The 2-to-3% Commission Explained: How I'm Paid Post-August-2024

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. 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, usually 2.5 to 3 percent, 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 commission ranges actually look like in Southern NH

The statewide average total commission in New Hampshire is about 5.57 percent according to Clever's 2025 survey, split roughly 2.90 percent listing-side and 2.67 percent buyer-side. FastExpert puts NH a bit lower at 4.7 percent total. National data from Redfin published in August 2025 shows buyer-side commissions actually ticked up slightly after the settlement, from 2.38 percent to 2.43 percent, and homes under $500,000 averaged 2.49 to 2.52 percent on the buyer side.

Here is what I quote in my market. Listing-side on a standard Salem, Windham, Derry, Londonderry, or Pelham transaction: 2 to 3 percent. Buyer-side: 2.5 to 3 percent. On a $500,000 home, a 2.5 percent listing fee is $12,500, a 3 percent listing fee is $15,000. A 2.5 percent buyer-side fee is $12,500. These are the numbers you will actually see in writing.

The floor below those ranges is the flat-fee MLS world, roughly $99 to $499, and discount brokers like Redfin at 1 percent listing-side. The ceiling is the traditional 6 percent total that full-service national brands still sometimes quote. Most of the market lives in the middle, and that is where my ranges land.

Every number 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.

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 before we sign. Sometimes it lands at 2.5 percent because the home is straightforward, priced well, and the market is moving. Sometimes it lands at 3 percent because the property needs more work, more photography, more staging strategy, more patience. Sometimes a buyer and I agree on 2.5 percent in the Buyer-Broker Agreement with a ceiling, so if the seller offers 3 percent, nothing extra comes out of the buyer's 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 my listing-side fee actually covers

When we agree on a listing-side fee, here is exactly what you are buying, in writing, before we go to market.

Professional photography of the home. I pay for this, not you. This is not an iPhone walk-through, these are real photos by a photographer who shoots homes for a living. Drone if the property warrants it.

A staging consult. I walk the house with you, room by room, and tell you what to move, what to remove, what to pack, and what to keep. On a Linda-style downsize from a 30-year family home, this is sometimes the longest and most useful conversation we have. No separate invoice for it.

A written seller strategy document before the first showing. This is a short PDF that spells out the pricing logic, the comparable properties I used, the days-on-market targets, the showing strategy, and the contingency plan if the market shifts. You sign off on it before I put a sign in the yard.

A 30-day listing agreement with a mutual-release clause. Not 90 days. Not 180. Thirty. If something is not working, either of us can walk at the 30-day mark, no drama, no cancellation fee. If it is working, we renew. This is unusual in the category and it is on purpose. I do not want a seller stuck with me, and I do not want to be stuck with a listing I cannot move.

MLS entry, IDX syndication, Zillow and Realtor.com and Homes.com distribution, open-house coordination, showing scheduling, offer review, negotiation, inspection management, appraisal follow-up, and closing coordination, all included. All of the usual transactional work.

A negotiated contribution toward buyer-agent compensation, if we decide to offer one. 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.

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, the mutual-release terms, 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. 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.