How Decoupled Commissions Are Saving Florida Homeowners Thousands in 2026 (Real Stories from Sarasota County)

In the second full year after the landmark NAR settlement, Florida’s real estate market hasn’t collapsed — it’s evolved into something far more transparent and buyer- and seller-friendly.

Host Steve Martin Smith shares eye-opening field notes from Sarasota County and surrounding areas (Pinebrook South, Wellen Park, Venice, North Port, Lakewood Ranch, and more). You’ll discover why a home selling at 92% of list price in 2026 can actually put more money in the seller’s pocket than the old “95% gold standard” ever did.

Ian and Angela break down the new realities of decoupled commissions, including:

• How the old hidden 5-6% buyer agent fee artificially inflated prices and hurt net proceeds
• Three major trends emerging in 2026: Traditional seller concessions, direct-paying buyers creating cleaner offers, and unrepresented buyers using transactional services to slash costs
• A creative “pay commissions outside the contract” strategy that lowers the recorded purchase price — saving on agent fees, Florida documentary stamp taxes, title insurance, and locking in lower future property taxes under the Save Our Homes cap

Whether you’re selling your family home or buying a retirement property in Southwest Florida, this episode shows exactly how focusing on net yield (not gross sale price) creates true win-win deals that simply weren’t possible before the rules changed.

Key takeaway: The power has shifted. Smart sellers and buyers who understand the new mechanics are saving thousands — sometimes tens of thousands — by questioning the old way of doing business.

Timestamps:

• 0:00 – Season 5 rocking new intro
• 2:28 – Life after the 2024 NAR settlement in 2026
• 3:50 – Why 95% offers weren’t the win everyone thought
• 6:20 – Trend 1: Traditionalists still negotiating concessions
• 7:47 – Trend 2: Direct payers making stronger, cleaner offers
• 9:44 – Trend 3: Unrepresented buyers & transactional services
• 13:54 – The ultimate creative deal structure (paying both commissions outside the contract)
• 16:59 – Cascading savings: commissions, doc stamps, title fees & long-term property taxes
• 19:14 – Final lessons: Focus on net, not gross

Resources:

• Get personalized buying or selling coaching in Sarasota, Charlotte & Manatee counties → sliceofflorida.com
• Search homes in the land of the sun → Homes.com
• Read the original blog post that inspired this episode

If you’re buying or selling in Florida in 2026, this episode will change how you think about commissions, offers, and negotiations forever.

Rate ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and leave a review — we read every single one!
What surprised you most about these new deal structures? Share in the comments or on our Facebook page.

Steve Martin Smith is a Licensed Florida Real Estate Broker and the owner of Slice of Florida Realty in Sarasota County Florida. 

Transcript

Unknown Speaker  0:03  
Welcome to The Real Estate Agent man

Unknown Speaker  0:12  
podcast. Here we tackle the questions

Speaker 1  0:16  
you didn't even know you should ask because you don't know what you don't know. You just don't know what you just don't know.

Speaker 2  0:25  
Download it in 88 countries and territories across more than 1000 cities. We are

Speaker 3  0:34  
discussing secrets of Florida real estate that should not be secrets that should not be

Unknown Speaker  0:43  
yes, you deserve the truth

Unknown Speaker  0:49  
And now your host, Steve Martin Smith,

Speaker 4  0:56  
what did you think of that rocking new intro by the real estate Agent man players, as we start season five, I thought it'd be fun to introduce a variety of new music. So let me know what you think in the comments, reviews, or even on the real estate agent man Facebook page. We would love to hear from you. So let's get down to the business of the day now that we are well into the second year of living in the world of decoupled commissions, there has been plenty of time for brokerages to see some of the benefits for the consumers. I recently wrote a blog with real life examples of buyers and sellers who have enjoyed the transparency and options in this new paradigm. Unfortunately, there are still many agents and brokerages holding on to the past for dear life. A seasoned agent was recently quoted as saying, we don't give up bleep what they say. We're going to keep doing business the way we always have. Well, considering the Department of Justice was involved in the mandate to decouple compensation, that is a bit unsettling. I learned a long time ago that I can't make people want to do the right thing, but I can help my listeners know what you don't know, so that you are equipped to make the best decisions for you and your family. With that said, I'll turn the episode over to Ian and Angela as they discuss my recent blog post how real estate commissions really work in 2026 real stories from Sarasota County and beyond, beyond, beyond,

