I am paid a commission at closing, out of the sale proceeds. If the sale does not close, I am not paid. You should know that before you weigh anything I tell you about price or timing.
That structure pulls toward closing quickly. Say three more weeks on the market brings you an offer ten thousand dollars higher. Those weeks move your side by ten thousand dollars and mine by a few hundred. The pull toward the early offer is on my side of the table.
So I write the reasoning down. Every range I send comes with the closed sales behind it, the addresses, the sale dates, and the adjustments I made. You can check it, and you can disagree with it.
Commission is negotiable. No law sets it, and no association sets it. My number and what it covers go into the written agreement before I represent you, and I will say it out loud in the first conversation rather than after you have decided.
If you are selling
If you are selling, offering compensation to a buyer's agent has been optional since August 2024. I will show you what each choice does to your net at your price and what it does to the pool of buyers who can see the home. The decision is yours.
Here is the shape of that decision. Offer nothing toward the buyer's agent and that money stays in your net, while a buyer paying their own agent has to cover it on top of the down payment. Offer a concession toward the buyer's closing costs instead and the buyer decides where it goes, which can matter when cash at the closing table is tight. Since August 2024 an offer of compensation to a buyer's agent is no longer carried on the MLS, so that term is settled in the negotiation and written into the contract. A concession can still be shown on the MLS. I will run both versions at your price before you choose.
If you are buying
If you are buying, you and I sign a written agreement before I show you a home. It names my fee, how long it runs, and how you end it. Ask and I will send you the blank form to read first. If the seller offers nothing toward it, we talk about that number before you write an offer.
The term is yours to set. So is the number. It can be written for one address and one day, or for a county-wide search over a set number of months. It ends on the date we put in it. If you want out before then, say so and I will release you in writing.
What the fee covers
On a listing, this is the work the fee buys. Every line is a commitment about what I will do.
- A pricing analysis with the closed sales shown, each one with its address and its sale date.
- Photography arranged and scheduled before the listing goes live.
- The listing entered on the MLS and pushed out to the public portals.
- Showings booked, with the feedback passed to you as it arrives.
- Every offer reviewed in writing, with my reasoning attached.
- Negotiation on price, and on the repair requests that follow the inspection.
- Inspection and lender valuation coordination, deadlines included.
- Closing coordination with the title company and the lender.
Free applies to the assessment. Brokerage services are paid at closing.
The other half of the question
That is the money answer. Which side of the table I sit on is a separate question, and it has its own page. Who I work for covers the agency roles Utah recognizes and what I do when both sides of a deal sit inside my brokerage.