Maximize Your Sell
How much should you pay the agents?
Six percent is a habit, not a rule. This model prices each side of the transaction against the work your specific house will take — and shows why a cheaper home often has to offer a buyer's agent more, not less.
Sale difficulty27Moderate lift
Scored out of 100, where a lower number means the house largely sells itself. This drives the compensation model below.
- Condition & finishes9 / 30
Based on what you told us. Add room photos for a sharper read.
- Price position3 / 12
A strong band, with a slightly narrower buyer pool.
- Local market7 / 14
A steady market rewards preparation and accurate pricing.
- Showing access5 / 10
Showing access looks workable.
- Timeline pressure3 / 10
Your timeline is workable, with enough room to prepare properly.
- Transaction complexity0 / 24
Nothing unusual flagged — this should be a clean file.
- Your price point carries enough commission dollars that a competitive percentage does not need to stretch to earn showings.
What the listing side works
- Pricing & pre-list strategy
- 5 hrs
- Prep, staging direction & photography
- 7 hrs
- Listing build, copywriting & syndication
- 4 hrs
- Marketing & inquiry handling
- 10 hrs
- Showings, open houses & feedback
- 13 hrs
- Offer review & negotiation
- 6 hrs
- Contract to close — option, inspection, appraisal, lender, title
- 16 hrs
- Closing & post-close
- 3 hrs
- Estimated total
- 64 hrs
$12,240 across 64 hours is about $191/hour before the agent's brokerage split, taxes and expenses.
What the buyer side works
- Consultation & buyer representation agreement
- 2 hrs
- Search, curation & listing review
- 9 hrs
- Touring, scheduling & travel
- 16 hrs
- Offer preparation & negotiation
- 6 hrs
- Contract to close
- 14 hrs
- Closing
- 3 hrs
- Estimated total
- 50 hrs
$11,655 across 50 hours is about $233/hour before the agent's brokerage split, taxes and expenses.
A buyer's agent also absorbs the hours spent on buyers who tour and never close. That unpaid time is why the dollar floor exists.
Hour estimates are WG Title's own working figures based on Texas closings we see, not a published study. Commissions are always negotiable and are set solely between you and the broker you hire. WG Title does not set, recommend or receive any part of a real estate commission. These figures are a planning model built from the answers you gave.
How the model thinks
Two sides, moving in opposite directions.
The listing side scales with dollars, so the percentage comes down.
Preparing, marketing and closing an $800,000 house is more work than a $250,000 house — but it is not three times the work. As price rises, the commission dollars grow faster than the hours do, which is why the model lowers the listing percentage at higher price points and raises it when a house needs genuine effort to sell.
The buyer side is a dollar floor wearing a percentage costume.
A buyer's agent invests roughly the same hours delivering a buyer to a modest house as to an expensive one — and absorbs the cost of every buyer who tours homes for months and never closes. Below a certain dollar amount, working your listing stops making economic sense, and showings quietly go somewhere else.
This model uses a working floor of $4,500.
At $120,000 that floor works out to 3.75% before any difficulty adjustment — well above a typical rate, so it takes over. At $800,000 the same dollars are only 0.56%, far below market, so the price band governs instead. That crossover is the whole point: on an inexpensive or rough property, offering a competitive dollar amount is what buys you showings.
When the floor is what set your number, the calculator says so explicitly.
What changed after the NAR settlement.
Buyer-agent compensation can no longer be advertised through the MLS, and buyers now sign a written representation agreement before touring. Compensation is negotiated directly — between you and your listing broker, and between the buyer and theirs, or written into the contract. That makes deciding what to offer an actual decision instead of a default, which is what this page is for.
Where WG Title fits — and does not.
We are the title and escrow company. We do not set, recommend or receive any part of a real estate commission, and nothing here is an endorsement of a particular rate. We built this because sellers kept arriving at closing surprised by numbers nobody had walked them through.
Commissions are always negotiable and are set solely between you and the broker you hire. WG Title does not set, recommend or receive any part of a real estate commission. These figures are a planning model built from the answers you gave.
Ready when the contract is.
Put WG Title on your next transaction.
Send the property details or contract. Our team will confirm the next step and get your file moving.