Speaker 5  2:28  
we are looking at data from 2026 so this is the second year post 2024 National Association

Speaker 6  2:35  
of REALTORS settlement right. The dust has finally settled on really one of the biggest real estate shake ups in a

Speaker 5  2:40  
century, sellers are no longer automatically required to offer or advertise buyer agent compensation through the MLS. And when this rule changed, everyone predicted absolute chaos. The sky was falling. Oh, totally. But instead of a collapsed market, these notes reveal a system characterized by just incredible flexibility, customized deal making and transparent Win Win scenarios for buyers and

Speaker 6  3:04  
sellers and for you listening understanding these new rules is not just about keeping up with industry trivia. I mean, this is about understanding a massive fundamental shift in market economics. Yeah, it hits your wallet directly, exactly whether you're looking to buy a retirement villa or sell your family home. Knowing how these mechanics have changed could literally save you 1000s of dollars. It shifts the power dynamic entirely.

Speaker 5  3:29  
It really forces everyone, buyers, sellers, agents, to look at the anatomy of a deal through a completely new lens. It does Okay. Let's unpack this before we can dive into the really creative deals happening on the ground in 2026 we have to talk about the flawed math of the old standard.

Speaker 6  3:46  
Yeah, because you really can't appreciate the solution until you grasp the problem. Right?

Speaker 5  3:50  
Historically, if you were a seller and you got an offer for 95% of your asking price, you were probably popping champagne.

Speaker 6  3:57  
Oh, for sure, that was considered the gold standard of a successful negotiation,

Unknown Speaker  4:01  
but it was hiding a very expensive

Speaker 6  4:03  
reality, wasn't it? It was. Let's break down the mechanics of that 95% the seller accepts an offer at 95% of their list price, but then another five or 6% gets carved right out of their equity before the money ever reaches their bank account, just to pay the listing agent and the buyer's agent. So the

Speaker 5  4:23  
average seller who thought they negotiated a great deal at 95% was actually netting less than 90% of their original listing price. Precisely in 2026 we are seeing these field notes where homes are selling at 92% of the list price. And I have to be honest, if I see a house sell for 92% today, my gut reaction is, ouch. The seller took a bath on that one. Sure. It feels like a loss, right? But you're saying that's an illusion.

Speaker 6  4:49  
It is a complete illusion driven by an outdated paradigm. What's fascinating here is how the mechanics of payment have decoupled. Buyers are increasingly paying their own agents Direct. Ly, okay, therefore a lower top line percentage, like that, 92% with zero buyer agent fees coming out of the seller's pocket, can actually deliver the exact same or even better, net proceeds to the seller than the old 95% standard.

Speaker 5  5:15  
I think I need an analogy to really make this stick. Go for it. It feels like like buying a $100 item online that's on sale for $92 you put it in your cart, you're thrilled, but then you realize at checkout that you have to pay $10 for shipping, right? So your total is $102 exactly, versus another site where you just pay $95 but it comes with free shipping. In the first scenario, the $92 feels like a steal, but you actually paid more out of pocket.

Speaker 6  5:40  
That is the perfect way to look at it. The entire paradigm of real estate has shifted from what is the gross sale price to what is the net yield. That's all about the net. It is all about the net. Sellers are finally realizing that bragging rights over a high gross sale price mean absolutely nothing if the transaction costs eat up the difference. So if

Speaker 5  6:04  
the net is the only number that matters, how does this actually play out in the wild? Looking at Steve Martin Smith's field notes, you start to see these distinct survival strategies emerging. It's basically not a

Unknown Speaker  6:15  
la carte real estate men, you know?

Speaker 5  6:16  
Yeah, exactly, yeah. Let's look at the first major trend. We can call them the

Unknown Speaker  6:20  
traditionalists, okay, the folks sticking to what they know, right?

