[simonsquiff]

6% for realtors fees is outrageous! I had no idea it was anything like that in the US.

Here in the UK, it’s about 1.5%. That can often be haggled down to 1% if you have an expensive house that’s desirable enough to sell itself. And even that is getting majorly distributed by online agents, who are offering a flat fee service rather than % of property, which can be an enormous saving.

At 6% it seems a market with a huge amount of fat, just asking for a new player to come and disrupt

[rhodysurf]

You are missing that the seller pays both his realtor and the buyers realtor

[dagw]

Why does the buyer need their own realtor for just buying a normal house?

[rhodysurf]

They technically dont, but if youre an engineer like me who is working full time, having someone work for you to do all the annoying parts of buying a house for free its a no brainer. If the seller is paying why wouldnt I use one?

[rory]

Since you are paying the seller immediately before they pay the agent, "the seller is paying" seems like a technicality. In theory, if you could remove the seller's obligation to pay that additional 3%, you could get up to a 3% discount on the house.

[phamilton]

How are buying agents compensated in the UK?

[jstanley]

You wouldn't typically use one.

[quickthrower2]

To add to this the UK market is beautifully transparent, with streets of very similar architecture / size houses or apartments to compare to. You can nail down the price you'd expect to pay, and it is very British to go in and make an offer with the agent, with no buyers agent. I didn't know such things existed until recently by watching shows like "Million Dollar Listing New York" etc.