Who Pays the Real Estate Commission?

A client with whom I had just signed a listing called me the other day to ask who pays the real estate commission.

He was confused. This was my third transaction with "Josh." I had sold a townhome he owned, plus I represented him when he bought his first home, so Josh was not a stranger to the process of paying commissions. He wanted to know why I was charging him double, once for the listing side and again for the selling side. (I wasn't. It was a single fee.) "Doesn't the buyer pay her own agent?" He asked. He clearly did not understand, even though he had once been a buyer and a seller himself.

It was clear to me that I needed to pull out my handy-dandy commission pie chart and show him step-by-step how commissions work. Josh was astonished to learn how little . . . read more about who pays agents.

More Articles by Elizabeth Weintraub, click below:

• 10 Reasons to Hire an Agent
  
• How to Find a Good Real Estate Agent
  
• Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Real Estate Agent

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