In many transactions I handle, sellers pay between 4% and 6% in total commission expense. That amount is negotiable and is not paid solely to my brokerage. It may include the listing brokerage’s fee, compensation paid to the buyer’s brokerage, or both. The number that matters is the seller’s estimated net after commissions and concessions.
What matters most is not the commission percentage by itself. What matters is how each offer affects the seller’s estimated net.
This page uses real examples from my work to show how differently these negotiations can unfold. You will see offers that started at one price with one compensation request and ended with a completely different price, commission structure and estimated net after negotiation.
You can also read public five-star Google reviews from sellers who hired me. Although their transactions were structured differently, their reviews show how they felt about the service and results they received. That consistency is more meaningful than any single commission percentage.
Written and reviewed by Andrew Ragusa, Licensed Real Estate Broker and Broker of Record, REMI Realty LLC — 11+ years of transactions across Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens.
The work involved in selling one property can be very different from the work involved in selling another. A market-ready home that can be photographed, listed and shown within one week is not the same assignment as a property that requires construction, contractor coordination, coordination with legal counsel and preparation before it can be marketed. The expected sale price can also affect the fee I am willing to accept.
These are three real examples from my work. The names and property addresses have been withheld.
One home was in pristine condition and needed no repairs. It was being sold as-is. I prepared the listing, photographed the property, brought it to market, held an open house and concentrated the showings into one weekend. We accepted an offer approximately one week after the property was listed.
Another property was still an active construction site when I became involved. It had a lower estimated market-value due to the condition. Work had been incomplete for nearly a year, even though much of it had already been paid for. I helped the homeowner determine how to address the contractor, connected the homeowner with a litigation attorney and explained the situation to the attorney before the client consultation.
I also advised the seller about landscaping, removing two massive overgrown bushes from the front of the property and suggested the removal of two handicap-parking signs that restricted parking in front of the house. He agreed with the plan and contacted the town.
This was not a straightforward listing assignment. The lower property value paired with the expectation that the home will require substantial preparation, contractor coordination, property-management work and value consultation all were taken into consideration; so my listing fee was 6%.
The seller had previously been prepared to accept approximately $450,000. After the preparation work was completed, the property was listed at $490,000 and an offer was accepted at $540,000. He received $90,000 more than he expected which more than covered the commission cost.
For a proposed listing priced at $2.5 million, I offered to handle the listing for 3%. That percentage applied solely to my listing services and did not include any buyer-broker compensation that might later be requested through an offer.
At a higher anticipated sale price, a lower percentage can still provide appropriate compensation for the expected work. The cost of advertising a luxury home is much higher than a less expensive home. The buyers available for such high prices and high property taxes is limited. This means the time it takes to sell will be longer than less expensive homes and that of course increases the cost of print, local print advertising, online advertising, and other expenses; all of which require a significant budget.
This was a listing proposal, not a completed sale. I am including it only to demonstrate that property value and the anticipated scope of work can affect the fee I am willing to accept. It should not be interpreted as a generally available rate.
These examples do not establish a fixed commission schedule. They demonstrate why I evaluate each listing individually.
Once buyer offers begin arriving, compensation requested for a buyer’s brokerage becomes another negotiable part of the transaction. That is why the percentage paid to my brokerage, the percentage paid to a buyer’s brokerage and the seller’s total commission expense can all be different numbers.
The final comparison should still come back to the same question: What is the seller’s estimated net from the offer?
Negotiable
All commissions are negotiable, and how they are divided can vary from one transaction to another.
Negotiated separately
A buyer’s offer may request compensation for the buyer’s agent. The request can be accepted, rejected or countered along with the price and the other terms.
Priced by scope
A property that requires months of cleanout, renovation coordination, contractor management or other substantial work may carry a higher listing fee.
All real estate compensation is negotiable. There is no commission rate set by law. My listing fee is agreed to in writing, and a seller does not owe buyer-agent compensation merely because it was requested.
When an article reports an average real estate commission, it is usually describing the combined compensation paid across both sides of a transaction—not one agent’s individual listing fee.
