Before you, as a buyer, go to see homes, there is already a mechanism in place for the agent who opens the door for you to get paid.  This is why agents may want you to sign a contract to work with them, but they do NOT rely on you to agree to pay them.

The payment for the services afforded you is already in place.  You can choose to know what that is, or you can choose to feel that the service is free.  By and large the buying public likes the idea of thinking it is free.

Most buyers do not talk about commissions, do not care what the agent is getting paid and simply look at houses and then buy one.  That is how it has always been.

I do not urge you, the buying public, to get into a conversation about commissions in order to rock the boat with regard to the money exchanged.  I do it so that you will be sure that your agent understands that he works for you and is paid by you.  Most do not.  You pay the commission as part of the sale price, so make it your business to know what you are paying AND make it your business to make sure the agent knows he works FOR you AND is paid by you. 

When the agent thinks you are not paying him, and you are getting something for nothing...it will bite you in the butt somewhere along the line.  So don't step into a house with an agent until you understand what you are "stepping into".

While Sellsius says it best, Marlow says it best + 1

For those who are just tuning in, Redfin is a real estate company that bends the rules.  They empower the buyer by acknowledging that the Buyer Agent fee IS the B I Business OF THE BUYER!  Which, of course, it is...unless you ask a Realtor, who says otherwise.

Each is correct in their own way.  The "Buyer Agent Fee" was originally a carrot on a stick, placed on that stick by a seller of property, to entice agents with ready willing and able buyers in tow, to come to his house.  This practice started back when all agents represented sellers, even the ones in the cars with the buyers.

Today, it is ludicrous to suggest that a Buyer isn't paying his own agent, by financing the Buyer Agent Fee, but many if not most Realtors believe the fee is still their carrot for the taking.  If that were true, then the term Buyer Agent would be a farce, which we cannot allow it to be.

In any case, Redfin is really the only company that heralds this issue.  Unfortunately, they do it almost without understanding the industry, and so do not fully comprehend the gravity of the situation and the full responsibility of their cause.

Now...they get their hand caught in the cookie jar by breaking half the rules in the book and in the same breath cracking the knuckles of others they say are breaking "their" rules.

Its quickly turning into the Pot calling the Kettle black.  The Head Honcho of Rulebreakers cracking the knuckles of a lonely little peon blogger, who dared to say "Real Estate  2.0" just a little bit TOO loud.

For up to date info on the Real Estate Commission controversey from The Real Deal click HERE.