The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is facing its second realtor-filed lawsuit in a month.
According to a report in The Real Deal, NAR is a co-defendant in a lawsuit filed by eight realtors against Move (the parent company of Realtor.com), News Corp (the parent company of Move) and Opcity (a Realtor.com service) that alleges fraudulent lead generation. The realtors alleged Move takes data from different websites to find users seeking potential large home purchases, only to turn around and present these users as vetted, high-intent leads on Realtor.com
The lawsuit added that roughly 40% to 50% of Realtor.com’s leads either do not have real estate purchase intent or unverifiable. The plaintiffs also claimed Realtor.com sells the same group of leads to multiple agents in violation of an exclusivity promise.
The realtors, who are seeking class action lawsuit status for their complaint, blamed NAR for “aiding and abetting” the alleged scheme because of its association with Realtor.com products. A NAR spokesperson responded to the lawsuit by saying the organization “will address these false allegations in court.”
Earlier this month, NAR was hit with a class-action lawsuit filed by three Michigan real estate agents who claimed the organization’s membership requirement to access the MLS was a violation of federal law, stating this was “akin to mandating membership in a union or other trade organization, depriving members of free choice.” The lawsuit also faulted NAR settlement that ended “the guaranteed broker commission” from the MLS.
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This whole lawsuit was a mess and NAR should never have settled.. The ones being hurt of the Realtors who paid dues for many years and are now facing loss of business and buyers and sellers who think we did something wrong. At first I thought I was alone in my opinion but I am not. NAR will be out of business soon and we will be left alone.
I agree
Just give and take just a couple of years and we all be bye bye
Brokers/Realtors did not learn from the bubble that happened that we all got Blamed
They never mention the Appraisers who confirmed the value of the property
Who got the Blame…???
The agents and Brokers
Well said Zak. Hope you are well.
I am not a lawyer, but I am agree with you, I don’t know, why NAR settled this case, because technically who paid completely everything is the buyer, the homeowner and the listing agent only make deal to put the product exposed, finally if there is not buyer, there is not closing, and none party could get nothing, no cents. nothing, I can prove my theory , no buyers, no loans, no money to either one.
Agree.
NAR caved. Their attorneys did a pathetic job of defending our profession and protecting Realtors. All they accomplished was opening the door for more lawsuits.
Also, No sellers, no loans, no appraisals. There is no deal without the seller.
am in total agreement with statements against NAR settlement. need to get better legal representation.
I agree
However it’s bigger than we are addressing here. It’s a structured attempt at ruining the Realestate business as we know it. Sadly, it’s much bigger than NAR and it’s attorneys.
You are correct. The deep state communists would like nothing better than to see a collapse of Real Estate prices and lots of property owners go broke. Then the government will step in and buy up all the distressed properties and the government would become the primary landlord in the country, probably moving multiple families into what we consider single family homes today (densification), much like they did in China after the Great Cultural Revelation. The NAR lawsuit(s) are one small componant in that process; the plan is to create confusion and chaos in the system, combined with hyper inflation, the loss of world reserve currency status of the dollar, and general economic chaos to make the collapse of prices more likely.
Correct!
Poppycock.
Well said!
NAR threw all the Real Estate Brokers and Agents under the bus by settling so quickly instead of getting better Attorneys to defend us. Real Estate Agents and Brokers should stop bowing down to NAR. We should all cancel our membership to NAR and form our own union that will look out for our best interests. All the Brokers really should talk to the MLS’s about giving us access without requiring that we have a membership with NAR and the local board. Brokers, Agents, and MLS’s should also STOP allowing our listings and data to be displayed on Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, IDX, and all over the internet. Back in the early 1990’s, Buyers and Sellers felt like they needed Real Estate Agents because data was not readily accessible through the internet. When our data became too accessible on the internet, we have lost our value to the consumer. Real Estate affects many areas in the economy. Perhaps, Real Estate Agents should go on strike and not buy or sell real estate for a month.
