Real Estate Commission Rates

Real estate commission rates are a hot topic in the real estate industry and important to my clients.

Since the beginning of my career (licensed since 2003) I have worked hard to make sure our commission rates were upfront and clear with all of our clients.

In the greater Portland metro and in SW Washington we charge a max of 4% to sell a home.

In Salem and Bend metro areas our team charges a max of 4.25% to sell.

Both rates include the buyers agent commission. We’ve worked hard to show that the commission we earn consistently sells our clients homes faster and for more.

If you’re thinking of selling your home in the next twelve months, we would love to tour your home. Call today to set an appointment.

Stephen FitzMaurice, Realtor
4% Max. to Sell a Home
Cancel Anytime Policy
Licensed Since 2003
503-714-1111

Average U.S. Real Estate Commission Rates into 2023

September 16, 2022

Thinking of selling your home? Then you’re probably interested in real estate commissions. How much are they and what do you get in return? Will you be able to sell your home for more? Do you need the real estate agent’s advice and representation? Real Estate Commission Changes from the 90s to Today There are a lot of different ways to look at real estate commissions. One would be the overall decade trends from an average hovering around 6% in the 90’s to 5% in the 2000’s and 2010’s, and now just starting to dip below 5% in 2020 and after. Note that a 1% drop from 6% is roughly a 17% decrease. But in the meanwhile, home prices have...

Average Buyers Agent Commission, Portland 2022 Report

April 13, 2022

Buyers agent commission has been in the news a lot lately. The National Association of Realtors recently approved multiple MLS (multiple listing services) across the country to display publicly what commission the buyer’s agent would earn if they brought a buyer. This comes after the Department of Justice started and investigation into industry commission practices. Redfin, a home search portal, and national Realty company also produced a recent report on buyers agents commission nationally (as much as they had access to), saying that buyers agents commissions have dropped to a new low nationally of 2.63%. Buyers agent commission averages less than that in Portland, Oregon. For a number of years we have produced a buyers agent commission report based on...

Average Real Estate Agent Commissions Drop Under 5% in 2021

July 28, 2021

Thinking of selling your home? The average real estate commission in the U.S. in 2021 is just under 5%. Most of the time this commission includes both the seller’s and buyer’s agent costs combined and paid by the homeowner. All real estate commissions in the U.S. are fully negotiable. Valid real estate commission information is hard to come by. There is only one legitimate research firm that reports on commission rates across the country, Real Trends. Also Realogy, the largest corporate group of various Realty brands in the U.S., occasionally publishes nationwide real estate commission reports. Other articles you will find online about real estate commission rates are conducted by biased real estate websites conducting their own surveys, but they...

Portland Real Estate Buyers Agent Commission Rates 2021

March 31, 2021

Real Estate Commission is not typically split 50/50 between the sellers and buyers agent. Many sellers assume that real estate commission, whether they are paying their real estate agent 6%, 5%, 4%, or something else, is simply split 50/50 with the buyers agent. This would be a false assumption. All real estate commissions and negotiable and there are no set standards. What we can do is report on what sellers agents are offering buyers agents in a local real estate market. Buyers agent commission is typically advertised in local MLS systems by sellers agents. In the Portland, Oregon real estate market, RMLS is the system used by most sellers agents, and all the listings in RMLS have some rate of...

Real Estate Commission Calculator

September 28, 2020

What is Real Estate Commission? Real estate commission is typically a single percentage of the sales price of a sold property that is paid to the seller’s agent’s Realty company directly out of escrow proceeds at the time of a sale. This commission calculator formula is fairly straight forward most of the time, but there are notable exceptions. Please note, all real estate commission is negotiable in the U.S. and there is no set standard. Four Main Real Estate Commission Exceptions: 1. Who is Representing Who? Real estate agents that want to be sure not to overcharge their clients might have different rates depending on who represents who. For example, we charge a max. of 4% in Portland and SW...

How much do Real Estate Agents Make? 2020 Update

August 7, 2020

The National Association of Realtors puts out a Member Profile Report nearly every year that spells out exactly how much real estate agents make, or in this case since they are all members, how much Realtors make. Confused as to the difference? Read our article on Agent vs. Broker vs. Realtor. In 2020 the median gross income of Realtors was $49,700 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 34900 43500 47700 45800 39200 42500 39800 41800 49700 Realtor Income Hasn’t Changed Much I will tell you exactly why this is the case. It might surprise our readers but real estate commission rates haven’t changed much over the last ten years (see our 2020 national average commission rates report...

Average Real Estate Commission, Buyers Agent Rates – 2020 Report

July 24, 2020

When people think of real estate commission, they often think of 6%, 5%, or 4.25% (what we charge as our max. rate). The public is not generally in their mind dividing commission between the sellers agent and buyers agent. But in the vast majority of real estate transactions the commission is split between those two agents, and it is not typically split 50 / 50 like many would assume. No, each listing has its own commission rate that is offered to the buyer’s agent. All real estate commissions are negotiable, there is no set standard. What I’m providing here is research on the local commission rates offered in Portland, Oregon using the data available from RMLS, our local MLS provider...

Real Estate Commission Report – 2020 National Average

July 17, 2020

Real estate commission data is hard to come by. One of my goals as a real estate agent in Portland is to educate the public and provide transparency within the real estate industry on a number of topics – including commissions. Most of the information you can find online is dated or summary in nature, many without proper references. Realogy Brokerage Group has, “As of December 31, 2019, approximately 710 company owned brokerage offices and approximately 52,200 independent sales agents working with these company owned offices.” They report that their average commission per side was 2.41%, which would equal a 4.82% commission rate for the seller (since the seller typically pays both sides of the commission and the buyer does...

Average Buyer’s Agent Commission – 2019 Update

June 10, 2019

Why are buyer’s agent’s commission rates important? Most people know that real estate agent commission (whatever it is negotiated to be) is typically paid by the seller to the seller’s agent and then split between the seller’s agent and the buyer’s agent, but they often assume (incorrectly) that the split is 50/50. The majority of the time that is not the case. Say for example the seller’s agent charges 6% commission. In that case, in our area, most of the time they are offering the buyer’s agent 2.5% and keeping 3.5%. Or let’s say you found a seller’s agent that charges 3.5% total. In that case, the seller’s agent would take 1% for themselves and still (the majority of the...

Average Commission Rate for Real Estate Agents – 2019

March 18, 2019

National Average Realtor Commission 2019 1992 = 6.04% 2005 = 5.02% 2011 = 5.3% 2013 = 5.38% 2014 = 5.18% 2015 = 5.26% 2017 = 5.12% 2018 = 5.08% Above numbers are from Real Trends, a real estate news and research company based in Colorado. The More Real Estate Agents There Are – the Lower the Rates In their latest report, Real Trends does a fantastic job charting out the forces that affect real estate commission rates, the most striking being the number of Realtors. (Read our report on how many real estate agents there are right now.) Right now the number of Realtors is at an all-time high, so therefore we see reduced commission rates, at least from 5...