In Dallas–Fort Worth the public Zillow fee is background. The decision is the listing agreement and paragraph 12 on the TREC contract: what you pay your broker, and whether you are also writing a check toward the buyer's broker.
Dallas and Fort Worth sellers hear the same portal pitch the rest of Texas hears. The useful work is local: which broker is asking for the listing, what that agreement charges, and whether a buyer who toured the house expects you to fund their broker. The fee Zillow publishes for its agent program is explained on the statewide page. This page does not repeat it. It is the conversation to have before you sign in Tarrant, Dallas, Collin or Denton County.
Two different people can knock on a DFW door
One is a listing agent who wants a contract with you. The other is a buyer's agent who already represents someone and wants to see the house, or who is fishing for the listing because a portal inquiry landed on your address. Treat them differently. The listing agreement is what can obligate you to pay a brokerage. A tour request does not. If you are not ready to list, you can still say the house is not on the market. You do not owe a touring agent a fee for driving by a house in Arlington or Fort Worth.
North Texas listings are cooperated through the regional MLS the big brokerages use. After the 2024 practice changes, that MLS is not a bulletin board where the seller's broker posts a standing offer of compensation for every buyer's broker to see. Texas REALTORS describes the written-approval rule: a listing broker discloses to the seller, and gets approval, before the listing broker or the seller pays a buyer's broker, and the disclosure states the amount or rate. Ask your Fort Worth or Dallas broker to show you that disclosure blank, not a screenshot of a portal estimate.
Paragraph 12 is the line that spends your equity
TREC's January 3, 2025 explanation of the resale contract says each side pays the brokerage fees that side agreed to pay, and that paragraph 12A(1)(b) is where a specific seller contribution to the buyer's brokerage fees is written. On a house in Plano, Richardson, or north Dallas, a buyer's agent may arrive with a signed buyer agreement that already names a percent. That percent is the buyer's promise to their own broker. It becomes your cost only if you write a number into paragraph 12 or into a separate compensation agreement. Leave the line blank if you are offering nothing. Do not let someone write "market" or "TBD."
Title companies in Tarrant and Dallas County will put the agreed figures on the closing statement. They will not invent a portal fee you never signed. If your broker's internal split with an advertising portal is not in your listing agreement, it should not appear as a seller charge. Ask the closer to walk the brokerage lines with you before you fund. That is the title company's statement, prepared for the closing, which you read then. It is not a promise from us about a document you see on some earlier day.
What to take to a listing appointment
- The payoff on the mortgage, or a statement less than 30 days old.
- The last property-tax bill, so you know which county sent it. Plano can be Collin or Denton. A Fort Worth address can touch more than Tarrant.
- A list of repairs you will not do. The repairs page is the comparison if the house will struggle with a financed buyer.
- One question, written down: "What do I pay you if the house sells, and what do I pay you if I cancel?"
Suburb pages on this site, gathered on the Dallas–Fort Worth city index, name the appraisal district for that city. They do not name a commission. Commission is your agreement with a broker, or the absence of one.
A cash sale skips the listing appointment
Owners who already know they will not repair, or who do not want showings scheduled around a tenant, can skip the listing. Cash Home Advisors buys in Dallas, Fort Worth, and the cities on the index. You can sell as-is, without repairs. We pay all closing costs, and we can close in 7–14 days. There is no agent commission. Asking is free and carries no obligation, and a real person calls you back. Use the form or read how it works. Compare the net with a listing only after you have a real listing fee in writing, not a portal slogan.
Collin and Denton are not a different law
Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Denton and Lewisville use the same TREC contract and the same Property Code disclosure as Fort Worth. What changes is the appraisal district and the clerk. Do not let an agent tell you Collin County "requires" a buyer-broker contribution. It does not. The contribution is a blank you choose to fill. If the house also needs a fire, condo, or land conversation, those are separate pages: fire damage, condos, and vacant land. None of them is priced by a portal's success-fee table.
Read the listing before you talk about a portal
Bring the draft listing home. Circle the fee, the protection period, and any sentence that lets the brokerage collect if you sell to a neighbor during the six months after the listing ends. Those clauses are ordinary in Texas brokerage forms and they have nothing to do with Zillow. A Dallas seller who cancels on day ten can still owe a fee if the same buyer later contracts through that broker. Ask for the protection language in plain words before you initial it. Then decide whether a listing is worth that tail.
For a house in Lewisville, the city page is Lewisville.
Want a cash offer instead?
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Frequently asked questions
Should a Fort Worth seller ask if the agent pays Zillow?
Yes. Ask whether a portal success fee comes out of the brokerage commission you already agreed to, or whether anyone expects an extra charge. The statewide page explains how Zillow describes that fee. Your listing agreement is the document that charges you.
Where does a buyer-broker contribution go on a DFW contract?
On the TREC one-to-four-family resale contract, a specific seller contribution toward the buyer's brokerage fees belongs in paragraph 12A(1)(b). Do not leave it blank and do not rely on a verbal promise at a showing in Arlington or Plano.
Does Cash Home Advisors charge an agent commission in Dallas or Fort Worth?
No. A sale to Cash Home Advisors has no agent commission. We pay the closing costs of the sale and can close in 7–14 days. The loan payoff and taxes still come out of the price.
Sources
- TREC form changes effective January 3, 2025
- TREC One to Four Family Residential Contract 20-19
- Texas REALTORS, NAR and MLS rule changes
General information, not legal or tax advice. Talk to a Texas attorney or CPA about your situation.