Having been married to a Realtor, I can attest to the fact that most of them work very hard for their money. And most I know are keenly professional and straightforward in smoothing out what can be a difficult, stressful process.

It is also true that the recent ballooning of home prices has pushed the typical five percent selling commission for a house in Connecticut into the realm of expensive, even if two agents and their brokers are being paid.

It’s not unheard of these days to sell a house the day you list it, and the hardest work has often become sorting out multiple bids instead of marketing and showing the property for months on end.

The $20,000 you might pay to quickly sell your house for $400,000 is certainly a lot. At the same time, listings are increasingly hard to come by in a tight market, and most Realtors now probably have fewer transactions under their belt by year’s end.

I think, though, that the cataclysmic change coming to the industry this summer, the result of some recent lawsuits challenging the monopolistic commission system, might be a good thing, even for hardworking Realtors.

It looks like commissions will be negotiated down, which could help at least a little in tempering rising prices.
One clear change on the horizon seems to be the uncoupling of built-in commissions for an agent working for the buyer, who usually gets the same commission, half the total, as the selling agent and broker. It’s now all paid by the seller.

In the lawsuit settlement, brokers with the National Association of Realtors agreed to no longer list a customary 2.5 or 3% of the selling price, half the total commission, for the buyer’s agent.

This leaves buyers who want to shop exclusively with one agent, who represents them in any attempted sale, to figure out how that agent gets paid.

They could pay a set percentage themselves, negotiate an hourly fee or ask the buyer to pay their agent, a tough sell when you may be competing with lots of other people for a prized listing.

My suggestion for buyers would be to skip having an exclusive agent. You are probably better off.

In the current system, that agent, though it may be someone you come to know and trust and who understands what you want, is still paid by the seller and, at the end of the day, represents the seller’s desire to close a deal.

In the old days, you needed a buyer’s agent to navigate the web of offerings in the multiple listing system, and without one you might miss some of the best properties.

Today, listings are all online and anyone can filter and sort and search for exactly what they are looking for, particular neighborhoods, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, yards, garages, etc. No need to miss anything.
Each property listed has an agent, and, in my experience, they’ll call you back right away and set up a showing.

If you make an offer, that agent is going to try to help you navigate a deal, from inspections, a professional reviewing the property on your behalf, to mortgage reviews. Just like any buyer’s agent, they want you to finish and close a sale, to everyone’s satisfaction, so commissions are paid.

One very good thing about working directly with a listing agent is that you are only one person away from the owner in negotiations. Working with a buyer’s agent, you have to negotiate through that person, who then negotiates with the listing agent, who talks to the seller.

The more direct you can get in buying negotiations the better.

Probably, in the new world of fewer buyer agents, new tools, like seminars and even buying tutors, might help first-time buyers understand and negotiate the process.

It’s not unlike buying a car. Search listings. Go to showrooms and take a test drive. Talk to salespeople.

No one pays many thousands of dollars to someone to help them through that car-buying process. There’s one seller with one agent. You are free to go on to the next dealer.

Today’s house sale prices essentially include commissions for both the listing and buyer’s agent, and, at the end of the day the buyer is paying both since it is built in to the asking price.

A lot of changes are coming this year to the way houses are bought and sold. That’s especially true in this part of Connecticut, where hiring at Electric Boat and growing tourism are contributing to a still-red-hot market.

Most Realtors are competent professionals, and probably only one is all that’s needed to sell a typical house. It’s more direct and cheaper.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

d.collins@theday.com