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What does it cost to sell your Hawaii home?
The listing fee is the biggest check you’ll write at closing — and since the 2024 NAR settlement, you also decide whether to cover the buyer’s agent. So we put the whole menu on a pricing page.
A Hawaii listing agent typically charges 2.5%–3% to sell your home (statewide average ~2.58%–2.73%). That’s the fee you control. Separately, you now choose whether to offer the buyer’s agent a concession (~2.45%–2.78%). Add both and the old “6%” becomes roughly 5% — but every piece is negotiable.
Choose your listing plan
Same MLS, same buyers — four different ways to pay to get your home sold.
Flat-fee MLS
- ✓On HiCentral MLS + Zillow, Redfin
- ✓Skip the listing-side commission
- –You price, market, and show it
- –You handle offers and escrow
- –Watch for $99 plans with add-on fees
Discount broker
- ✓Full in-person representation
- ✓Pricing help + MLS syndication
- ✓Handles paperwork and escrow
- ✓Roughly half the standard rate
- –Marketing may be lighter than full-service
Full service
- ✓Pricing strategy + pro photography
- ✓Full marketing, staging, drone, open houses
- ✓Negotiates offers and repairs for you
- ✓Manages disclosures, escrow, deadlines
- ✓Homes sell for more with an agent (NAR)
Cash buyer
- ✓No commission, no repairs
- ✓Close in days, not months
- ✓Many cover your closing costs
- –Offers often well below market
- –You trade equity for speed
The same $800,000 home, four ways
Listing-side cost in dollars. The buyer-agent concession (~2.45%–2.78%, about $19,600–$22,240) is a separate choice you make on top of most of these.
| Plan | Listing rate | Listing cost on $800k | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat-fee MLS | ~$300–$500 flat | ~$400 | You DIY the sale |
| Discount broker (%) | 1.5% | $12,000 | Save with an agent |
| Discount broker (flat) | ~$5,000 flat | $5,000 | Higher-priced homes |
| Full-service agent | 2.58% avg | $20,640 | Most sellers |
| Cash buyer / iBuyer | $0 fees | $0 (≈20% under value) | Speed over price |
The concession is now your call
Before 2024, sellers almost always paid both agents and advertised the buyer-agent cut on the MLS. That’s gone. You can no longer post it on the MLS, and you decide deal by deal whether to offer it at all.
Most Hawaii sellers still offer something — it widens your buyer pool and helps offers come in. In a slower market, that generosity is often what gets you to the closing table.
Commission isn’t your only cost
Sellers in Hawaii pay roughly 2.58% in closing costs on top of commission. The two mandatory ones you can’t dodge: conveyance (transfer) tax and recording fees.
Conveyance tax is tiered by price — and selling to an owner-occupant triggers a lower rate. Pricing just under a bracket (say $995k instead of $1.005M) can save real money.
What “flat fee” really includes
A basic flat-fee MLS plan (~$150) often just puts you on the MLS — nothing else. Premium plans ($1,000+) add photography, forms, and support.
Cheap headline prices can balloon with add-ons for changes, photos, or syndication. Read what’s bundled before you pick the $99 option.
The FSBO trade-off
Selling it yourself saves the listing commission — but NAR data shows agent-listed homes sell for meaningfully more on average, and Hawaii homes are currently going for about 97% of list.
If going solo means underpricing a view or leasehold property, the “savings” can quietly cost you more than a full commission would have.
🌴 Where a listing agent earns their fee in Hawaii
Pricing near conveyance-tax brackets. Marketing view and oceanfront inventory that competes on presentation. Navigating leasehold, AOAO reserves, cesspool and solar disclosures, and lava/flood zones. On an $800k sale, a 2.58% listing fee is about $20,640 — but a good agent routinely moves the sale price by more than that, and keeps a deal from cratering in escrow over a disclosure surprise. The fee is real; so is what it buys.
Curious what your home would actually net?
We’ll run the numbers for your property — listing fee, concession strategy, conveyance tax, and net proceeds — before you commit to anything.
Get a free home value + net sheet →A password will be e-mailed to you
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