Do I Have to Pay Commission?

The answer is NO! Even when your property is listed on the MLS® System and REALTOR.ca.

In fact, you can state exactly what commission, if any, you are willing to pay to a buyer's agent directly to the agents in most markets throughout Canada, right in the back-end of the MLS® System that the agents have exclusive access to.

Some people think that just because they are listed on the MLS® System that they will automatically have to pay commission to the agents. This is not the case at all. The truth is, even when an agent approaches you with a buyer, you are in complete control of what commission, if any, you are willing to pay. Why? Because you are not obligated to pay any commission whatsoever, unless you have specifically agreed to it directly with an agent, or you have instructed us to offer it to the agents via the MLS® System when we posted your listing.

In reality - at the end of the day, most of our customers are ok with paying a buyer's agent some commission if they actually bring them a buyer who is legitimately interested in their property. It is only a small percentage of sellers who refuse to pay agents completely, usually only after having a very negative experience with one or more of them. Our door is open to all sellers - we never judge.

Each listing we upload to the MLS® System includes specific commission and contact information for the agents who are viewing your listing on the MLS® System's back end, that only they can see. This information states exactly what each seller's cooperation level is "commission-wise" with the buyer agents should they want to engage the seller, and it provides the agents with an easy to find contact name and phone number for the sellers.

We use this message to clearly communicate to the agents what you are willing to pay them if they bring the buyer who completes the purchase of your property. You can also message to the agents that you are NOT willing to pay them any commission at all if you want to. You will likely run into a few angry agents in your efforts to sell the property, but the truth is that you are in complete control of what you are willing to pay to a real estate agent at all times.

About 2% of our customers instruct us to let the agents know that the are not willing to pay any commission to them, even if they bring a buyer, and we take their direction because our sellers call the shots.

The vast majority of our customers use our generic commission statement that reads: "This seller is willing to negotiate commission with any real estate agent who brings an acceptable offer from a qualified buyer."

This statement is non-committal and it opens the door for dialogue with the agents, which is better for our sellers and is why we encourage its use for most of our listings that appear on the MLS® System.

Believe it or not, some sellers are now offering real estate agents even more than what the typical buyer's agent commission would be as an extra incentive to encourage agents to bring them more buyers. The thinking being that since they are saving 1/2 of the commission listing with us, why not offer a portion of those savings to the real estate agent who brings in the coveted buyer. Many sellers are utilizing strategies like this as a creative way to get local agents more on board with their listing.

For example, if you want to say that you are willing to pay 2.5% to any buyer's agent who brings you a buyer, you can do that - or you could say $10,000.00 flat. You can also state that you are willing to pay ZERO commission, or less commission, or even more commission as well. It's completely up to you.

option 1

If you don't want to tell agents upfront what you are willing to pay commission-wise, the following message will be displayed in the back end of the MLS® System that only the agents can see.

BROKERAGE REMARKS: Mere Posting. The seller will negotiate. Complete fee agreement directly with seller. Contact seller directly: (Seller's name) @ (phone number).

option 2

If you have asked us to indicate that you are willing to pay a certain dollar amount or a percentage, then we will include the following statement using whatever % or $ amount, for the commission that you have stated:

BROKERAGE REMARKS: Mere Posting. The seller is offering (percentage of sale price OR flat fee amount) to co-operating buyer's agent. Complete fee agreement directly with seller. Contact seller directly: (Seller's name) @ (phone number).

option 3

If you have asked us to indicate that you are NOT willing to pay any dollar amount or any percentage to any agents, then we will include the following statement with your listing:

BROKERAGE REMARKS: Mere Posting. Contact seller directly: (Seller's name) @ (phone number).

We hope that this information helps explain how the messaging to buyer's agents works while using our selling system to market your property on the MLS® System.

Please contact us if you have any additional questions about this, or any other topic on our website.

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SAVINGS CALCULATOR

With FSBO, you ALWAYS SAVE AT LEAST HALF of the commission you would normally pay a full service agent.

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Savings Calculator

See what you can save when you sell through us.

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See what you can save when you sell through us.

SELLING PRICE & LOCATION

No Buyer Agent Involved

One Buyer Agent Involved

(Calculations are based on 6% on the first $100,000 and 3% on the balance)