I live in CA and the standard is that the seller pays 6% to the realtors (buyer's realtor and seller's realtor), and each gets half of that 3%. The estimate of closing costs was given to me by the title company, not the realtor. I'm not sure what the 5% is, I'm guessing that's to make sure this realtor doesn't do a lot of work to sell it, then you turn around and finalize the sale with a different realtor. If it was me, I'd prefer to have something in the contract limiting how long you are in contract with this realtor. For example if it's on the market for some number of months and you don't feel he/she is doing their best to sell it, you might want to switch realtors. I don't think the realtor should be offended if you mention wanting this in the contract.