Then people will realize how much Real estate really affects the economy.
I agree with you.I. have been a Realtor for 20 years this business is a real mess .Do away with Zillow! They get information incorrect,and my. clients think I am doing it and get angry with me..
Commission impossible… I’d like to see a class action lawsuit against nar for colluding with State associations and forcing you to be a member when all you want is to have MLS access and get win forms.
Agreed. NAR is a monopoly!
I encourage all agents who are Realtor’s to back out the $30.00 “voluntary” fee when paying your annual dues.
As a conservative political activist I research PAC $$, and NAR, Florida Realtor PAC’s give A LOT of money to establishment candidates who push developer deals. I’m going on my 11th year as a full time Realtor, and I only gave the first year as I realized NAR was pushing for leftist woke causes. My local BOR has a DEI, Diversity EQUITY Inclusion Director. Sorry, but SALES is based on MERIT and SKILL, not “equity!” During the covid Scamdemic of 2020, Florida Realtors had articles with links to BLM (Marxist organization of self professed socialists who took donations and bought themselves several multi million dollar properties! This is fraud, and what has been done about it? Nothing.
I think I will cancel my membership to NAR, as I am not getting the ROI for what I pay in annual dues. Vote with your dollars!
I certainly agree with your statement, “NAR should have never settled.” Commissions have always been negotiable in Tennessee. In fact “everything is negotiable “. I have never told my customers and clients anything less.
I just sold a home in which the seller refused to pay even 1 percent buyer agent commission.
I represent the buyer, and I will not have the buyer who is bringing the money to the table pay my commission. It’s not right.
About time
I love the fact that Buyer agents can now negotiate their own commissions. I see nothing but upside for skilled agents. This was a good move by DOJ to rid of agents that shouldn’t be in the business. Good riddance.
“Can now” Excuse me? I have 20 years in the business and have never known a time that we couldn’t negotiate our compensation, as either a buyer’s or a seller’s agent.
When acting as a buyer’s agent I’ve written more than a few offers with compensation that differed from what was offered in MLS. And of course FSBOs or off market properties always require a compensation agreement outside of MLS.
That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Buyers are burdened already with coming out of pocket for closing costs, down payment, home inspection, and appraisal fees. Not to mention both interest rates and prices are at an all time high. Meanwhile homeowners who are sitting on all the equity are complaining about paying the co broke fee? True they have their own closing costs. Home owners who actually listen to stupid listing agents guiding them to absolute stupidity will learn a painfull lesson about who their hiring to list their homes just so the agent can get the listing and then 90 to 120 days later as the house sits on the market be told “maybe you should pay the co broke fee”. No offense but you fell from the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down 😆
Don’t complain about interest rates if you voted for Biden. Not accusing you of doing that… just saying I hear that so often coming from people with “Harris” signs in their yards. Morons!
Trump left the deficit.The Biden administration took on all the failures of the trump era! Fact check that please
I agree with you.
Yay, Love your response, so true!!
Newsflash!
The POTUS doesn’t set interest rates. Stop making this political!
The federal reserve controls interest rates and Chairman was appointed by Trump! Not Biden
I’m from Michigan and have been a long time full narrative appraiser and now a co-owner of a real estate brokerage. Five years ago, respectively, I would go into a new listing to show the property (with a mask). There were 20 biz cards on the table and 5-10 offers after only on the market for a couple of days. Many of the offers were 20-30k over asking. Why didn’t the Fed’s raise rates slightly to slow the pace? Now they’ve crushed the market in many property types. Poor management in my opinion.