Speaker 5  6:24  
These are buyers and sellers who were basically still using the old system, but as a negotiated concession. For instance, there was a standard single family home in Pine Brook South a 1978 build that went pending. The buyers offered 95% of the asking price, but they explicitly ask for a 3% seller credit at closing to help cover their

Speaker 6  6:47  
brokers fees. And this is a crucial data point, because it proves that the old way didn't vanish. You know, it just evolved. It's still an option. Exactly. The difference is that it's now an explicit request, rather than just a baked in assumption. The buyer is saying, I want to buy your house, but I need help paying my representative to make this work, which forces a transparent conversation. Precisely if the seller does the math and realizes that accepting that structure still hits their target net and gets the deal done, they have the absolute freedom to accept it. But then

Speaker 5  7:17  
you have this rising class of what we could call direct payers, and this seems to be where the market is really finding efficiency, like clean deals. Yeah, there was a newer, like a three year old paired villa in welland park in the notes that went pending in just nine days at full asking price. Wow, right? The buyer had their own agent, but they paid their agents compensation entirely out of their own pocket. The seller gave zero concessions, clean, simple, done. Why is a seller going to jump on that offer?

Speaker 6  7:47  
Think about the psychological relief for the seller in that scenario,

Unknown Speaker  7:51  
no mask required

Speaker 6  7:52  
exactly by taking on their own representation. Cost directly, the buyer presented an incredibly clean, frictionless offer. The seller didn't have to do any mental gymnastics to figure out their net full price is full price. It's just so straightforward. And in a competitive market, a buyer who handles their own transaction costs independently, is submitting a mathematically stronger offer because they're removing uncertainty. They are making their offer more attractive by making it cheaper for the seller to say,

Speaker 5  8:20  
yes, but wait, I have to push back a little here. Sure, doesn't this put a massive upfront burden on the buyer. It feels like we've solved the seller's problem by just dumping it onto the buyer's lap. It's a fair point. Now a buyer has to show up with their down payment, their closing costs, and potentially 1000s of extra dollars in liquid cash to pay their agent directly.

Speaker 6  8:41  
This raises an important question, and it's the exact friction point the industry has been debating. It is a very valid concern. Yes, it does require the buyer to be more financially prepared, or, you know, more strategic with their capital upfront, right? However, look at the underlying mathematics of the old system before the cost of the buyer's agent was hidden in the artificially inflated price of the home, because the

Unknown Speaker  9:06  
seller inflated the price to cover the

Speaker 6  9:08  
commission exactly, which meant the buyer was financing their agent's commission over 30 years through their mortgage. Oh, wow, yeah, they were paying inchener on a service fee for three decades. Now, buyers have agency. They can choose to bring an agent and negotiate the payment. They can pay direct, if they have the cash and avoid 30 years of interest, or they can ask the seller for a concession, like the traditionalists we discussed.

Speaker 5  9:32  
So it creates a fairer, albeit maybe a bit more complex, market, where consumers actually know what they're paying for exactly.

Speaker 6  9:39  
Transparency always brings a little complexity, but it's worth it.

Speaker 5  9:44  
That is a staggering realization, though, financing a service fee over 30 years with interest, I mean, that is terrible financial management when you say it out loud, it really is. Which brings us to the third trend in these field notes, and this is the one that really made me pause. We'll call it the unrepresented direct approach. Ah, yes, the notes detail a 2009 manufactured home in a Venice Island 55 plus community that sold for $318,000 which was about 91% of the list price. Okay, but the buyers had no agent at all. They came directly to the listing brokerage and paid them separately just to handle the contract to closing

Speaker 6  10:24  
services, and look at the mechanics of how that benefits both parties. Under the old rules, a seller taking 91% of the list price and then paying double commissions might have only netted like 85% of their original goal, but here because the buyer didn't bring an agent requiring a percentage and only paid a flat or negotiated fee for paperwork processing, the seller effectively secured a 94% net outcome. But is that safe?

Speaker 7  10:51  
This is the time that I'm going to remind you to subscribe and leave a review for the real estate agent man podcast. More than ever before, there is so much more to know about buying and selling your home. That is why we provide professional coaching to Florida sellers and buyers on every episode. We want our customers to have the knowledge needed to make the best decisions possible for themselves and their families. Our real estate team personally covers Sarasota, Charlotte and Manatee counties. That's a wide area. However, Steve also interviews agents from around the state and the entire country to find great agents for customers that are out of the area. Visit slice of florida.com for more information. And now back to the podcast,

Speaker 6  11:38  
the seller effectively secured a 94% net outcome, but Is that safe?

