You can avoid paying realtor fees when buying a house by handling the purchase without a buyer’s agent, asking the seller to cover your agent’s compensation as part of the deal, hiring a real estate attorney to do the legal work instead, or negotiating a flat-fee or hourly arrangement with an agent rather than a percentage commission. Each of these became more workable after the National Association of Realtors settlement took effect on August 17, 2024, which ended the standard practice of building buyer-agent compensation into the listing and made commission rates fully negotiable.1National Association of REALTORS®. National Association of REALTORS® Reaches Agreement to Resolve Nationwide Claims Brought by Home Sellers
What the 2024 Rule Change Means for Buyers
Two changes from the settlement matter when you are trying to keep fees down. Sellers are no longer required to offer compensation to a buyer’s agent through the MLS, so the old assumption that “the seller pays both agents” no longer holds automatically. And any agent who shows you a home, in person or virtually, must first have you sign a written agreement stating exactly how much they will be paid and who pays it.2National Association of REALTORS®. Consumer Guide to Written Buyer Agreements That signed agreement is where your negotiating leverage lives. Nothing about the rate is set by any industry body.
Buy Without a Buyer’s Agent
The most direct way to avoid the fee is not to hire an agent at all. You search listings yourself, contact listing agents to schedule showings, write your own offer using state-standard forms, and coordinate with the escrow or title company through closing. This works especially well with For Sale By Owner properties, where no listing agent is involved on the other side either.
Understand what you give up. When you contact a listing agent about their listing, that agent represents the seller. They owe you honesty and must disclose known material defects, but they cannot advise you on price, negotiate against their own client, or advocate for your interests. You take on those roles yourself, or you pay professionals piecemeal — an inspector, an attorney, an appraiser — for the specific tasks where you want expert help. That combined cost is usually a fraction of a full buyer-agent commission.
Watch for Dual Agency
Some listing agents will offer to represent both you and the seller in the same transaction. About eight states prohibit this arrangement outright. Where it is allowed, the agent needs written consent from both sides and cannot advocate for one party over the other, which means a dual agent cannot tell you whether the seller would accept less, or tell the seller what you would actually pay. You can decline dual agency and stay an unrepresented buyer while the listing agent continues to represent the seller. That keeps the roles clean and leaves you free to hire your own attorney or inspector.
Ask the Seller to Cover Your Agent’s Fee
If you want a full-service agent but do not want to write a check for the commission, you can ask the seller to pay it as a concession. The request goes into the purchase agreement as a seller credit toward closing costs or an agreed payment to your agent, and the seller funds it from the sale proceeds rather than you paying out of pocket.3National Association of REALTORS®. Seller Concessions: A Guide for REALTORS® – Section: What Are Seller Concessions?
Sellers accept these requests more readily in slower markets where broadening the buyer pool matters, and less readily in competitive ones where multiple offers give them no reason to. One tax point worth knowing: when the seller pays your agent’s fee this way, the amount may be added to the home’s cost basis rather than creating a separate tax event for you.4Internal Revenue Service. Basis of Assets
Your loan type caps how much the seller can contribute, which limits how much of the agent fee can be folded into the deal.
Conventional Loan Caps
Conventional loans backed by Fannie Mae cap seller concessions based on your down payment, calculated on the lesser of the sale price or appraised value:5Fannie Mae. Interested Party Contributions (IPCs)
- Down payment under 10%: 3% of sale price
- Down payment of 10% to 24.99%: 6%
- Down payment of 25% or more: 9%
- Investment properties: 2% regardless of down payment
Anything above the cap gets treated as a price reduction for appraisal, which can trip up your loan approval. On a $350,000 home with 5% down, all seller concessions combined — agent fee, closing-cost credits, everything — must stay under $10,500.
FHA Loan Cap
FHA caps total seller concessions at 6% of the sale price, covering closing costs, prepaid items, and discount points. That is more generous than the conventional 3% floor for low-down-payment buyers, leaving more room to route agent compensation through the seller.
VA Loan Cap
VA loans treat the categories separately. The seller can pay negotiable closing costs, including your agent’s commission, without those amounts counting toward the concession cap. The 4% concession cap applies to items like prepaid taxes, debt payoff, or the VA funding fee paid on the buyer’s behalf.6Veterans Affairs. VA Funding Fee and Loan Closing Costs For a VA buyer, this is the most favorable structure of the three, since the agent fee sits outside the cap entirely.
Hire a Real Estate Attorney Instead
An attorney can review the contract, examine title, negotiate terms, and represent you at closing. Fees for residential closings generally run from $500 to $2,000 depending on where you are and how complex the deal is. A 2.5% buyer-agent commission on a $400,000 home would run $10,000. The gap is the point.
An attorney will not do the shopping. They typically will not search listings, schedule tours, or attend open houses. What you get is legal protection: contract review for unfavorable terms, contingencies structured to protect your deposit, a title check for liens or encumbrances, and representation at the closing table. Roughly 22 states either require or customarily involve an attorney in real estate closings, but you can hire one anywhere. For a buyer willing to do their own house hunting, pairing that with an attorney is often the cheapest way to keep real legal protection in the deal.
Negotiate a Different Fee Structure With an Agent
If you want an agent’s help but not a full percentage commission, the written buyer agreement is where you set different terms. Common alternatives:
- A flat fee for the full transaction rather than a percentage of the price
- An hourly rate, which works when you have already found the property and just need help closing it
- A-la-carte service, paying separately for tasks like contract drafting, negotiation, or showing coordination rather than one bundled fee
Read the termination language carefully before you sign. Buyer agreements can include a carryover clause requiring you to pay the agent if you buy a home they showed you within a certain period after the agreement ends.7National Association of REALTORS®. Written Buyer Agreements 101 Duration is negotiable too. An agreement can cover one property, one neighborhood, or a set number of days rather than a long open-ended commitment. Set those terms up front so you are not stuck if the relationship stops working.
Protect Yourself in the Contract
Every dollar you save by avoiding an agent fee can disappear if the contract goes wrong. Two contingencies do most of the protective work when no one is representing you.
An inspection contingency gives you a set window, commonly 7 to 10 days after acceptance, to hire a professional inspector and either ask for repairs, negotiate a credit, or walk away if something serious surfaces. Without it, you can be locked into buying a home with expensive hidden defects.
An appraisal contingency protects you if the home appraises below the purchase price by letting you renegotiate or cancel and recover your earnest money. In hot markets, some buyers waive this or add an appraisal gap clause committing to cover a specified shortfall in cash. Gap clauses cut both ways: if the appraisal comes in well below price and beyond your agreed gap, either party may be able to cancel.
Federal law also requires the seller of any home built before 1978 to give you a lead hazard information pamphlet, disclose known lead paint hazards, and allow at least 10 days for a lead inspection.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 4852d – Disclosure of Information Concerning Lead Upon Transfer of Residential Property Beyond that, property condition disclosure rules vary by state. If you are handling the purchase yourself, paying an attorney a few hundred dollars to review your completed purchase agreement before you submit it is the single cheapest insurance you can buy against a fee-saving strategy that turns into a costly mistake.