I agree with what you had to say. I have been in the business for over 42 years and commissions have always been negotiable. On top of that no laws require anyone to use a REALTOR? Commissions have always been negotiable but also have been split between the two agents that made the deal work. Owner signs a Listing Agreement and in NC it always said what the agreement was in payment and that it would be split with another agent that brought the deal to the table. As long as the payment was what the seller agreed to pay day one, why does it matter what the Listing Agent/Company does with the money, if they wanted to give 1/2, 1/3 or 2/3rd of it to the other side that brought a buyer to the table why should that matter. How is that different than I hire a contractor to do a job at my home, I sign a contract with him, for XXXX amount of dollars, and he pays XX amount of dollars to the Plumber, or Painter or who ever, it is his payment to share as he needs to get the job done. How is that different? Never in 42+ years ever had a seller/owner write me a check till the buyer came to the table with their money.
At least with it in the MLS it was transparent? How will the new way affect people that have no money to pay a Broker fee on top of all the other cost. We already have lots of programs to help buyers with Closing Cost because they do not have the money. How will this affect fair housing? The new rules are a lose lose for everyone. For the agents that tried to say commissions were not negotiable and people had to pay a certain amount shame on you. Of course a company could have had a policy, but again NO one Had to use a REALTOR and if not happy with what one said, talk to someone else just like most of us do when we have another professional do work for us? As far as having to be a member of MLS I have no problem with that, it is a membership program. Lots of places require member ship, do we not have that is other lines of business? Funny best I read this is only for 7 years and what happens after that?
Only winners in this are the Attorneys, should have settled this the way that they did with FTC Open Door lawsuit and at least the people that actually did get hurt would have gotten the money. Sadly a lot of families/people will no longer be able to purchase a home.
Best and most intelligent comment on this debacle. I’ve been licensed since 1978 & agree with everything you said.
My thoughts exactly!! Very well said!
After 44 years in the business, I totally agree. I don’t see how the new law makes anything more transparent, or in any way helps the buyers, who are already paying high closing costs, high housing prices and high interest. I don’t know which fool agents messed this up for those of us that follow the rules, but it has hurt everyone. I haven’t yet run into one agent that did not know and explain that commissions were always negotiable. But on the bright side, this may decrease the numbers of Realtors@.
Interest rates at an all time high? You obviuosly weren’t around in the 80’s. Calliing people stupid?
There’s a way to get your point and your get frustration out without sounding so uninformed yourselves.
You are absolutely right. This is going to hurt everyone Sellers who are not willing to share in the cost of commissions will find buyers cannot afford their homes. Buyers cannot get a loan if price is borderline. Buyers with no money to put down and cannot roll into loan will not be able to buy a home. Realtors who are seasoned will have a chance to stay healthy businesswise but not so for new Realtors.
Interest rates at an all time high? You obviuosly weren’t around in the 80’s. Calliing people stupid?
There’s a way to get your point and your get frustration out without sounding so uninformed yourselves.
Ridiculous
You better say Conpensation!
pls spell check “conpensation”. If you imply we’re conning anyone in broker fee distribution, you’re terribly mistaken.
I wholeheartedly agree with the fact that NAR should have never settled that lawsuit, that the amount which was allegedly previously awarded contradicted the principles and intent of the Magna Carta, which is the foundation of the laws in our Country.
If you’re wondering what the Magna Carta means, ask the competent attorneys of Donald Trump, who skillfully used it, and argued the ridiculous amount awarded to the he plaintiff, to successfully reducing it to approximately a third of the awarded value of said lawsuit.
What was worse, was the lack of leadership and preparation, leading to all kinds of nonsense related to the subject of commissions and professional practices.
They could have simply copied the concept of assumptive transactional fiduciary relationship of a transaction broker, which requires no disclosure. And the assumption the assumption remove traded narrative, would be that said compensation should be half of the total compensation being charge the seller, or said amount plus any balance difference remaining to cover the commission due Buyer Agent, dictated by the buyer exclusive brokerage agreement; Whichever is greater.
Lumping in NAR is a joke.
I have been in the real estate business 20+ years and I never heard a decent explaination as to why “Do we need NAR”?
I’m sorry, what exactly are you proposing here?
