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Comment by crazygringo | Hacker News Reader

That's all great.

And nobody's saying don't pay realtors for their work.

They're saying, certainly don't pay them 6%, and preferably not a percentage at all. Just pay them like a contractor or anyone else you hire -- either a flat fee or by the hour, depending on the exact services.

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Fully agree. Another option would be to add some incentive structure. If I know I can selly home for $200k myself and you sell it for $200k...your value to me was basically $0. If you can sell it for $300k, then I'd be pretty happy to give you a nice chunk of that. 6% no matter what is crazy.

You can sell your house yourself, though? You don't need to use a realtor.

Yes, but it is a bit of work. I wouldn't mind using a realtor for their experience in the field, but 6% is absolutely bonkers for most normal house purchasing processes. Their work simply isn't that valuable and is being kept at that level due to non-competitive practices. If the realtor just shows me the home and does a little negotiating and some paperwork for me....maybe $2k at most for that service, but $12k for a $200k house? Ridiculous.

I think they’d love to be paid a flat fee or by hour, regardless of whether the transaction goes through or not, just like restaurant staff being well paid and not rely on tip. But such is the commission world and have no idea how it all came to be this way.

It became this way because the industry intentionally rigged it this way through out-in-the-open collusion, via NAR and MLS rules.

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