A class action suit has resulted in new buying and selling rules aimed at making the real estate process more transparent.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Those in the market for buying or selling a home, are facing some changes in the process due to a national settlement that called for more transparency in the real estate process.
The newest rules laid out by the National Association of Realtors are as follows:
Gregory Straus of 716 Realty Group says that although the written agreement is a new requirement, it’s not a foreign concept.
“Before it was optional, now it is required that when a buyer goes out and tours a home that they have buyer broker agreement which clarifies that they’re working with a realtor and that conversations had upfront and the fee that an agent can earn is also clearly identified in that contract,” said Straus.
Real estate professionals in Western New York say that this allows for transactional transparency.
“This is improving the industry so that we have those conversations up front, what does it mean to be helping you, how much are we going to be paid, are we all transparent about that and that’s the goal of the settlement,” said Straus.
That goal of transparency was also echoed by Vienna Laurendi, President of the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors.
“Honestly, this has always been in place, it’s just never been talked about out loud. So that’s where we come in with some transparency in the transaction,” said Laurendi.
Really, it makes agents commission more negotiable for the buyer and the seller. Although the rules may sound different, it’s more of a matter of paperwork, making realtors adjust for the consumer – not the other way around.
“The transactions are going to be a lot easier thanks to the dialogue that we are now armed and faced with,” says, Laurendi.
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