Sales Commission
Definition of "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
The assessment sales ratio is a way of measuring the accuracy of a property’s assessed value when compared to the property’s selling price. This measurement gives the ...
Contractual provision allowing an individual or business to renege on a commitment in certain cases without being penalized. ...
A married partner. Property may be jointly held by spouses. ...
High quality, premium wood to be used in construction such as for home building. ...
If escrow is the legal “moment” where assets are held by a third party (an escrow agent) hired by both the buyer and the seller of goods like real estate and insurance until the ...
Sale that is finalized only in the case of a particular occurrence or eventuality. ...
Revocation comes from the verb "to revoke", which means to take back the validity of something. The definition of revocation is detrimental to contract law. It gives the person making the ...
Governmental body having the responsibility for planning the future development of a jurisdictional area. A planning commission is responsible for developing and managing a zoning ordinance ...
Present worth of the property which is different than the price paid for it or its book value (cost less accumulated depreciation). The current value may be determined through appraisal. ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.