Commission Splits
I'm slowly transitioning from residential to commercial, and in an email, someone mentioned that HFF does not share commissions. This was in regards to one of their listings. 

Do they mean that they expect the buyer to pay the buying agent commission?  Is this standard or just with HFF? What about CBRE?

Thanks! 
[{"id": "ei4ylft", "text": "Yeah, you'll have to get paid by your Buyer on most formally marketed investment sales listings.  Some smaller private client deals may have a piece built in for the buyer's broker.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ei5jnz9", "text": "This is the Wild West.  As a part time commercial agent there\u2019s very little value you\u2019re going to be able to bring to the table on an investment deal.  Those of us in the business live and breathe it, we know the players, we\u2019ve brought the deal to market.  We don\u2019t need you to bring us a buyer and, at least in the investment space, they probably don\u2019t need you for anything.  If you want to be a commercial agent it\u2019s not easy and I wouldn\u2019t bank on bringing buyers to deals.  You better get some listings.  It\u2019s all about the hustle.", "replies": [{"id": "ei5jyjm", "text": "The firms I'm working with want off-market deals. So now I see why, I'm betting they want off market so they expect the seller to pay my commission; because if it was on market, they wouldn't need me. ", "replies": [{"id": "ei5kauh", "text": "Pretty much.  They will all tell you to bring them deals, but they don\u2019t need you to bring them stuff on LoopNet.  That person has already brought that deal, they\u2019ll call them if they want it.  Find new deals to sell, bring them to buyers.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "ei68f09", "text": "Every owner wants the off market deal where they can take advantage of a dumb seller. Those deals are called unicorns because they don\u2019t exist. At least, not for sizable deals. You might be able to find them in the $1-$6m range in a tertiary market.  ", "replies": [{"id": "ei7554v", "text": "I almost had a 60m off-market deal, the owners decided they couldn't find another property for a 1031 exchange so decided not to sell...", "replies": [{"id": "ei79pqs", "text": "As Brandy tells us, \u201cAlmost doesn\u2019t count\u201d", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "ei6egq9", "text": "They don\u2019t want off market deals just to save on a buyers commission. In investment deals it\u2019s a very small price of the pie. \n\nThey want off-market deals because they don\u2019t want to compete with 10 other buyers. The price gets bid up and it\u2019s much more likely they waste their time on due diligence of the deal and don\u2019t end up acquiring. \n\nAs mentioned above you bring zero value bringing buyers to listed deals. In this market everyone has a list of buyers and if you reach out to an investment listing agent it will just show you don\u2019t understand the current market. Also, the listing broker will put their contacts/buyers at the top of the list because they want to sell the property again in future or get the listing on the buyers properties. \n\nIf you\u2019re just starting out decide your niche and start cold calling owners from the Assessor sites. That\u2019s how you\u2019ll generate deals. It\u2019s still a market where finding listings is your number 1 goal. You\u2019ll come across off market deals where you can send an LOI from your buyer and maybe get a deal done, but those are few and far between and you should still push to list those opportunities. ", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "eib6io2", "text": "No kidding? I've been working in commercial real estate for 7 years, an agent for almost four of those years, and I've never heard of a listing broker not splitting commission with the cooperating broker. We always split our listing commissions in half, and expect the same if we bring a buyer.\n\n Is this just for larger deals? Admittedly, I've only worked deals under $2MM, so maybe it's a different world for the big boys, but I sure had no idea. This would be great to know for the future. ", "replies": [{"id": "eib6w07", "text": "My listing agreement specifically says whether a cooperating broker fee is available.  It typically is not.  I also do not get calls from competing firms trying to sell my deals and I do not work theirs.  The only agents calling on my deals are Susie ReMax who is trying to bring me a buyer I already pitched the deal to.  I work in a very specialized space though and my buyers are all investors.  ", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]