Realtor commission for move-up buyer (Austin: to rent, selling a home, buying)

[jojodad]

Hi,
Considering selling a home (mid $400k) and moving into a new home ($800k) within NW Austin.
Assuming I use the same realtor for selling and buying, what would you shoot for commission (percentage-wise)? I don't think I would pay full 6% for listing but wonder what is reasonable in such case. Thanks!!

[EzPeterson]

4% list is realistic, if you've already identified the new house and made sure that your realtor would be receiving the commission on that. This way, they can still cover their marketing costs for selling your home. I've done it twice this way - you do need to be very specific when signing the contract on the new build that you have a realtor and make certain that they are listed on there - many builders have rules about this.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by jojodad

Hi,
Considering selling a home (mid $400k) and moving into a new home ($800k) within NW Austin.
Assuming I use the same realtor for selling and buying, what would you shoot for commission (percentage-wise)? I don't think I would pay full 6% for listing but wonder what is reasonable in such case. Thanks!!

We're doing something similar in the northeast Texas market, and we negotiated a 4% commission. After all, she will also be selling us a house and making another commission on that as well. She was absolutely fine with it - and she's a top producer in our area.

Also, I just wanted to say as a former realtor in Texas, this is a pretty normal request - not saying that a realtor will DO it every time, but it's definitely done regularly. And one last note - the more expensive the house, the lower the commission rate can (and I think should) be - if the seller is not expecting a ridiculous amount of advertising, outside the realm of what's normal.

When I was a realtor I did a deal once where I charged a lower commission, but the seller paid for ALL advertising. That was really an eye opener for the seller.

[TexasHorseLady]

If I give a cut on the commission in such situations, I've given a rebate of 1% on the buy side. Why? Because, while you might not do this, there are enough people who will say they are going to buy with an agent and want to work such a deal that have no intention of buying and are just trying to get into the agent's paycheck. Add to that people who change their minds about buying and decide to rent, and you can see why from the agent's perspective it should be on the buy side.

I disagree with KathrynAragon on the "the more expensive the house the lower the commission should be" point, because the kinds of (and expense of) advertising a higher dollar house can be significantly higher than a house that is not in the luxury market, not to mention those houses in general take longer to sell because there's a smaller pool of qualified buyers. You have to go to the watering hole of the prospective buyer, and that takes more money in that market.

[EzPeterson]

I think KA was referring to the more expensive the "move up" house = better the deal. At least that's how I took it, since it made sense. The two times I've done this, the deal has been on the "sell" side, but both were new construction for the "buy" side. With the 6-9 month timeline, the realtor has the contract on the "buy" before listing the "sell", plus I knew my realtor very well so they knew I was serious about it.

[GreenPlastic]

I've got a reduction to 2% on sell side, when I've committed to using the agent for the buy as well. We've used her before so she trusts us to follow through on the buy, and we've moved up in price each time, so she nets more by giving us the break on the sell.