How the 1% Technology Fee Actually Works

The shortest version: the seller pays 1% of the sale price at closing. That 1% replaces the 3% buyer's agent commission the seller would traditionally pay. Buyers pay nothing and get full representation, showings, closing attorney, and lender connections included.

If you're a buyer, the punchline is: you get a full transaction team at zero out-of-pocket cost.

If you're a seller, the punchline is: you save at least 2% of the sale price, $10,000 on a $500,000 home, compared to paying a traditional 3% buyer's agent commission.

The rest of this post walks through exactly how that works, why the post-NAR-settlement rules make this more important than it used to be, and what the fee does and doesn't cover.

For first-time buyers: skip the buyer's agent — and the 3% commission that comes with them

Since 2024, buyers can be on the hook for up to 3% of the home's price to pay their own real estate agent. On a $500,000 home, that's up to $15,000 — out of pocket. Most first-time buyers don't even know this is a risk until they're already shopping and signing agency agreements.

With VroomBrick, you don't need a buyer's agent at all. We connect you with the closing attorney, showing agents, and lender directly.

What you get as a buyer:

• $0 paid by you in commissions. VroomBrick is paid by the seller out of sale proceeds at closing.
• $10,000 of negotiating leverage on every offer, since the seller saves on their side too. You can use it to:
  • Lower your monthly mortgage payment by negotiating a rate buydown
  • Bring less cash to closing by negotiating a closing-cost credit
  • Win in a bidding war by sweetening your offer without paying more out of pocket

That last one is where buyers feel it most. In competitive markets, a VroomBrick buyer can offer the seller a $10,000 credit and still walk away with a stronger net offer than a traditional buyer who's stuck paying their own 3% agent. You compete on terms, not just price.

Who pays what

The fee structure is simple.

	Traditional transaction	VroomBrick transaction
Buyer's agent commission (paid by seller)	3% of sale price	Replaced by 1% VroomBrick fee
Buyer's out-of-pocket for representation	$0 to agent (pre-settlement) to some or all of the agent's fee (post-settlement)	$0
Seller pays VroomBrick	N/A	1% at closing
Buyer pays VroomBrick	N/A	$0

On a $500,000 home:

• Traditional buyer's agent commission: $15,000 (3%) paid by seller at closing
• VroomBrick technology fee: $5,000 (1%) paid by seller at closing
• Seller saves: $10,000
• Buyer pays: $0 in both models

Why this matters more now: the NAR settlement

Before August 2024, the 3% buyer's agent commission was almost always paid by the seller, baked into the sale price, and largely invisible to buyers. A buyer showed up with an agent, the agent got paid from the seller's proceeds at closing, and the buyer rarely saw a line item.

That world is gone.

Under the post-settlement rules, buyers now sign a written agreement with any agent before touring a home. That agreement spells out exactly what the agent charges and makes clear that the buyer is responsible for paying it, unless the seller agrees to cover some or all of it at closing.

In practice, that means buyers today face real commission exposure they didn't face two years ago. On a $500,000 home, a 2.5 to 3 percent buyer's agent commission is $12,500 to $15,000 the buyer may now owe out of pocket if they can't negotiate the seller to cover it.

VroomBrick eliminates that risk entirely. The seller pays a 1% technology fee at closing, VroomBrick coordinates the buyer-side work, and the buyer pays nothing. No commission agreement to negotiate, no separate attorney bill, no out-of-pocket surprise.

What the 1% covers (all paid for by VroomBrick out of the seller's fee)

Buyers get the full transaction team:

• A licensed closing attorney who reviews the contract, handles title work, negotiates on your behalf, and runs settlement. In a traditional post-settlement transaction, this is a separate $800 to $1,500 bill to the buyer. With VroomBrick, it's included.
• Showing agents who coordinate and conduct tours of any home on the market, so you never have to open a door alone or juggle schedules with listing agents
• Lender partner connections, including credit union partners, VA-savvy lenders for military buyers, and competitive conventional options
• Offer-construction support, pricing, contingencies, earnest money, and timeline, informed by local market data and the offer simulator
• A real-time transaction dashboard that tracks every step from pre-approval to keys
• Document management, every disclosure, counter-offer, and addendum in one place

Everything a traditional buyer's agent would coordinate is handled, except nobody is charging a commission against your purchase.