Speaker 5  11:43  
I mean, if I'm the seller, I'm saving money, but aren't I taking on a huge risk, dealing with a buyer who doesn't have a professional guiding them through inspections, appraisals, legal hurdles?

Unknown Speaker  11:55  
That's a great question,

Unknown Speaker  11:56  
because a botched deal costs me time and money,

Speaker 6  11:59  
and that is precisely why the buyer paid the listing brokerage for contract to closing services. The listing agent isn't suddenly representing the buyer's best interests. I mean, that would be a conflict of interest in many jurisdictions, right? They can't negotiate against their own seller Exactly. Instead, they are acting in a transactional capacity to ensure the paperwork is legally compliant. Timelines are met, and the deal actually crosses the finish line. Okay? It protects the seller's transaction while slicing out the heavy percentage based double Commission, the seller wins by keeping more of their equity, and the buyer wins by getting a lower contract price. We also saw

Speaker 5  12:35  
this strengthened offer approach in places like Venice east and Venice gardens, like a pool home listed in March sold at 96.5% but the buyers paid their own brokers, making it essentially a 99.5%

Speaker 6  12:50  
net for the seller. Yeah, and there was that North port golf community Villa too, right?

Speaker 5  12:55  
Yes, pending in two months at 92% buyers pay the listing brokerage directly outside the purchase price, basically a 95% net for the seller.

Speaker 6  13:04  
So the overall theme here is that flexibility is the new norm. Sellers are no longer forced to buy the buyer's agent, and buyers aren't forced into a pre determined fee structure hidden in their mortgage.

Speaker 5  13:15  
We're seeing deals close at full price, at 92% at 96.5% all yielding historically good net outcomes for the seller because the services have been unbundled,

Speaker 6  13:25  
the market has completely decoupled the value of the real estate from the cost of the professional services required to

Speaker 5  13:30  
transfer it. Which brings us to what I think is honestly the most mind blowing part of this entire Deep Dive. Oh, I know where you're going with this. We've seen the practical ways this is playing out on the ground. But what happens when a highly educated buyer and seller take this new flexibility to its absolute creative extreme, like, what does the ultimate win, win deal structure look like in 2026 this is where we see

Speaker 6  13:54  
the market evolving past the old constraints and unlocking real wealth preservation strategies.

Speaker 5  14:00  
Yeah, according to the notes, Steve Martin Smith had a potential buyer ask an incredibly out of the box question. The buyer asked, Could I pay the compensation for both the listing brokerage and my own buyer's brokerage directly outside of the contract allowing me to submit a significantly lower purchase price?

Speaker 6  14:19  
It is a brilliant strategy. I mean, it takes the unbundling concept to its absolute logical conclusion. Let's walk through

Speaker 5  14:25  
the math on this interactively, because the financial ripple effects are massive.

Speaker 6  14:28  
Okay, let's do it. Let's use a round number. Say you're looking at a house listed for half a million dollars under the old model. What is a typical total commission baked into that price

Unknown Speaker  14:37  
usually around 6% right? Three for the lifting side, three for the buyer side, correct? So what is 6% of $500,000

Speaker 5  14:44  
$30,000 meaning the seller is looking at $470,000

Unknown Speaker  14:49  
before they pay any other closing costs or taxes.

Unknown Speaker  14:52  
Exactly. Hold that net number in your head, 470,000

Speaker 6  14:57  
now look at the new model proposed. Proposed by this creative buyer. Okay, the buyer approaches the seller and says, I will offer you exactly your net target. I will offer you $470,000 for the house, and I will cover the commissions for both agents directly out of my own pocket, outside of the real estate contract. Right now, the Commission percentages are based on the new lower purchase price of 470,000

Unknown Speaker  15:23  
Oh, I see where this is going. 6% of 470,000

Speaker 5  15:28  
is $28,200 precisely. Wait just by shifting who cuts the check and lowering the top line recorded price of the home the total commission paid to the agents drops from 30,000 to 28,200 the buyer just saved $1,800 in real cash on commission dollars alone, and the seller still walks away with the exact same $470,000

Speaker 6  15:50  
they would have originally, yes, because the service fee is no longer artificially inflated by being attached to a higher top line asset price.

