Summary
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) called out President Biden for misrepresenting how real estate professionals do their jobs.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) called out President Biden for misrepresenting how real estate professionals do their jobs.
In a campaign speech delivered yesterday in Nevada, the president alluded to NAR’s $418 million settlement of the Sitzer/Burnett case, which included a pledge by the organization to restructure its rules on commissions related to home sales. Biden misidentified NAR and suggested realtors were responsible for driving up home costs.
“The Association of Realtors agreed for the first time that Americans can negotiate lower commissions when they buy and sell their home,” Biden said. “On a typical home purchase, that could save folks an average of $10,000 through sale or purchase. I’m calling on realtors to follow through on lowering commissions to protect homebuyers.”
NAR President Kevin Sears issued a statement that challenged Biden’s remarks on lowering housing costs.
“While the National Association of Realtors appreciates President Biden’s continued focus on the affordable housing crisis, the President unfortunately repeated incorrect claims that the recently announced settlement agreement allows Americans to negotiate commissions for the first time,” Sears said. “Commissions were already negotiable before this resolution was reached and will continue to be negotiable as they have been. Real estate agent commissions are driven by the market and are not the cause of the affordability crisis. Until there is an all of government approach to a historic lack of inventory and supply in communities across the country, the dream of homeownership will remain out of reach for millions of middle-class Americans.”
Sears diplomatically added, “NAR commends President Biden for recognizing the need to build a stronger housing supply, and we will continue to work with his administration and Congress, as well as in statehouses across the country, to fight for policy proposals intended to make homeownership more affordable and accessible for all Americans.”
Photo by Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons
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Thanks for the correction and clarification!
this just shows you how uniformed and out of touch with the real world this president is — someone needs to wake him up and get him out of his state of dementia
I thought I was the only one that Notice some signs. I noticed it before he became President.
With the amount of revenue the government generates from our industry in taxes it how nice would it be to appreciated and receive some support. We’re in a financially transparent business and taxes are paid from so many parts of the puzzle from income taxes I.e. listing office, listing broker(s), selling office, selling broker(s) and any managers if any. With each transaction the buyer pays tax the seller pays taxes. If they are so concerned about the welfare of buyers why not work out better options on taxes? How about better interest rates? They forget we’re involved in a high wire act with no safety net – straight commission sales. No salary, no benefits no 401k. Let’s destroy another industry.
That “someone” will be the voters in 2024!!
Agree! How wrong of a comment to make. He needs to go away or donate his salary and pay for the commissions for those doing a job…
His comments have nothing to do with dementia and everything to do with a misunderstanding of how brokerages and agents really work. Low income and first time home buyers need an agent more than ever, and yet at low sales prices, agents work very hard for a relatively low pay check. I call on the NAR to explain to him why fair commissions are acceptable. He should not lump the real estate industry in with the blatant price gouging that the rest of corporate America has engaged in since the pandemic subsided.
AMEN
Please stop. Biden doesn’t have dementia. My father has dementia. You have no idea what dementia is. It’s weird how this political opinion is posted with no facts or substance. When I post from a more liberal POV, I never see my posts on this platform.
Blaming Biden is a ruse that only serves the gop and their dark money supporters. It’s not worthy of intelligent real estate agents who understand the market and their consumers.
The big players in the real estate game have been trying to cut into agents’ commissions for a very long time. They’d ultimately like to sell houses online and negate the need for agents entirely.
NAR left Buyers agents in the dust. Especially when it comes to first time homebuyers who cannot afford to pay any extra fees after they pay closing costs and 20% down. Lenders don’t cover Buyer’s fees. After July, Buyers will not likely sign exclusive representation agreements with agents that are for more than one property at a time, so they know exactly who is paying an agent’s commission when the deal is done.
Buyers will be more likely to use Sellers’ agents who will work both sides, leaving buyers unable to have help negotiating a better price, aside from all the other things Buyers’ agents do to protect their client.
Worse, unscrupulous online companies that buy and sell properties will double end deals, leaving buyers with SPQs and AVIDs that are full of lies by omission. Having dealt with one such company, their excuse for SPQs and AVIDs lacking important troublesome details (ie: mold) about their properties is that, having recently acquired the properties, they don’t know anything about their properties’ history. Full disclosure will be lost and Buyers will suffer because of it.
Biden didn’t do that. Years of NAR and CAR not protecting their information or their agents have done this.
