Technically, the seller can promise as little as $0 to the buyer's agent; after all, why pay for someone you didn't hire? But multiple agents told me there are all kinds of ways shady practitioners try to skirt the rules. Critics say the stickiness of the going commission rate is evidence of steering's ubiquity. He said buyers' agents might call and say, "'Why is there no buyer's commission?" There are lots of willing brokers out there; if you suspect steering, agents told me, you've got plenty of options for a second opinion.

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Persons: should've, Redfin, Julie —, Julie, Wendy Gilch, Gilch, they're, Doug Miller, Real, Rex, Keller Williams, I'm, Brendon Bowers, we're, Stephen Brobeck, Brobeck, they'll, you've, Rich, they've Organizations: Department of Justice, National Association of Realtors, Business, Facebook, Realtors, NAR, Consumer Federation of America, DOJ Locations: America, Minnesota, Austin, Houston, Kansas City , Missouri, Phoenix