09/10/2026
Real estate commissions have changed. What does that mean to you as a buyer or seller in Portland?
As you may know a new Federal Law has passed regarding how agents are paid, thought you might appreciate a breakdown of how that used to work, how it's working now, and what it all means to you on your real estate journey.
Realtors are paid on straight commissions. This makes us so grateful to find loyal, communicative clients who believe in partnership and collaboration. Without those things our jobs get expotentially harder - which makes it harder to take the exceptional level of care that we so value giving... because we're chasing for information, preferences, and the ability to provide exceptional brainstorming for strategies that could truly serve.
HOW IT USED TO BE:
For the past 80+ years the way commissions have worked in the US is that an agent would be hired to sell a home, and paid a commission by that seller for successfully closing that transaction. Commissions have always been negotiable, but depending upon where you live in the US that would most like have ranged between 5.5 and 7% of the sales price.
Then at closing the selling agent would pay the buyers agent out of those commissions. Buyer's agents are also paid on a straight commission only basis, and would get often get somewhere between 2.5-3% of the seller's commisison.
Both buyers and sellers would have some additional closing costs such as title insurance *, taxes would be prorated between parties, filing fees, buyer's might have an appraisal and additional lending fees to cover.
The seller's "net" or finaly proceeds would be delivered to them after closing, which would include the escrow company paying off any outstanding loans or liens againist the home, so that the buyer would be given a clean deed.
HOW IT IS NOW:
A couple of years ago a seller decided he didn't like the fact that the commissions he paid his listing agent/ also paid the buyer's agent whom he felt worked againist thim the entire transaction. That lawsuit is known as Burnett/Sitzler v. National Association of Realtors and he won.
So what does that mean to you as a seller or buyer in Oregon?
While commissions have always been, and continue to be negotiated, this lawsuit has changed how things work a bit.
When we're listing a home for a client, we now create a contract with our sellers which covers only our own commissions.
And when we're working with a buyer, the buyers have to sign a "Buyer Broker Agreement" by law for us to open even one home for them. That agreement states that the buyer is responsible for our commission at the end of the transaction, and how much that will be.
However - in the new OREG sales agreement paperwork the template actually has a place where we as buyer agents, negotiate our commissions with the seller directly.
What does this mean to you?
If you are a seller, it means you will pay the same amount you've always paid to sell your home, there are just two points of discussion. One with your listing agent, and one with your buyer's agent when you receive an offer. It's been my experience in hundreds of deals that buyer agents are still requesting 2.5% of the transaction on anything under two million dollars. I've seen it drop at higher price points.
As a buyer what does that mean? Well first, because you have to sign a buyer broker agreement to go shopping for a home with an agent, it means you should make a careful decision about whom you want to hire upfront. You can also ask an agent to make that a short contract, so that you can go see two or three homes together and be sure you've found a good fit. Then when you write an offer your agent will try to negotiate their commissions with the seller - effectively meaning it works just as it always has, but more paperwork and points of discussion.
It's been our experience that even for sale by owners and anticipate they will need to pay a buyers agent for bringing a qualified buyer to the table, and doing all the work to get the transaction closed. We do know of one local new construction home developer who only pays a portion of the commissions, in which case we can work with the buyer to accomodate the rest of our fees.
Just one piece of the real estate process- be happy to chat with you about your needs and how this might all play out for your plans.
Hope you found this to be helpful! Our goal is to provide exceptional service and information to our clients.
*Title insurance. Think of it this way - you pay car insurance in case someday, in the future, you might get into an accident and then be covered. Title insurance instead goes backwards. Both seller and buyer pay a bit of this to be sure that nothing in the past will show up for the buyer in the future, giving anyone claim to the property they just purchased and the clean deed they were just given.