I’m a broker in CA and have been in the business for 45 years. The recent change/settlement with NAR about the commissions has caused much alarm in our commercial real estate industry. I’m not an MLS or NAR or Realtor.com member, so I’m ignoring it unless someone brings it up in negotiations. Whatever my client or another broker’s client agrees to pay me, is what I’m going with.
I’d love to join onto both of those lawsuits. I’ve been complaining about the bogus leads and their forced membership to subscribe to the MLS for years! Kudos to those agents for stepping forward. NAR let us down, now we should take them down!
You do realize the NAR owned MLSs will be replaced by MLSs owned by people who want to make a profit on them. You may have a choice which MLS you want to join but it will cost much more and real estate Brokers and Agents won’t have any representation with regard to how they are run. Not to mention the only people who will make money driving NAR out of business are more class action attorneys. Self employed real estate Agents and the public will be the big losers once investors and corporate interests run things. I’ve always suspected the end of NAR and broker cooperation was the real goal of the lawsuits.
Agree with you whole heartedly! Where do I/we sign!
It’s a shame we pay out dues, yet have to pay more for access to all these “other websites” NAR is a pyramid scheme and only works for its players of choice!
I would like to join the lawsuits, too. I don’t want to be a member of NAR as I’m disgusted at their push for leftist causes. I urge all Realtor’s to back out their annual “volunteer” $30.00 to RPAC. Do the PAC research — one of the biggest lobbyists in DC and very little for the benefit of the Realtor’s actually paying the fees! I want access to MLS — that’s it. The bar needs to be raised for our industry, and hopefully the NAR lawsuit will cull the herd so to speak. There are far too many licensed agents/Realtors who are clueless, have only 1-2 sales per year, do it part time (not a part time job, sorry) and are often not up on contracts and changes. It drags down the entire industry’s reputation for the good agents. NAR’s weakness in settling the lawsuit, will be their own demise. We’re seeing the “Carvana-ization” of real estate. Thank God I’m nearing retirement.
I’m Canceling My MLS & NAR ASAP ! I don’t have time for this Crap!! I can just as easily Advertise myself & my Listings Online. As a Broker, I Always negotiate my commission anyway.
I’m tired of Paying All these Fees & getting Nothing but Headaches in Return. I don’t Appreciate the Government getting in My Business.
The Whole World has Gone NUTS!
Thanks but, NO THANKS! 😠
I am right there with this BS. NAR caved and has disrupted the buyer’s agent and livelihood. NAR’s greed with the consumer-facing realtor.com takes away from our local MLS information in disseminates the same information to consumers. So what’s the point of us paying high membership cost when the consumers can get the same information for free? And now that commissions are no longer part of the MLS what’s the point of having an MLS? The MLS was the platform for commission sharing among all agents. Now that that’s out why do I need an MLS to post my listing when I can just go on any of the third-party apps which gets Syndicated there anyways?
Smart
In my opinion, Nour has done a very poor job. During the recent lawsuit, it was mentioned that the seller was forced to pay for the buyers realtors commission. However, for me to be a realtor, I am forced to be a member of NAR. They have done a very poor job of representing my interest. They have a monopoly on the MLS system. In order for me to Be a member of my board and my real estate company. I have to belong to Nour. Deserves these new lawsuits. In my opinion, they are in big trouble. If the representation they get for these new lawsuits is anything like the representation they received in the commission dispute. They are in big trouble. In my opinion, they deserve. What’s coming their way. Shame on them.
I canceled my memberships as soon as the lawsuit was settled. NAR sold out Realtors and still wants to get paid.
I agree 100% !!!
Did they ever consult with us, the realtors that actually do all the work, if we were in agreement with this unfair scam concerning OUR COMMISSIONS??!! WHY can’t commissions not advertised on the MLS?????
Why make it more difficult for agents representing a buyer???
It’s OUR income, our money!!
Who gave them the Authority to make a his crazy decision and accept this stupid settlement??
