For a "cheap" home in Vancouver area, about $1 million, just to keep the math easy. That would be $10,000 in commission at 1%. Split between seller's and buyer's agents that is $5,000 each. If an agent puts 100 hours into their part of the sale or purchase, that's about $50/hour in wages.
Yes, I know some will scream "but the agents have other expenses" blah blah blah. Well, those expenses are shared between all of agent's listings. And I'll bet few sales require 100 hours of effort by either agent.
So … what are we paying for, again? MLS listings, some advertising in papers and free distribution leaflets, agent's license fees and some time to show the seller's house or to show buyers a few homes to choose from. BC normal fees are 7% of the first $100k and 3% of the remainder. Can anyone - I mean honestly, from the heart, without laughing - defend $34,000 commission on that $1M sale? Really?
Does a $2 million listing really mean that the agent is putting twice the effort into the sale? In this market? I call BS on commissions as a proportion of the sale price.
I'm happy to pay fair value for a service. But that is not. Fair.
When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity.
When many people suffer from a delusion, it is called religion.