If you are a buyer considering buying a home, see to it that you work with the best real estate agents in your area to benefit from their expertise. An expert agent usually has a network of professional business partners in your locality, including home inspectors, attorneys, insurance agents, appraisers, title agents, and mortgage loan personnel.

Determining who pays a real estate agent, whether the buyer or the seller, is not an easy matter. Real estate agents are normally employed in real estate transactions to guide the buying process. In these transactions, both the buyer and the seller can use a real estate agent.

The Broker Pays

Sales commissions earned by real estate agents come from the person or business dealing with the agent to record the property for sale. Generally, a listing agreement makes this clear beforehand, and the commission is defined as a certain percentage of the total selling price. One part of this percentage goes to the actual agent making the sale, and the other goes to the agent listing the property.

The Buyer Pays

Basically, commissions are paid by the buyer, who is paying both his or her agents and the seller’s. In other words, only the buyer brings money into the transaction, which may be through a mortgage loan. The buyer normally pays the amount of the gross selling price to secure the transaction. This amount depicts the value of the total offer accepted by the seller. A specific portion of this amount goes to the buyer’s agent. Therefore, when a buyer doesn’t have an agent, he or she will have to pay a lower total price.

The Seller Pays

In another perspective, it is possible that the seller pays the buyer’s agent in a real estate transaction. In this case, the seller concedes an offer that represents the gross selling price. In truth, however, he or she never gets the full amount. Some portion is deducted to cover for the commissions asked by the buyer’s and seller’s agents. As such, the seller has the option of specifying greater prices to make up for this deduction.

Agents Get Paid in Completed Transactions

Generally, commissions are paid only when a buyer actually buys a home. Before this phase, agents essentially work as unpaid consultants for you. When a transaction is closed, agents are paid for the extensive effort they have put into the transaction.