Since 2024, buying a home has come with a question almost nobody used to have to ask: who is actually paying your agent, and how much. The rules changed. What did not change is how confusing the answer still is in 2026, and how many buyers get a number quoted to them like it is fixed when it is not.
The short answer
Buyer-agent commission is negotiable. Not negotiable in theory while everyone quietly uses the same number in practice, negotiable in the sense that the percentage is a conversation you are supposed to have, not a fee schedule you are handed. On Homexa, it is 100 percent negotiable between you and your agent. There is no company-wide rate imposed from above.
That single fact resolves most of the confusion, once you actually sit with it. A negotiable fee only feels murky because most of the industry still talks about it like it is fixed.
Why this got confusing in the first place
Before 2024, a seller typically set the buyer-agent commission as part of listing a home, and it showed up automatically for anyone touring the property. A buyer rarely thought about it because it was baked into the transaction before they showed up.
The rule change means a buyer now has to sign a written agreement with their agent before touring homes, and that agreement is supposed to spell out what the agent is paid. National figures floating around in 2026 cluster in the same rough range, commonly cited between about 2.5 and 2.8 percent, but every one of those numbers is a market average, not a rule. Averages describe what has happened. They do not set what has to happen on your deal.
What actually determines the number
Three things move it, in practice: what the seller is willing to offer as part of the deal, what your agent is willing to work for, and what you negotiate before you sign anything. None of those three is fixed by law, by MLS rule, or by any brokerage's policy that a buyer is bound to accept.
That means the buyer-broker agreement you sign is not a form to skim. It is the actual negotiation, on paper, and it happens before you tour a single house.
How to tell if you are being quoted a fair number
Ask your agent to explain the number before you sign anything, not after. A fair conversation sounds like a reason, market conditions, the work involved in your specific search, comparable deals they have closed, not a flat assertion that "this is what everyone charges."
Ask what happens if the seller will not cover it. A good agent has already thought through that scenario and can tell you plainly whether the difference comes out of your pocket, gets built into your offer, or gets renegotiated.
Ask whether the percentage is open to discussion at all. If the answer is defensive rather than direct, that itself is useful information.
The Homexa position
On Homexa, buyer-agent commission is 100 percent negotiable between you and your agent. There is no platform-set rate you are steered toward, and no assumption that a national average is what you should expect to pay. Your Homexa agent brings the local market knowledge and the negotiation itself; what you pay for that is a conversation you have directly, not a number handed to you.
Bottom line
The commission rules changed in 2024, but the confusion since then has mostly been about people still treating a negotiable number as if it were fixed. It is not. Ask the question, expect a real answer, and know that the percentage on your buyer-broker agreement is something you have a genuine say in, not something you are stuck with.