We have received questions about why brokers representing home sellers often pay the compensation of brokers representing home buyers. Here are answers to those questions and basic information every buyer and seller needs to know.
This practice has worked so well for so long because it provides the greatest economic benefits for both buyers and sellers, creates greater access and equity for first-time, low- and middle-income and all buyers and enables small business brokers to compete with larger brokers.
In fact, listing brokers paying the compensation of buyer brokers underpins local broker marketplaces, which are the primary source of information for home search sites, and serve as the driving force behind America’s efficient and accessible real estate market.
In order to understand how real estate compensation is paid, it’s necessary to first understand the tool used in the vast majority of all home purchases: a Multiple Listing Service.
Multiple Listing Services, or local broker marketplaces, are essentially databases of all the homes for sale in a given market, maintained in most cases by local REALTOR® associations. Local REALTOR® associations also make most of this information publicly available for free, and each database often feeds home search sites.
When a seller lists a property on one of these local broker marketplaces with a listing broker, they get access to the largest pool of possible buyers that have been brought to the marketplace by buyer brokers. Meanwhile, buyers can work with any broker and see ALL homes for sale.
So where does compensation come in? It is typical for brokers representing home sellers to compensate the buyer broker for finding a willing and able buyer which often times means the buyer does not pay their broker, resulting in more available funds for buyers to use towards the purchase of the home. This creates a larger pool of buyers for sellers and saves sellers time and money by working with an established group of brokers. For buyers, it saves them money at closing and enables the buyer to receive professional representation.
The practice of listing brokers paying buyer brokers enables efficiency, effectiveness and accessibility for first-time, low- and middle-income and buyers of all walks of life. This practice also has been the driving force behind a thriving American real estate market. From 2010 to 2020, this approach to compensation:
For the 90% of sellers who use a broker, they sell for 30% more on average than homes sold off the local broker marketplace as for sale by owner. That means someone working with a professional could get $390,000 for their home versus $300,000 if they tried to do it on their own.
If this practice changed and sellers’ brokers stopped paying buyers’ brokers, what would be the likely outcome?
Compensation is always negotiable. The seller decides what fee they are willing to pay for their broker’s services and how much that listing broker should offer a broker who brings a buyer to close the transaction. Compensation is always negotiable and consumers are encouraged to talk to their broker to understand and agree upon how they expect to be compensated.
The U.S. broker compensation model benefits consumers. The practice of listing brokers’ offering compensation to buyer brokers leads to brokers sharing their inventory with each other. In turn, that means sellers have access to the largest possible pool of potential buyers, and buyers have access to the greatest number of housing options in one place.
Compensation cannot be included as part of a mortgage. The vast majority of mortgage lenders do not allow compensation to be added to home loans. Listing brokers’ offers of compensation to buyer brokers gives first-time and low- and middle-income home buyers a better shot at affording a home and professional representation in the home-buying process. For many buyers, saving for a down payment is difficult enough, if buyers had to pay real estate compensation out-of-pocket on top of closing costs, it would push the dream of homeownership even further out of reach for countless people.
Compensation rates are determined by market forces. Historically, real estate commissions have always fluctuated due to the market conditions at a given time. In fact, according to RealTrends, who started tracking real estate commissions in 1991, commission rates are currently well below where they were in the 90s, all while REALTOR® value has increased.
You get what you pay for. Local MLS broker marketplaces allow small brokerages to compete with large ones and provide for unprecedented competition among brokers, including different service and pricing models. So, you can choose from many compensation models. Those are choices to consider as you prepare to make likely the single most significant investment in your lifetime.
U.S. real estate market is the world standard. The U.S. real estate model has long been viewed as the most consumer-friendly around the world. Buyers abroad are forced to wade through complex markets that require consumers to work with multiple brokerages to access fragmented inventory because listings are not shared freely in the marketplace. The result is more time consuming, impersonal and costly.
The U.S. approach is the most consumer-centric model. By consolidating fees and the overall process, our nation’s model simplifies the experience, provides greater certainty of success to both buyers and sellers, and provides guidelines that ensure the accuracy of housing inventory made available to real estate professionals and consumers, all at comparable or lower total costs than those in other countries.
Real estate brokers provide essential guidance as consumers navigate the legal, financial and community aspects of a purchase, including everything from determining property value to negotiating the price. They also make local broker marketplaces, which online housing portals tap into, possible because of all the information they input into those databases.
Local real estate marketplaces create the largest, most accessible and most accurate source of housing information available to consumers. That levels the playing field among brokerages, allowing small brokerages to compete with large ones, and provides for unprecedented competition among brokers, including different service and pricing models for consumers.
