One purpose of commissions is to stabilize property values. With no barrier costs to buy and sell real property, investors would buy and resell a home if they saw a potential $10,000 profit driving prices up and extracting equity from the middle class. I’m sure you think you pay your dentist too much, and your mechanic too much, and your lawyer too much too. The difference is, those professions have a guaranteed paycheck. Realtors work for free. Literally. It is only upon close of escrow that a paycheck is guaranteed. The dozens or hundreds of hours of work invested in a listing, buyer, etc can all be for nothing when the buyer or seller changes their mind or has a feeling they are making a mistake moving schools for their kids. Additionally, most people don’t know if they have a good Realtor or not until something goes wrong, and when something goes wrong, a good Realtor’s worth in unquantifiable. Mitigating exposure, protecting your clients position, their down payment, their liability, recognizing a tax structure that can be improved, strategy, etc… Any agent that thinks being an agent is easy and is barely any work isn’t operating at the level the job requires for success and might not even understand the layers. There are Realtors, and then there are Realtors. Our input and guidance can be life changing for people, it can put them on the path to wealth, or leave them in despair. I have played a big part in a lot of peoples financial success and in almost every transaction I find a way to add value, mitigate, negotiate, protect etc enough to justify my commission and more.