In Minnesota real estate commissions are negotiable and I’ll be honest mine are all over the map because I am able to adjust services and commissions to fit the situation. Real estate agents are taught to negotiate hard for their commissions. They will tell you that they are good negotiators and that any agent who will accept a lower commission probably can’t negotiate the best sale price either.
I love to negotiate and like my clients no one really knows what my bottom line is and it just might not be the same as what I am asking for. Most of the people I meet are not used to negotiating on prices and so I have to guess as to what to charge because if I go too high they won’t have any problem finding someone who will do it for less. There is more to choosing an agent than price. There are some real estate companies that strongly encourage their agents to charge X amount. The money from those commissions pays for the fancy offices and all sorts of other things.
Once I have an agreement with a client and we have a contract my fee is set. Sometimes I am asked to reduce it later on during the transaction. That request often comes from another real estate agent who isn’t a very good negotiator and the only solution he or she can come up with is to reduce commissions so that the seller pays less and in turn will accept less from the buyer.
Being asked to reduce my commission during negotiations after an offer has been received can happen no matter how much or how little I charge for my services. In general unless there are some extenuating circumstances I won’t reduce my commission because of a low ball offer. I would much rather negotiate the offer up or get a better offer.
The last time I was asked to reduce my commission the request came from a seller’s real estate agent. I was able to negotiate and get the seller to come down on the price. The seller was asking for more than what my clients thought the house was worth and they wanted to buy the house and it was my job to negotiate the price down and that is what I did. Maybe the other agent took a pay cut. There isn’t any way for me to know.
The more you know . . . or maybe more than you want to know.