How to Save on Realtor Fees: 5 Strategies That Actually Work

Realtor fees are typically the highest cost of selling a house.

The nationwide average commission rate for a seller's agent is 2.88% of the home's sale price. Sellers also commonly cover the buyer's agent fee, which averages 2.82%. That's a total of 5.70% in realtor fees — more than $22,000 on a $400,000 home sale!

The good news is you have several options to save on realtor fees. Some strategies can save you thousands without hurting your chances of a successful sale, while others may put your timeline or bottom line at risk.

Below, we break down how each method works, the pros and cons, and whether it’s a good fit for your situation.

How does realtor commission work?

When you sell a home, you typically pay realtor commission for both your listing agent and the buyer's agent — about 5–6% of the sale price combined. You don't pay it out of pocket. It comes off the top at closing, before you see the proceeds.

Here's what 6% total commission looks like on a $500,000 home sale:

Clever's most recent commission survey puts the national listing-agent average at 2.88% and the buyer's-agent average at 2.82% — roughly 5.70% combined.

Sellers usually agree to cover the buyer's agent fee because it makes their home easier to sell. Most buyers can't pay their agent out of pocket on top of a down payment, so folding the fee into the sale price lets the buyer finance it through the mortgage.

After the 2024 NAR lawsuit settlement, sellers can no longer advertise a set buyer's agent commission in their MLS listing. Buyers and their agents now agree on compensation in writing before any showings happen. Sellers still commonly cover this cost as a concession at closing — but you're not required to, and the buyer is on the hook for anything you don't pay.

How to save on realtor fees

Five strategies actually save you money. The first three preserve full service and most of the upside; the last two save more on commission but typically cost more on sale price.

1. Work with a low-commission agent

A low-commission agent is a full-service realtor who charges less than the standard 2.5–3% listing fee. The trade isn't service — it's volume. Companies like Clever Real Estate partner with agents from big-name brokerages (Keller Williams, Compass, RE/MAX) and route sellers to them in exchange for a pre-negotiated 1.5% listing fee.

What "full service" actually means matters here. Mikaela Camacho, a DFW-area agent, frames the value this way: "Agents don't just pull recent sales — they read buyer behavior, demand trends, and absorption rates. In today's market, deals fall apart over pricing psychology and inspection negotiation, not over MLS access." The risk with cheaper services isn't that your listing won't appear on Zillow — it's that no one's reading the market for you when a buyer's appraisal comes in low.

Here's the math on a $500,000 sale, traditional vs. low-commission:

If you want to go below 1.5%, 1% commission realtors exist, but the trade-offs sharpen — you'll often lose professional photography, in-person consultations, or full marketing support. For most sellers, 1.5% is the floor where service stays intact.

Clever sellers save an average of $7,000 versus a traditional 3% listing fee. The matching service is free and you only pay the listing fee if your home sells.

If you want real savings without added risk, hiring a low-commission agent is the smart option. Companies like Clever Real Estate make it simple by pre-negotiating 1.5% listing fees with top local agents, then matching you with those who have the right experience for your sale. Sellers who find an agent through Clever save an average of $7,000. Find the top 1.5% agents near you.

2. Try negotiating realtor fees yourself

Sometimes, you may be able to negotiate a lower commission rate with your listing agent yourself. This works best if you bring strong selling conditions to the table — like a high-value property, a hot local market, or an easy-to-sell home that doesn’t require much marketing.

That said, most agents don’t have much wiggle room. Many work under brokerages with set fee structures, and even independent agents are often reluctant to reduce their rates by more than 0.5–1%. Only 19% of sellers discuss commission with their agents and successfully secure a lower rate.[1]

Here’s how much you could save if your listing agent agrees to cut their fee from 3% to 2.5% on a $500,000 home:

If you already have an agent in mind, it's absolutely worth it to negotiate their commission rate. Come prepared with a strategy — whether it’s showing why your sale will be quick and easy or offering other incentives — and be clear and reasonable about the rate you’re asking for.

Here are three negotiation questions you can try:

• What's your standard commission for a home in this price range? (Establishes the starting position.)
• Would you agree that these factors [strong comps, hot neighborhood, pre-listed buyer, minimal marketing needed] will make my home easier to sell than others? (Anchors your leverage with specifics.)
• Would you consider 2.5%, or a sliding scale tied to final sale price? (Ask for a number, not a vague "discount.")

Keep in mind that most agents will only lower their fee slightly, so your savings may be modest compared to using a company that offers pre-negotiated low rates.

