8% for the realtor?

Well, I guess as a real estate agent I have to put in my two cents. Yes, bottom line, everything is negotiable. However...

I am originally from Maryland and there it was pretty much 6% across the board. That maket is very quick and sales of homes that are priced correctly may sell in a couple of weeks. Thus the agent has the opprotunity to sell many houses per year, the ad costs, etc. may be low and housing prices are quite high. So the average commission amount is high.

Then I moved to a rural area of Missouri and got my real estate license. The average where I live now is 8% and the housing prices are substantially lower here. The market is slow and it may take many months to sell a property.

Also, there is somthing called a co-broke. The agent that lists your house offer a split commission to another agent that brings the buyer (usually 50%). Most listings are sold on a co-broke basis. Plus the real estate agent must also split his commission with his broker.

For example a house is listed for $125,000 at 8%. The total commission is $10,000. There is a co-broke and the listing agency (who paid all advertising costs) receives $5,000. Then the agent who actually shows the house receives say 50% of the brokers commission $2,500 for maybe 6 months of working to sell the house from listing to closing.

On top of this an agent is only paid if the house sells. Plus agents also help in negotiations with the buyer and all of the inspections, appraisals, etc.

Again, everything is negotiable, but I just wanted to explain why some locations might have higher commission rates. The best thing is to ask a prospective real estate agent what they will do to market your property. Look at their other listings, see what their web listings look like, ask about advertising. Is that agent easy to get on the phone? Another good test is the call the real estate office and ask about a listing you see on their website. See if they can tell you anything about it or are they clueless. This may help weed out some companies.

we use 3 realtors that will all sell for 5% first 100,000 then 3% after that and that is no special deal, it is the same that they charge individuals.