While this is currently allowed, the culture of “we’ve always done it this way” is a seemingly immovable force.One question – how do we change the culture – the culture of the Realtors, lenders, buyers and sellers?These are a few of the questions that come to mind — Would buyers be willing to finance their Realtors’ commissions into the purchase price of the home?- One argument is that Buyers and sellers have always paid the commissions out of the equity – would Realtors fees go down if this were not the case?…  Greg defeated this argument last month – but how does one distill this argument into a marketable sound bite?- Are Buyers ready, willing (and able) to pay for Buyers’ Agents’ services even if the transaction does not succeed?Real estate is perhaps the only profession where the person hired gets paid only in the event of a successful transaction….  Right now, I doubt it.Or while many buyers and some Realtors are unhappy with the status quo, is the alternative (whatever that may be) far less palatable?What is the alternative?I have long argued for the separating of commissions – if nothing else, it would eliminate this situation -When I take a listing, no matter how much I negotiate for my own compensation, I always set aside 3% for the buyer’s broker….  Even if the seller is “short” on what he owes the lender — that is, even if the seller will have to bring his own money to the closing table to get out of the loan — we’re going to offer 3% as the co-broke.In order to effect a solution, we must clearly understand the arguments in favor of the the status quo and we must define that solution.

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