The National Association of Realtors recently entered into an agreement to settle a lawsuit. The basis was around what was assumed to be price fixing of commissions and lack of transparency on who pays those commissions.
The lawsuit pertained to residential listings, not commercial. However, all listings are now subject to the new rules around compensation and prohibits offering compensation in MLS.
So, what does this mean to you? Right now, my sellers are all willing to compensate a buyer agency (and in the case where I am a dual agent as well). If you ask me about a listing that isn’t mine, the first thing I will do is contact the agent and inquire of the compensation being offered, and then come to you and discuss if the amount being offered does not meet the amount I have noted in our buyer agency agreement. You will always know up front if a listing agency isn’t offering compensation and we can then discuss the next step.
In time they will likely realize that not all buyers can afford to pay a buyer agency commission (unless it is negotiated in the offer that the seller pays all or part of it, and that’s perfectly acceptable). But if a seller won’t compensate, then I think sellers could potentially see less activity. Many buyers won’t have representation, and NAR code of ethics has always centered around protecting the consumer!