This whole NAR settlement should never have happened. I just completed an ethics course, which encouraged the parties to mediate and finally to arbitrate disputes rather than go through the lengthy and expensive litigation route that in this case involved everyone in the industry. Why wasn’t this settled at the local level where the aggrieved party(ies) had an issue? Why were all the realtors dragged in on this horrible settlement, where we had no say? The only benefitting parties to this whole mess were the attorneys who sought a settlement so they could collect their fees. The NAR talks about transparency and full disclosure in real estate transactions, but how does not disclosing the Buyer’s agent commissions in the MLS contribute to that? We were sold a bill of goods without our input. Quite frankly, we should all be getting after the NAR for not protecting out interests!
I retire the end of this week and I looked up the CEO of NAR and he makes over $2.5 million on our dime thank you NAR
bye bye nar
The premise that buyer’s would pay less if seller’s were not cooperating and offering a seller broker fee/commission is a hypothesis with no, none little to back it up.
FSBO’s don’t do it. Variable commission listings Seller’s don’t do it. And the market thought a property was over priced no or little showing traffic. If the property did not appraise financing fell through.
NAR evidently forgot all of this and settled. All this will do is make properties more expensive for buyers not less. That is of course if the economy stays similar to the way it is now or this past summer. Business as usual in other words.
Now if there is some sort of National or International Crisis and then its not as usual anymore. But even with that mentioned people have to live somewhere, all of us need shelter, none of us would survive long without it.
So the time to buy is Now. And since this is most likely your single biggest investment get some representation and pay for it or let the seller pay for it.
Agree with John’s comment. Members pay NAR to be ignored and members watch them spend member’s money to enrich themselves & their greedy partners. What is the benefit of being a member of NAR?
Our security as Realtors has been threaten since platforms like Realtor.com, Zillow, etc came into the business. They were getting listings advertising them and preparing themselves to jump into the market as brokers and now they are or have taken a big bulk of the business. I didn’t think NAR was protecting our interest then and definitely not now.
A billion percent right
I am in complete agreement with these agents. The class-action lawsuit filed by three Michigan real estate agents who claimed the organization’s membership requirement to access the MLS was a violation of federal law, stating this was “akin to mandating membership in a union or other trade organization, depriving members of free choice.” In addition CAR requires you to be a member of NAR, and you have to be a member of CAR to use the MLS. If this is not a monopoly and violation of fair trade laws I don’t know what is. In addition we are forced to pay dues which we have no control over. Both NAR and CAR has been abusing agents forever and most agents are afraid to say anything or file a lawsuit for fear of losing access to the MLS. Agents should be allowed to decide which organizations they want to be a part of and what their dues are used for. It is way past the time to put a stop to these iron handed, unnecessary, income draining non negotiating organizations. I am sure that if you took a nationwide blind poll you will find a majority of agents will be in favor this.
I completely agree, I was not a member of NAR, to the extent that I was not a personal member….but to make us all join for access is unreasonable now that they settled, w/o a fight.
This should be filed as a class action suit. I am sure there will be enough support from around the country. I am thinking about filing a similar suit against CAR in California. Anybody know a successful attorney that specializes in this field.
The NAR needs to be sued for using dues to push left wing, even treasonous, political agendas like LGBLT, DEI and affordable housing. The Marxists have taken over the NAR and are using it to destroy Western Civilization, namely the nuclear family. In case you don’t know the origins of DEI and LGBLT, do some research on Marxism and the alphabet agenda. They are what Musk called Soviet level indoctrination and are the result of Marxist pedophiles and billionaires and nothing else, pushed today by two types of leftist: Stalins and Useful Idiots.
Anything associated with DEI is doomed to DIE! When will they learn?
The majority of people know that. The problem is the communists have been very good at infiltrating institutions of all kinds and getting into positions of authority. They also know that DEI is destructive. That’s the idea. Once you accept the fact that the left WANTS to destroy America as we know it, it all starts to make sense.
