I didn't do much to try to understand the recent rule changes. Planning to list a house for sale in the next month or so. Have there been any real world changes? What is everyone actually paying?

New forms available for use June 24 (Texas)
Commission removed from MLS Aug 17

As of now, until they change it again, nothing has changed. You are not required to pay a buyers agent.

As a seller, you can negotiate what you pay your listing agent. Same as always.

You, as the Seller, are not required to pay the fee for a Buyer's Agent. But you can if you elect to. Same as always.

It's just being made more clear that you have these choices.

I'd suspect most Sellers will still pay about the same in the end that they would have paid prior to the changes. Most will still be willing to pay Buyers Agents, and they will of course still pay their agent for listing the home.

It's an interesting data point to look at right now.

As mentioned, soon enough, you won't be able to see what commission the seller is offering on the MLS.

Today, you can't search for commission amounts on HAR, so it's a manual process to audit.

I decided to look at the homes listed in my zip code to see what the spread was.

Turns out 18 out of 87 listings are offering less than 3%. The vast majority of those sub 3% listings are 2.0% or 2.5%.

I certainly haven't been keeping a close eye on this, but that percentage seems quite a bit higher than a year ago.

I think you're seeing sellers and agents start to test the market a bit with lower rates. My guess is that you'll start to see the average buyer commission creep towards 2%.

I am currently under contract with a FSBO. It has been an awful experience from that standpoint, and the contact is structured to work around dealing with Owner/Seller lack of real knowledge.

He's stating he isn't willing to pay any realtor fees, and we are awaiting appraisal to really negotiate. It's going to be fun getting him to understand the appraisal comps all included 3% to buyers commission from seller, so he can't keep the comps and have me pay the 3%.

That's what I'm curious to see a change in (although I don't expect it)... I think they should change appraisal standard reports to reflect sales price, with a notation of buyer's agent fees paid by seller, so you can net out for true representation of cost to buyer and proceeds to seller.

After this experience, I would never recommend FSBO, or buying from one, if you can find suitable alternatives to purchase.

I think buying unrepresented is much more reasonable (and negotiate a rebate of the buyers agent fee) than selling on your own and expecting buyers to add that fee on... If so, listing price should use the reduced cost to create a more enticing listing.

HomeFinderCody said:

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You, as the Seller, are not required to pay the fee for a Buyer's Agent. But you can if you elect to. Same as always.

It's just being made more clear that you have these choices.

I'd suspect most Sellers will still pay about the same in the end that they would have paid prior to the changes. Most will still be willing to pay Buyers Agents, and they will of course still pay their agent for listing the home.

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So if I want to pay the buyers agent, how do I get that information out there? Is it just added in private remarks or is that forbidden?

In the past, Ive always paid my selling agent 2% and the buyers side 3%. Thinking about trying 2% to each, if comps show to be selling fast.

Diggity said:

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It's an interesting data point to look at right now.

As mentioned, soon enough, you won't be able to see what commission the seller is offering on the MLS.

Today, you can't search for commission amounts on HAR, so it's a manual process to audit.

I decided to look at the homes listed in my zip code to see what the spread was.

Turns out 18 out of 87 listings are offering less than 3%. The vast majority of those sub 3% listings are 2.0% or 2.5%.

I certainly haven't been keeping a close eye on this, but that percentage seems quite a bit higher than a year ago.

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This story might be relevant here.

https://nautil.us/this-wwii-story-made-us-better-thinkers-353414/

Ha. I think I remember that story from Freakonomics.

Might be part of the answer, but not the whole story.

If it wasn't such a pain, I would run a search on solds and DOM, but they don't make it easy.