Although I’m not in favor of anecdotes, here goes: We are currently selling our home on the east coast and received an offer after our listing agreement had expired and before we relisted (we had gotten kind of discouraged and had decided to put off relisting until the kids were back in school). We were much more willing to come down in price (and did come down more than we had originally planned to) since we didn’t have an agent’s fee to pay. The final steps of the negotiation here take place in the “attorney review” process, so our attorney is taking care of some of the jobs that would be done by an agent/broker in CA. So in this case, the buyer is getting a better deal than he would have otherwise because there is no listing agent involved.[/quote]
I’ll add my anecdote to that. When selling our house in 2004, we listed on the MLS for a flat fee (around $300-$500 dollars, IIRC), and offered a 2.5% commission to the selling (buyer’s) agent. We certainly were willing to take a slightly lower price because of the commission saved.
Another anecdote:
As sdr knows, we’ve been in contact with our current LL about the possibility of purchasing our rental. They have already agreed to split the savings from commissions with us.
IMHO, the saved commissions are usually split between the buyer and seller, so while the buyer might not get the full benefit, they can often get half of the savings. I will say this though, most FSBOs are grossly overpriced and delusional, so there’s no guarantee of any savings.