NAR needs some scrutiny for the lead issue for sure.
Those fake leads and not-true exclusivity of them and general pay to play thing–glad to see that challenged. The fake leads and not-exclusive “exclusive” zip codes are misrepresentations. Monetizing information that originated with brokers and turning it against them by selling it to other brokers has not contributed anything but the outlay of monthly fees and the survival of the most aggressive brokers and third parties. NAR is a monopoly that we unquestioningly had to pay, worth it IF they went to bat for us. Once the protective effect of a trade organization is lost, what’s it for?
One more thing–NAR/MLS left us with Zillow, et al, fallout that we can’t control. Just try to remove a 30 year old picture or unwanted information if you’re not in their pay to play programs–even if they let you do it then. You can be dead but your photo from 1999 is still there, unassailable.
NAR allowing direct feeds into the Zillow and Realtor.com’s of the world is where this all began! The MLS was the main tool in our bag and they gave it away! This devalued us even more as a profession because now everyone was given access! Why was this even allowed???? If an agent wants to advertise on the zillows or realtor.com’s of the world then let them choose to do so! Allow the agent to decide what information they want to provide! Don’t sell the feeds from the database we pay for! Instead NAR gave it all away! This was proprietary to agents only that we own and pay for! The crazy part of it all is Zillow/Realtor.com’s turned around and took our infomration and sold it back to us for advertising! Total BS all around! NAR sold us out when they decided to do this! Isn’t this collusion and/or a conflict of interest???? Where is the lawsuit against NAR from Realtors for this!
You better say it! The exact point I was saying. I loss total faith in NAR when this began. Gave one of our main tools away and now they are brokers!! Isn’t that a Hoot!
No they are not brokers , NAR is now a controlling Media Company
You nailed it! I’ve been saying this for years! I/we pay for MLS.. we set up clients in our MLS … how did the world get a hold of potential buyers and sellers for free…. via stealing our content and listings that we worked hard to research and input on our MLS to share amongst we professionals in the biz!
We barely have leads now because of this… we were sold out
I have never been particularly happy about NAR marketing our listings to the highest bidder, considering the fact that state law says broker owns all listings. We have to allow them to disseminate our listings due to our membership at local, state and national levels. When I found out NAR was sitting on a 1 billion dollar warchest during this DOJ ruling, I was aghast that our association, that supposedly represents us could accumulate that kind of money with no oversight. There is a lot more wrong with the entire organization than just commissions
Is Zillow any different? I’ve been buying their leads for years and the person is rarely actually interested in buying a house. Don’t blame Biden for everything. It all started with the way Trump handled, or didn’t handled Covid. He just lies about everything.
I just think that NAR did a bad job with looking out for everyone and DOJ should have also thought about how this whole thing will affect fair housing. How will the people that do not have extra money to pay a buyers agent out of pocket when a seller will not share compensation? It would have been better to make sure the forms said what they do now about compensation being negotiable. The first thing I learned 42 years ago. IF the listing agreements had laid that out and how the compensation would be shared, which in NC ours did. Put the compensation right there on the MLS for all to see, that way it is fair and no one can change what they are sharing depending on the other side?
Everyone knows what is being paid, and again Until the buyer brings their money to the table never have I had a seller pay me, so who really pays the compensation? Buyer pays it in their mortgage, just as well as the seller paying out of their equity. NO different than any other business sharing what one person pays them to do a job and they have to pay others to help get the job done? Who won? The attorneys!
I agree Sandra, I think theres far too little attention being paid to protect our profession. Housing is complex that’s for sure but come on…NAR was being paid by us and our brokers to protect us. And where were they and the DOJ back in 2005? And prior to that in due diligence? And look at the Association side of housing, obviously not enough protection there. Just another scam and another way for some entity to make more money through our profession.
