Thread: Is less than 3% commission a deal breaker?

Depends upon the market you are selling the home.

Here in Minnesota, nearly all retail listings pay out 2.7% as a minimum. This is what a buyer's agent expects. Short sales often times pay out 2.5%.

You are seeing a number of mls listings here in mn that are bank owned that pay out 3%.

At the end of the day, a top buyer agent's interest is their client, not the payout on MLS. As long as it is 2.7% here in MN, a seller is good to go. I hope this helps!

Sadly, a lot of agents are more concerned with their own pockets than their clients interests. So it is smart business to make sure these agents look at your house favorably.

I encourage my sellers to offer more than the norm to make their house stand out from the rest of the competition. If the norm in your area is 2.5% then offer 3%, if the norm is 3% then offer 3.5%. This doesn't mean you have to match this amount for the listing agent. I routinely offer more on my listings than I get on the listing side.

This does work and I have seen it enough times to know for sure. Sometimes it is not about your house getting over looked but about how your house is talked about while the buyers are looking at it with their agent. More money equals more incentive for the agent to talk them into your house rather than the lower commission house.

I tried offering a co-op of 2.0 percent on a $620,000 home and one agent had a problem with it........

When you look at recently sold comps, look at the commission they were offering as well as their price/condition/etc.

Good luck and best wishes with selling your home.