The other thing I would like to point out about commission sales is that unlike the salary or wage earner, without the sale, the salesperson brings home no pay check. Babies crying to be fed, creditors on the phone, that sort of thing. There is a lot of work that is done that is completely uncompensated, such as when a realtor spends an entire Saturday driving a buyer around and later realizes the buyer was just window shopping with no real intention to buy. Nine tenths of a realtor’s time is spent on work that never comes to fruition.

So why should they exist at all, you ask. Because they know the business and can save buyers from costly mistakes in the form of tricks from disreputable sellers, overpaying on a purchase that might have been negotiated down further, and missing out on properties they may not have found on their own.

Buyers and sellers have the choice of going it alone if they choose, but my contention is that brokers do provide a service for which they deserve compensation.