*edit

I found out my answer...

But, I do have another question...

what is the commision cap for an Agent is it 2.5%????

or is it somewhere between 5 - 8% depending on the broker contract??

 

The commission always comes out of the seller's pocket. Most realtor listings are exclusive right to sell contracts. What that means is even if you sold your house yourself, the realtor still gets his commission. You can get around that two ways, reserving certain people in the contract, that if you sell to those reserved, the realtor does not get a commission. So if you have a friend that is interested in buying your house, but is trying to come up with the funds, you can still put it on the market through a realtor, and not get nailed by his commission if your friend buys the house. Another way is to change the exclusie right to sell contract to a exclusive agency contract. What that means is you will only use that real estate agency to market the property through realtors. Under this contract, the seller can still market the property himself. If the realtor sells it, he gets his commission, if the owner sells it, the realtor doesn't get a commission. I currently have a lot for sale under an exclusive agency agreement, I'm also going to try to sell it through my local newspaper. Hope this helps, sorry if it was rambing.

 

Day late and a dollar short on my first reply. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that commission cap laws would vary from state to state, I don't think PA has a commission cap. I'm not even sure of that.

 

this helps alot...thanks Fox!

 

I've never heard of commission caps for real estate. It seems unAmerican.

 

so there is no law stating that they only can take a certain %??

sorta like the lawyer one?

 

If caps have been considered at all--then rejected--I'm sure that their reasoning is that competition will keep the commission rates at about 6% (listing and selling, combined) and that an agent trying to charge more than that won't get any business.

If agents banded together and all agreed to start charging higher commissions, they'd be subject to criminal collusion charges, but that's another matter altogether.

 

so, what would be the average commission rate a agent would get?

 

I believe that 3% for listing and 3% for selling are customary.

 

The % varies by state. In Washington I beleive it is on the order of 5%.