Buyer-paid brokerage fee: is this common?

[Joel Fine]

I'm wondering whether buyer-paid brokerage fees are common in residential investment real estate.

I've now purchased three investment properties with three different brokerages. All three are residential (4 or fewer units). In two of the deals, my broker added a buyer-paid brokerage fee of several hundred dollars. I'm assuming my broker received his 3% from the seller as well.

As it happens, the two purchases that did include a buyer-paid brokerage fee were in one state, and the one that did not was in a different state.

So, I'm wondering: Is this a common practice? Does it depend on what part of the country you are in? Is it something I should have negotiated out of the deal - i.e., was I just naive in not asking my agent to remove this charge?

Thanks BP friends for any insight you can share.