The prices which you base your house’s value on were established by sales which were advised and marketed by market experts. Your expectations of a sale price are several percent higher than they would have been without selling and buying agents. Agents don’t “make” their commissions as profit. There are advertising and other expenses.
Concur. I have bought and sold three houses. All charged 5% commission total (selling and buying agents split the 5%). In all instances the realtors earned their money. They spent a lot of time telling me: about the current market; cheap up grades and improvements that would easily increase a price increase, spent time taking very high quality pictures, spent significant time showing me houses, etc... .A good agent earns the money. OBTW, in all three instances the market were not "hot," so significant negotiation had to occur between the buyer and seller agents. A good agent earns the money.
That’s a load of carp. RE agents rip people off all the time.
Sell a house that takes a week or two to sell and they expect $50,000 for some paper work?
Bull sh*t!