A nationwide survey of 434 active real estate agents, updated September 1, 2026, reported an average combined commission of 5.46%: approximately 2.76% on the listing side and 2.70% on the buyer side.
The combined amount in an individual transaction can be lower or higher. It depends on the listing agreement, the buyer’s representation agreement, what an offer requests and what the parties ultimately negotiate.
National figures reviewed September 24, 2026. Source: Clever Real Estate, “Average Real Estate Agent Commission Rates: 2026 Survey,” updated September 1, 2026. Commission is negotiable and varies by transaction.
Real estate compensation was negotiable before 2024, and it remains negotiable now. The MLS did not establish a required commission rate.
What changed was how listing-broker compensation and buyer-broker compensation are handled and communicated. The practice changes took effect on August 17, 2024.
An older MLSLI listing agreement I used and the current LIBOR agreement I use provide a clear illustration of the difference.
The older MLSLI form asked the seller to agree to one total commission. The same compensation section then stated how that commission would be shared with a cooperating broker acting as a seller’s agent, broker’s agent or buyer’s agent.
The commission rate was still negotiable. The important difference is that the total commission and the contemplated cooperating-broker division were established together in the listing agreement at the beginning of the relationship.
The current LIBOR form separates the two issues.
First, the seller negotiates a fee for the listing broker’s services. The form expressly states that this listing-broker fee is not subject to sharing, splitting or otherwise paying a buyer’s broker or agent.
A buyer may later request that the seller pay some or all of the buyer’s brokerage compensation as part of an offer or through a separate request. The seller can accept, deny or negotiate that request. Any agreement to pay it is then documented separately or included in the binding contract of sale.
This change is why I do not advise sellers to decide in advance that every offer must produce the same commission structure.
One buyer may pay their own agent. Another may ask the seller to pay some or all of the buyer-broker fee. An unrepresented buyer may have no buyer-broker fee at all. Those offers can still be compared fairly by looking at the price, requested compensation, concessions, contingencies and estimated net together.
The listing fee is negotiated when I am hired. Any buyer-broker compensation requested later is evaluated as part of the offer.
Form comparison: MLSLI Listing Agreement for Real Property, LI-C-CEA-ARB 02/2016; LIBOR Exclusive Right to Sell Agreement, Revision 1/2025. The forms are shown as educational excerpts.
Sources
When I represent a seller, every offer is entered into Realtor Sync. The seller receives a private login and can review the offers directly instead of relying on me to provide a verbal summary.
The portal can show the offer price, the estimated amount after the commissions and other deductions entered, the down payment, financing, contingencies and proposed closing date. If a buyer’s agent requests compensation, that request is included in the comparison.
I can recommend an offer and explain the tradeoffs, but the seller can see the same information I see. We can also negotiate more than the purchase price. A buyer-agent compensation request can be countered while the rest of the offer is being negotiated.
If an offer asks the seller to pay the buyer’s agent, I review that request with the seller alongside the price and other terms. We can accept it, reject it or counter it. The seller makes the decision, and I negotiate according to their instructions.
These examples use actual offer terms. They show estimated amounts after the entered commissions only. They are not complete closing statements.
On a recent listing, the same buyer’s offer progressed through three versions. The buyer increased the price and ultimately agreed to pay their own agent.
| Offer version | Price | Listing fee | Seller-paid buyer-agent compensation | Estimated amount after entered commissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening offer | $830,000 | 4% | 2% | $780,200 |
| Revised offer | $850,000 | 4% | 2% | $799,000 |
| Final negotiated offer | $850,000 | 4% | $0 | $816,000 |
The original written offer and Realtor Sync’s audit history document how the terms changed during negotiation.
The estimated amount after the entered commissions increased by $35,800 from the opening offer to the final negotiated offer. The improvement came from both the higher purchase price and the negotiated change in buyer-agent compensation.
In another real set of competing offers, a represented buyer offered $550,000 and requested 2% from the seller for the buyer’s agent. An unrepresented buyer offered $540,000 without a buyer-agent compensation request.
