Sally Tried to Save the Real Estate Commission. Here’s What Happened.

by Jason Kamal

Sally wants to sell her $500,000 Edmonton home.

So she calls a Realtor®.

They talk about the house, what it might sell for and what needs to happen to get it on the market.

Everything sounds pretty straightforward.

Then Sally asks the question.

“How much is your commission?”

And suddenly Sally isn't thinking about selling her house anymore.

She's doing math.

Wait. How much?

Sally looks around her house.

Take some pictures. Write a description. Put it online. Put up a sign. Show some people through.

How hard could this really be?

So Sally decides to find out.

First, How Does Real Estate Commission Actually Work?

Before we follow Sally down this rabbit hole, it's worth explaining the number that sent her there.

Real estate commissions in Alberta aren't fixed. They're negotiable, and different agents and brokerages may structure them differently.

My typical commission structure is 7% on the first $100,000 of the sale price and 3% on the remaining balance, plus GST.

On a $500,000 sale:

First $100,000 at 7%: $7,000

Remaining $400,000 at 3%: $12,000

Total: $19,000 plus GST

That doesn't mean the entire amount simply lands in the listing agent's pocket. Depending on the transaction, there can be cooperating brokerage compensation and brokerage costs involved.

I explain my commission structure and how it works in this short video:

Now back to Sally.

Because Sally isn't thinking about any of that.

She's thinking:

Nineteen thousand dollars?!

So she decides to save it.

Sally Tries Facebook Marketplace

She takes some pictures, writes up an ad and posts the house on Marketplace.

And the messages start.

“Is this available?”

“Yes.”

Nothing.

Then another.

“Lowest price?”

Someone wants to rent it.

Someone else wants her to finance it.

A few people sound genuinely interested and then completely disappear.

Sally is definitely getting attention.

She just has no idea which attention matters.

And that's her first discovery:

An inquiry isn't necessarily a buyer.

Next Comes the For Sale by Owner Sign

Marketplace clearly isn't enough.

So Sally puts a For Sale by Owner sign on the lawn.

Now the calls start.

Someone wants to see it Tuesday afternoon.

Sally's at work.

Another wants to come that evening.

Someone books a time and doesn't show up.

Someone else happens to be driving by and wants to see it right now.

And when buyers do come through, Sally naturally wants to help.

They point something out. She explains it.

They don't like something. She defends it.

They ask why something was done a certain way. Sally gives them the history.

She's not doing anything wrong.

She's emotionally attached to the home because it's her home.

The buyers need something different.

They need enough space to walk around, talk openly and imagine that it could become their home.

That's difficult when the person who owns it is standing beside them.

Then the House Next Door Sells

This one bothers Sally.

She knows that house.

And in her opinion?

It wasn't better than hers.

But it sold.

So what happened?

Maybe it was presented differently.

Maybe the photography showed the property better.

Maybe the description gave buyers a reason to see it.

Maybe it was positioned better against the competition.

Maybe the showing experience was different.

Usually there isn't one magical reason.

It's a series of small decisions that influence how buyers respond to a property.

Sally decides she needs more exposure.

So she takes the next step.

Sally Tries a Mere Posting

Now her home is on MLS®.

More people can find it.

And eventually...

An offer.

Finally.

But this is where Sally discovers that finding someone who likes the house and actually getting a transaction closed aren't the same thing.

There are questions.

Conditions.

Texts.

Negotiations.

An inspection.

And emotions on both sides.

A buyer points something out and Sally explains why it isn't really a problem.

Something written in a text sounds harsher than intended.

The buyers start asking more questions.

Sally wants to reassure them, but sometimes explaining too much has exactly the opposite effect.

And there's another question Sally hasn't really been able to answer:

Is this actually a qualified buyer who can complete the purchase?

The deal gets close.

Then it falls apart.

Back to square one.

Sally has now learned another lesson:

Exposure can find a buyer. Getting the transaction all the way to sold is something else.

Sally Keeps Chasing the Market

By now, time has passed.

Other homes have listed.

Some have sold.

New competition has appeared.

Sally adjusts her price.

Then adjusts it again.

But she's reacting to the market instead of staying ahead of it.

And eventually she realizes something that many private sellers discover too late:

The market doesn't care what you almost sold for three months ago.

It cares about what buyers are willing to pay today.

Sally is tired.

She's spent evenings answering messages, weekends showing the house and months thinking about a sale that still hasn't happened.

Then someone says:

“You should call Jason.”

Then Sally Gets Referred to Me

When I meet Sally, she tells me the whole story.

Marketplace.

The sign.

The showings.

The mere posting.

The offer that fell apart.

And yes, eventually she asks about commission.

But this time the conversation is different.

We start with the house.

What are buyers going to see?

What are we competing against?

Why did the house next door sell?

What needs to change before the pictures are taken?

