Planning to sell your home? Realtor commission fees will likely be your largest expense. Our real estate commission calculator helps you estimate what you'll pay in realtor fees.
Here's what our research found about real estate commission:[1]
- The national real estate agent commission rate average is 5.70%.
- Over 70% of sellers who used real estate agents report spending 5% or more on commission.
- Selling a $280,000 home costs $15,960 in total realtor fees, on average.
- A $550,000 home costs an average of $31,350 in total realtor fees.
- A $920,000 home costs an average of $52,440 in total realtor fees.
However, these rates aren’t fixed and can vary by market, property type, and location.
Use our calculator to see how much you could save by negotiating your commission rate or using a low commission real estate brokerage which charges a 1.5% rate.
Real estate commission calculator
Slide to your home value and pick your state. We pre-fill the listing and buyer-side commission averages from our agent survey, then compare what you would pay with a traditional agent versus Clever's flat 1.5% listing fee.
- Listing agent fee (2.79%) $13,950
- Buyer's agent fee (2.55%) $12,750
- Listing agent fee (1.5%) $7,500
- Buyer's agent fee (2.55%) $12,750
Note: Results from our calculator are for estimation purposes only. They should not be considered 100% accurate or a final guarantee of what you'll pay a real estate agent in your transaction.
Steps to calculating real estate agent commission
Our real estate commission calculator helps you understand the costs of selling your home through a traditional real estate agent versus finding your agent through Clever. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to use this calculator:
1. Estimate your home value
Start with a realistic sale price. You have three options, from least to most accurate:
- Online home value estimators. Free and instant. Zillow’s Zestimate, Redfin Estimate, and Realtor.com’s estimator can give you a ballpark in seconds — but algorithms tend to miss the condition and recent improvements that drive real prices.
- Comparative market analysis (CMA). A local agent runs the numbers on recently sold comparable homes in your area. Usually free, takes a day or two, and gives you a tighter range. Most agents offer this without an obligation to list with them.
- Professional appraisal. The most accurate option. Expect to pay $323-$428[2] in most metros. It takes about 2–3 weeks to schedule and receive the report, but worth it if you’re close to listing and want a defensible number.
2. Use the state average — or your negotiated rate
If you haven’t signed a listing agreement yet, plug in the average rate from Clever’s February 2026 commission survey — based on quotes from 533 active partner agents across all 50 states. The state-by-state dropdown in the calculator pulls from this same dataset.
If you’ve already signed a listing agreement, use the actual rate from your contract. Listing agreements lock in the listing-agent commission and — if you’ve chosen to offer one — the buyer-agent concession you’re willing to pay.
3. Run the math
Multiply your sale price by your total commission rate. For a more accurate picture of your bottom line, ask your agent for a seller’s net sheet. It folds in commission and other closing costs — title fees, transfer tax, prorated property tax, payoff — so you can see what actually lands in your account.
How real estate commission gets split in 2026
In a typical sale, the total commission pays both sides. Here’s how that looks at the U.S. median sale price of $368,198:
| Role | Rate | Cost | Responsibilities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listing agent | 2.88% | $10,604 | Prices and markets the home, coordinates showings and offers, manages paperwork to settlement |
| Buyer’s agent | 2.82% | $10,383 | Represents the buyer, negotiates price and terms, guides financing, inspection, and closing |
| Total commission | 5.70% | $20,987 | Combined compensation paid from seller proceeds (when seller offers a buyer-agent concession) |
Listing agent. Earns commission for pricing the home, marketing it, fielding offers, coordinating showings, and managing paperwork through to closing.
Buyer’s agent. Earns commission for representing the buyer, negotiating price and terms, and walking them through financing, inspection, and closing.
Most agents earn a similar amount on each side of the deal — but listing agents historically pull slightly higher per-transaction earnings because they often handle more of the marketing legwork upfront. Discount brokerages like Clever change the math: instead of paying the full listing fee, you pay 1.5%, which knocks roughly $5,000 off the average sale.
» Find out what your home is worth! Get a free valuation from a real estate agent
What changed after the NAR settlement
In August 2024, new rules from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) settlement took effect and reshaped how buyer-agent compensation gets handled. Three things changed for sellers:
- Buyer-agent commission is no longer published on the MLS. Sellers and buyers’ agents used to see the offered concession before showings. Now they don’t — it has to be negotiated outside the MLS.
- Buyers sign a representation agreement before touring homes. The buyer-agent fee is set between the buyer and their agent — not between the seller and the buyer’s agent.
