The arithmetic
What a 1% listing fee comes to.
A listing fee quoted as a percentage is that percentage of the price the house sells for, paid at closing out of the proceeds. The percentage is small and the house is large, which is why the difference between two of them is worth doing on paper.
The rates and rules cited on this page were read from the Washington Department of Revenue and the Revised Code of Washington in August 2026. Both change; check anything here against the source before you rely on it. Nothing on this page is legal or tax advice.
What is a 1% listing fee?
It is a listing broker's fee set at one percent of what the house sells for. On a $500,000 sale it is $5,000. It is charged at closing, out of the sale proceeds, so nothing is paid up front and nothing is owed if the house does not sell.
It is the listing side only. The buyer's agent is paid separately and is not part of it. See who pays the buyer's agent in Washington for how that half is settled now.
What does the difference come to at Kitsap prices?
Between one percent and three percent of the same house, the gap is two percent of the sale price, which at Kitsap prices runs from several thousand dollars to a low five figures.
Round sale prices, so a reader can scale from the nearest row. The right-hand columns are arithmetic on the price, not a claim about any other firm.
| Sale price | Listing fee at 1% | At 3% | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| $400,000 | $4,000 | $12,000 | $8,000 |
| $500,000 | $5,000 | $15,000 | $10,000 |
| $600,000 | $6,000 | $18,000 | $12,000 |
| $750,000 | $7,500 | $22,500 | $15,000 |
| $1,000,000 | $10,000 | $30,000 | $20,000 |
About the comparison rate. The second column is a worked example at 3%, not a statement about what any other firm charges. Commission rates are negotiable between a firm and its client and are not set by law or by any trade association; every firm sets its own, and so does Lorraine.
None of those rows is a prediction about your house. They are round numbers to scale from; what houses in this county have actually sold for is at the sold record, read live off the county's own filings.
What does the 1% cover, and what does it not?
It covers Lorraine's work as your listing broker on the sale. It does not cover the buyer's agent, and it is not the whole cost of selling.
The other costs of a sale do not move because of what you pay your broker: you still owe the excise tax, still pay for title and escrow, and still pay off your loan. Those are set out one at a time in what it costs to sell a house in Washington.
Whatever a listing proposal says it includes, the document that governs is the listing agreement you sign. If something matters to you, it needs to be in that agreement rather than in a conversation: photography, the sign, what happens if you take the house off the market.
Where is a 1% listing fee the wrong fit?
In at least three situations, and saying so is more useful than not.
- Your house is not in Kitsap County. Lorraine's 1% is for homes in this county. Outside it, this is not an offer that applies to you.
- You want a service package this one does not include. Compare the two written proposals on what each one actually does, not only on the rate. If the more expensive one does something you want, that is a real reason to pay for it.
- The rate is doing the deciding. The listing fee is one line of a settlement statement. If a broker is wrong about the price, that costs more than the whole fee either way, and the number to press on is the pricing argument, not the percentage.
A fee is a reason to look, not a reason to sign.
How do I compare two listing proposals?
Line by line, in writing, on the same house and the same assumed price.
- Ask each broker for the fee as a percentage and as a dollar figure at one assumed sale price you pick.
- Ask what happens to the buyer's-agent side under each proposal, and what it costs you if the buyer asks you to contribute.
- Ask what is included at that fee and what is billed on top.
- Ask what the term is, and how you get out of it.
- Ask what each of them thinks the house is worth, and then the question that matters most: which recorded sales they got that from.
Then read both listing agreements before you sign either. The agreement, not the pitch, is what governs.
Is a 1% listing fee real?
It is a rate a broker sets, the same way any other rate is a rate a broker sets. Rates are negotiable between a firm and its client and are not fixed by law or by any trade association, so a rate being lower than one you have heard before is not evidence of anything by itself.
What is worth checking is the same thing worth checking about any rate: that the licence is current, that the written agreement says what the advertisement said, and that the broker can show you the recorded sales behind the price they are recommending. Lorraine Klopfenstein is a Washington designated broker with Better Properties SoundView, and her licence number is at the foot of this page.