The average home price in the United States was $495,100 in the second quarter of 2023

3% (as customary is 6%, split evenly to each realtor) of 485100 is about 15k

Why? Mine did a shit ton of work for me and fought the sellers to get them to do the shit the appraiser wanted done.

So a few hours of emails and phone calls is somehow $15k worth of work?

As well as working for almost a year looking at different houses before we finally found the right one

They probably had 50 other clients also during that time. Some of them pan out and is the 15k payday. Ultimately they only need to sell (or buy) like 10 houses a year to make a better living than you likely have. Less than 1 a month.