Two months after the verdict in the Sitzer/Burnett trial rocked the real estate profession, another lawsuit was filed in Missouri challenging the commission structures of real estate professionals.
Maryland resident named Daniel Umpa filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Missouri – the same court that heard the Sitzer/Burnett case – regarding the commissions he paid in his sale of two homes, one in Maryland and one in Ohio. The lawsuit named the National Association of Realtors and 13 brokerages – At World, Compass, Douglas Elliman, eXp, HomeServices of America, HomeSmart, Howard Hanna, Keller Williams, Redfin, Realty One Group, The Real Brokerage, United Real Estate and Weichert Realtors – as defendants, with several local realtor associations and multiple listing services cited as co-conspirators.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Dec. 27, seeks class action status for any U.S. homeowner who sold a house on an MLS and contracted an agent from the defendant brokerages since Dec. 27, 2019. Umpa’s attorneys also filed a request to consolidate similar commission-focused lawsuits from around the nation.
The Umpa lawsuit is the tenth filed since the verdict was announced in the Sitzer/Burnett trial.
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This is crazy!!!!! I am a realtor and you have no idea how many 100’s of times I have worked for days, weeks, months and even years for nothing. We have continuing education, mls dues, board dues, desk fees, franchise fees and annual dues.
we have high vehicle expenses. I sometimes put 40,000 miles on my car. I have special insurance I have to keep on my vehicles to cover my clients and customers. I have E&O insurance. Internets fees, phone bills, all this and so much more to stay in the business. I have made people so much profit in knowing how to take care of them. My 38 years of experience is very valuable. The seller is not getting over charged. The commission is always considered in the pricing of a property. so the buyer is paying on the transaction. I have averaged 70 to 90 hours in the business for most all my life. I have sacrificed my time with my children, grandchildren and friends and most of all the stress of worry of ever one else’s problems. The ups and downs of the market, the content phones call from 7 in the morning to 11 an night.
I would love to know who is actually benefiting from this. Most buyers cannot add 2% to their already crazy closing costs. Sellers have greatly benefitted from the professionals listing, staging, and promoting their homes as well as the buyer’s agents who are running to multiple homes, prepping comps, etc. most sellers have made large profits in the last five years. They can certainly forward a reasonable commission for the sale of their home. Perhaps, the NAR needs to reword contract terms. Again, I will be very interested to see who actually benefits from these lawsuits, and the changing of the way Realtors have done business over the years. I suspect Zillow and other such online marketers, would like to be the new MLS.