If you’re preparing to sell a home in California, you may have heard that there are new rules governing real estate agent commissions. The big questions on your mind are likely: who pays Realtor fees in California, and will the new guidelines impact my sale proceeds? The rule changes are tied to last year’s National Association of Realtors (NAR) court settlement, which gave sellers more flexibility in how commissions are handled. In this post, we’ll break down how Realtor fees typically work in California, and how much you can expect to pay. You’ll also be able to use our California Real Estate Commission Calculator to run estimates based on your own sale price and circumstances. Traditionally, home sellers covered both their own listing agent’s fee and the buyer’s agent’s commission. Under the new rules, sellers are no longer automatically obligated to compensate the buyer’s agent. However, despite the NAR changes, most California home sellers still pay both agents. In a recent HomeLight survey, 92% of top agents nationwide reported that sellers are continuing to cover buyer’s agent commissions. Conversations with California agents echo this finding — particularly in high-cost metros like Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco, where buyers are already stretching to cover steep down payments and closing costs. For example, in Los Angeles County, where the median home price is around $1,000,000, buyers typically put 10% to 15% down, which means coming up with as much as $150,000 cash upfront. With that level of financial strain, many buyers would struggle to pay their own agent directly. So while sellers in California are not required to pay these fees, most do so because it: The bottom line: While the NAR settlement rule changes provide seller options, the prevailing advice from experienced California agents is simple: If you want to get your home sold in a market filled with cash-strapped buyers, offer to pay their agent fees. So, how much can you expect Realtor fees to cost you in California? While commissions vary, the average combined rate in the Golden State is 5.18% of the home’s sale price. On an $800,000 home, that comes to $41,400 in commission fees split between the listing and buyer’s agents and their brokers. To help you see the numbers more clearly, we’ve built a California Real Estate Commission Calculator. This tool allows you to compare scenarios depending on whether you offer a buyer’s agent commission, negotiate a lower rate, or explore alternative structures. California sellers are not required to pay a buyer’s agent commission under the new NAR rules. But in practice, most sellers still do. The reason comes down to buyer behavior and agent representation. According to NAR, 88% of homebuyers in the U.S. use a real estate agent to help them purchase a home. In California, where the process is especially complex due to high prices, layered inspections, and disclosure requirements, that percentage is often even higher. If you decide not to offer a buyer’s agent commission, you run the risk of shrinking your buyer pool. Agents may be less motivated to show your home if their compensation depends on the buyer covering it directly. And many buyers, already strapped for cash with closing costs and California’s property taxes, may simply move on to listings where the seller is covering their agent’s fee. So while you can decline to cover a buyer’s agent fee, the tradeoff could be fewer showings, a longer selling timeline, and potentially a lower net result.Who pays Realtor fees in California?
California real estate commission calculator
Do sellers have to pay a buyer’s Realtor fees in California?