This is not a Democrat vs Republican. debate. This settlement about destroying capitalism and elevating socialism and giving business owners a small dose of communism. The government squashed insurance agent commissions 14 years ago with Obamacare. As a Cal Berkeley Economics grad, the current push is to make all Americans equal. Prior to this settlement, realtors through their efforts were able to generate $15K commissions from a $500K sale at 3%. To a socialist government, the agent was making way too much compared to a 9-5 worker. At $5000 instead of $15000, government considers $5K fair and reasonable. Instead of selling 10 $500K homes and earning $150K, the government is satisfied if the agent sells 10 $500K and earns $50K. This new real estate configuration won’t work, so I predict the government will take over real estate when sellers and buyers complain about problems. I was a California realtor and soon will be a Georgia realtor.
Virginia, that is why a listing agent should still negotiate a commission based on the added job they could be doing. Know your worth!!
No it’s true…I’m a real estate appraiser for 39 years…and I’m constancy fighting them on prices…he is informed…you need to read up on it..I really need the agent need more classes on pricing.
This is a matter of taking inflation out on people who work hard to earn a living. We didn’t cause the prices of homes to go up and we’ve been used as scapegoats for inflation that has been out of control since Biden became President. Inflation has become a glaring issue so our commissions become an issue? Crazy!
Totally agree. I think Biden is the right choice for 2024 but he did mis speak regarding agents and their value.
Agreed! Well said.
Agree
He shouldn’t be making comments like this. NAR definitely threw us under the bus, but they were done anyway. If they would’ve kept going with us, they would not have been able to afford the damages. We all should leave the NAR if we were smart And start something new but I don’t think that will happen
He just lost my vote
100%. Blame anyone EXCEPT his administration and whoever is making the decisions. Clearly it’s not Brandon.
I don’t understand why NAR has not had a spokes person, hit the media circuit to clear up all this miss information about commissions in the real estate market.
Pull the plug on a teleprompter and you’ll find an 81 year old man who doesn’t know where he is half the time. There’s plenty of evidence of his decline.
Whoever writes his scripts is to blame he’s just a empty vessel to deliver
Very few 81-year-olds would be any different.
No what he said was correct and in many states the commissions are and have been fixed or set in stone @6% And yes NAR is right in their rebuttal to the President but they are leaving out important information where Biden is not wrong in stating that commissions need to be negotiable. If that were the case already like it is in California then why did NAR come to the table and agree to the $418m settlement True it has to be ratified by Federal Court and it won’t be final until July of this year but what Biden said was not wrong and he’s not out of touch here at all. Many states use 6% as a given and that needs to be addressed like Biden said and it will save consumers money . And my Board here in California told me that in many states 6% is the commission and hence the lawsuit but we here in California have always stated in bold type Commissions are negotiable
With an illness as this that progressively gets worse, No one in that capacity should hold this job of President. We need a clear thinking person to hold that office.
As long as its NOT that Narcissistic, felon, lying, dictator wannabe, cult leading Mr Trump
Economics 101 the market sets the price! And lets now talk about affordability BIden you nit wit! The fed has doubled the interest rate ! How does that impact aforementioned affordability?? Id rather pay 50,000 more for a house with a lower interest rate over 30 years! Thats more affordable! This President is a fool! Our government has sold out the middle class
Economics 101 goes in the garbage if the Fed controls interest rates. There is no market economy for real estate if rates can be adjusted. Actually, rates needed to be increased to stop the artificial high home prices. A gradual increase would have perfect says this arm chair quarterback! Lol.
Mr. President you failed to mention the proposed settlement will make it virtually impossible for Veterans to buy homes.
I appreciate the quick response by the NAR. However, the NAR failed to call Biden
out for the real reason that makes buying a home almost impossible these days for most, INTEREST RATES. Do the math. Instead the Biden administration prefers to
meddle in a 100 year old business model
YES!!! NAR has sold us out.
This guy at 1600 Penn could care less about home affordability. He cares about home affordability like a person in Miami cares about making a snowman.
Absolutely on interest rates!…half the home for twice the price.
Also add the ridiculous Texas form common in most States during the pandemic the appraisal waiver form.
Never in the history of lending were buyers presented/encouraged to sign a form that made them promise no matter what the appraised value was they would pay it.
The state of the economy is ridiculous the inflation numbers that are presented to the voters are ones that don’t include the most essential parts of life, food energy, insurance,utilities. Real.people expenses.
