🤝 Will paying buyer agent fees increase your California home sale net?
Calculate how a seller paying the buyer's agent fee can affect your net home sale proceeds in California, considering AB 2992 implications.
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In 2025, California's AB 2992 made it so that sellers could opt out of paying for the buyer's agent commission. When you're looking to sell, avoiding that extra percentage on your closing costs can seem like easy money. But is it?
Due to the way buyers finance their purchases, this can actually result in getting fewer, smaller offers. In this post we'll shows how paying the buyer's agent usually results in a higher net profit for the seller, and why most competitive sellers still pay their buyer's agent commissions.
For residential properties, the majority of offers rely on financing: mortgages. Most buyer financing is limited by the cash they have on hand to put toward a down payment.
Our calculations assume that if the buyer must pay their agent, that cost reduces their down payment. This in turn lowers the total loan they can secure and thus the total offer they can make on the property.
Buyer Agent Amount
(You can enable expert mode to play with scenarios where the buyer has more dry powder, but remember: this is rare for serious buyers.)
Another way of looking at this: by paying both agents' commissions, the bank pays most of the buying agent's commission. This is a win-win for buyer and seller: more purchasing power for the buyer and more net offer for the seller.
Buyer Commission % Paid by Bank
Buyer Commision Amount Paid by Bank
To help quantify the difference, we can do a rough calculation of the net offer by entering the remaining closing costs. Remember, transfer taxes vary by location. The defaults are based on Oakland, CA, where the city transfer tax of 1.5% is typically split between the buyer and seller.
📊 Results
Compare the effect of paying both agents versus splitting the fees.
Net If You Pay
Net if Buyer Pays
Adjusted Offer
Benefit of Paying Commission
Last updated by mahmoud (v25.9.1)
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Disclaimer: This content and any calculations provided are for informational purposes only. The views, calculations, and methodologies expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this platform. Not financial advice. Users are solely responsible for any decisions made based on this information.
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