The NAR law suit was a distraction to destroy the independent realtor aided by the NAR and the MLS ‘s .It’s all about tracking . The new NAR CEO Ms Wright never held a Real Estate license , her previous job was CEO for a non profit MEDIA company in Chicago own by Rupert Murdoch . Zillow owns Showing Time , Zillow owns Dot Loop they know every move realtors make ,now every time a realtor registers a buyer , though Dot Loop they have that information too .
Zillow was unsuccessful in purchasing houses using algorithm . Zillow at that point could only control and track half the market place , now they have access to both buyers and sellers information . Aided by the NAR , we know how Media companies control and sensor information .
Zillow largest share holder is Black Rock . Black Rock funded Zillow House purchases …. See any patterns yet ??????? WTF up Realtors before it’s too late and the industry is controlled by mega corporations ,,
Jacqueline, no one couldn’t have said it any better.
I researched everything you just said just this last week… this is so true…
The mega corporations who rule the world are gaining on we the people and our freedoms..
we ALL need to do our research. Facts speak louder than words.
We should write a petition and have her removed from NAR ( especially since she has ZERO real estate experience and is a puppet of black rock (who literally owns the world financially thru pensions/unions/stocks/bonds… and probably our social security!)
Thanks for the info Jacqueline!
You are absolutely right, and I have also been saying this all along. NAR did sell us out a long time ago by allowing our feeds to go directly into Zillow etc. This weakened our position as agents and industry overall. They were and are basically giving our access and main tool (MLS we pay for!) in our bag away for free. It also set the stage for the collusion that has occurred behind the scenes. The case was already determined before NAR even put on their dog and pony show in the courtroom! NAR never had a chance and was never going to win. Big donors got what they wanted and the attorneys made out like modern-day white-collar train robbers!
100% accurate. Why don’t we realtors sue NAR. It’s hard enough for the buyers agent and now it will be really hard to get the buyers to pay our commission they won’t have the money to spend to see properties and would if they don’t find the property they want to buy. And who is monitoring our comments that my reply is cancelled. Stop this is America or it used to be.
I was first licensed in 1982 after being a real estate secretary for a few years. We had books of listings that came out every two weeks. No person could see the books unless they paid the dues. Buyers and Sellers had to come to us for the information. Jump to now and everyone with a computer can access the MLS through countless outside sources. BTW national, state and local dues only cost around $500 a year then. I think I paid $30 a month for the MLS books.
Not only that, but what about the pages and pages of rules and penalties that MLS forces us to follow? These are not state laws; they are demands that we have to bow down to in order to be a Realtor. My MLS company imposed a $500 instant fine if we didn’t follow the new rules and scrub all listings of anything that could be imagined to refer to compensation. We can be a Thompson broker to access the MLS without being a Realtor, but doing so makes us have to follow all their stupid rules anyway.
This business has gotten so complicated…my broker test was mostly about the laws, but we must be sure to not explain much to our clients because you could be accused of acting like a lawyer. The contracts used to be a few pages. Now most are 14 pages plus ! You about have to be a computer whiz, an advertising genius and a counselor for these stressed out buyers and sellers…but don’t get one mad because they will complain to our local association and make our lives so hard that it just isn’t worth it.
Zillow quoted me $1800 a month just for a few “verified” connections (two days ago). That’s crazy! I hope the law suit against these practices wins. They have turned us into suckers.
I’d like to sue for being forced into the Clear Cooperation Policy that forces sellers to sell how NAR wanted them too. This was doomed from the start and is no shock that it was a catalyst for the class action lawsuit that changed the industry. You can’t force sellers to sell how you want. In fact, if sellers WANT to advertise a buyer agent commission they should be able too. As long as advertising isn’t ILLEGAL, seller’s should be able to advertise whatever promotions they want. If they want their agent to promote “3% BAC” the credit shouldn’t HAVE to be tied to giving it to an unrepped buyer too. That’s more work for the listing agent and they’ll likely be charging for the extra work. So let sellers advertise whatever the heck they want and stay out of the money!
