More bashing of traditional real estate agents

Take a look here for another piece from the NYTimes discussing some of the difficulty various consumers have found when using the "refund" real estate agents (Redfin, Ziprealty, Buysideinc.com). The piece doesn't really contain any new analysis...I've posted on it before and the WSJ had a thorough piece on the phenomenum some two months ago.

The piece of the story I haven't seen reported is one I find in my personal experience representing people buying/selling real estate as an attorney. That is, most of the traditional agents I've worked with on my last few deals haven't been charging 6% commission anymore. I've seen as low as 4% on a listing agreement I reviewed last week. I know 6% is the "traditional" commission but I'd really be curious what most traditional real estate agents are currently charging as their commissions...I think an informed analysis would be closer to 5% than 6%.