Craig Johnston Personal Real Estate Corporation · Brokerage: Royal LePage Elite West
Craig Johnston Personal Real Estate Corporation · Brokerage: Royal LePage Elite West
Commission is negotiable in B.C., and there are real alternatives to a traditional full-service listing. Some of them make sense for some sellers. Here’s how the models actually work under B.C.’s rules, the part of the commission most sellers don’t realize they still pay, and the questions to ask any brokerage before you sign.
5.0 across 36+ Google reviews 47+ years in the Tri-CitiesQuick answer
The rules
BCFSA: “In real estate there is no standard remuneration.” Every fee is negotiable.
The options
Flat-fee MLS® listings, reduced-rate full service, and pay-per-service models
The catch
MLS® rules still require you to offer the buyer’s agent a fee, so the saving is mostly on your side of the commission
The test
Read which services, and which legal duties, the agreement leaves out
Where I land: a lower fee makes sense when the services you give up are ones you can genuinely do yourself. It costs you when they’re the ones that set the price: pricing, preparation, exposure and negotiation.
Rules from BCFSA — Remuneration Guidelines →
There’s no set commission in B.C. Brokerages set their own, and you can negotiate.
On MLS®, the listing side must offer the buyer’s brokerage compensation. Cutting the listing fee doesn’t remove that part.
B.C. rules require the agreement to describe the services and the fee, and any reduced duties must be spelled out.
On a $1.4M sale, 1% of the price is $14,000. That’s the scale to weigh any fee saving against.
People sometimes assume there’s a set commission in Coquitlam. There isn’t. B.C.’s regulator, the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA), says plainly that “in real estate there is no standard remuneration,” and that any commission amount can be negotiated between you, your REALTOR® and their brokerage. Some brokerages set one rate for all their agents. Others leave it to the agent.
You’ll often hear one structure quoted locally: 7% on the first $100,000 of the sale price and 3% on the balance, plus 5% GST. I’ve broken down how that works, and how the money moves on completion day, on my Coquitlam commission rates page. It’s a common reference point, not a rule.
Because fees are negotiable, a range of business models exists. Some brokerages compete on price. Others, like me, compete on what’s included. Neither is wrong. What matters is that you know what you’re buying, because the agreement you sign decides it.
I’m a full-service REALTOR®, so read this knowing that. I’ve tried to set out how each model works fairly, including when a lower-cost option makes sense.
“Discount brokerage” covers several quite different arrangements. Every one of them still goes through a licensed brokerage: in B.C., you need a licence to provide real estate services to someone else for pay, and only a licensed brokerage can put a home on the MLS® system. You don’t need a licence to sell your own home privately.
| Model | What you typically get | What you typically do |
|---|---|---|
| Flat-fee MLS® listing (sometimes called “mere posting”) | The listing entered on MLS® for a set fee, often with limited extras | Pricing, showings, answering buyer agents, and much or all of the negotiating |
| Reduced-rate full service | Most of a standard listing service at a lower percentage or fixed fee | Depends on the brokerage; check what’s scaled back to make the rate work |
| Pay-per-service (unbundled) | Only the services you choose: photos, a pricing opinion, paperwork, negotiation help | Everything you didn’t pay for |
| Private sale (for sale by owner) | No agent and no listing commission; no MLS® listing | Everything, plus finding buyers off-MLS® |
| Full-service listing | Pricing strategy, preparation, marketing, showings, negotiation and the deal through to completion | Getting the home ready and making the decisions |
Flat-fee MLS® listings were protected by a 2010 consent agreement between the Competition Bureau and the Canadian Real Estate Association, under which CREA agreed not to block agents from offering them. The Bureau’s stated aim was to protect consumers’ ability to choose which services they want from an agent.
This is the point most sellers miss when they compare quotes. A typical commission has two halves: the listing side, and the cooperating commission paid to the brokerage that brings the buyer.
When your home is on MLS®, the commission rules require the listing side to offer compensation to the buyer’s agent. That’s how the Competition Bureau describes CREA’s rules in its ongoing investigation, which it expanded to Greater Vancouver REALTORS® in early 2026. The Bureau has said there is no conclusion of wrongdoing, and as of October 2026 the rule still applies.
So a flat-fee or low-rate listing usually reduces your side of the commission. The amount you offer to buyers’ agents is still part of the cost, and buyers typically come with an agent.
One more thing that surprises people: the listing agent can’t simply “represent both sides” to save money. B.C. has prohibited dual agency since June 15, 2018 (now section 63 of the Real Estate Services Rules), outside a narrow exemption for remote, under-served areas. If a buyer comes in without an agent, they’re an unrepresented party, and the listing agent continues to act for you.