I have no idea how young families are making it.
I feel bad for every buyer out there that’s frustrated with inventory that has been suppressed by interest rates.
Why would a seller sell now and become a buyer. Purchase an over valued home while promising to pay over market if it doesn’t appraise it’s just nuts.
The Current group of politicians are priviledged people who have their own government medical insurance and live in the lap of luxury and not consider the average American is atrocious.
Predictably the interest rates will drop right before the election, gas prices will go down ( probably draining the Strategic oil Reserve) and the false sense of everything’s okay will continue.
The new paper there’s a publication that does not politicize information and Associated Press is pretty good other than that it’s just politics as usual.
Biden just found another group to blame for his failed policies.
Agreed.
Exactly… bring back the Fairness Doctrine which required the media to present both sides and do it truthfully.
“Entertainment News” watch and listen to Bill O’Reilly
Just changed my vote! His comment is a lie. He does not understand anything about residential real estate. The shortage of inventory is the cause of housing prices. Mr President it’s a basic economic principle called supply and demand.
Yes
I agree with the first comment. The Pres. doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Yes exactly! Commissions were already and always have been negotiable. It’s disappointing to see such a blatant misrepresentation of the facts by our so called leader.
Just another remark from the President to deflect blame on to someone other than his administration for the high prices on housing. This President needs to get his facts straight before making flippant comments in his speeches. I don’t think he knows where he is or what day it is when he walks up to podium. He just starts rambling.
Don’t want to get into politics, but the man has never had a private sector job, and may not know that if a homeowner sells without paying a realtor, he/she keeps the extra money. The property is worth what it’s worth.
We already knew that Biden, as a lifetime politician, is out of touch with the average, hard-working American. But his response is due to the NAR’s inability to stand up and fight for its members.
It is obvious that the President has never purchased or sold a residential property using the services of a Professional Realtor or he would have known that commissions have always been negotiable between sellers and Realtors. Unlike interest rates that are not negotiable which are set by his appointee at the Federal Reserve Bank and may cost home buyers hundreds of thousands of dollars over the 30 year life of their mortgage.
The interest rates being as high as they are means many people with less income can no longer qualify for the mortgage. Commissions have been negotiable for a long time. I’ve negotiated commission for years. We are not the villians in this no matter how anyone tries to twist it.
NAR has collected millions from their Realtors for years. Instead of hiring great legal representation, they have spent a lot of money on boon doodle trips for Association members. The NAR should be the one sued.
No one really understands the impact which will not benefit buyers in the end. Certainly will not bring home prices down.
Biden/Dems, in general, are delusional. White House Press Statements regarding the Infrature Bill from 2021 state that their goal is to get rid of single family zoning/homes. Paying DOJ to go after everyone. This lawsuit doesn’t even make sense. Gaslighting the public. Not surprising for this administration.
I’ve was a Realtor for 15 years. What this new law will do, the effect is this:
Realtors will not be showing houses to buyers. They will have no buyer clients. Buyers don’t have cash saved for a buyer agent commission. Buyers will need to contact listing agents directly (listing agents work for the seller). The buyer is going to be unprotected.
My experience, there isn’t a bureaucrat alive today that understands business cause and effects, economy workings and the value of money, much less how real estate works. I am so tired of this administration hog tying the economy and just making it worse. Let the free market determine how people spend their money and make a living.
This housing shortage and rising prices is caused by the influx of immigrants under Bidens watch. Americans are only having 1.7 babies on average so the increase is coming from the outside. Immigrants need an apartment to live and the people in the apartment find a different apartment or house and it branches into the full spectrum of housing creating an imbalance of supply and demand.
In our area what drove up prices the most was cash paying corporate buyers. They bought a bunch of inventory here and will continue to do so. A rule needs to be in place that does not allow them to bid against regular people.
It’s about time we Realtors have the guts to call out this government and the liberal politics they espouse. I get tired of the overwhelming defending of them, which I read so much from the POV of our industry. Biden certainly has dementia but make no mistake he DOES know what he believes and how he sees America. He doesn’t have a clue about how our industry works and how in reality, this change will negatively affect lower wage earners and many first-time and/or minor buyers. It will!
A career politician telling a self employed citizen how to run their business!
Vote that clown and the Democratic Party out.
