Darryl Davis, CSP, advises agents against quoting commission by text

Agent Refuses Text Commission Question, Loses Listing

A homeowner seeking to sell property sent identical text messages to several real estate agents asking a straightforward question about their commission rates on a recent afternoon.

One agent replied that commission is not a topic he normally discusses seriously over text messages with potential real estate clients. The homeowner pushed back repeatedly, but the agent held his ground firmly throughout this entire ongoing lengthy text message exchange.

The exchange had gone completely sideways by the fourth message, and ultimately no listing appointment was ever finally so scheduled for that original prospective selling homeowner.

The agent was working off two principles that are absolutely correct in the modern standard real estate practice field today overall. Those principles say never discuss commission by text and never discuss fees before establishing genuine real value with any prospective client.

Refusing a question that a homeowner sincerely asks is often quite the very quickest way to turn a promising real estate lead into a pointless argument.

Silence Backfires as Homeowner Suspects Hidden Fees

Silence backfires because the homeowner draws the obvious conclusion that the agent is hiding something important about their real estate fees. Once that belief takes hold, every good thing the agent does afterward gets viewed through a deep strong lens of suspicion.

A homeowner asking what you charge is not attacking you; they are simply just really often asking the only question they know how to ask you.

The correct first step is to change the medium, not the subject, by asking if they are free for a very quick call right now today.

If they are available, you will be on the phone with them quite very quickly in about ninety seconds or less. If they are not available, then you simply schedule a proper formal specific time to have that important listing conversation later.

This approach respects the homeowner's sincere question while moving the discussion to an extremely quite very much more appropriate medium for important real estate detailed talk.

Darryl Davis Offers Four-Step Response Strategy

The second step is to give the homeowner the proper and very clear real estate frame before you give them any specific commission number at all.

In almost every area of life, price and quality travel together, and a much cheaper real estate agent likely gives less. Darryl Davis, CSP, advises saying the starting fee can go as low as two percent and moves based on the plan.

The fourth step is to give them better advice than they asked for by telling sellers to just really simply instead stop asking what agents charge.

Darryl Davis, CSP, says the agent who teaches a seller how to hire an agent is ultimately so quite very almost always the one they hire.

Darryl Davis, CSP, is a national top speaker, coach, and bestselling McGraw-Hill author of How to Become a Power Agent. His independent research on private listings and market transparency was cited by the House Judiciary Subcommittee in July of 2026.