The short answer
On August 17, 2024, the NAR settlement changed how buyer-agent commissions are paid. Sellers are no longer required to advertise a buyer-agent fee in the MLS, and buyers must sign a written Buyer-Broker Agreement before an agent shows them a single home. Clever Real Estate's August 2026 survey puts the New Hampshire average total commission at about 5.03 percent (2.59 percent listing-side, 2.44 percent buyer-side). Commission is negotiable, nothing is set by law, and we set yours together, in writing, before anything is signed.
What actually changed on August 17, 2024
August 17, 2024 is the day commissions changed. Before that date, the listing agent usually advertised a buyer-agent commission inside the MLS, and the buyer's side was paid out of the seller's proceeds at closing. Most buyers never saw a number. Most buyers thought the service was free. It never was, it was just buried.
After the NAR settlement, two things are true that were not true before. First, offers of buyer-agent compensation can no longer appear in the MLS. Second, a buyer must sign a written Buyer-Broker Agreement with their agent before that agent tours a single home with them. Those are the two structural changes, both laid out in the NAR settlement FAQ. Everything else in the news about the settlement is downstream of those two rules.
What this means in practice on a Salem or Windham transaction: the buyer-side fee is now negotiated directly between the buyer, their agent, and the seller, outside the MLS. It can still be paid by the seller. It can also be paid by the buyer. It can be split. None of that is new legally, all of it is new in how visibly it happens.
The old model versus the new model
Here is the side-by-side, plainly.
Old model. The seller signed a listing agreement with the listing agent at, say, 5 percent. The listing agent then posted the home in the MLS and advertised a buyer-agent commission inside the listing. Any buyer's agent who brought a buyer to that house got paid out of the seller's side at closing. The buyer signed nothing about compensation. The fee was cooked into the seller's proceeds.
New model. The seller signs a listing agreement with the listing agent at a negotiated rate, for example 2.5 percent listing-side. Whether the seller also offers to pay the buyer's side is a separate conversation, written into the listing agreement or negotiated at offer stage. The buyer signs a Buyer-Broker Agreement with their agent that spells out what the buyer's agent will be paid, who pays it, and whether the buyer is on the hook for any shortfall. When the buyer makes an offer, that offer can ask the seller to pay the buyer's-agent fee as part of the terms, the same way an offer asks for closing-cost credits or a home-warranty.
The big shift is not the dollars. The big shift is that the conversation is now happening out in the open, with everybody signing what they expect.
What the published commission averages say
The statewide average total commission in New Hampshire is about 5.03 percent according to Clever Real Estate's August 2026 survey, split roughly 2.59 percent listing-side and 2.44 percent buyer-side. National data from Redfin published in August 2025 showed buyer-side commissions ticked up slightly a year after the settlement, from 2.38 percent to 2.43 percent in the second quarter of 2025, and homes under $500,000 averaged 2.52 percent on the buyer side.
Swipe sideways to see every column.
| Measure | Rate | On a $500,000 sale | Survey |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire average total commission | 5.03% | $25,150 | Clever, Aug 2026 |
| New Hampshire listing side | 2.59% | $12,950 | Clever, Aug 2026 |
| New Hampshire buyer side | 2.44% | $12,200 | Clever, Aug 2026 |
| US average buyer side, Q2 2025 | 2.43% | $12,150 | Redfin |
| US average buyer side, a year earlier | 2.38% | $11,900 | Redfin |
| US buyer side, homes under $500,000 | 2.52% | $12,600 | Redfin |
Averages, not a quote: every commission is negotiable. Source: Clever Real Estate, average NH commission (Aug 2026); Redfin via Business Wire (Aug 12, 2025).
Those are averages, not a quote. Your commission is negotiable and set together before anything is signed, and it depends on the home, the plan to market it, and what each of us is responsible for. The arithmetic is simple: every percentage point on a $500,000 sale is $5,000. My commission page shows how I set the fee and what it covers.
The market also includes flat-fee MLS services and discount brokerages, which charge less and typically do less of the work. Ask any agent you interview, me included, to show you exactly what the fee pays for before you compare numbers.
Every average I just gave you is a starting point for a conversation, not a price tag. Which brings me to the next section.
Why every commission is negotiable, and not set by law
There is no law in New Hampshire, or anywhere in the United States, that sets a commission rate. There never was. The phrase "the standard commission is six percent" was industry shorthand, not a statute. That shorthand is part of what the NAR settlement was meant to kill, and NAR's own settlement FAQ says compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable.