What the 1% does not cover

The 1% is the fee the seller pays VroomBrick. A few things stay separate, as they would in any real estate transaction:

For buyers:

• Your down payment, loan costs, and mortgage insurance
• Your home inspection (typically $400 to $700, paid to an independent inspector)
• Your appraisal (usually ordered through your lender)
• Moving costs

For sellers:

• If you're using a separate listing agent to market and list the home, their commission is a separate arrangement between you and them
• Standard third-party closing costs (title insurance, transfer taxes, recording fees, prorated property taxes, HOA transfer fees)
• Any buyer concessions you agree to at the negotiating table
• Pre-listing improvements (staging, photos, repairs)

None of those are VroomBrick fees. They're standard costs in any transaction, billed at market rates by the vendors providing the work.

How the math plays out

Buyer side: what you pay

In either scenario, the buyer's out-of-pocket cost for buyer-side representation is:

• Traditional (post-settlement): $0 to $15,000, depending on whether you can negotiate the seller to cover your buyer's agent commission. Plus a separate closing attorney bill, typically $800 to $1,500.
• VroomBrick: $0. The seller's 1% covers the platform, the closing attorney, and everything else.

Seller side: what you save

On a $500,000 home:

• Traditional: Seller pays 3% buyer's agent commission = $15,000
• VroomBrick: Seller pays 1% technology fee = $5,000
• Seller saves: $10,000 (2% of sale price)

That savings holds whether you're listing through a flat-rate broker, a traditional listing agent, or selling on your own. The 1% replaces the buyer-side commission, independent of whatever arrangement you have on the listing side.

Why this model works

The traditional commission structure assumed the buyer's agent was a full-service coordinator: finding homes, scheduling tours, writing offers, negotiating, managing paperwork, running to settlement. The 3% commission funded that agent, their brokerage's cut, and the office overhead behind them.

Today that work is distributed. Software handles workflow and document management. Licensed attorneys handle contracts and settlement. Showing agents handle property access. Lenders handle financing. Each piece gets done by a licensed professional at their standard rate for that piece of work.

The 1% pays for the platform and the coordination that ties it together. VroomBrick covers the professional fees from that 1%. The seller saves because 1% is a lot less than 3%. The buyer pays nothing because the seller is paying VroomBrick instead of a buyer's agent.

It's not a cheaper version of a traditional buyer's agent. It's a different way to route the same transaction work.

When the 1% model may not be the right fit

A few cases where a traditional buyer's agent may serve you better:

• You want one specific human walking every step with you in person, from first showing through negotiation. That's the trade-off buyer's agents historically delivered, and if that experience is worth a potential 2.5 to 3% commission to you, it's a fair call.
• You're shopping for a complex transaction, unusual financing structure, historic properties with deed restrictions, large estates, or off-market deals that need custom legwork
• You're outside our markets. VroomBrick currently operates in Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina.

For most standard residential purchases, the VroomBrick model and the traditional model get you to the same place: keys in hand, contract signed, money wired. The VroomBrick path just costs you, as a buyer, nothing, and costs the seller 2% less.

Run the numbers on your specific deal

The fastest way to see what this looks like: the savings calculator compares the traditional commission model to VroomBrick's 1% technology fee for any home value, so you can see the seller-side savings at your price point in 30 seconds.

If you're buying, the buy page walks through the full process. If you're selling, the sell page does the same.

Zero Out-of-Pocket for Buyers. $10K+ in Savings for Sellers.

The math shifts the moment you plug in a home value.

Calculate Your Savings →

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About VroomBrick: VroomBrick is a real estate technology platform, not a licensed real estate brokerage. VroomBrick does not provide brokerage services, represent buyers or sellers, negotiate contracts, or hold real estate licenses. Contract negotiation, representation, and settlement are handled by independent licensed closing attorneys connected through the platform. Real estate commissions and fees are not set by law and are fully negotiable. Buyer's agent commissions referenced reflect typical market practice post-NAR settlement (effective August 2024) and vary by agreement. Savings examples are illustrative; actual savings depend on transaction specifics.