broker fees

i know corcoran and elliman will take 5%. but i've heard stribling brokers refuse to negotiate below 6%. remember 1/2 of the commission goes to the buyer's broker and you really want to keep them interested in helping you find a buyer.

over $5mil you can most of these guys down to 4-4.5%. they're greedy ;-)

I agree with Ray77...make sure the buyer's broker is motivated to bring you buyers. If not, they'll bring their clients to wherever they can get a full 3%. Keep in mind the individual broker has to split their 3% with their brokerage firm, so they only get 1.5% (out of 3% for the buyer's broker).

Well for us "under $5mil" types, I think it's really rare for brokers to voluntarily reduce their rates in New York. It has been such a booming market for so long, really, why would they? No question it happens in other places, but for now, this is just not a discount kind of place...

Having said that, I would love to be wrong about this one!

good piece on nyc broker fees:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/realestate/15fees.html?ex=1136178000&en=6dc35021ef422365&ei=5070

Have a look at this FSBO article in today's NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/03/realestate/03madison.html
Does anyone know how many FSBO's there are in NYC in a year?

I don't know such cases. As it was already mentioned here the standard commission is 6%. This is usually split between the sales agent and buyer agent. But you can always negotiate this number.