Never quote your real estate commission by text

A homeowner sends the same message to a handful of agents. Four words. “What is your commission?” One agent writes back that commission is not something he discusses over text. The homeowner pushes. The agent holds his ground, politely and professionally, and by the fourth message the whole exchange has gone sideways. The homeowner feels handled. The agent feels disrespected. Nobody is going on a listing appointment. I saw an exchange play out exactly like that, and what makes it worth writing about is that the agent was not wrong. He was working off two principles that are absolutely correct, and he still managed to lose. The two principles he had right The first one is that you never discuss commission by text. Text is built for logistics. It is where you confirm a time and share an address. It is not where you explain a fee structure, because a number without context is just a number, and the homeowner reading it has nothing to weigh it against. Trying to have that conversation by text is like trying to give somebody driving directions by honking your horn. The second principle is that you never discuss your fee until you have established value, and you cannot establish value un...