In a standard home sale, the seller pays the realtor commission, and it comes out of the sale proceeds at closing rather than out of the buyer's pocket. For decades that single fee covered both sides of the deal: the agent who listed the house and the agent who brought the buyer. The buyer usually paid nothing toward commission directly, because the cost was already folded into the price the seller accepted.
That arrangement catches people off guard. I have watched a first-time buyer go quiet at a closing table once they realized the agent who drove them to a dozen showings was, on paper, paid by the person sitting across from them. It feels backward until you trace the money. Every dollar at a closing starts with the buyer's loan or cash, lands with the seller, and the commission is paid from the seller's side of that pile.
The changes that took effect in August 2024 complicated one part of this, namely who pays the buyer's agent specifically. I will get to that below. The short answer survives the change anyway. On the listing side, the seller still writes the check. If you want the mechanics of the rule changes themselves, the removed MLS commission field and the new buyer paperwork, our companion piece on the new commission rules walks through that. This post stays on the money question: who actually pays, and how much.
Do sellers normally pay both realtor fees?
Yes. In the traditional model the seller pays one total commission, the listing brokerage keeps its share, and it passes the rest to the buyer's brokerage. So the seller effectively funds both agents. The buyer's agent was paid out of the seller's proceeds, never billed to the buyer. Since August 2024 that split is no longer posted inside the MLS, but a seller can still agree to pay the buyer's agent by negotiation.
Here is how it worked, and mostly still works. When a homeowner signs a listing agreement, they agree on a total commission with their listing agent. The listing agent then offers a portion of that number to whatever agent brings a qualified buyer, an incentive to get other agents to show the house. A seller who bristles at the idea of "paying the buyer's agent" is usually surprised to learn it was never a separate bill. It was one figure, divided.
What shifted in 2024 is that the offer to the buyer's agent can no longer be advertised in the MLS, and buyers now sign their own representation agreements. The seller's ability to cover that cost did not disappear. It moved from an automatic MLS field to a line you negotiate in the deal.
How much is the commission on a $300,000 home?
There is no legal or standard commission rate. Every rate is negotiable, and always has been. If a seller agrees to a total commission of 5 percent on a $300,000 sale, that is $15,000. At 6 percent it is $18,000. A single listing-side fee of 3 percent is $9,000. Whether any of that reaches the buyer's agent is now negotiated separately rather than assumed.
Because the fee is a percentage, the dollar figure climbs fast with price. That matters on the island, where a renovated place near downtown or anything with a marsh or water view runs well above the Nassau County median.
| Sale price | 2.5% | 3% | 5% | 6% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $300,000 | $7,500 | $9,000 | $15,000 | $18,000 |
| $500,000 | $12,500 | $15,000 | $25,000 | $30,000 |
| $750,000 | $18,750 | $22,500 | $37,500 | $45,000 |
Those figures are illustrative. No rate is set by law or by any real estate board, and a higher sale price does not require a higher percentage. What the rate reflects is the service behind it. A full-service listing (professional photography, pricing analysis, staging guidance, marketing, showings, negotiation, and the paperwork through closing) costs more than a bare listing with none of that. On higher-priced coastal homes, sellers often negotiate the percentage down, because at $700,000 even half a point is real money. The number is a starting point for a conversation, not a posted price.
Will buyers have to pay realtor fees now?
Sometimes. Since August 2024, a buyer signs a written agreement with their agent before touring homes that spells out how that agent gets paid and how much. The seller can still cover that cost through a concession, which remains common, but if the seller does not, the buyer owes the difference. So a buyer might pay nothing toward commission, pay their agent directly, or ask the seller to pay as part of the offer.
The written buyer-broker agreement is the real change for buyers. It puts the buyer's agent's fee on paper up front, before the first showing, instead of leaving it as an assumption. In practice, many sellers still agree to pay the buyer's agent, because a listing that offers no buyer-agent compensation can draw fewer showings and slower offers. When the seller declines, a buyer has a few moves: fold the request into the offer as a seller concession, pay the agent out of pocket at closing, or negotiate the fee down with their own agent before they start looking.
One wrinkle worth knowing is that a seller concession is capped by the buyer's loan program. A buyer using financing cannot always have the seller cover an unlimited amount, so part of the buyer-agent fee can land back on the buyer's side as cash to close. Cash buyers have more room to negotiate the whole thing. For the full settlement details and the exact paperwork, the companion post on the new commission rules is the better stop.
How can you avoid or lower realtor fees when selling?
You have three honest options: sell it yourself (FSBO), hire a flat-fee or limited-service broker, or negotiate the rate with a full-service agent. Each one lowers the fee and shifts work, pricing risk, or market exposure onto you. A truly fee-free sale is rare, because even a for-sale-by-owner usually offers something to a buyer's agent to get the home shown at all.
Selling it yourself saves the listing-side commission, but you take on pricing, photos, showings, disclosures, and negotiation. On an older coastal home, the variables that move price (flood zone, the age of the roof, a wind mitigation report, whether the insurance is assumable) are easy to misjudge, and a mispriced listing can cost more than the commission you set out to save. A flat-fee MLS or limited-service broker sits in the middle: you pay a set amount to get into the MLS and handle the rest of the transaction yourself. And negotiation is the most overlooked option of all. Full-service agents set their own rates, so the rate is a question you are allowed to ask, especially when the home's price already makes the dollar figure large.
At Salt Harbor, we would rather a seller understand the trade than be surprised by the number at signing, so we lay the fee and the services it buys side by side before anyone commits. Saving money on commission is a fine goal. Saving it by accident, and losing more on a soft list price, is the outcome to avoid.
What else comes out of the seller's proceeds at closing?
Commission is usually the largest line on a seller's settlement statement, but it is not the only one. In Florida, sellers customarily pay the documentary stamp tax on the deed and often the owner's title insurance policy, plus property taxes prorated through the closing date and any outstanding HOA or condo estoppel charges. On older homes near the water, a buyer's inspection or an insurer's requirements can also pull a repair credit out of the seller's column at the last minute.
So "who pays realtor fees" is one piece of a seller's closing math, not the whole equation. Before you list, ask your agent for a net sheet, a plain estimate of what actually lands in your account after commission and Florida's closing costs. The commission question is far easier to answer when you can see the entire column at once, and a good agent at Salt Harbor will hand you that estimate without being asked.
Frequently asked questions
Do sellers normally pay both Realtor fees?
Traditionally, yes. The seller pays one total commission that is split between the listing brokerage and the buyer's brokerage, so the seller funds both agents out of the sale proceeds. Since August 2024 the buyer-agent share is negotiated rather than automatically advertised in the MLS, but sellers still commonly agree to cover it.
How much commission do you get on a $300,000 house?
There is no standard rate, so it depends on what you negotiate. At a 5 percent total commission, a $300,000 sale is $15,000; at 6 percent it is $18,000; a 3 percent listing-side fee is $9,000. That total is then divided between the agents involved in the deal.
How to avoid Realtor fees when selling a house?
You can sell it yourself (FSBO), use a flat-fee or limited-service broker, or negotiate a lower rate with a full-service agent. Each option saves money but shifts pricing, marketing, and negotiation work onto you, and most sellers still offer something to the buyer's agent to attract showings.
Will buyers have to pay Realtor fees?
Sometimes. Since August 2024 buyers sign a written agreement setting their agent's fee, and the seller can still cover it through a concession. If the seller does not, the buyer pays their agent directly or folds the request into the offer, subject to their loan program's concession limits.