Sellers decide whether to offer a concession. You can still pay some or all of the buyer’s agent fee as a concession to make the home more affordable. It’s now a marketing decision, not a default.
So who pays the buyer’s agent now?
Technically, the buyer is on the hook — their signed agreement with their agent commits them to a fee. But most buyers either can’t or don’t want to pay it out of pocket, so they ask the seller to cover it through a concession at closing.
Whether you offer a concession depends on your market:
- In a slow or balanced market, offering 2–3% to the buyer’s agent typically widens your buyer pool and helps your listing compete. Most listing agents recommend it.
In a hot market, you can sometimes hold the line and let buyers pay their own agent — especially with multiple offers on the table.
How to pay less in commission
You have four ways to lower what you pay. Each has a tradeoff.
1. Negotiate with your listing agent
You can negotiate any agent’s rate — but the success rate is low. Only 22% of recent sellers got a reduction after asking.[3]
Negotiation works best when: you’re in a hot market, you’re buying and selling with the same agent, your home is high-priced (the dollar value to the agent is still strong at a lower percentage), or you have multiple agents competing for the listing.
Joy Aumann, a 20-year luxury Realtor (CIPS) and co-founder of La Jolla Life in San Diego, frames the negotiation conversation as a trade rather than an ask: "If a seller requests less commission, I would then request that they agree upon reasonable pricing, provide showings on their behalf, and agree upon a suitable launch strategy." In other words, bring something to the table. Agents who flex on rate usually want something in return — a fast launch, a price they can defend, less hand-holding on showings, or all three.
2. Hire a low-commission realtor
Discount brokerages charge listing fees as low as 1–2% — well below the 2.88% national average. Even a 0.5% reduction on a $400,000 sale is $2,000 in your pocket.
Clever pre-negotiates a 1.5% listing fee with top-rated agents nationwide. You get a full-service local agent, and you keep the buyer-agent concession in your control.
» COMPARE: The best low commission real estate companies
3. Use a flat-fee MLS service
Flat-fee MLS services let you list on the MLS for a few hundred dollars instead of paying a 2.88% listing commission. A licensed broker posts your property; you handle pricing, photos, showings, negotiations, and paperwork.
The savings are real — but support is limited. For-sale-by-owner homes historically sell for less than agent-represented homes, so weigh the savings against the likely price hit.
4. Sell to a cash home buyer
Selling directly to a company that buys houses for cash cuts out the agents entirely — no listing fee, no buyer-agent concession, no inspection contingencies. You typically close in 7–14 days.
However, the trade-off is that cash buyers typically offer less than the market value, often around 70% of the home's value after repairs, minus the repair costs.
While you save on realtor fees, the overall profit might be lower. For the best results, compare offers from multiple cash buyers, either independently, through a realtor, or via a service like Clever Offers.
When a low-commission agent is the right call (and when it isn’t)
A 1.5% listing fee saves you thousands. But it’s not the right move in every situation.
A low-commission agent likely fits if:
- You’re in a normal-to-hot market and your home will draw multiple offers
- You’ve sold before and you know what to expect from the process
- You want a full-service agent but you’re fee-sensitive
A traditional-rate agent might be worth it if:
- Your home is unusual (luxury, off-grid, distressed) and needs specialized marketing
- You’re in a slow market where extra marketing spend will pay off
- You want hands-on guidance through a complex situation — probate, divorce, short sale
Either way, get at least three agent interviews before you sign anything. Most of the savings on commission comes from comparison, not from the discount label itself.
Jay Hurst, co-founder of Ribbon Home, draws a sharp distinction worth carrying into those interviews: "Agents who lower their rate without asking for anything in return are telling you something about their opinion of their own work." An agent who drops to 1.5% with no trade and no quality conversation has just told you what they think their service is worth. A pre-vetted discount network is structurally different — the lower rate is built into the volume model, not negotiated under pressure. Look for the distinction when you compare.
Methodology
We gathered our commission rate data from a February 2026 survey of 533 partner real estate agents across the U.S. Agents were asked to share the typical listing and buyer’s agent fees in their local markets, giving us a broad snapshot across different regions and property types.
To put those rates into context, we paired the survey findings with national home value data from sources like Zillow, HouseCanary, and NAR. This helps illustrate what commissions look like in real dollar terms based on recent sale prices.
Note: These figures represent averages reported by agents, not fixed rates. Real estate commissions are always negotiable and vary by market, brokerage, and individual agent. We aim to provide a realistic benchmark for sellers planning their home sale.
Home values, list prices, and sale prices are based on Zillow data as of April 2026.
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