The logic sounds reasonable on the surface. If you go directly to the listing agent instead of using your own agent, maybe the listing agent will cut you a deal: split their commission, nudge the seller to accept a lower price, give you an inside track. You’re cutting out the middleman. You’re saving money.
This is a strategy a lot of buyers try. I want to give you an honest read on how it actually plays out. Not a sales pitch for using an agent, but a clear explanation of the mechanics involved and what you’re actually giving up.
Before you can understand why going directly to the listing agent usually doesn’t get you a better deal, you need to understand how listing compensation is structured in Florida after the 2024 NAR settlement changes.
When a seller lists their home today, the Florida listing agreement has two separate compensation fields. The first is what the seller is paying their listing brokerage. The second is what the seller is offering to a buyer’s brokerage, if anything. These are now distinct and negotiated separately.
In practice, sellers have three approaches:
Here’s where this connects to your situation as a buyer going direct. Under Options A and B, the buyer’s brokerage compensation is already built into the seller’s listing agreement. When you walk in without an agent, that money doesn’t go back to the seller. It stays with the listing brokerage. The listing agent’s brokerage keeps the full amount instead of splitting it with a buyer’s agent. You didn’t save anyone money. You handed the listing brokerage a larger check and got nothing in return.
In Florida, dual agency is illegal. Dual agency means a single agent formally representing both buyer and seller in the same transaction. That’s worth knowing because buyers who go directly to the listing agent often assume the agent can or will represent them. They can’t. Not in the full sense of the word.
What can happen in Florida is that the listing agent works as a transaction broker: a limited role that involves facilitating the transaction without advocating for either side. They will help you fill out paperwork and communicate with the seller. They will not advise you on offer strategy, inspection findings, what to push back on, or what the seller might accept. Their job is to get the deal done, not necessarily to get you the best deal.
This is the part buyers consistently underestimate. You’re not getting representation-lite. You’re getting facilitation while the other side has someone in their corner whose entire job is to sell that house for as much as possible.
Zillow published research in May 2026 analyzing more than 15 million transactions from 2023 to 2025 specifically looking at what happens when one agent handles both sides of a deal. The findings were notable, and worth reading even if you’re skeptical of the source.
Home sellers in same-agent transactions lost a combined $1.49 billion over the three years studied. The per-seller median loss was approximately $2,165 per transaction. Florida alone accounted for $217 million of that total: second only to California.
This data is primarily about what happens to sellers in these situations, and I want to be clear about that. The concern here isn’t just that the buyer gets a bad deal. It’s that when one agent holds both sides, the market loses transparency and competition, and the transaction tends to settle at a worse price for the seller too. When one agent represents both buyer and seller, their economic incentives shift, and the price penalties appear consistently in every year Zillow has analyzed.
I’m not going to pretend it never works. There are scenarios where going directly to the listing agent produces a favorable result for the buyer:
The listing agent explicitly offers to reduce the overall commission if they keep both sides. This requires them to have the flexibility to do so under their listing agreement and the willingness to pass some of that savings to the buyer in the form of a lower purchase price or closing cost credit. Some agents will negotiate this. Most won’t, because their listing agreement already obligates the full commission to the brokerage regardless.
The seller is motivated and the listing agent has influence over the seller’s decision-making. In a situation where the listing agent has a strong relationship with a motivated seller and the deal needs to get done, having fewer parties involved can sometimes speed up a resolution. Rare, but it happens.
These scenarios exist. They’re not the norm. And even when they do work out on price, the buyer is still navigating the inspection, the appraisal, the title process, and all the other moving pieces without someone whose job it is to look out for them.
Going directly to the listing agent is your right. Nobody can stop you. And as I said earlier, there are edge cases where it works out. But as a general strategy for getting a better deal, the logic doesn’t hold up.
The commission you think you’re saving isn’t yours to save. It’s already allocated in the listing agreement. The listing agent is not going to advocate for your position. They can’t, legally, and even if they could, it is not their job. The things a buyer’s agent actually does: pricing analysis, inspection guidance, contract management, negotiation, deadline tracking are not formalities. They’re the difference between a transaction that closes cleanly and one that costs you more than you expected.
A good buyer’s agent gets paid when you close. The work they do to get you there, making sure the terms are right when you do, is literally what they’re there for. Cutting them out doesn’t save you money. It just means you’re navigating one of the largest financial transactions of your life without anyone in your corner.
Buying in Central Florida and want someone who’s actually in your corner from offer to closing? Start with the Buyers Guide or reach out directly.
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