re: Selling my house. Why do I have to pay the buyer's agent?

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The selling agent fee is 3%, the buyer agent fee is 3%. If no buyer agent exist, I pay 3%, not 6. And as the above poster stated, everything is negotiable.

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Not necessarily.

The sales commission percentage that you pay is worked out when you sign your listing agreement. Although it is true that nothing is set in stone. But typically, there is an agreed upon commission (6% or whatever), and then there is subagency split paid by the listing agency to the selling agency, if they're two different brokers. And from there, the agents are paid by each broker, depending on what split arrangements they have with their respective brokers (the buyer and seller probably won't know anything about that).

There are people who employ (actual) buyer's brokers and the buyer may pay that broker or agent. That agent works for and legally represents the buyer. So often, buyers will refer to someone as "their agent", when legally he is not. Have you signed an agreement with that agent? No. The seller is paying him and his only legal duty (depending on state laws) to the buyer is to treat him fairly. But if the seller has signed a listing agreement, where the agreed upon sales commission is listed as (let's say) 6%, then the listing agency still gets 6% - same as if the listing agent and the selling agent is the same person/agency. In fact, in cases where the broker is (by contract) representing the buyer, he may be prohibited from accepting the subagent's fee, if he is already being paid by the buyer. Especially when you move into larger investment deals or commercial, the things that people take for granted in smaller residential deals get a finer point on them.

But anyway, most everything is negotiable and no one has to do anything that they have not agreed to in a contract.