Real Estate Sales Almost No One Pays a 6% Real-Estate Commission—Except Americans (Wall Street Journal)

[earlyretirement]

Almost No One Pays a 6% Real-Estate Commission—Except Americans​

How the rest of the world buys and sells homes explained, in three charts​

By Veronica Dagher

Nov. 16, 2023 at 9:00 pm ET

The U.S. has more real-estate agents than any other country, by a wide margin. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

The way we buy and sell homes in the U.S. isn’t normal—at least not compared with the rest of the world.

The commission on a home sale here is typically around 5% to 6%, usually split between the seller’s and buyer’s agents. In most countries, the commissions are substantially smaller.

Read the entire article on the WSJ at the link below:

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Source: https://www.wsj.com/personal-financ...uajbkhmx0dz&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

 

[Flamingo]

I totally agree that realtors do NOT deserve the high commissions they charge. As you mentioned, technology and websites do all the work. The last few apartments I bought in the USA I knew more about the property and the area then the realtor that was helping me. I read the National Association of Realtors in the USA was sued and lost. This is probably the beginning of the end for high realtor commissions.

 

[David]

My realtor in Buenos Aires didn't do anything. I was surprised that I found a listing, and then was dealing with the seller's realtor. And when we made an offer she was only fighting to get the price of the seller. So going into it, have your own realtor. But even then, they don't do too much. I showed mine a property that I liked and found a few listings and asked her to find stuff like that. She never did. I did all of the work finding the listings. Then when we got to the property, the sellers realtor was there too. It was awkward.