A real estate broker represents you when buying or selling: pricing the home from comparable sales, marketing it, screening for genuinely qualified buyers, then drafting and negotiating offers through to closing. Their value is intensely local — the right broker knows the price tiers, the inventory and what actually closes in your Richmond sector, not just the city at large. Before signing a brokerage agreement, verify three things: an active provincial licence, recent and verifiable activity in the specific sector, and clear written terms on commission. Payotte does that verification up front and recommends a single broker per sector — the one the public data supports, never the one who paid the most.
The Richmond real estate market
As of June 2026, the MLS benchmark price in Richmond stood at $1,030,400, down 8.2% year-over-year.
Scope: Metro Vancouver (Richmond) · Greater Vancouver REALTORS (REBGV) · Jun 2026. — Source : Greater Vancouver REALTORS (REBGV)
What does it cost in Richmond?
On Richmond's reference price ($1,030,400), a 3.56% commission comes to roughly $36,682, plus tax.
$1,030,400 × 3.56% = $36,682. The 3.56% is what the seller pays in total: 1.78% per agent on average, and there are two — the listing agent and the buyer's (rate-my-agent 2026 study, 979 verified transactions).
No province sets a rate: commission is negotiable, and the study records spreads from under 1% to over 3.5% per agent. This is an order of magnitude, not a price list.
How much does a REALTOR® cost?
Commission structures vary sharply by province (WOWA, 2026): in Ontario, a combined 3.5%–5% of the sale price is typical (the buyer-side share often set at 2.5%); British Columbia commonly uses a graduated scale of about 3%–4% on the first $100,000 then 1%–2% on the balance; Alberta roughly 7% on the first $100,000 then 3% on the remainder, split between both brokerages.
The seller generally pays both commissions — the buyer's agent is usually free for the buyer. Everything is negotiable: no province fixes real estate commissions by law.