What the 2024 commission rules changed, and what they did not

For about as long as anyone reading this has been alive, a home sale in the United States came with an unwritten default. The seller paid a total commission, usually somewhere around 5 to 6 percent, and the listing agent split it with whatever agent brought the buyer. Buyers almost never saw that math, because it came out of the seller’s proceeds before anyone wrote them a check.

In 2024 that default broke. If you are selling your own home or buying without an agent, the change works in your favor, but only if you understand what actually moved.

The two things that actually changed

On August 17, 2024, two rules took effect as part of the National Association of Realtors settlement. Both are narrow, and both matter.

First, offers of compensation to a buyer’s agent can no longer appear on the MLS, the shared database that feeds Zillow, Redfin, and most of what you see online. A seller can still offer to pay a buyer’s agent. They just cannot advertise it in the one place every agent looks.

Second, an agent who works off the MLS now has to sign a written agreement with a buyer before showing them a home, in person or over video. That agreement has to state, in plain numbers, what the agent will be paid and by whom. It cannot be vague or open-ended.

What stayed exactly the same

It is easy to read the headlines and assume commissions were capped or cut. They were not. A few things are worth saying plainly because the noise around this topic is loud.

Broker compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable. That was true before 2024 and it is true now. Sellers can still offer a buyer’s agent commission, just not through the MLS. Sellers can still offer concessions on the MLS, such as money toward the buyer’s closing costs. And you can still hire a full-service agent if you want one. Nothing forces you to go it alone.

If you are selling without an agent

The practical effect is that you now make a decision that used to be made for you. When a buyer shows up with an agent, you choose how to handle that agent’s pay. You have four honest options.

None of these is automatically right. A home in a hot market priced well can often skip a buyer-agent commission entirely. A hard-to-move property might sell faster if you make it worth an agent’s time to bring a client.

If you are buying without an agent

When you do not have an agent, there is no buyer-side commission to pay, full stop. That is the whole point. The question becomes what happens to the money the seller might have budgeted for a buyer’s agent.

You can ask for it. In your offer, request that the seller credit some or all of that amount toward your closing costs or knock it off the price. The seller saves the hassle of a second agent, and you capture part of a cost that used to vanish into the transaction. Whether they say yes depends on the market, but you cannot get a credit you never ask for.

What the commission is worth in dollars

Percentages feel abstract. Dollars do not. Here is what a buyer-side commission and a full traditional commission look like across a few price points.

On a typical American home, the full commission is the size of a car. Even one side of it is a serious number. That is the money this whole site is about keeping in your pocket, or at least putting under your control.

What you still pay for when you skip the agent

Selling your own home is a real job, and pretending otherwise is how people get blindsided. You save the listing-side commission, but you take on a handful of line items an agent used to bundle into that fee. Going in with a budget is half the battle. Here is what to plan for.

• A flat-fee MLS listing, commonly about $95 to $500, to get your home onto the database that real buyers and agents search. A licensed broker posts it for you, which is generally how an unrepresented seller reaches the MLS at all.
• Professional photos, often a few hundred dollars. Listing photos drive the clicks that decide whether anyone walks through your door, so this is rarely the place to cut.
• An optional pre-listing appraisal, averaging about $357 in 2025 with a typical range of roughly $314 to $423, to anchor your asking price to something defensible.
• A real estate attorney for the contract and closing, commonly about $750 to $1,250 flat, with hourly work running roughly $150 to $500. In some states this is not optional: Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia all require an attorney for residential closings.
• The owner’s title policy, often a seller cost in many states, running roughly 0.5 to 1 percent of the sale price.

The tax question: will you owe anything on the sale?

The fear here is a surprise tax bill at the worst possible moment. For most sellers, it never arrives, but you should know why so you are not guessing. The tax is on your gain, not your sale price.

The Section 121 home-sale exclusion keeps the first $250,000 of gain off a single return, or $500,000 on a joint one. Two tests gate it: the home must have served as your main residence for at least 24 of the 60 months before closing, and you must not have claimed the exclusion on a different sale in the previous two years.

Gain is the part that trips people up. It is the sale price minus your selling expenses minus your adjusted basis. Capital improvements, a new roof, an HVAC system, a kitchen remodel, add to your basis and shrink the gain; routine repairs do not. And the costs you read about above work for you here: real estate commissions, advertising, and legal fees all count as selling expenses that reduce what you realized.

Disclosure and closing: the parts you cannot improvise

Two moments in a solo sale carry real liability, and both reward caution. Neither is a reason to use an agent, but each has a concrete fix you should put in place before you need it.

Disclosure is where unrepresented sellers get exposed. Federal law requires that for any home built before 1978 you disclose known lead-based paint and hazards, hand over any reports you have, give the buyer the EPA “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home” pamphlet, include a Lead Warning Statement in the contract, and allow the buyer a 10-day window to test for lead. On top of that federal rule, nearly every state has its own property-condition disclosure form covering the roof, foundation, water, and known defects. The fix is simple: download your state’s required form before you list, complete it honestly, and keep signed copies.

