Commissions in Real Estate. Boulder County Colorado

Commission

Ulf C Nilsson
Buyer Brokers of Boulder
3405 Penrose Place, #100
Boulder, CO 80301

303 522 4040

1 800 94 BUYER

How much does it cost you to hire your own agent in a real estate transaction?

The company your agent works for will normally earn a commission of 2.8% of the final purchase price when you buy a home. Follow the simple rules below and that commission will be paid by either the Seller if it is an existing home, or the builder if it is new construction

	Get your own agent before you start contacting Sellers or Listing agents. The listing agent might be unwilling to share the commission with an other agent if you approach him or the Seller first without having your own agent. .
	Talk to your agent before you visit a new subdivision. Builders of new homes might be unwilling to pay the commission if you approach their new subdivision without your agent.
	Your agent will help you with the purchase of "For Sale By Owner Properties", but sometimes the Seller of such property might be unwilling to pay the commission. Talk to your agent about how to resolve the commission issue in such case.
	Don't sign anything with your agent that stipulates that you have to pay your agent even if you won't end up purchasing a property.

This is how the system is set up:

Any Seller who has listed a property in our listing system will have a contract with his/her agent, the "Listing Agent".

	The contract will typically contain an agreement that the agent's real estate company, represented by the agent, will have the exclusive right to market the property and that they (and their agent) will earn a commission if the house sells.
	The contract will specify the fee that the agent will receive if the home sells within the time frame specified by the contract. This fee is negotiated between the seller and the listing agent, but is generally a percentage of the sale price of the property. In our market, listing commissions typically range from 5% to 7%.
	The contract will also specify an agreement that the listing company will offer to share this total commission with any agent working with the buyer who purchase the property. While the amount of this "co-op commission" is also negotiable, in our market it is generally 2.8% or 3.0%.

The consequences of this is that the Seller will pay the contracted commission at closing. It will be neither more - or less - to pay for the Seller if it is to the agent representing him, or if the commission will be shared between his agent and the agent representing the Buyer.

It is not the source of the commission that decides who represents who in a real estate transaction. The representation is solely determined by the agreement between you and your agent.