On Sun, 02 May 2010 16:17:45 -0400, wrote:

On Sun, 02 May 2010 13:49:01 -0500, dpb wrote:

wrote:
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Huh? The agent hired to *list* the house is always working for the seller.
Who would be dumb enough to sign a contract otherwise? The agent the buyer
uses is often/usually (almost always) working for the seller, as well, but
that's a separate issue.
...

That depends on state and agency...they _can_ be a sellers' agent,
buyers' agent or dual, depending. Depends on State what is allowed...

Who's paying the commission to the listing agent? Generally, the buyer...

Up here there is a listing fee and a buying fee. If the same agent
lists and sells, they get the whole fee. If one agent lists and
another sells, the fee is split (I don't think it's 50/50 either -
seems the listing agent gets the bigger chunk)

That's generally the way it is in the US, too. Every state is somewhat
different though. Often in the listing there is a commission and agent's cut
statement (usually 6%, but I've seen it as low as 4% and as high as 7$, and
the cut is usually 50/50, but I've seen 60/40, also). The risk of a
nonstandard commission schedule is that buying agents may not be hot on
showing a property with a cheap slice on their side. I've heard one tell the
listing agent that they wanted the standard cut, before showing the property.

...