Compare quotes on the listing side and the cooperating side separately. That’s the only way to see what you’re really saving.
“Full service” is only worth paying for if the service is real. Here is what you should expect, and what you should ask any full-service agent to show you, not just tell you:
If a full-service agent can’t explain what they’ll do in each of those areas for your home, you’re paying full price for a partial service. That’s worse than a discount listing that’s honest about what it leaves out.
Here’s the commonly quoted 7% / 3% structure at three price points, next to what 1% of the sale price is worth. These are arithmetic examples, not a quote, and commission is negotiable.
| Sale price | 7% / 3% + 5% GST | 1% of the sale price |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000,000 | $34,000 + $1,700 = $35,700 | $10,000 |
| $1,400,000 | $46,000 + $2,300 = $48,300 | $14,000 |
| $1,800,000 | $58,000 + $2,900 = $60,900 | $18,000 |
That total includes the cooperating commission paid to the buyer’s brokerage, so a lower-fee listing doesn’t remove all of it. The useful question is: could the services I’d give up change my sale price, my terms or my risk by more than the amount I’d save?
I won’t give you a statistic that says full-service listings sell for X% more. I haven’t found credible Canadian research that measures it, and the studies that exist are American and point in different directions. What I can tell you is where the money is usually won or lost: the starting price, the first two weeks on the market, and the negotiation. Those are the services to protect.
To see your own numbers, the seller net proceeds calculator lets you test different commission amounts against your likely sale price, and what it costs to sell in Coquitlam covers the other costs (legal fees, mortgage penalties, moving) that sit alongside commission.
Being fair about it, there are sellers for whom a flat-fee or reduced-service listing is a reasonable choice:
And the situations where I’d be cautious about cutting services to save on commission:
Coquitlam’s average for detached homes in September 2026. In a slower market, pricing and presentation matter more, not less.
Timing two transactions, bridge financing and subject dates is where mistakes get expensive.
Acreage, view homes, large lots, luxury: fewer comparables means pricing takes real work.
Tenanted sales, estate sales and buildings with levies need careful handling to keep a deal together.
Whatever model you’re considering, these questions show you what you’re really paying for. B.C. rules require every service agreement to describe the services and the fee, and any duties the brokerage won’t perform must be set out in writing. Use that.
More questions, for choosing any REALTOR®, are in questions to ask a Coquitlam REALTOR®.
Commission and service-agreement rules are from BCFSA’s Remuneration Guidelines and consumer guide to remuneration, and the Real Estate Services Rules (B.C. Reg. 209/2021: s.30 duties to clients, s.31 modification of duties, s.43 service agreements, s.63–64 dual agency). Licensing exemptions are from BCFSA’s licensing exemptions information. The cooperating-commission rule and the investigation are from the Competition Bureau’s releases of October 2024 and early 2026; the 2010 CREA consent agreement is described in the Bureau’s 2018 submission. Days on market are from the Greater Vancouver REALTORS® Coquitlam REALTOR® Report for September 2026. All sources read October 19, 2026. The commission table is arithmetic on a commonly quoted structure, not a fee quote. This page is general information, not legal advice.
The pages below go deeper on costs, pricing and choosing who to list with.
How commission is structured, calculated and paid on completion day.
Commission, legal fees, mortgage penalties and the rest, in one place.
The parts of a sale that move the price, and the parts that don’t.
How a home gets prepared, marketed and shown, step by step.
What to ask, and what good answers sound like, before you sign.
The full seller’s guide, from pricing to completion.
Start with what your home is likely to sell for. I’ll send you an Equity Map within 24 hours, and if you’d like, we can talk for about 20 minutes about what I’d do, what it would cost, and whether full service makes sense for your sale.
Craig Johnston, REALTOR® V99960 · Royal LePage Elite West · 604-202-6092
Continue your research
Home value
An Equity Map within 24 hours, built from accurate comparables.
Calculator
Test commission and costs against your likely sale price.
Pricing
The pricing decisions that decide the first two weeks.
Timing
What today’s market means for your timing.
About the author
9+ year Burke Mountain resident and 47+ year Tri-Cities native, with Royal LePage Elite West. BC Real Estate License V99960, regulated by the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA).
Specializes in Coquitlam, Burke Mountain, Westwood Plateau, Heritage Mountain, Port Moody, Anmore acreage, and Belcarra Indian Arm waterfront. Move-up family representation, first-time buyer guidance, $2M+ luxury.
Tri-Cities monthly
September 2026 Coquitlam detached HPI is $1,584,400, -6.6% YoY. What that means for your buy or sell decision — without the salesy fluff. One email per month. Unsubscribe anytime.
No spam, no listings flood, no marketing automation games. Genuine monthly update from a 47+ year Tri-Cities resident.