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
Any walls constructed without using concrete or mortar. Drywall materials include sheetrock, gypsum, plywood, Styrofoam, and pressed fiver. See also drywall construction. ...
Ownership of a real estate in which at least two or more individuals have equal ownership. If a member of the group dies, the property is transferred to the survivor (s), for example, a ...
Factor employed by real estate agents or appraisers to determine the change needed in operating income to obtain a desired rate of return. It is used to evaluate income-producing property. ...
The portion of a structure providing the primary ground support. Foundations have a foundation wall forming a permanent below grade retaining wall. All modern foundations rely on concrete ...
Investigation into the causes of death. A post mortem is normally performed by a public coroner. It might be performed to determine the cause of death of an apartment house tenant. ...
Tax concept whereby income not actually received is considered to be constructively received by a taxpayer and thus must be reported. ...
A Vanilla Shell - also known as a Vanilla box, white box or whiteboxing – is something very common in commercial real estate and growingly common in residential real estate. In many ...
The down payment on the price of a real estate. For example, it is customary to make a down payment of 10% of the value of a real estate parcel upon signing the purchase agreement. ...
Broker employed by and therefore loyal to the buyer. ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.