The second moment is moving the money at closing. This is where wire fraud happens. Scammers send a fake, last-minute email changing the wiring instructions and reroute a buyer’s funds to themselves. It is common, and it is devastating.

You do not have to handle the closing mechanics alone. A real estate attorney or a title and escrow officer can run the paperwork and the funds, so being unrepresented does not mean being unsupported.

So should you offer a buyer-agent commission?

Treat it as a marketing expense, not an obligation. Ask yourself how quickly comparable homes are selling near you, how many buyers in your area still use agents, and how much you would pay to widen your pool of buyers. Then decide on a number you can defend, write it where buyers and their agents can find it (your listing description, a flyer, a direct reply to an agent’s question), and keep it off the MLS where it no longer belongs.

The era of paying both agents by default is over. What replaces it is a choice, and the rest of BestFSBOGuide.com is about making that choice well.

Sources used on this page

Every legal, tax, and process claim on this page traces to one of these. We re-check them on a schedule and date the page when anything changes.

1. What the NAR Settlement Means for Home Buyers and SellersNational Association of Realtors · nar.realtor
2. NAR Settlement FAQsNational Association of Realtors · nar.realtor
3. Topic No. 701, Sale of Your HomeInternal Revenue Service · irs.gov
4. Publication 523, Selling Your HomeInternal Revenue Service · irs.gov
5. Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Rule (Section 1018 of Title X)U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · epa.gov
6. What are title service fees?Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · consumerfinance.gov
7. FSBOs Reach All-Time Low, More Sellers Rely on AgentsNational Association of Realtors · nar.realtor
8. Wire FraudNational Association of Realtors · nar.realtor
9. How Much Does a Home Appraisal Cost?Bankrate · bankrate.com

Common questions

Did the 2024 changes make commissions cheaper?

Not by themselves. The rules changed how buyer-agent pay is communicated, not what anyone has to charge. Commissions were always negotiable. What changed is that the old default, where the seller quietly paid both agents, is no longer baked into the listing.

As a for-sale-by-owner seller, do I have to offer a buyer-agent commission?

No. You can offer one, offer a flat amount, offer a closing-cost concession, or offer nothing and deal directly with buyers. It is now a marketing choice rather than an assumed cost.

I am buying without an agent. Who pays for that?

No one needs to. If you are unrepresented, there is no buyer agent to compensate. You can ask the seller to credit the amount they might have offered a buyer agent toward your price or closing costs.

Do I owe taxes when I sell my home myself?

Often not, but it depends on your gain, not your sale price. The IRS exempts a large slice of the profit: $250,000 for a single filer, $500,000 for joint filers, provided the place was your primary residence for two of the last five years and you have not claimed the break on another sale within the prior two years. Gain is your sale price minus selling costs minus your adjusted basis, and capital improvements like a new roof or remodel raise your basis and shrink the gain. One thing to watch: if you receive a Form 1099-S at closing, you have to report the sale on your return even when the whole gain is excluded. See IRS Topic No. 701 and Publication 523. This is general information, not tax advice.

What am I legally required to disclose when I sell on my own?

Disclosure is where unrepresented sellers get exposed, so treat it as the non-negotiable part of the job. Federal law requires that for any home built before 1978 you disclose known lead-based paint and hazards, hand over any reports you have, give the buyer the EPA "Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home" pamphlet, include a Lead Warning Statement in the contract, and allow a 10-day window for lead testing. On top of the federal rule, almost every state has its own property-condition disclosure form covering things like the roof, foundation, water, and known defects. Look up your state's required form before you list, fill it out honestly, and keep signed copies.

How much does it actually cost to sell without a listing agent?

You skip the listing-side commission, which on a $400,000 home is roughly $10,000 to $12,000 at 2.5 to 3 percent, but you still pay for the pieces an agent used to bundle in. Budget for a flat-fee MLS listing (commonly about $95 to $500), professional photos (often a few hundred dollars), an optional pre-listing appraisal (about $357 on average), and, in many states, a real estate attorney for the contract and closing (commonly about $750 to $1,250). You may also carry the owner's title policy, roughly 0.5 to 1 percent of price in many states. Even adding all of that up, it is a fraction of a full commission, which is the point.

What is the single biggest mistake FSBO sellers make, and how do I avoid it?

Pricing. In NAR's surveys, pricing the home is consistently the task FSBO sellers struggle with most, and leaning on a free online estimate is how homes sit unsold or leave money on the table. The fix is to price off real evidence: pull recent sold comparables (not active listings) for similar homes within about a mile and the last few months, adjust for condition and size, and consider paying about $357 for an independent appraisal before you list. A defensible number beats a hopeful one, and it is far cheaper than the price cuts that follow a stale listing.