Sales Commission
Broadly speaking, a commission is a remuneration a person receives after acting on someone else’s behalf.
In the real estate world, you’ll usually hear the term “sales commission”, which is the remuneration a real estate broker and/or agent earns in regards for his/her service representing the home seller (or the home buyer) in a house buying/selling transaction.
Well… most of the times, at least.
Sorry if you’re looking for easy answers; the real estate market is complex - that’s why an agent expertise is something you should not turn your back to.
Sometimes agents do earn money regardless of a house being sold: Buyer’s agents, for instance, might earn a real estate sales commission even if the prospective home buyer doesn’t end up buying a house. Think about it: the buyer’s agent drove the client around showing houses on the weekend, shared his/her educated knowledge regarding the real estate market… that comes at a cost and it wouldn’t be right if the agent gets nothing out of it should the client decide it’s not the right time to buy a house.
And there are some times when the agent gets no real estate commission at all! Yup; even if the house is sold! If an agent entered an Open Listing or an Exclusive Agency Listing but did not manage to bring the final offer to the table, then the real estate commission will go to the agent who brought it or to the homeowner.
The standard real estate sales commission is 5% to 6% of the final sales price and the listing agent splits it evenly with the buyer’s agent.
Real Estate Tips:
Check our Glossary Terms for more real estate lingo!
And find an agent to help you with the complex task of buying or selling a house!
Popular Real Estate Terms
Compared to; relative to; against. ...
Traditional style borrowed from the British Georgian architecture in the American colonial period. Colonial architecture usually has two stories emphasizing window detail and shutters. ...
Within Real Estate, “nuisance” is a term used to describe any disturbance that might affect neighboring houses. Nuisance abatement is the enforcing of policies and codes that ...
House that can be bought at a low price because it is in poor condition. A buyer who is handy may find it attractive because he can personally make the needed repairs without hiring others. ...
Securing lease commitments to a building prior to its being available for occupancy. For example, a developer offers a discounted lease to potential tenants providing they agree to sign a ...
Economic policies designed to reduce the fluctuation in the business cycle. An example is Federal reserve monetary policies. An attempt by an underwriter to prevent a market price of a ...
The person giving property or establishing a trust. ...
The definition of a closed-end lease is what happens when an individual rents or leases an asset at a monthly rate with no obligations for the lessee to purchase the asset that he rents at ...
Rights allowing an insurer to act against a negligent third party to receive reimbursement for payments made to an insured. ...

Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.