They each get $10k - buyer and seller. For very expensive homes realtors will often "take a hit" to secure a sale.

5% commission (or even 4%) of a multi-million dollar sale is still a ton of money for the work/expertise/risk I’ve seen Bay Area realtors put in anyway. I’ve never seen anything less than 4%, and the realtors were very cranky.

Rural area realtors can be pieces of work too, but at least they aren’t claiming to be worth as much money. ;)

You can fire your realtor, and you should if they are a jerk or unresponsive. Like you say, they get a lot of money.

Yup, and I certainly have plenty of times. Most people don’t have the context to even know they should/can though, so a lot of crap still happens.

Also messy to do halfway through closing. Especially if you don’t want to have to deal with a lawsuit from the realtor.

Easier if you already have the brokers direct line of course. They’re the ones on the hook anyway, the realtors are just the ‘front’.