Nothing says you HAVE to pay 6%. In at least most places you can submit the paperwork to your county/state recorder & transfer money between each other complet

Nothing says you HAVE to pay 6%. In at least most places you can submit the paperwork to your county/state recorder & transfer money between each other completely outside of "the system" for a few dollars. And/or hire your own title agent to facilitate and hold the money. There's also nothing that says you have to pay each agent exactly 3%. Commissions are negotiable on both sides like anything else. Especially in this sort of situation where they're no shopping/showing and you're paying them just to perform the transaction. 2-2.5% each is routine in some markets and price points. I built our last couple houses on empty lots, found the lot on my own, and my agent was happy to shuffle some paper for a couple hours for 1% (several thousand dollars) and give me the other 2% at closing. …and for the people who end up looking at dozens of houses before deciding, negotiating, losing an offer, rinse repeating, 3%/$hours_spent_on_you could be a pretty low hourly rate for them.