Both offers were subject to the same 6% listing fee.
The $540,000 offer was $10,000 lower in price but produced an estimated amount that was $1,600 higher. This is why the highest purchase price and the strongest estimated net are not always the same offer.
Commission does not work the same way in every transaction. The seller’s total commission expense, the amount retained by the listing brokerage and the amount paid to the buyer’s brokerage can all be different numbers.
The purpose of these examples is not to argue that one percentage is always right or wrong. It is to show why sellers should evaluate the complete offer and the resulting net instead of focusing on one percentage by itself.
Unless a client has given written permission to be identified, client names and property addresses have been withheld.
One seller hired me to sell two different homes. In each transaction, the seller signed the listing agreement at 4%.
In both sales, 2% was paid on the listing side and 2% was paid to the buyer’s brokerage. Both transactions closed.
The commission structure was the same in these two sales, but that does not mean every 4% listing will be divided that way. The buyer, the buyer’s representation and the terms of the accepted offer determine whether another brokerage is involved and how compensation is ultimately negotiated.
The seller later chose to hire me for the second transaction. I am not identifying the seller or either property here, but the repeat business is relevant: the commission structure did not prevent the seller from choosing to work with me again.
3685 Nimrod Street, Seaford
When Mary Tedesco hired me to sell 3685 Nimrod Street in Seaford, the original listing agreement was based on a price of $1.35 million. After market feedback and price reductions, the property was offered at $1.2 million and then $1.1 million. It ultimately closed for $1.115 million.
Mary agreed to a 4% listing commission.
The agent representing the winning buyer initially requested compensation from the seller. I countered that request during the negotiation, and the buyer ultimately agreed to pay their own agent. Mary therefore paid the agreed 4% to the listing brokerage without also paying compensation to the buyer’s brokerage.
This example matters for two reasons. First, sometimes listing at the first price doesn't produce the result everyone is looking for so adjusting to match the market reaction is important. Second, a buyer-agent compensation request does not automatically become the seller’s final obligation simply because it appeared in the offer. It can be negotiated along with the price and the other terms.
In another closed transaction, the seller signed an older version of the listing agreement used before the recent changes in commission practices. The seller signed at 4%. The agreement originally contemplated 1% for a buyer’s brokerage.
The winning offer came from a buyer represented by another agent. That buyer’s agent requested 2% instead of the 1% originally contemplated. The offer was still the highest net-offer for the seller.
The final agreement resulted in the seller paying a total commission of 5%. Three percent remained on the listing side and 2% was paid to the buyer’s agent.
Similar to larger brokerages such as Keller Williams and Douglas Elliman, an offer can come from an affiliated agent from the same company. The fact that both agents were affiliated with REMI Realty did not mean that one person was being paid twice. They are two separate real estate professionals performing different work in the same transaction, and the commission was divided between them.
The seller ultimately received more than they had expected based on our earlier conversations. The transaction closed, and the seller later left me a public five-star Google review.
These three examples describe four closed transactions and show why the headline commission percentage does not tell the entire story.
In some transactions, the seller-paid commission was divided between the listing and buyer sides. In another, the buyer paid their own agent. In another, two agents affiliated with the same brokerage were compensated separately for their respective work.
The structure can change based on the property, the work involved, the buyer’s representation and the negotiations that take place after offers are received.
The useful question is not simply, ‘What percentage am I paying?’ The useful question is, ‘Which acceptable offer produces the strongest estimated net after the commissions, concessions and other terms are considered?’
Enter the terms from as many as three offers. A higher offer can still produce a lower result after commissions, concessions and credits—or a higher offer may remain the best offer even when it includes a larger compensation request.
Comparison result
This calculator provides an offer-level estimate for comparison purposes. It subtracts the listing-side compensation, seller-paid buyer-broker compensation and seller concessions entered above. It does not calculate every possible closing expense, including transfer taxes, attorney fees, mortgage or lien payoffs, repair credits or other transaction-specific costs. It is not a closing statement, legal advice, tax advice or a guarantee of final proceeds.
