[jankassens]

I'd love to see the typical breakdown of where those 5% go in a hot market like San Francisco. At a median price of $1.5mil, that's $75k in commission. I never bought a home, but that seems like it should buy a lot of services.

[choppaface]

In a market like SF, or on Million Dollar Listing, I think the argument towards the commission is that the agent will either save you that much through negotiation (or earn you more through inflation) and/or they will get you something that you couldn't get otherwise (e.g. an unlisted property or a celebrity buyer). That said, I imagine the agents' return-on-arbitrage is actually even higher at the top price points, and even harder to quantify because deal details can be obfuscated (e.g. through LLCs etc).

[lawnchair_larry]

Agents don’t negotiate on your behalf. They present all offers.

[tamade]

The typical 5% is split 50/50 between the buyer and seller brokers and paid by the seller. If the agent represents both sides, there's usually a discount, e.g. 4% total. Additional broker incentives, e.g. extra 0.5% to the buyer broker, may increase the commission