What is a "normal" fee for a realtor to list a house?

[FIence!]

My mother in law is looking into selling her house, and the agent she wants to list with has stated a 7% fee. That seems really high to me. Any quotes I have seen from agents in the past have been more like 5%.

However, her house is lower value (would probably sell for 70k or so) and in a semi-depressed area where home sales aren't exactly strong. Do fees tend to vary based on these factors? A quick google search yielded results that supported my belief that 5% is normal.

For those of you who have listed with a realtor in the last couple of years, what has your listing commission % been?

When I mentioned to her that 7% seemed really high, she looked very surprised/confused and said "But I've paid 7% before!" D'oh. When I suggested she negotiate the fee down, she made a series of elaborate faces like I was saying something insane and brushed me off.

[soccerluvof4]

5-6% is most common but I usually work a deal where if they are lister and seller they give me an additional break.  Plenty of agents dont give more money away then you need too! BUT you also want it to be fair. I personally wouldnt pay more than 5% though. And 4.5 if they get both.

[sirdoug007]

I thought that 3% on each side of the deal was normal.  6% total with 3% to the listing agent and 3% to the buyers agent.

These percentages are all negotiable.  You can also try to sell the house yourself knowing you can accept a few % less because that money would go to the realtor anyways.

[Cheddar Stacker]

It's negotiable, and if an agent tells you it's not they are likely lying and you shouldn't be working with them as they might be untrustworthy.

I paid a commission once, and it was 4.7% without any negotiation on my part. I had a relationship with the agent, but I don't think it was uncommon for him to offer this rate. Above 6% is too high.

[CommonCents]

5% in our area is standard.  6% is in other places (Cali?).  We negotiated ours to 4.5%, and further it'd drop to 2.5% for an entirely unrepresented person and if the person showed up unrepresented and opted to go with our realtor, that it would be 4% instead.  The latter is what happened, although during the negotiation, the realtor offered to cut her fee further making it closer to 3.2% what we paid out.  Without that concession, we might have gone with a higher offer, but that made it the best overall value offer.

The low value is a possibility for the higher fee though.  Ask around.

[MDM]

We paid 6% on an out-of-state sale.  In that case the agent did some cleaning himself to get the house "broom clean" for closing, so he did more than is done on average.

[payitoff]

its 6% normally, to give 3% motivation for agents to bring in a buyer, you can negotiate 5% with your agent and its up to her/him to give 3% if she/he wants to sell your home fast. also negotiate with your agent that in case she/he brings in a buyer to bring the commission to 4%. 4% all to herself is hefty, this will motivate her to find a buyer too.

[marty998]

You guys are getting played. Agents here charge around 2%. Seems there needs to be some healthy competition injected over there to bring fees down.

Admittedly house prices down here are off the scale, 2% still works out to be $13,000 for the average house.

[Catbert]

6% (3% to listing and 3% to selling agent) is standard in Southern California.  It's been that % for the 35 years since I bought my first condo.

[NumberCruncher]

I like looking on the site Redfin - They generally have lower fees than others (and if you're buying, they give you part of the buyer's commission), but they also have a "minimum commission" of $2,500.

If that 7% is for both the seller and buyer commission, it might not be so bad ($2,450 for each). Of course, ask around, maybe try to negotiate, etc. It might even be worth it to look into For Sale By Owner (FSBO).

[FIence!]

OK, I'm glad that everyone else thinks 7% is insane. Now, to convince the MIL of this... We had both been trying to impress upon her that first of all, these fees are absolutely negotiable (she for some reason thinks that's "weird" and that she has to pay whatever they say), and that she needs to get that fee down before agreeing to list the house.

It's frustrating because she came to me with all the paperwork asking what I thought, and when I told her she ignored it. The reason she is moving--in her words-- is to save money and get herself out of debt. I told her that keeping 2% more of her own equity would help with that, I don't know why she is so resistant to actually keeping her money. She is a motivated (probably lowballing the list price) seller who is doing her own work to get the house list-ready, so it frustrates me that she is basically throwing away that much money to essentially get an mls listing and a sign in her yard.

[Daleth]

6% is normal in my area, but I have certainly seen realtors who represent cheaper houses--say $80k and under--charging a flat minimum (so it's either 6% or $x, whichever is greater).

[tomsang]

Sometimes overpaying may be in your best interest.  Six percent seems like it is the norm, but there is an ability to negotiate.  When you are dealing with a $70k house, you are talking about $700 per percent or $4,900 total.  If another agent is involved they will split $4,900.  If it is a challenging market or house, then it may be worth paying "more" when dealing with these levels. I think you are right to talk with the agent to figure out what is fair.  If the agent can focus on selling $700,000 houses at a 6% commission, then they would want to get a higher percent for their work to make it worth their while.  If all the houses are in this range then I would think that the standard 6% would be a starting place and then go down from their.

Good luck!

[Tyler]

6% (3% to listing and 3% to selling agent) is standard in Southern California.  It's been that % for the 35 years since I bought my first condo.

Same in Texas.  No way I'd pay more than that.  If anything, with a hot housing market I'd negotiate down as it's basically free money for the listing agent when houses sell quickly with little effort.

[JohnGalt]

I listed mine with a flat rate broker for something like $500 then paid an additional fee for them to do the paperwork (maybe $300).  That got me on the MLS and set up with an automated showing system that I set up my own lockbox for.  When setting it up, you can choose whether or not to say that you're willing to pay the buyer's agent a commission and, if so, what commission you're willing to pay.  I opted to do this to make sure I didn't get skipped over and went with a 2.5%. 

So all in all - I paid something like $800 + 2.5% to agents.  I had to do a little more work myself - but since the buyer's agents are usually the ones showing the house anyways, I didn't feel that a full service agent was work their 3% to list with them. 

[phred]

usually 6%.  If you're selling a Hollywood star's mansion, then much lower