If you want to walk through real offers, text or call me at 516-858-9434 with the prices, commissions and concessions. I will go through the net with you.
The reviews below were written publicly on Google by sellers who hired me. Unless a seller has provided written permission to connect their name to a transaction, the reviews are presented separately from the anonymous commission examples.
Five-star Google review
“I hired Andrew to sell my home in Seaford. He was excellent!! I was very pleased with how he handled everything.”
Andy Tedesco
Five-star Google review
“He was not only professional... but was able to sell our house in just one weekend way over asking price!”
Melissa Quiros
Five-star Google review
“Andrew was a pleasure to work with. Very communicative and to the point. He did a great job at answering all of our questions.”
Cat Pagan
Five-star Google review
“He went above and beyond in all that he did. I will be recommending him to all my friends and family.”
Barbie Silberstein
Five-star Google review
“From day 1 he has been nothing but kind, responsive, and proactive... an absolute blessing to our family.”
Melissa Marks
The sellers whose reviews appear above all chose to rate their experiences five stars.
Their transactions were not identical. The properties, amount of work, commission structures and negotiation outcomes were different. Their own words are the best evidence of how they felt about the service and results they received.
That consistency is more meaningful than any single commission percentage.
If a buyer’s offer requests seller-paid compensation for the buyer’s agent, that amount is considered separately. It may be accepted, rejected or negotiated. The buyer may pay it, the seller may pay it, it may be divided between the two sides, or the request may be removed during negotiations.
The exact amount is determined by the written agreements and the offer the seller chooses. I show sellers the estimated amount produced by each offer so they can evaluate the complete financial result.
After comparing the money, I still evaluate whether the buyer is likely to reach the closing table. Financing, down payment, lender strength, appraisal exposure, inspection terms, contingencies and the proposed closing date can all affect the strength of an offer.
A seller should understand both questions:
The best decision comes from seeing both.
In many transactions I handle, sellers pay between 4% and 6% in total commission expense. That amount is negotiable and is not paid solely to my brokerage. It may include the listing brokerage’s fee, compensation paid to the buyer’s brokerage, or both. The number that matters is the seller’s estimated net after commissions and concessions. All commissions are negotiable.
No. A buyer may submit an offer requesting that the seller pay some or all of the buyer’s brokerage compensation, but the seller can accept, reject or counter that request while evaluating the complete offer. A buyer may also agree to pay their own agent.
Yes. A higher-priced offer may also request more buyer-broker compensation, larger seller concessions or other financial terms. A lower-priced offer can sometimes produce a stronger estimated net after those amounts are considered.
The property’s expected price, condition, preparation needs and the amount of work involved can change the scope of the assignment. A market-ready home is not the same job as a property requiring months of contractor coordination, renovation guidance or property-management work. I evaluate each listing individually, and all compensation is negotiated in writing. Preparation coordination also distinguishes corrections to protect existing value from investment to add value, while keeping selling as-is available.
Not necessarily. The offer comparisons on this page show an estimated amount after the commissions or concessions entered for that offer. Final closing proceeds may also be affected by transfer taxes, attorney fees, mortgage or lien payoffs, repair credits and other transaction-specific expenses.
National figures usually combine the listing side and buyer side. A nationwide survey of 434 active real estate agents, updated September 1, 2026, reported an average combined commission of 5.46%: approximately 2.76% on the listing side and 2.70% on the buyer side. That combined figure is different from one broker’s individual listing fee.
Yes. I can negotiate the buyer-agent compensation request while negotiating the price and other terms. A request can be accepted, rejected, countered or removed during negotiations.
I give the seller private access to Realtor Sync. The seller can review the prices, estimated amounts, financing, down payments, contingencies and other terms instead of relying only on my verbal summary.
If you are considering selling, I can explain my listing fee, estimate the likely closing costs and show you how I would compare the offers that come in. You will know what is being requested, what can be negotiated and approximately what each option leaves you before you make the decision.