The Core

There have been 2 or 3 attempts, but none seem to stick.  Particularly not in rural markets.

Because people are stupid. Friend just went into negotiations with someone. Pitched the idea that they could save money by not having a realtor. The seller then started doing all sorts of insane things that no realtor would let their client do. My friend is back to working with a realtor.

Most people probably buy a home once or twice. There are a lot of pitfalls from inspections to repairs, flood planes, hidden termite damage, HOA rules, insurance, permits, mortgage/financing and on and on. Joe Sixpack has no idea half of this stuff even needs to be addressed, let alone how to navigate it successfully. Enter the need for someone to help, so they get a piece of the pie.

>>pitfalls from inspections to repairs, flood planes

This was a pure land sale. Almost none of that applies.

>>What sort of crazy things.
 - changing goalposts
 - trying to combine then separate then combine deals
 - at the last  minute, deciding that she, the seller, should get a 10% commission

I don't remember it all. But it dragged on for two months for a $200,000 pure land sale with no contingencies and finally fell apart at the end. Huge time sink for my friend. If they had just gotten realtors involved, they would have stopped that insanity.

Realistically, on an average, 3-bedroom, standalone residential sale the time, paperwork, advertising, AND legal liability that a broker assumes (along with the overhead of having an office & staff) makes 6% come out about right.  About half (maybe more) of your transactions are going to go bad and the realtor gets nothing in most of those cases and has to eat sunk costs.

The alternative that I like the best was called, IIRC, ala carte or unbundled pricing.  In that model, the realtor developed an itemized price list for services; Photos $50, Negotiating contract $300, Closing paperwork $200, yada yada yada.  The seller (or buyer, if acting as a Buyers Agent) would pay those no matter if the property sold or not.  It was more than fair, but **NOBODY** -  Seller OR Buyer - would opt for it having been spoiled by the commission-only-if-sold model.

>land

For residential lots, we charge 8%-10% because they are typically on the market a very long time and require tons of advertising, lots of contact with 'lookers', and -IMO- an agent that has lot sale experience to get it to close.

Farms and large tracts are usually marketed by specialists.