the San Gabriel Valley · Selling and buying at the same time

The buyer commission conversation changed after the NAR settlement, and how it gets paid is the part that connects directly to your loan.

A buyer now signs an agreement with their agent up front. Whether that fee comes out of your pocket or gets built into the deal is a financing question as much as a negotiation.

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The answer

The direct answer

There is no single correct commission percentage, it is a negotiated number between you and your agent, agreed to in writing before you tour. What determines whether that cost hits your cash-to-close is whether it gets built into the purchase contract as a seller-paid item, which depends on your loan type's seller concession rules.

What changes the answer

Did the NAR settlement change how buyers pay their agent?
Can a seller credit cover my buyer's agent commission?
How much can a seller contribute to closing costs on an FHA or conventional loan in California?

Each one is answered further down this page, and any one can move the outcome on a specific file.

The local number: Los Angeles County's 2026 baseline conforming loan limit is $832,750, and high-balance conforming financing in the county runs to $1,249,125. Whether your file sits above or below the high-balance ceiling affects the seller concession limits available to help cover a buyer agent fee.
Rule and source: FHFA Conforming Loan Limit Values for 2026, one-unit baseline $832,750 and high-cost-area ceiling $1,249,125, Los Angeles County
Last verified: September 1, 2026

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Answered by Nick Nagy · 23 years · NMLS 314880 · CA DRE 01444600 · Mortgage financing through Loan Factory, 237 lenders · Run this answer against my numbers →

Part of the California Mortgage Answer Desk, and of the San Gabriel Valley questions.

How it works

What actually changed after the NAR settlement

Before the settlement, buyer agent compensation was typically built into the listing and paid by the seller automatically, without a separate written agreement between a buyer and their agent. Now, a buyer signs a compensation agreement with their agent up front, and that number is negotiated directly rather than assumed.

There is no fixed percentage that is correct for every situation, it depends on the agent, the transaction, and what you negotiate. What matters more for your financing is not the exact number, it is how that fee ends up getting paid.

The detail that matters

How financing connects to who pays it

A buyer's agent fee can sometimes be negotiated into the purchase contract as a seller credit, meaning the seller effectively covers it as part of the deal rather than you paying it separately out of pocket. Whether that is possible depends on the seller's willingness and on how much room your loan type leaves for seller-paid costs.

Seller concession limits vary by loan type and by your down payment size, and they are set at the loan program level, not as a single flat statewide number. This is worth discussing with your lender before you sign a buyer-agent agreement, not after, so the number you agree to is one your financing can actually accommodate.

How it works

What happens if you pay the fee yourself versus building it in

If the fee is not covered by a seller credit, it typically comes out of your cash to close, on top of your down payment and other closing costs. That changes how much cash you actually need on hand at closing, which is exactly the kind of number that should be modeled into your pre-approval from the start rather than discovered late.

Getting the real numbers in front of you before you sign anything with an agent means you are negotiating from an informed position instead of guessing at what you can actually afford to commit to.

The detail that matters

What people get wrong: signing before checking the loan math

The most common mistake right now is signing a buyer-agent compensation agreement before understanding how that fee interacts with your specific loan's seller concession caps. If the agreement commits you to a number that your loan type cannot fully absorb through seller credits, the gap becomes your responsibility at closing.

A short conversation with your lender before you sign anything with an agent is a small step that prevents a much less pleasant surprise a few weeks later.

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Where this question came from

Someone asked this in public

How much buyer commission should I agree to?
r/LosAngelesRealEstate, captured 2026-08-10 (LH1 demand sweep)

If nobody gave a straight answer in that thread, that is not the person missing something. The answer depends on a specific file and a specific address.

Who answers

Nick Nagy

23 years in California lending · NMLS 314880 · CA DRE 01444600 · Loan Factory, Inc.

Dual licensed, so the loan side and the real estate side of a move get looked at as one problem instead of two. Most of what goes wrong in a move is a timing problem wearing a financing costume, and it is cheaper to catch it before you write an offer than after.

Financing is placed through Loan Factory, Inc. Real estate work is under CA DRE 01444600. More about Nick.

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The desk behind the file

One file, 237 lenders competing for it, and a broker who has done this for 23 years.

Loan Factory, Inc. is the brokerage. These are its published figures.

20,907+Loan Factory Google reviews

5.0Loan Factory average rating

237Lenders available through Loan Factory

48States Loan Factory is licensed in

A retail bank has one guideline book. A broker shops the same file across the shelf and finds the lender whose box it already fits.

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Straight answers

Questions people here actually ask

The follow-on questions, answered in the order they get asked.

How much buyer commission should I agree to?

There is no fixed correct percentage, it is a number negotiated directly with your agent and put in writing before you tour homes, a change since the NAR settlement. What matters most for your finances is whether that fee gets built into the purchase contract as a seller-paid item, which depends on your loan type's seller concession limits, so it is worth checking with your lender before you sign anything.

Did the NAR settlement change how buyers pay their agent?

Yes. Buyers now sign a written compensation agreement with their agent before touring, rather than the fee being automatically built into the listing and paid by the seller without a separate agreement.

Can a seller credit cover my buyer's agent commission?

Sometimes, if it is negotiated into the purchase contract and your loan type's seller concession limits allow for it. This depends on both the seller's willingness and the specific rules of your loan program.

How much can a seller contribute to closing costs on an FHA or conventional loan in California?

Seller concession limits vary by loan type and down payment size and are set at the loan program level rather than as one statewide number. It is worth confirming the exact limit for your specific loan with your lender before negotiating a buyer-agent fee into a contract.

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