[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Velvet

I was asking how the agents are paid who work for TV because a very conscientious person showed me a lot of properties. I wish I could have bought one of them. But I found a place on my own I liked better. Just thinking have I wasted his time?

I think they are paid by the developer, based on a percentage of their sales, but you should not feel like you wasted their time. Every time they show you a house, they are improving their skills and learning more about their inventory. You should not feel bad about it at all. That is just part of a salesperson's job.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by valuemkt

For the sale of our house in Atlanta we have set a list price, and expected sale price and a minimum acceptable price. The realtor we've chosen has agreed to a performance based fee schedule that is set a 5% of the minimum price, 6% of the expected price price, and 6.8% of the list price. The commission is based upon sales price - any concessions - any improvements: essentially net proceeds before closing costs.
This prevents the ongoing issue of the realtor only losing $ 600 in commissions for every $10,000 in price. In this case, they would lose $3,333 .. which is real money to them .. If we get 100% of list, we'll be happy to turn over more than the common 6% fee as a bonus.
The "expected" price is 97.5% of list, which is what he claims is his average. The minimum is 95% of list.

Sounds complicated, but it puts some skin in the game for them, or as he says, a performance based compensation ..

I think that is an excellent idea that I have never even heard of. But, even if you have a fixed commmission percentage, you can always renegotiate the commission when an agent brings you a low offer. I have done it successfully several times. When you sign a listing agreement, the only offer you are required to accept is a full price offer, and the commission is negotiable if you get a lower offer.