Todd and Oana talk about how real estate agents get paid. While most people are aware that the agent that represents the seller gets paid from the seller via a listing agreement that the seller signed, who pays the agent that represents the buyer? Prior to 1983 the buyer agent was also paid by the seller, which meant that all the agents had a fiduciary duty to the seller since they were the ones paying the commissions to both agents. That model changed when the buyer’s agent started to be compensated by the listing agent directly, so in effect, the seller would pay the entire commission to their agent, and then the listing brokerage would split that an offer compensation to another broker.
Additionally real estate agents can be paid on both a flat fee model, which is a set price for representing either the buyer or seller, or most commonly, they can be compensated on a percentage model, in which their commission is determined by the total sales price. The other way is that an agent could take a flat fee up front for listing the home in the MLS and then not making any money after that, but if the house doesn’t sell or the seller ends up firing the Realtor, then they would get to keep that money no matter what.
If you are thinking of selling in Las Vegas or any other market, please reach out so we can help you.