NAR spent our fees without consulting or input or even a vote, on lawyers and their “Settlement”! When the average Realtor makes $52,000 a year and the California Fast Food Worker is paid $20 an hour which is $41,280 a year, it is a sham non-agreed settlement. Hurts Buyers and Buyers Agents with no benefit to anyone!
Page 2 on problems – If agents can pull themselves away to take view of yet something else to get their panties wedged they would be looking hard at Zillow for their ownership and interaction with so many organizations/companies/services which interact within our business information areas and the potential control and positioning for themselves as brokers. Would it not appear that they are anticipating elimination of our services as agents?! Wake up, there’s lots of things/services we need to look deeper into as we follow the money to see who really is benefiting at our expense …
And, lastly, I’m totally in agreement the position that NAR did not defend themselves/ourselves properly and protect their agents who have paid them to do so and confirm the value we bring to a situation that has always been negotiable. Whether many aligned them selves with a similar value perspective for services does not mean it was not negotiated and that the seller, or buyer, was left without choices … the door was always open to move on to someone who aligned with that customer’s wishes or accept the terms as a customer …
The settlement shows that they went the easy way out, leaving brokers/agents on their own.
I have been in business for over 25 years, and the commission ( concession) is part of the proceeds the seller receives from the buyer at closing, commission ( concession) is an expense like any other expense that is part of the closing costs to the seller. Title insurance, doc stamps, lawyer fees, title search, doc stamps…. etc.
The only difference now is, that the seller gives the commission ( concession) to the buyer instead of the broker at closing, and the broker/agent has to make sure he will receive his compensation for his hard work, from a hopefully honest buyer!
Commissions ( concession) have never had an impact on the value/sales price of the property, the value is determined by the appraiser. This settlement is beyond ridiculous, and the only that are winners from all this, are platforms that are trying to slowly kill our profession, so they can make income from Real Estate without a license! We were supposed to be protected, ya right!!
I’m posting this again & every where I can because I find it strange that the very party that set off the buyer agent commission issue where NAR rolled over are starting their own buyer services business! WRE please chk this out! Was this case a set up ?
Key player in Sitzer/Burnett launches real estate startup
“Our hard-won settlement paved the way for a new era,” said Josh Sitzer, whose company offers flat-fee home tour and offer preparation services for buyers.
@Jay Lansdowne Of course, this whole NAR lawsuit was a set-up. Maybe all Real Estate Agents should sue Josh Sitzer! All Real Estate Brokers, Agents, and MLS should really remove all their listings from Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, IDX, and all Real Estate websites. We are losing our value in the eyes of consumers because our Real Estate data can be readily accessed all over the internet. We should stop allowing ourselves to be used by companies like Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com to enrich themselves while at the same time helping them to carry out their plan for our demise.
The only time a seller has ever paid the commission is when they are selling their property for less than they owe on it. This requires them to come to the closing with their own cash or they don’t close. In a usual transaction without a buyer, there is no sale and no commission is paid.
I think it may be time for Realtors to sue the NAR and the DOJ for the misguided reasoning that they entered into in agreeing to settle this lawsuit! There may be some Realtors that did not explain the commission process to their sellers well but that is not a good enough reason to assume every Realtor was in some way involved in the same wrongdoing.
For a hundred years the seller has paid their broker and that broker in turn paid the buyer’s broker. In the end, at the closing, it all boiled down to an accounting function that never involved the buyer. Except, the buyer and sometimes with the help of their lender were the ones that actually paid the commission.
Think about it! Sellers have no more money than most buyers to pay their broker’s commission if they had to pay it upfront but they do usually have equity that buyers do not. One way the seller can access that equity and move is with the sale of their property.
So, ultimately it is the buyer who provides the money so: the seller can access their equity, the seller can close the sale of their old property, the seller can close the transaction on their new property, the seller can move, the seller’s broker gets paid the commission, the seller’s broker can pay the buyer’s broker, and the buyer can move into their new property.