At closing, when the home buyer and seller shake hands, sign contracts and exchange funds, the real estate agent is entitled to their piece of the pie, otherwise known as the commission. The majority of real estate agents will usually take around 5-6% from every successful home sale they make. The exact percentage of the real estate agent's payment (or commission) should be spelled out in the listing agent's contract with the seller. This ensures that the listing agent gets paid if the To calculate a real estate commission, start by converting the commission percentage into a decimal by diving it by 100. Then, multiply the purchase price by that number. For example, if you’re trying to determine the amount of a 6% commission on a $100,000 sale price, you would divide 6 by 100 to get .06, then multiply it by 100,000 for a $6,000 commission.