# Real Estate: What's the SD on Sellers Paying Closing Costs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-whats-the-sd-on-sellers-paying-closing-costs/521529 "2009-12-16T21:10:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-whats-the-sd-on-sellers-paying-closing-costs/521529/21 "2009-12-18T03:42:53Z")
> [@Dusty\_Rose](#): > > They have their place in the world of real estate. Right - the best of them are absolutely worthwhile. Unfortunately, the rest (whose percentage IMO is _way_ higher than it should be) range from time-wasting to exceedingly costly to both buyers and sellers. > [@](#): > > If a home is accurately valued at 200k, I’ve never seen a seller yet that lists it for 6% less because they aren’t paying commission. The selling price is probably more significant than the listed price. Suppose two essentially identical homes are each listed for $200k. Is it not evident that, compared to the one where a commission applies, the one sold without a commission can either cost the buyer less, or earn the seller more, or (very typically) do some of both? Wouldn’t the seller of such a house be more likely to accept an offer of, say, $195k if he isn’t going to have to fork over 6%? ---
**Author:** ![justrob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@justrob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justrob)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-whats-the-sd-on-sellers-paying-closing-costs/521529/22 "2009-12-18T15:24:23Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Wouldn’t the seller of such a house be more likely to accept an offer of, say, $195k if he isn’t going to have to fork over 6%? I think the point **Dusty Rose** is trying to make is that the comission due to the agent is dependant on whether the seller is listing the house through an agent not the buyer. When I bought my house I used a buyers agent (he was ok at first but fell into your second category when there were some problems.) ☹ My agent got paid out of a portion of the listing agents comission. I think the listing agent got 6%, from that 6% my buyers agent got 1/2 so the listing agent got 3% and the buyers agent got 3%. If i had gone there with no agent the listing agent would have received 6%. In most cases the only way to avoid paying the comission is to list the home without an agent. Edited to add this applies to US home sales. It may be different elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![ethelbert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ethelbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ethelbert)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-whats-the-sd-on-sellers-paying-closing-costs/521529/23 "2009-12-18T16:12:05Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Suppose two essentially identical homes are each listed for $200k. Is it not evident that, compared to the one where a commission applies, the one sold without a commission can either cost the buyer less, or earn the seller more, or (very typically) do some of both? Wouldn’t the seller of such a house be more likely to accept an offer of, say, $195k if he isn’t going to have to fork over 6%? You have created your example to yield the desired result. In my experience the house that is being sold “without a commission” (I assume this means without a real estate agent’s involvement) would attract substantially less viewers than the other house and would receive fewer and lower offers. There are many reasons for this. As I said before, I don’t even look at FSBOs and I don’t think I am alone. Also, many house sales (in my area, at least) are made to people relocating from other areas. They tend to be guided by real estate agents more than most and are not going to be shown FSBOs. I’m not saying it isn’t possible to sell your house yourself, but it is certainly not an automatic 6% difference in price. BTW, I am not an agent or a shill for one. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-whats-the-sd-on-sellers-paying-closing-costs/521529/24 "2009-12-18T23:59:12Z")
Can you guys take the realtor vs FSBO debate to a new thread? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-whats-the-sd-on-sellers-paying-closing-costs/521529.md?page=1)