Before I was a REALTOR, I was a consumer, and I bought a house. Fortunately for me, or maybe it wasn’t so fortunate, my REALTOR was my father. He also owned the house that I purchased. This worked both for and against me, but we won’t go into that now. The point is, I had no idea how REALTORS made a living prior to diving into the business myself, and you may also have questions about how we get paid.
Real estate agents are 100% commission based jobs. That means, we don’t get a paycheck unless we do business. Makes sense. Open up shop, provide a service, get paid, or sit on the couch all day wondering what to do.
Real estate agents also work as sales agents under a real estate Broker. That broker typically collects a percentage of what we make to cover the costs of running the company. At Realty Executives, we pay a premium to use the name while we conduct business according to their standards and the standards of the Arizona Department of Real Estate and the National Association of Realtors.
If we don’t sell a home, we still pay our broker, mortgage, utilities, etc. So we’re always in a position where cash is flowing out, but not always in a position where cash is flowing in. We’re also in a business where we need to be available when most of the rest of the world is not. This means that we sometimes have to work on the holidays that you get to spend having fun. On the other hand, we have the freedom to “take a lunch” whenever we want.
What does having a Realtor cost the Buyer? Answer: Nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada.
When you meet me for the first time and express an interest in purchasing a home, I assess how serious you are about purchasing, and then I begin to spend money on you to help you find that home. Searching for a home with a REALTOR costs you only time. You will spend nothing out of pocket, but we will commit a large portion of our business day(s) and marketing budget to provide you with the most pleasant showings as we possibly can. We fill our tanks, fill your stomachs, and become your city tour guide for the duration of your search. If you purchase a home without using us after spending all that time, we don’t get paid, but we also don’t hold it against you, because you may not have known, which is why I’m writing about it. 🙂
When the seller hires a broker to sell their home, the broker charges them a commission to do so. When that broker lists the property on the MLS, they indicate how much of that commission will be paid to the agent who brings YOU (the buyer) to the table to purchase the home.
The buyer won’t have to open their wallets until an offer is accepted, at which point a series of events begin that justify why the selling broker is willing to pay us in most cases half of the agreed upon commission.
What does having a Realtor cost the Seller?
The seller is the one who has the highest expense. From fixing up their property to staging it, the seller will bear the majority burden of cost in selling a home.
When the seller strikes an employment agreement with the broker, they typically agree to a set commission of the final sales price of the home and they offer a portion of that to anyone who brings a buyer. When the property closes escrow, the funds owed the listing brokerage are distributed according to the agreement between the two brokerages and each real estate agent is paid accordingly.