Dallas Real Estate Blog

In a market with so many houses, real estate agents need to do much more to get their listings noticed. Most of the marketing required, like websites or publications, cost money. If your agent is holding open houses and truly marketing your listing, it makes a huge difference in how much viewing traffic you get. With the time and cost of marketing, 3% to the seller’s agent might be reasonable.

Over the past few years, though, many agents were just posting listings on MLS and not doing much else. Because of this, I started to hear many sellers complain about the large commissions they paid to their agent for just a few hours of work and putting a sign in the yard.

Many decided to start listing their own homes to save money or using “discount” brokers that charge a reduced fee for listing. The term “discount” broker always bothered me. If the listing goes to the same MLS and the client gets a sign in the yard, how is this any different than using a “real” broker?

The difference should be the amount of service the client receives from their agent. A good, educated Realtor is worth their weight in gold and can make buying and selling a home much more enjoyable than fighting through the process alone. What the client needs to know is they can always negotiate with their agent to find a commission or fee that fits the clients needs. Just because you want to spend less money to list your house should not mean you can’t use great Realtor.