A listing agent prices your home, markets it to qualified buyers, negotiates the offers that come in, walks you through legally required disclosures, and coordinates the inspections, appraisal, title work, and paperwork that get you to closing. What realtors do for sellers is work under a signed contract that makes them your fiduciary, meaning they’re legally required to put your financial interests ahead of their own. The scope of that work, and what it costs, shifted meaningfully after the National Association of Realtors settlement rules took effect in August 2024.
The Listing Agreement That Starts Everything
Every task your agent performs flows from the listing agreement you sign at the start. The contract sets the asking price or price range, the commission rate, how long the agent represents you, and what happens if you want out early. Most run three to six months, and every term is negotiable.
The most common form is an exclusive right-to-sell agreement, which gives one brokerage sole authority to market the home. Under it, the agent earns a commission if the house sells during the contract period, even if you find the buyer yourself. An exclusive agency agreement is less common and lets you sell on your own without owing a commission. Open listings, where multiple agents compete and only the one who brings the buyer gets paid, are rare in residential sales. The form you sign shapes your flexibility and your financial exposure, so read every clause before signing.
The Fiduciary Duties Your Agent Owes You
Once you sign, the agent owes you six fiduciary duties: loyalty, confidentiality, disclosure, obedience, reasonable care, and accounting. Loyalty means the agent cannot steer you toward a deal that benefits them at your expense. Confidentiality means they cannot reveal your financial situation or your motivation to sell to the other side. Disclosure means they must tell you anything that could affect your decision, including problems with a buyer’s financing.
Violating these duties exposes an agent to license suspension or revocation, fines, and civil liability. Each state’s real estate commission enforces the standards, with penalties that vary by jurisdiction.
The Dual Agency Exception
Dual agency happens when the same agent or brokerage represents both you and the buyer in the same deal. About eight states ban it outright. In states that allow it, the agent must get written consent from both sides after disclosing that neither will receive undivided loyalty. Once dual agency is in effect, the agent cannot use information from one party to benefit the other, which neutralizes the most valuable parts of representation. If your agent brings in a buyer client and proposes dual agency, you can refuse and insist on separate representation.
Setting the Price
Before the home goes on the market, the agent prepares a Comparative Market Analysis. A CMA pulls recently sold homes with similar size, features, condition, and location, then weighs active listings you’re competing against and expired listings where other sellers priced too high. The strongest comparisons come from sales within the last 90 days in a shifting market, or six months in a stable one, drawn from a radius that tightens in urban areas and expands in rural ones.
A good CMA also accounts for features that raw square footage misses: a renovated kitchen, a finished basement, an outdated HVAC system. Automated online estimates regularly miss these. What you get from the agent is a defensible price range, not a guess, and that range becomes the foundation for every negotiation that follows.
Marketing the Home and Screening Buyers
After pricing comes the work of getting qualified buyers through the door. Professional photography is the baseline. Most agents also arrange videography or virtual tours, which have become standard for reaching out-of-town buyers. The listing goes into the Multiple Listing Service, a centralized database that feeds thousands of other agents and consumer sites like Zillow and Realtor.com.
The listing description does more work than sellers expect. Specifics like lot size, school district, recent upgrades, and permitted additions attract the right buyers. Vague language like “charming” or “move-in ready” does less. Beyond the MLS, agents run targeted digital advertising, email agent networks, put up signage, and distribute print materials. The goal is saturation in the first two weeks on market, when offers tend to be strongest.
On the showing side, electronic lockboxes track which agents enter and when, giving you a security record. Before scheduling a showing, agents typically require a mortgage pre-approval letter or proof of funds for cash buyers. That filter spares you disruption from browsers who can’t close. After each showing, the agent collects feedback from the buyer’s representative on price, condition, and overall impression. Consistent criticism of the same feature tells you whether to adjust the price, make a repair, or hold firm. Individual sellers running their own open houses almost never get that intelligence.
Negotiating Offers and Concessions
When an offer arrives, the agent breaks down every clause, not just the headline price. The earnest money deposit, typically 1% to 2% of the purchase price, signals how serious the buyer is; a larger deposit protects you if the buyer walks away without a valid reason. The agent evaluates contingency timelines for inspections, appraisals, and mortgage approval, flagging any that create unnecessary risk.
Negotiation is rarely one round. The agent may recommend a counter that adjusts price, tightens a deadline, or removes a request for personal property. When a buyer asks for repairs after inspection, the agent helps you weigh a fix, a credit, a price reduction, or a refusal. If a buyer misses a contingency deadline, the agent can advise you on issuing a notice to perform, which forces the buyer to act or forfeit the deal.
Buyers sometimes ask you to cover part of their closing costs. These seller concessions reduce your net proceeds, but they can keep a deal alive when a qualified buyer is short on cash at closing. Mortgage lenders cap how much you can contribute. For Fannie Mae conventional loans, limits range from 3% of the sale price for buyers putting down less than 10% up to 9% for buyers with more than 25% equity. FHA loans allow up to 6%, and VA loans cap concessions at 4%.1Fannie Mae. Interested Party Contributions (IPCs) Agreeing to a concession that exceeds the cap can derail a deal late, so your agent should know these numbers cold.
