[kelnos]

The thing that's excessively dumb about even that approach is that the buyer almost certainly would prefer to pay their realtor directly, outside of the purchase price. Since property tax assessments usually just follow the purchase price directly, I'd much rather purchase the house for $485k and give my agent $15k separately, than have my tax assessment be based on a $500k purchase price where the seller immediately turns around and gives $15k of that to my realtor.