One counterpoint worth knowing: some experienced agents see a willingness to deeply discount as a signal of weak negotiation. Florida agent Remington Pettygrove warns, "If an agent is willing to give away their own money that easily, how hard do you think they'll fight for yours?" It's a fair concern. The seller who saves 0.5% on commission but loses 2% on the final sale price hasn't actually saved anything.

3. Use a flat-fee MLS service

A flat-fee MLS service is the hybrid option — more savings than a low-commission agent, less risk than a pure FSBO sale. You pay a one-time fee (typically $99–$399) to get your home listed on the local Multiple Listing Service without hiring a listing agent. The MLS feeds Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin, and — critically — buyer's agent search tools, which is where serious buyers find homes.

Two services dominate the national flat-fee MLS market:

• Houzeo — Around $329 for the Bronze plan, with national coverage and the contract forms most states require. The dashboard lets you accept offers and manage showings online.
• Beycome — Around $99 for the basic plan, with fewer included services. Better for sellers comfortable handling paperwork on their own.

See more flat-fee MLS options.

Pricing changes — verify on the provider's site before you sign up. The big strategic question isn't which service you pick; it's what you offer the buyer's agent.

After the NAR settlement, you can list a flat-fee MLS property without offering any buyer's-agent compensation. But buyer's agents are unlikely to show your home if there's no path to getting paid, and unrepresented buyers are a small share of the market. Most flat-fee MLS sellers still offer 2.5–3% to the buyer's agent at closing — which means your savings come from skipping the listing-side fee, not both sides.

On a $500K sale that closes at full market value with a $329 listing fee and a 3% buyer's-agent concession:

The catch — same as with FSBO — is that homes sold this way tend to close at lower prices than agent-listed comps. The savings only materialize if your home sells at full market value, and that's where pricing strategy and contract sequencing start mattering more than the listing fee.

4. Sell without a realtor (FSBO)

Selling without a realtor — also known as 'for sale by owner' (FSBO) — means you sell your home without hiring a listing agent.

This eliminates the 2.5–3% listing fee, but it also means you’re responsible for all the work: deciding on pre-listing improvements, staging, photographing, pricing, creating the listing, marketing, vetting buyers, negotiating, handling paperwork, and so on. Many sellers underestimate the amount of time and effort a home sale requires.

Also, selling FSBO isn't free. It's often worth it to pay for a flat fee MLS company (about $300–400) to get your property on the multiple listing service (MLS), which means many more buyer’s agents will see your listing. You may also want to cover the 2.5–3% buyer’s agent fee. You're not obligated to pay it, but it's common for sellers to do so, and represented buyers may not be able to afford your home otherwise.

One of the biggest downsides to selling without an agent is that FSBO homes usually sell for much less ($55,000 on average)[2] than homes represented by an agent. So even if you save a few thousand on listing agent fees, you may walk away with tens of thousands less overall.

Adam Sinclair, an agent in the Bay City–Saginaw–Midland market in Michigan, has a representative case: "The last FSBO I worked with lost $6,000 on the market value to save 3% on a $130,000 home. The only thing that matters is the bottom line delivered to the client at the closing table." The commission "savings" on that sale was $3,900. The net loss was about $2,100 — before factoring in the time spent.

FSBO isn't impossible, but it tends to fail in a specific way most sellers don't anticipate. Jenna Ritter, an agent in Hall and Lumpkin Counties, Georgia, puts it bluntly: "You can absolutely do FSBO… The problem is, very few people are comfortable with it. You will list your home FSBO and you will get inundated with calls from agents, but it's because they want the listing, not because they have a buyer." A flood of inquiries that looks like demand often turns out to be buyer's agents fishing for the listing or unrepresented buyers fishing for a discount.

If you still want MLS exposure without going fully solo, think about going the flat-fee MLS route— that's the lighter version of FSBO that solves the visibility problem without solving the pricing one.

Here's how the dollar math typically looks on a $500K home that sells at the median FSBO discount:

The $16,650 saved on commission gets erased — and then some — by the $55,000 lower sale price.

This method may work for those who are highly experienced in real estate. But for most sellers, it's worth it to pay an agent to handle the workload and maximize your sale price.

5. Sell to a cash buyer

Cash buyers — including investors, iBuyers, and “we buy houses” companies — purchase homes directly, often as-is, with no agents involved. These sales are fast, simple, and eliminate realtor fees entirely.