What It Costs After the 2024 NAR Settlement
For decades, sellers paid a total commission of roughly 5% to 6%, split between their own agent and the buyer’s agent. That changed on August 17, 2024, when new rules from the NAR settlement took effect. Offers of compensation to buyer’s agents are now prohibited on the MLS, and buyers must sign a written agreement with their own agent before touring homes.2National Association of REALTORS®. National Association of Realtors Provides Final Reminder of NAR Practice Change Implementation
Sellers still negotiate a commission with their listing agent and may still choose to offer compensation to a buyer’s agent as a negotiating tool, but it is no longer assumed or required. Any such offer happens off the MLS, through direct negotiation. As of late 2025, the national average total commission sat at about 5.57%, with listing agents averaging 2.82% and buyer’s agents averaging 2.75%.3Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Commissions and Omissions: Trends in Real Estate Broker Compensation Those averages are moving targets, and your rate is fully negotiable.
Read the commission clause in your listing agreement carefully. Some agents still try to bundle a buyer’s agent commission into the listing agreement even though offering it is now optional. You are not obligated to pay the buyer’s agent. If you do offer compensation, treat it as a strategic decision, not a default.
Guiding You Through Required Disclosures
Your agent walks you through the legally required seller disclosures, but the obligation to disclose belongs to you. Getting this wrong exposes you to lawsuits after closing.
If your home was built before 1978, federal law requires you to disclose any known lead-based paint or lead hazards before the buyer is obligated under the purchase contract. You must provide a lead hazard information pamphlet and give the buyer at least 10 days to arrange a lead inspection. Your agent has an independent legal duty to ensure you comply and must retain the signed disclosure for at least three years after closing.4eCFR. 40 CFR Part 745 Subpart F – Disclosure of Known Lead-Based Paint and/or Lead-Based Paint Hazards Upon Sale or Lease of Residential Property
Nearly every state also requires a property condition disclosure form covering structural issues, water damage, pest infestations, environmental hazards, and known defects in major systems like plumbing, electrical, and HVAC. If you know about a material defect, you must disclose it, including problems that were repaired. Your agent provides the correct forms for your jurisdiction and helps you complete them accurately, but cannot substitute their knowledge for yours. The legal responsibility for honest disclosure rests with you.
Coordinating the Closing
After both sides sign the purchase agreement, the agent manages the web of deadlines and third-party coordination that gets you to closing.
Inspection and Appraisal
The agent schedules access for the buyer’s home inspector and, if the buyer is financing, the lender’s appraiser. If the inspection surfaces problems, the agent negotiates repair requests or credits on your behalf. If the appraisal comes in below the contract price, which happens more often than sellers expect, the agent helps you decide whether to lower the price, ask the buyer to cover the gap, or meet in the middle.
Title and Legal Review
The agent coordinates with the title company or closing attorney to verify that title is clear of liens, judgments, and encumbrances. In roughly a dozen states, a licensed attorney must oversee or participate in the closing. In the rest, a title company or escrow officer handles it. Your agent knows which applies in your area and connects you with the right professional.
Final Walkthrough
The buyer’s final walkthrough typically happens within a few days of closing. Your agent reminds you what needs to be done: negotiated repairs completed, personal belongings removed, home cleaned, all systems functional, and any agreed-upon items like window treatments left in place. Damage from your move-out should be disclosed to the buyer’s agent before the walkthrough, not discovered during it. Surprises at this stage are the fastest way to delay or kill a closing.
Settlement Statement
On or before closing day, you receive a settlement statement itemizing every charge and credit: sale price, mortgage payoff, agent commissions, prorated taxes, title fees, transfer taxes. Your agent reviews it line by line against the purchase agreement. Errors are more common than you’d think, and catching a misapplied credit or double-charged fee before you sign is far easier than correcting it afterward.
A Tax Flag Your Agent Should Raise
Selling has federal tax implications your agent should flag, though they are not your tax advisor. The closing agent, title company, or in some cases your brokerage is generally required to file IRS Form 1099-S reporting the proceeds. Reporting is not required if the sale price is $250,000 or less for a single seller, or $500,000 or less for a married couple filing jointly, and you certify that the full gain is excludable under Section 121.5Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-S
The Section 121 exclusion lets you exclude up to $250,000 of capital gains from the sale of your primary residence, or $500,000 if married filing jointly. You must have owned and used the home as your principal residence for at least two of the five years before the sale, and you cannot have claimed the exclusion on another sale within the previous two years. A surviving spouse who sells within two years of their spouse’s death can also claim the $500,000 exclusion.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 121 – Exclusion of Gain From Sale of Principal Residence If your gain exceeds these limits, the excess is taxable, and your agent should steer you to a tax professional well before closing.
Getting Out Early
Sometimes the relationship doesn’t work, or circumstances change. Ending a listing agreement before it expires depends almost entirely on what the contract says. Some agreements include a cancellation fee that covers out-of-pocket expenses for photography, MLS fees, and advertising. Others have none, and you can walk away without penalty.
One clause that catches sellers off guard is the protection period, sometimes called a tail clause. It gives the agent a window, commonly 30 to 180 days after the listing ends, during which they can still earn a commission if your home sells to a buyer who was introduced to the property during the listing term. The agent typically must give you a written list of those buyers within a set number of days after the agreement ends. If you relist with a different agent and sell to someone not on that list, the protection period generally does not apply.
If you want to cancel, get the release in writing. A verbal agreement to part ways means nothing if the agent later claims a commission on a sale that closes during what would have been the original contract period. Most agents will agree to a written cancellation rather than force a reluctant seller to stay, but never assume it without the paperwork.