How should the property be presented?

Who is the likely buyer?

And what are we going to do to reach them?

There are some simple staging and presentation changes. Professional photography. The right description. Proper positioning against the competition. MLS® exposure. Marketing. Open houses that allow people to come through freely, including neighbours who may know someone waiting to move into the area.

None of these things individually sell Sally's house.

It's knowing how to put them together that matters.

And Sally starts to understand something she couldn't see when she first heard the commission number.

The sign on the lawn and the listing online were only the visible parts.

Most of the work happens behind them.

The Part Sally Never Saw

There's another side Sally hadn't considered.

Before I earn a dollar from her listing, I'm already investing in it.

Professional services, marketing, printed materials, signage, travel and time.

Depending on the property and what it requires, my upfront listing expenses can range from roughly $600 to $1,500 or more.

And once the listing goes live, the work continues.

Inquiries. Showings. Feedback. Marketing. Other agents. Offers. Negotiations. Conditions. Timelines. Problems.

And if Sally's property doesn't sell?

I don't earn the commission.

Sally originally thought she was being asked to take all the financial risk.

Now she understands I'm investing in the outcome too.

“But Another Agent Said They'd Do It for Less.”

Sally asks.

It's a fair question.

Depending on the situation, I might answer with one of my own:

“If an agent can't defend the value of their own service, how confident are you that they'll defend the value of your home when somebody is trying to negotiate the price down?”

That doesn't mean the least expensive agent is necessarily a bad agent.

And paying more certainly doesn't guarantee better representation.

The point is simpler.

You can't properly compare commission without comparing what you're getting for it.

Earlier in my career, I used to get questioned about commission much more often.

Eventually I realized the problem usually wasn't the commission.

I hadn't demonstrated the value properly before discussing the cost.

Today, the conversation tends to be different.

We spend more time talking about the home, the market and how we're going to get it sold.

This Time, Sally Gets to Be the Seller

The property goes live.

Sally doesn't spend her day answering inquiries.

She doesn't coordinate every showing.

She doesn't have to determine who is serious and who isn't.

She doesn't stand in the house explaining it to buyers.

She gets to be the seller.

Buyers come through.

Feedback comes back.

If one buyer dislikes something, that's an opinion.

If several buyers say the same thing, that's information.

Then an offer arrives.

And this time Sally isn't negotiating directly with someone trying to buy her home for as little as possible.

She has someone representing her.

Because negotiation isn't about winning every argument.

Sometimes you push.

Sometimes you give.

Sometimes you say nothing.

And sometimes you pick up the phone because something that sounds confrontational in a text message becomes completely reasonable after a thirty-second conversation.

The goal isn't to win the conversation.

It's to get Sally's home sold while protecting her interests.

So, Did Sally Save the Commission?

No.

Eventually she paid it.

But by then she wasn't asking the same question.

At the beginning, Sally wanted to know:

“How much is the commission?”

At the end, she understood there was another question worth asking:

“What am I actually getting for it?”

Sally could take pictures.

She could advertise the house.

She could put up a sign.

She could even get herself onto MLS®.

Selling your own home isn't impossible.

Neither is moving your own furniture.

You can rent a truck, call a few friends and save some money.

It's usually sometime around the third flight of stairs, when the couch is wedged sideways in the doorway, that somebody says:

“Next time I'm hiring movers.”

Sally learned something similar.

Sometimes something looks simple precisely because you're watching someone who's done it many times before.

I don't expect anyone to enjoy paying real estate commission.

My job is to make sure that when it's all finished, you understand exactly why you hired me.

Frequently Asked Questions About Real Estate Commission in Edmonton

How much is your commission on a $500,000 Edmonton home?

Using my typical commission structure of 7% on the first $100,000 and 3% on the remaining balance, the commission on a $500,000 sale is $19,000 before GST, or $19,950 including GST.

Real estate commissions are negotiable and aren't fixed in Alberta. This example describes my typical commission structure.

Can I sell my home without a Realtor® in Edmonton?

Yes. Homeowners can choose to sell privately or use services such as a mere posting.

The question is how much of the process you want to handle yourself, including presentation, marketing, inquiries, showings, buyer qualification, negotiations, contracts, conditions and getting the transaction through closing.

What does a listing agent actually do?

For my listings, the work starts before the property goes online.

It can include analyzing the competition, determining pricing and positioning, advising on presentation, coordinating professional marketing, writing the listing, exposing the property to buyers, managing inquiries and showings, interpreting feedback, negotiating offers and managing the transaction through its conditions.

The exact strategy depends on the property.

Is a mere posting the same as having a listing agent?

No.

A mere posting can provide MLS® exposure while leaving much of the selling process with the homeowner.

Full representation goes further into strategy, marketing, communication, showing coordination, feedback, offer evaluation, negotiation and transaction management.