Real Estate Agent Commission

[Preston C.]

I know this probably varies based on location, but I was curious if any Realtors had tried competing on commission percentage. Or at least used lower commissions to incentivize sellers to use you.

When I got my license (KS and MO) I remember learning that you can't fix commissions and it is supposed to be negotiable, yet every local brokerage I know has a fixed 6% commission. Very few go below that and may do 5% but it's rare. My current broker won't typically allow less than 6% for listings, so I was thinking about switching to a brokerage that allows flexibility in commission so on higher end listings I could offer a better deal to sellers. It seems crazy to me how normal it is in the industry to do a flat 6% commission whether it's a 50k lot or a $1 million listing. When the majority of the time the cheaper listings are more work.