Speaker 5  15:58  
Here's where it gets really interesting. They are essentially stripping the service fees out of the taxable asset Exactly. It's like buying a car. When you buy a car, you don't pay the state sales tax on the dealership's administrative dock fees or the salesman's commission. You pay taxes on the value of the metal, the engine, the actual vehicle, right by paying the agents directly, you are isolating the value of the house from the cost of the transaction.

Unknown Speaker  16:28  
But $1,800 is just the start, isn't

Speaker 6  16:31  
it, the savings don't stop there, not at all. That initial $1,800 is great, but the long term financial ripple effect is where this strategy becomes a game changer. Okay, Lay it on me. Think about all the closing costs and governmental fees that are calculated strictly as a percentage of the final recorded purchase price. By lowering that contract price from 500,000 to 470,000 you are shrinking a whole host of other expenses, like what

Unknown Speaker  16:57  
what else is based on the sale price.

Speaker 6  16:59  
For example, Florida's documentary Stamp Tax on the deed that is a tax required to transfer real estate, and it's calculated at 70 cents per $100 of the sale price. Oh, wow, yeah. So a lower recorded sale price means significantly less tax paid to the state at closing. It also lowers percentage based title insurance fees. Every metric that relies on the sale price suddenly becomes cheaper. So the buyer is saving

Speaker 5  17:24  
cash on the actual commission, saving money on state transfer taxes and saving on title fees, yep, and the seller is completely whole. They still net their desired bottom line because the buyer absorbed the transaction costs. But earlier you mentioned wealth preservation, is there something bigger than just the closing

Speaker 6  17:41  
day savings. Oh, absolutely. The Holy Grail of this strategy is what happens after closing. It is about the localized property taxes. Oh, the county assessment exactly when a property changes hands, the county Property Appraiser looks at the recorded sale price to help determine the new baseline for just value, right, right? Because of Florida's save our homes cap, which legally limits how much an assessed value can increase year over year, once established that initial purchase price is critical. So by lowering it, by legally and transparently establishing a lower initial purchase price, because the transaction fees were unbundled, the new homeowner is essentially locking in a lower tax bracket for the property from day one.

Speaker 5  18:24  
That is absolutely incredible. It's a cascading effect of savings. You pay less Commission, which lowers the sale price, which lowers the transfer tax, which lowers the title fees, which lowers your property taxes. Every single year you own the home, every single year, all just from changing the paperwork structure of the deal and understanding the difference between gross and net.

Speaker 6  18:42  
If we connect this to the bigger picture, this is the ultimate proof that the NAR settlement didn't break the real estate market. It actually unlocked it. It really did. The old system forced everyone, buyers, sellers and agents into a rigid one size fits all box that artificially inflated property values to cover service fees. This new environment rewards creativity, financial literacy and open communication. It enables true, collaborative, win, win deals that simply weren't possible, or at least weren't openly discussed under the old rules.

Speaker 5  19:14  
So to bring this all together, if we look at the 2026 real estate market in places like Lakewood Ranch, Inglewood, osprey, grand palm Nokomis. This isn't a market driven by assumptions anymore, not at all. The days of an agent telling a seller you have to offer X percent to the buyer's agent or your house will sit on the market are over. It's entirely about smart pricing, having totally transparent conversations up front about who's paying for what, and maintaining a laser focus on the net outcome for both

Speaker 6  19:42  
parties and for you the listener, the core lesson here is profound, questioning the standard way of doing things, asking why a fee is structured a certain way, or who truly benefits from a specific process often uncovers incredible financial opportunities. It really pays to pay attention. It. Because the market has given you the tools to architect a significantly better financial deal. You just have to be willing to use them and perhaps endure a little bit of complexity along the way. I love that

Speaker 5  20:10  
question the standard. It really is empowering once you get past the initial shock of seeing a lower offer price. Thank you so much for joining us on this deep dive into the new world of real estate negotiations. Keep questioning the status quo and always look at the net, not the gross.

Speaker 3  20:27  
Making it easy, making it fun.

Unknown Speaker  20:33  
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Speaker 3  20:38  
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Unknown Speaker  20:50  
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