The trade-off? Price. Investors commonly offer 30% below the home's after-repair value, minus the cost of estimated repairs. These buyers are looking for a steep discount so they can make a worthwhile profit when they resell the property.

iBuyers (Opendoor, Offerpad)

iBuyers like Opendoor and Offerpad use algorithmic pricing models to make near-instant offers on homes in decent condition. Typical offers come in 5–10% below open-market value, plus a service fee of 5–8%, plus any repair credits. They make the most sense if you need speed and certainty on a home that doesn't need significant work — a relocation deadline, a recent inheritance, or an out-of-state move where managing showings isn't realistic.

iBuyers don't buy every property type. Older homes, rural homes, homes with significant deferred maintenance, and homes outside metro areas often don't qualify. Get a quote, compare it to one or two traditional agent CMAs, and treat the gap as the cost of speed and certainty.

Investors and "we buy houses" companies

Cash investors and "we buy houses" companies play a different game. They typically offer around 70% of the home's after-repair value (ARV), minus the cost of estimated repairs. The math is built around being able to flip or rent the property at a profit. On a $500,000 home that needs $30,000 in work, a typical investor offer is closer to $320,000.

This route makes sense for homes that genuinely can't be sold traditionally — fire damage, foundation issues, hoarder conditions, foreclosure timelines — but the scam risk is real. Established national networks like HomeVestors (We Buy Ugly Houses) and We Buy Houses operate franchises with mixed local quality. Vet any local operator through state licensing records, BBB, and Google reviews before signing anything. Walk away from anyone pressuring you to sign on the first visit.

Here’s how selling to a "we buy houses" company might compare to a traditional sale on a home worth $500,000:

Selling to a cash buyer eliminates realtor fees — but the steep discount in sale price completely negates the savings. This route only makes sense if you need a fast, as-is sale and are willing to sacrifice profit for convenience.

Bottom line: What's the best way to save on realtor fees?

There are multiple ways to save on realtor fees — from negotiating with your agent to selling FSBO or going directly to a cash buyer. But each comes with trade-offs.

Negotiating yourself may lead to a reduced rate, but likely not by much. Selling FSBO or to a cash buyer can eliminate commissions altogether, but the risks and lost value usually outweigh the savings.

For most sellers, low-commission agents strike the best balance: you get full professional support while saving thousands.

If you want maximum savings without the stress or risk, consider using Clever’s free service to find a low-commission agent. Clever partners with agents from top brokerages and pre-negotiates low 1.5% listing fees — so you can get full service from a trusted local realtor for half the typical price.

Frequently asked questions

Methodology

Every dollar figure in this guide traces back to a specific source. Here's how we calculated savings, sourced commission rates, and selected the agents quoted throughout.

Commission averages. The 2.88% listing-agent average and 2.82% buyer's-agent average come from Clever Real Estate's February 2026 commission survey [3], which collected typical commission rates from 533 partner agents across the U.S. Agents reported what listing-side and buyer-side commissions actually run in their markets — not list-price advertised rates. The combined 5.70% national average is what we applied to the $500,000 example sale price throughout the article ($20,987 in total commission at the national median home price; ~$28,500 at our $500K example).

Strategy-by-strategy savings math. The $500K baseline sale price is the anchor for every dollar comparison. From there:

• The $7,500 savings from a low-commission agent is the difference between a 3.0% traditional listing fee and Clever's pre-negotiated 1.5% partner-agent fee on a $500K sale.
• The $7,000 "average Clever seller saves" figure is from Clever's internal client data, comparing closed-sale commission paid vs. the 2.88% national listing-side average.
• The $15,000 FSBO savings represents skipping a 3.0% listing-side fee on a $500K sale before factoring in sale-price impact.
• The 19% of sellers who secure a lower commission comes from NAR's 2024 Generational Trends report.[4]
• The $55,000 FSBO-vs.-agent sale-price gap ($380K median FSBO vs. $435K median agent-assisted) comes from NAR's 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.[5]
• Flat-fee MLS pricing for Houzeo (~$329) and Beycome (~$99) was verified on each provider's site in May 2026. iBuyer offer math (5–10% below open-market value plus a 5–8% service fee) reflects published Opendoor and Offerpad pricing terms in May 2026. Cash investor offer math (70% of after-repair value minus repair costs) is the standard wholesaler/flipper formula used by national networks like HomeVestors.

Expert quotes. Quotes throughout the article come from licensed agents currently active in the markets they discuss. Where possible, we prioritized agents with direct experience handling the specific scenarios (FSBO sales, commission negotiation, low-commission listings) the article covers. Agents quoted in this article:

• Mikaela Camacho, Keller Williams Realty — Dallas–Fort Worth, TX
• Remington Pettygrove, Ben Lalez Real Estate Team @ Compass — Chicago, IL
• Adam Sinclair, JPAR Great Lakes Bay Realty — Bay City/Saginaw/Midland, MI
• Jenna Ritter, Virtual Properties Realty — Hall and Lumpkin Counties, GA

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