Sellers hold the list price because prices are sticky on the way up, and a concession lets them keep the headline number while still handing the buyer something real. No seller wants to close below a neighbor's recent comp or below what they believe the home is worth. A credit sidesteps that, and it can genuinely serve both sides, which is why the tool sticks around. Just be clear on what a concession is: your own money, financed. A credit comes in lieu of a lower purchase price, so you pay it back through a bigger loan and a bigger payment for as long as you hold the home. Used well, covering closing costs for example, a credit you would otherwise leave on the table is worth taking. The version you will hear pitched hardest is a credit toward a rate buydown, and we lean against treating a buydown as the smart default. The buydown-versus-lower-price comparison is something some people want to see, and we will run it for your numbers in a Roadmap conversation. As for who benefits: the agent's commission is mostly not the driver, even when it can look that way. When we negotiate a price adjustment or a concession, the goal is getting the home sold, and an agent earns nothing if the deal does not close.