RealEstate

Am I the only one who thinks the new buyer agent commission system makes no sense?

I was recently told that buyers now have to sign a Buyer Representation Agreement, and if the seller doesn’t offer compensation to the buyer’s agent, the buyer may end up paying the agent directly.

What I don’t understand is this:

Why is a buyer’s agent typically compensated as a percentage of the home’s value rather than based on hours worked or a flat fee?

If an agent helps me buy a $1.2 million home instead of a $600,000 home, did they really do twice as much work?

In most professions, compensation is tied to time, expertise, or the complexity of the work. Engineers, accountants, consultants, and many attorneys generally bill based on hours or fixed fees. Yet in real estate, compensation often scales directly with the price of the asset itself.

As a buyer, it’s difficult for me to understand why I should potentially pay tens of thousands of dollars for a transaction where much of the searching is already done through Zillow?