Hello everyone, I was wondering if anyone from California can
tell me what is the commission % charged to sellers to represent them and how is it collected.
Someone told me that it is collected monthly for a period of one year. Is this correct? I am from NY and the most we usually charge is 6% and it is collected in full at closing.
Thanks!

haha...all commission structures are negotiable. Did you miss this part on your test? Anyone claiming otherwise is subject to legal action, potentially.

Now, someone might comment with an "illustrative" example from california. for example. here in SC, it is quite common and very competitive to charge 6 percent, and that is split between brokers however the listing agent sees fit. Usually 50/50, sometimes a seven percent is split 3.5 a piece, or 3 and 4, or 4 and 3. It can vary. There are no standard commissions. I must say that i've never heard of anyone doing what youre talking about except in a commercial lease.

That sounds bizarre to me.

Our commissions are all over the map, from 4% to even 10% on residential listings. there is no single "standard" commission - to have one is to violate Sherman anti-trust laws.

Queen- I'm a Realtor in CA. As mentioned above, it is around 5 to 6% and in REO properties it is sometimes more. Again it is all negotiable.
I never heard commission collected monthly. You get commission at the closing.

Let me know if you need my help in CA for listing/selling.

"The ammount or rate of real estate commissions is not fixed BY LAW. They are set by each Broker individually and may be negotiated between Seller and Broker (real estate commissions include all compensation and fees to Broker).

I'm curious as to who would tell you such a thing? I guess if a broker put that in the listing agreement then it would be possible, but I would believe the % of sales price or flat fee at COE is standard across the board.

I once collected a Commission in Monthy Installments. I think I only had it happen once: A Taxidermist's Widow had her house For Sale about 8 months after he passed on. We brought her a Full Price CASH Offer without any contingencies; but by then she had a New Beau who thought he'd like to move in with her and learn the Deceased Husband's Trade (among other things). The Widow said she had changed her mind about selling because she was "In love Again". So we collected the Commission that we had earned on the Installment Plan; 1/6 every month for 6 months. And we sold the Buyer something else.

After 6 months, the New Beau had moved on and we put the Widow's property back on the Market W/O the BoyFriend involved. Took another 6 months; but we earned a second Commission. I felt bad for the Widow; but I got over it.

Funny thing about that discarded New Beau; he kind'a just disappeared and was never heard from again . . . . but I suppose that's a whole other story.

Dale, I've said it before, but I love your stories. You're kind of like the James Herriot of Real Estate. You should write stories, "All Commissions, Great And Small"

ha ha

Thank you for your kind words Perky. This Forum is an excellent place to refine techniques for summarizing human events into little snippets of 100 words or less. That's the way we have to speak. I see the eyes of people begin to glaze over at about spoken word #50.

We can write that way here because most of our Real Estate readers have the ability to conjure up the necessary supplemental images from their own experience to fill in the gaps that would leave outsiders absolutely "clueless".

I don't know if anyone can write e-Snips that will accommodate the ever-shrinking short attention span of the "general" American Public.

Nonetheless, the word "Commi$$ion" always seems to get attention.