Milwaukee Area Co-Broke Commission Rates

Many home sellers have a vague sense of how commissions work within the Realtor and MLS structure. If you utilize the services of a broker to list your property you agree to pay that broker a commission in the event they procure a buyer that leads to a sale.

The listing contract is between the seller and the broker. The listing broker will then in turn offer a co-broke commission to all MLS participants in order to induce them to use their efforts to effect a sale by presenting the listed property to their buyer clients. The listing broker is acting as a contractual bridge between the seller and the entire realtor community. The listing agreement is a bilateral contract in which the seller agrees to pay a commission and the listing broker agrees to perform certain marketing functions. The offer of the commission in MLS represents a unilateral offer from the listing broker to all MLS participating brokers. A participating broker may form a contract with the listing broker by performing the terms of the unilateral offer, i.e. by finding a buyer ready, willing, and able to buy according to the sellers criteria.

As a seller, it is important to have information regarding local market commission trends to understand what represents a competitive co-broke commission rate. In Milwaukee county and all of metro Milwaukee, 2.4% is, by far, the most common co-broke commission rate offered within MLS. The chart below demonstrates the popularity of the 2.4% co-broke. 249 of the 271 active single family home listings in Wauwatosa as of 07/27/09 contained a co-broke commission of 2.4%. There were a few below and a few above the 2.4% rate.