Both things you were told describe the same market, so let me separate them.
A listing agent is the agent who represents you, the seller. You hire them under a listing agreement, and you agree in that contract what you'll pay them. That number has always been negotiable and still is.
What changed in 2024 is that the MLS (the shared database agents use to publish listings to each other) can no longer carry an offer of compensation to the buyer's agent. So the old mechanism where you advertised "2.5% to whoever brings the buyer" inside the listing is gone. The money itself was never banned. In most markets sellers still choose to cover some or all of the buyer agent's fee, they just agree to it outside the MLS, usually as a concession negotiated in the offer or communicated by the listing agent separately. Sellers keep doing it because a listing that tells buyers to fund their own agent out of pocket can lose out to the one down the street that doesn't.
So your agent quoting 5.5% and splitting it is describing the still-common outcome, not an outdated rule. One thing that is genuinely new: she has to disclose that arrangement to you and get your written approval for anything offered to a buyer's agent. Ask to see that form before you sign anything.
On the 6 months, that's within normal range in most markets, though 90 days is common too. What matters more is the cancellation language and the protection period, which is the window after expiration where she still gets paid if a buyer she introduced comes back. Read that clause.
