product, and helps a prospect find a problem they may have that is solved by their products.
The other starts with a prospect’s problem or needs and tries to solve that problem for the buyer.
If you meet with one type of salesperson, they will try to find something in their inventory you will buy. (If you want a blue suit, I’ll turn on a blue light.)
If you meet with the other, they will listen to you, determine what will solve your problem, and help you solve it.
Most people think the blue light-type tailor is a bit sleazy.
This sounds odd, but that gives the commission a bad reputation.
Combine that with those agents who will possibly raise the prices of their product, thus giving them higher commissions.
The commissions are the way real estate agent make their living. As a percentage, some buyers and sellers feel a price-based commission is not fair, since it’s not based on the difficulty of the agent’s work involved.
Although I’m sure some agents loved the idea that some sellers thought, classically, that commission was a fixed amount payable if the seller wanted to sell their house.
The fact is, any commission is negotiable in terms of amount, or even its existence, whether any at all is paid.
Now the industry is involved in some chaos to try to change that type of behavior.
In my opinion, after almost 40 years of doing this, I simply believe this is one of the best times in recent history to sell your own house.
After 40 years of being a real estate broker at Martin Properties, mlsDon.com or 616-973-8970, his thoughts can be found here at Medium, or at
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