[JohnnyP]

Real estate commissions of 6% may have been justified before the internet, and computerized forms, but not anymore.
- Once a house is listed on the MLS or VLS, buyers are able to search and find candidate homes without any real estate agent assistance.
- Sellers can stage their own homes, following guidelines on the Internet.
- And a lot of the paperwork is now the responsibility of the seller/buyer to complete, after an agent emails access to online forms.

I sold my home, in MD, after interviewing 5 agents and selecting a very successful RE/MAX agent who seemed the most capable and only charged a 1% commission.
- My wife and I had already staged our house, and I took a great set of ~70 photos.
- I hired the agent at 2pm, signed an agent agreement at 4pm, and the home was listed on the MLS by 7pm.
- The first open house was 4 days later and yielded 2 competing offers. The sales contract was in place 2 days later, $26K over the asking price of $780,000 ($806K sale price).

The brokerage fees were:
- Listing agent commission 1% $8,060
- Selling agent commission 2.5% $20,150
- Total commission 3.5% $28,210
- A savings of $20,150 (42%) over the traditional 6% commission of $48,360.

If enough sellers push back on the traditional 6% commission, and select discount brokers, then the market will eventually respond with lower commission rates.