Any agent who quotes you a fixed commission and tells you it is non-negotiable is either uninformed or not being straight with you. I have had this conversation with every seller since the settlement. The rate is a number we agree on together, in writing, before we sign. A straightforward, well-priced home in a moving market is a different job than a property that needs more preparation and more patience, and the fee conversation reflects that. On the buyer side, the Buyer-Broker Agreement can set a ceiling, so the buyer knows the most that could ever come out of their own pocket.
If an agent hands you a listing agreement with a pre-filled commission number and does not walk you through why that number, walk away. You are allowed to ask. You are allowed to counter. It is your house.
What we put in writing before you list
When we agree on a listing-side fee, we also agree on what it pays for. All of it goes in writing before your home goes on the market.
The marketing and presentation plan. Photography, staging advice, and any other preparation costs are part of the conversation up front, so you know exactly who handles each piece and who pays for it before anything is signed. Ask me how I handle photography, staging, and other marketing costs on a home like yours.
The pricing logic. The comparable sales behind the list price, how we will read the first weeks of showings, and what we do if the market shifts.
The listing term. We agree on the term together, in writing, and you read every line of the agreement before you sign it.
The transaction work. MLS entry and syndication, showing coordination, offer review, negotiation, inspection and appraisal follow-up, and closing coordination.
Buyer-agent compensation, if we decide to offer it. That number is negotiated separately and spelled out in the listing agreement.
What happens when the seller and the buyer's agent can't agree on compensation
This is the scenario everyone in the industry worried about when the settlement came down, and a year in, it is mostly a non-event. Here is how it actually plays out.
A buyer and their agent sign a Buyer-Broker Agreement that says the buyer's agent will be paid, for example, 2.5 percent. The buyer finds a home they love on /buy. The listing agent's seller has agreed to offer up to 2 percent on the buyer side. There is a 0.5 percent gap.
Three things can happen. One, the buyer asks the seller to cover the full 2.5 percent in the offer, and the seller either accepts, counters, or rejects that term like any other offer term. Two, the buyer agrees to cover the 0.5 percent gap at closing out of their own funds. Three, the buyer's agent agrees to accept the 2 percent the seller is offering and waives the 0.5 percent with the buyer's written consent, amending the Buyer-Broker Agreement.
All three are legal. All three happen in this market. The right answer depends on the buyer's cash position, the competitiveness of the offer, and how much the agent is willing to flex. What matters is that nobody is blindsided. Everyone signs what they agree to, in writing, before the deal closes.
The Buyer-Broker Agreement, explained
This one is the biggest change for buyers. Before August 17, 2024, most buyers in Southern NH toured homes with an agent for weeks or months without ever signing anything. The agent was working for free until a deal closed, and the buyer could, in theory, walk to another agent at any moment. That was the industry norm and it was a mess.
Now, before I can take a buyer to see a single home, I need a signed Buyer-Broker Agreement in place. The agreement spells out four things. It names me as the buyer's agent. It sets the compensation rate the buyer and I have agreed to. It names the time period the agreement covers. It clarifies what happens if the buyer ends up writing an offer on a home where the seller's offered compensation is less than our agreed rate.
The agreement can be short. It can be for a single showing, a single property, a week, a month, or longer. The commission rate can be anything we negotiate. The buyer is allowed to work with other agents if we do not have an exclusive agreement, and even an exclusive can be structured narrowly. None of this should feel like being trapped. If your agent hands you a 12-month exclusive Buyer-Broker at 3 percent on your first showing, that is not standard, that is a sales move. Ask to start with something shorter and narrower, see how it goes, and extend from there. How I work with buyers starts with exactly that kind of short, plain agreement.
What to watch out for when you are shopping for an agent
Two patterns to flag, after a year of watching agents in this market adjust to the new rules.
Agents who quote you a fixed commission and refuse to negotiate. Nothing in real estate is fixed. If the first answer you get to "can we talk about the rate" is a hard no with no explanation, the agent is either new, or following a broker policy they will not put in writing, or hoping you do not ask twice. Any of those is a problem.
Agents who will not put the fee in writing before you sign the listing agreement or the Buyer-Broker Agreement. The fee, the services delivered for it, the length of the agreement, how either side can end it, and the buyer-agent compensation policy should all be written down before you sign anything. If an agent wants you to sign first and work out the "details" later, that is a sign to pause. Before you sign with anyone, me included, confirm the license: the NH Real Estate Commission license lookup covers New Hampshire, and the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons covers Massachusetts. You can read more about who I am and how I work on /about, and when you are ready to talk, the calendar is at /booking.
