Consumer Reports Survey: Home Sellers Can Negotiate Broker Commissions Without Hurting Service or Sale Price
According to a survey featured in Consumer Reports September 2008 issue, many real estate brokers are willing to negotiate their commission rates with sellers who try to haggle.
The survey found that 46 percent of sellers who responded attempted to negotiate a lower commission rate. Roughly 71 percent succeeded. The survey also found that sellers who paid commission rates of 3 percent or lower were just as satisfied with their brokers’ performance as those who paid 6 percent or more, suggesting that negotiating can’t hurt.
Respondents who paid extra, in fact, were more likely to say they had regrets about the selling process. Nearly one-third said they should have been more assertive in negotiating their agent’s fee.
Paying less won’t hurt the quality of service. While some of the survey respondents who paid lower commissions got fewer services from their agents, the gap wasn’t significant. For example, 81 percent who paid 3 percent or less said the agent provided a competitive market analysis of their home, compared with 87 percent of people who paid 6 percent or more.
Another interesting finding from this survey is: 82 percent of respondents who sold with the help of an agent received $5,000 less, on average, than their original asking price. Almost all of the 17 percent who sold their homes without an agent said they received about what they originally asked.
