Are commissions really negotiable?

NEW YORK — New York City real estate agents are beginning to hear a rumbling under them, something that makes them stop cold and stand at full attention: the sound of sellers asking, "Do I have to pay 6 percent?"

Although the vast majority of commissions in Manhattan are still at 6 percent, some sellers realize that, with agents starved for listings and prices strong, they not only have the upper hand with buyers, but with brokers as well.

Brokers peering into their company's computer system like a crystal ball — a tool powerful enough to see the commission offered, something that remains the Great Unknown for consumers — say that fees less than 6 percent are showing up more frequently on their screens.

"Everything under 6 percent appears in red — it's an alert," said Arina Yakobi, an agent for the Corcoran Group. Commission fees are not disclosed and agents don't like to tell each other what they made, let alone anyone outside the industry, but they acknowledge that fees below 6 percent are showing up more often. Yakobi said lower fees have become so problematic that her firm has sales meetings addressing them.

In other parts of the city, and elsewhere in the country, the commission system is under vigorous attack, and fees are falling. Alternative and discount brokerage firms, online auctions for low-commission brokers and flat-fee firms are percolating up from the online ether, challenging the traditional notions of what agents do and what they should be paid.

The established real estate businesses are in some cases responding, and in ways that are attracting the attention of the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the two agencies are planning an antitrust suit against the National Association of Realtors for illegally enacting a bylaw that would allow agents to prevent their listings from being viewed by online or discount brokers.

A similar situation already exists in Manhattan, where few firms belong to the national association and most are members of the Real Estate Board of New York. A lawsuit was brought against the board last fall by a Web-based company alleging monopolization of listings. The suit is in discovery and will go to trial in the fall.

Trying not to step over the fine line of a dangerous phrase like "price fixing," Manhattan brokerage firms are putting up a unified front against any erosion of the 6 percent standard.

They argue that any seller negotiating a lower commission risks cutting down on the number of potential buyers who will see the place.