How Much Do Real Estate Agents Charge?

How much do you charge? How much do real estate agents charge when selling a house? How much do Real Estate Agents Cost? If only I had a dollar every time, I was asked this question… What is amazing is that most agencies will shy away from this question and want to divert the conversation. It should not be a secret!

First and most important, it is important to know that I am not able to say the “Standard Real Estate Fee Charged is X” or “Industry Average is Y”. This is against the law. It is also against the law and considered price collusion if two competing brokers talk about commissions. To that very important point, I am going to talk about what we charge at the Chubb Homes Team in Massachusetts when selling a house.

We do not charge a one size fits all fee. Like shoes, our feeling is that the fee structure needs to fit each individual person. We offer a number of different packages to our clients and allow them to choose which is best for them.

But first, before talking about the specific fees, it is important to know that the fee itself is split in a number of different ways. As an example, let’s say that a seller chooses our 5% marketing package and sells the property for $300,000. The total Real Estate Commission paid is $15,000 at closing.

The first split of this $15,000 fee is between the listing and buyer representative brokerages. The split is generally 50/50 between the two brokerage houses. For this example, lets assume the Listing Broker would receive $7,500 for their marketing and representation of the seller, while the Buyer Broker will receive the other half.

Of the $7,500 that is paid to each broker, the brokerage will then take their split. Many agents are on 60/40 splits where the broker will receive 40% of the fee and the agent receives 60%. This now leaves the agent with $4,500 to cover their marketing costs as well as compensate them for their time, experience and knowledge. The last split is to Uncle Sam who we estimate will take another 30%! This leaves $3,150 to the actual agent working on your behalf.

As I mentioned earlier, at the Chubb Homes Team we offer a number of marketing packages to a seller who is selling their home. Keep in mind that it isn’t all about the marketing. We have noticed over the years that a novice who has sold two houses will charge the same amount that we charge (Someone that has sold a ~1,000!). Selling a house is a serious transaction and one small slip could cost a seller thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars! It’s never good to be the seller who has an agent learning on their dime! Be sure to ask how many houses THEY (not their brokerage) has sold.

Our Bronze Package is a fee structure of 2% for our listing representation with a suggested offering to the buyer broker of an additional 2%. This would be a total of 4% paid at closing. This package includes:

-        Professional Photos
-        Showing Coordination System where showings can be scheduled 24/7
-        Automated Buyer Feedback System
-        Guarantee Cancelation & Release
-        Eye Catching Yard Sign
-        MLS Marketing Sheet
-        Utilization of Artificial Intelligence for Guaranteed Lead Follow Up
-        24/7 Live Person Guarantee for Consumers Looking at Your Home
-        Announcement on the Chubb Homes Team Social Media Network
-        Negotiation and team experience of selling more than a 1,000 homes

Our Silver Package is a fee structure of 2.5% for our listing representation with a suggested offering to the buyer broker of an additional 2.5%. This would be a total of 5% paid at closing. This package is our most popular and includes:

-        Bronze Package +
-        3D Interactive Matterport Tours
-        Property Floorplan
-        Targeted Google PPC Campaign
-        Facebook Target Marketing Campaign – The Slugfest™ Campaign
-        Professional Home Staging Consultation
-        Single Property Landing Web Page
-        Weekly Status Updates
-        Announcement of Coming Soon on Top Agent Network (If Applicable)
-        Reverse Prospecting with the 26,000+ Buyer Database
-        Custom Design Marketing Sheet by in-house Graphic Designer

Our Gold Package is a fee structure of 3.5% for our listing representation with a suggested offering to the buyer broker of an additional 2.5%. This would be a total of 6% paid at closing. This package includes:

-        Silver Package +
-        Aerial Drone Footage of subject property and surroundings
-        Rich Video Home Tour
-        Upscale Photo editing including virtual staging and background drops
-        9 Page custom brochure that is Professionally Bound
-        Just Listed Neighborhood Campaign
-        As Many Open Houses as Seller Desires and Guaranteed Upon Request
-        Elite Online Advertising Package (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Robb Report, DuPont Registry, UPMKT, Mansion Global)
-        Global Exposure with over 100 International Ads & Placement on Juwai.com - #1 China RE Investor Website

Our Platinum Package is a fee structure of 4.5% for our listing representation with a suggested offering to the buyer broker of an additional 2.5%. This would be a total of 7% paid at closing. Upfront marketing fee of $1,495 owed at Listing Agreement. This package includes:

-        Gold Package +
-        Appraisal of Property by Licensed Appraiser (3rd Party Opinion)
-        Home Inspection of Property by Licensed Inspector
-        Seller Legal Work Paid for and Handled by In-House Attorney
-        Professional Copy Writer for Property Description
-        Additional Blog Write-Up by Professional Copy Writer Increasing Organic Lead Traffic
-        Guaranteed Sold in 29 Days or We Will Sell it for Free Marketing Program*
            *Can substitute ‘Guaranteed Sold for Free’ program to ‘We Will Buy It’ Program for 10% Marketing Fee

The ‘Sell Your House for $1 Commission™’ Marketing Program.

This is a revolutionary program that we are offering to sellers. The traditional marketing program above is how it ‘has always been’… Like Uber vs. Taxi Cabs, we felt that wasn’t a good enough reason why to not offer client’s even more choice!

Click here to find out more about how to Sell Your House for a $1 Commission.

The Sell Your House for $1 Commission™ program is just that. A seller pays us $1 for our full-service Silver Package marketing program. They get all the tools and marketing exposure of our Silver Package plus our experience of selling more than a 1,000 homes and only pay $1 at closing!

How the program works is that we will charge the Buyer a Premium of 5% on your home. We call this charge a ‘buyer premium’. This has been done with Foreclosures and REOs for years! Why shouldn’t us “Regular” homeowners get in on the action! In other words, the buyer will pay our commission. We will then split that fee with the buyer broker as we described above just as if it was any other transaction.

Using the example above, the same seller sold their house for $300,000. In this case the buyer would also need to pay a $15,000 buyer premium at closing. The buyer could pay that premium separately from the transaction or finance that fee. If they were financing that buyer premium fee, they would then inflate the cost of the property to $315,000. $315,000 minus the 15,000 Buyer Premium equals $300,000 for the seller.

There are some restrictions (areas and price ranges) that do apply for this program which we would be happy to talk to you about in more detail.

There you have it. That is how much we charge to sell a house in Massachusetts. So, now you know the next time someone asks " How much do real estate agents charge? "!

And if you are wondering " How Much it Costs to Sell a Home? " then take a look at this article that breaks down all the other expenses for selling a home in Massachusetts.

Please keep in mind that we are always improving, so we do reserve the right to make adjustments to our commission structures. If you have a question or a specific situation that you would like to talk about, then we would love to hear from you!

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