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Buyers agents get paid more if the home sells for more. They should be incented to drive the price down for the buyers, not up.

Even so, it’s really better for any agent to accept the first reasonable offer, close it out and as quickly as possible move on to the next house. They are not incented to drag the sale on to get a better deal for the party they represent.

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The real incentive is the latter one you mentioned. Buyers aren't going to care about driving the price up to get a bigger commission. The potential hit to their reputation probably wouldn't be worth it.

But they definitely are incentivized to get a sale done asap.

This is the same reason your selling agent isn't really incentivized to get you the highest price possible. The small increase in fees isn't worth forgoing the money that could be in your pocket now.

Freakonomics! https://youtu.be/aFYlgqv3T-w

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