The commission paid to the Real Estate agent is a serious amount of money and a concern in any transaction involving the sell of Real Estate. Where did this six percent commission come from?
The idea of a 6% Real Estate commission being paid to the agent originated during the 1940s when local Real Estate Boards openly engaged in price fixing to establish a standard rate. This process was an out and out case of an unfair practice, but the 1940s was a time when the attention of the country was directed to some serious external matters and the idea took hold and spread quickly through the industry.
In the early 1950s, the Supreme Court ruled that an established 6% commission was illegal. Rather than open up commissions to a more competitive and free market system, the Real Estate Boards merely shifted gears with a bit of fancy linguistic footwork and began to call the 6% commission the suggested amount. During the 1950s and 1960s, they managed to get away with this practice without much trouble as the majority of real estate agents complied with the suggestion.