Commissions have always been negotiable. The buyer broker commission the seller is offering will no longer be filled in in a field in MLS, so buyer agents will be contacting listing agents to get that ironed out ahead of time. If sellers are not willing to offer an adequate buyer agent commission, this will mean that a smaller pool of buyers will be interested in the home.

Sellers thinking they can ultimately offer $0 to buyers agents are shooting themselves in the foot. Most buyers will still see the value in having their own representation. Buyer agency came about in the ‘80s because they realized the listing agents were representing the interests of the sellers. I’m sure more buyers will now choose to go this alone but they are in for a rude awakening when they start navigating this by themselves. For some buyers working with agents, they will not have the cash to directly pay their agents, so many will choose to finance this by tacking it on to the purchase price. This will cause appraisal problems and will ultimately increase sales prices. For buyers using VA loans, they are prohibited from directly paying the buyer agent commission.

Everyone is frustrated by the rapidly-increasing home prices but this is due to a supply and demand problem. The fact that many sellers are sitting with interest rates in the 2s and 3s means they will do everything they can to not move, which means our inventory will remain tight for years to come. It is easy to pile the blame onto agents’ commissions being the cause of this but it’s simply not the case.

I didn't see that one, Jan. But it makes my stomach turn to see anyone buying a lovely old home and bastardizing it. Every time I read the words "open concept," I want to scream.