Discussions

We've bought and sold our homes both by private-sale and by using a realtor in the past. Some people have strong opinions both for and against using realtors and I'm not necessarily looking to get into that discussion. What I am wondering, however, is how negotiable the commission rate is with a realtor. I've heard of people paying as little as 3% though most are at 5% or even 6%.  
 
I suspect the work that goes into selling a $150,000 home is similar to work that goes into selling a $350,000 property. If so, it would make sense to use a graduated commission structure as discussed in the following article. If it's accepted by realtors in Cities like Edmonton, could it work here?  
 
Would a realtor agree to 7% of the 1st $100,000 value and then 2.5% on every dollar of value beyond that?  
 
http://winnipeg.comfree.ca/articles/news133.html  
 
I think that seems fair. What type of commission structures are commonly used with Realtors in Brandon? Does the seller have some leverage to amend that? If realtors are hungry for new listings, you'd think some might accept a somewhat lower (yet still lucrative) payday.  
 
Really, to pay a realtor/realty company $20,000 to sell a $400,000 home seems a bit silly when they'd make $10,000 on a $200,000 home doing the same amount of work.  
 
Don't even get me started on the "land title transfer tax" - an even bigger expense and for what!?  
 
So, i guess I'm looking to find out if there is any room to modify the commission structure when choosing a realtor. I kind of like the graduated scale as per the article that I've linked. (and, yes, it's a Comfree article and they do like to bash realtors. I'm not a Comfree booster or detractor - just happened to be where I saw the article and it does make sense).