Housing affordability is broken and most of what’s driving it feels completely out of our hands. I can’t control interest rates. I can’t control inflation, zoning laws, or construction costs. But there is one major cost baked into every real estate transaction that we absolutely can control and almost no one wants to talk about it.

In this episode, I break down how real estate commissions have quietly become more expensive over time, even as technology has made this job faster, easier, and far more efficient. I walk through the real numbers what agents earned in 1990 versus today, adjusted for inflation and explain why agents now make significantly more per deal while passing less value back to the public.

I also dig into how modern broker splits, referral platforms like Zillow, and hidden fees have reshaped the industry. I explain how agents can afford to give away massive referral percentages and still make more money than ever and why that reality helps explain why commissions haven’t gone down, even after major lawsuits and antitrust rulings.

This episode isn’t about attacking individual agents. It’s about exposing a system that rewards high fees, protects outdated pricing, and makes homeownership harder for everyday families even though the tools exist to do things differently.

If you’ve ever wondered why selling a home still costs so much, where that money actually goes, or why affordability keeps slipping further away, this episode lays it all out clearly, honestly, and with the math to back it up.