President Biden, What you said makes no sense at all . You want to lower the cost of buying a home at the same time end homelessness ? Then change the building and construction codes so that builders can build affordable homes. There are many ways to build lower cost safe and attractive homes but the old codes will not allow the builder to do so. There are new designs, construction that works and new materials to work with but the old codes will not allow it. Why does this remind me of the “war on Drugs” ? Just another talking point . Action speak loader then words.
What does Biden know he doesn’t even know where he is half of the time! It’s evident that he has no idea what he is talking about.Excuse me but commission has ALWAYS been negotiable …. Now I know how trump feels when that idiot and his his team of fools mis quote and misrepresent him!!! Oh and don’t forget the idiots on television and on their pod casts ! I am a Realtor and not a word that the crybabies have started to spread is true!!!! The seller has last word on what they want to pay in commission be it a flat fee or 2,3,4 ,5 ,6 7 or 10%!!!!!! Wait and see purchasers are going to find it hard to find a realtor that will write an offer and take on all that responsibility for next to nothing. They need a realtor to make sure they aren’t getting the shaft to represent them. I think the next time I buy a car I’ll crybaby about the price and complain about their commission and see myself being escorted out of the showroom lol!!!
Sad that this President does not retire in January at ripe old age 81 & live happily ever after.
Seems that everything he says needs to be modified a few hours after he speaks.
Who cares what a babbling old man has to say about anything?
It should still be as simple that any seller should/ would / needs to pay a commission to whoever brings him a buyer for his property, even if he didn’t have a selling agent involved (fsbo) you have to pay the buyers agent if there is one involved. I will just continue to strive to present to my sellers the facts this is only a change in the paperwork involved , it’s not a change in the philosophy of how real estate transactions have always operated. Factually, if you’ve contracted with a Realtor it is a needed expense that has always been and should be borne by the seller. Notwithstanding all of this however, I do think this has split the conversation wide open and now most will question the industry average % amount of the commission expense and force us downward in our fees, I do believe yes it will less attractive by a good amount to be a real estate agent going forward -how much remains to be seen. And yes I don’t think NAR did enough to fight this -there is nothing illegal how the industry has operated for decades- but there were probably rogue players out there who didn’t ethically convey our rate structures to sellers . In addition, sadly, most buyers have been naively lacking all along how RE commissions work -just knew it was “free to them”-that’s all they cared about – SO won’t be that way now !
The NAR sold us realtors out. Instead of polling realtors to get their input, they recklessly moved to settle without taking into account the wishes of the majority of their constituency. This will drive Buyers to listors who will control the narrative. I doubt Buyers, especially first time Buyers, will want to pay a Buyer’s agent when they can get all the information they need from the Listor, and not have to pay for it. Unfortunately, the settlement has the potential for minimizing the Buyer’s Agent’s role in sales transactions. I suspect that there will be a dramatic increase in the number of dual agents/agencies with this settlement with the concomitant increase in grievances on the part of Buyers. It is not in the best interests of realtors, who already navigate a competitive landscape. The NAR in their Ivory Tower have no idea what they have “settled,” since they are not out their pounding the pavement to do deals. As far as President Biden goes, he is misinformed about the impact of this this settlement much the same as the NAR!
Commissions are not driving up home prices, lack of housing supply and high buyer demand is the cause. When the the housing market crashed in the past (2006-2010, early 90’s etc) commissions were the same as they are now. What caused the lack of inventory in part is builders not building enough supply to meet the demand the past 10 years and historically low interest rates for the past 20 years. Those are driven by government policies not commissions.
Any chance we could all get together and start a new NAR or something different. I’d love to see the nar bankrupt for this because they were all heading that direction before they threw us all under the bus.
Better late than not. Should have happened 15 years ago
MARIA DP. realtor Broker owner of Redwood Realty inc. Embarked in R.E. 1975 working days late night weak and. spend months or years to accommodate clients needing, some time did not conclude sale ! R.E. PROFESSION is serving our clients .Resent time course of Homes shortage and large demand, sale is quick ! BUT is hit and miss sales. lots agents cant make living ! Me is Broker owner of record very happy when my agents make commission , probably been ready spend !!!! Considering the inflation Cost of living ?
I’ve been selling homes for 40 years. Prices are driven by supply and demand. If there was more supply, prices would be more affordable, and pretty simple to understand. The government should look at the policies that they have put in place for decades I’ve been selling homes for 40 years. Prices are driven by supply and demand. If there was more supply, prices would be more affordable. It’s pretty simple to understand. The government should look at the policies that they have put in place restricting growth in most cities around this country.