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The home buying and selling process is changing. Here’s what you need to know in Illinois.

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Save up money. Find a real estate agent. Attend open houses. Put in an offer … or two or three or four. 

Once the deal is closed, real estate agents for both the buyer and seller get paid commissions, typically by the seller.

This is a condensed version of how the home buying and selling process has functioned for years. And this process is about to change. The way real estate agents get paid will shift on Aug. 17, following massive settlement agreements that resulted from numerous class-action, antitrust lawsuits brought by home sellers over the commissions they paid to real estate brokers. The suits were filed against the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors and real estate brokerages nationwide.

In March, NAR agreed to pay $418 million as part of a settlement to resolve litigation against the organization and its members. It also agreed to amend its model rules. The settlement will be paid out over approximately four years, and around 50 million people will be eligible to receive money from NAR’s settlement. Some real estate brokerages opted to settle their own suits before and after NAR’s agreement, and some are still ongoing.

The full NAR settlement is not expected to receive final court approval until November, with the U.S. Department of Justice indicating that the terms of the settlement may not go far enough.

NAR’s settlement came after a Missouri federal jury issued a landmark $1.8 billion verdict in October of last year, finding NAR and several large real estate brokerages conspired to artificially inflate commissions on home sales. A similar case was expected to go to trial this year in Illinois federal court. The settlement resolved NAR’s role in both of those suits plus two other class actions. NAR continues to deny any wrongdoing, according to the association.

The litigation came to a head amid internal turmoil at NAR, which has undergone a series of leadership changes. Over the past year, NAR has seen two presidents and a CEO resign following allegations of sexual harassment against its former President Kenny Parcell.

Here’s what you need to know about the landmark settlements and how the changes being implemented will affect buyers, sellers and real estate agents in Illinois. 

What were home sellers arguing in their lawsuits against NAR and real estate companies?

The lawsuits claimed the compensation practice for brokers was anti-competitive because it incentivized buyers’ agents to steer their clients toward sellers who were offering higher commission rates in their listings on the Multiple Listing Service. The MLS is the main tool used by real estate agents across the country to market home listings.

Historically, the seller set the commission rate when listing the home for sale and then paid the fee to their agent, who split it 50-50 with the buyer’s agent.

How is the National Association of Realtors changing its rules?

NAR is changing its rules in two main ways. It is requiring potential homebuyers to enter into written agreements — often referred to as buyer agency agreements — with their agent that state how the buyer’s agent will be paid. NAR is also removing offers of compensation to agents in the MLS.

If a broker is not a member of NAR or does not use an MLS platform that adheres to NAR’s rules, they will not be subject to these rules changes.

Can cooperating commissions be listed outside the MLS?

Some real estate brokerages are still permitting their agents to list cooperating commissions on their real estate listings outside the MLS, while others are not. A cooperating commission is the amount paid to a buyer’s agent once a transaction is closed.

Redfin will allow sellers who want to advertise an offer of compensation to do so, but will not require it, according to a statement from a company spokesperson.

Compass agents will follow a similar practice, with a company spokesperson saying it will be an “agent-by-agent decision with their clients.”

A RE/MAX spokesperson said in a statement that while the firm will not display offers of compensation on the company website, each RE/MAX office is independently owned and operated, and “it is up to offices to determine what works best for their office.”

Laura Ellis, chief strategy officer and president of residential sales at Baird & Warner, said her company will not allow its agents to list buyer or seller agent compensation on any platform.

“We will not do that because it’s going to put us right back to how we got into the situation we are in now,” Ellis said.

Mike Golden, co-CEO of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate, said that as of now, similar to Baird & Warner, the company does not have plans to list cooperating commissions outside the MLS.

“We feel like that is in direct conflict with what the Department of Justice’s goals are with the settlement,” Golden said.

On a call with reporters on Aug. 7, NAR said it would not tolerate “people making attempts to circumvent those policy changes,” but declined to comment on particular brokerages’ practices when asked after the call.

Realtors group to pay $418 million to settle litigation over broker commission fees

What does this mean for potential homebuyers?

Homebuyers will now be required to enter into written contracts with their agents before the first tour of a home if working with an agent who is a member of NAR or an agent who is using an MLS that follows NAR’s model rules. The contracts will dictate how much the buyer will pay — in either a dollar amount or percentage — their real estate agent in the event that the seller does not cover any or all of the buyer’s agent commission.

These contracts do not have to be signed if a buyer chooses not to work with an agent, if a buyer visits a for-sale home on their own or if a buyer is working with an agent who does not use a NAR-affiliated MLS. Some states already required these written buyer agreements. Illinois was not one of them, but many brokerages began encouraging their agents to use the agreements after the Missouri verdict came down.

In Illinois, there are five primary MLS platforms, and they are all implementing the changes, according to a spokesperson from Illinois Realtors, a local NAR chapter. MLS platforms also have the option to disaffiliate from NAR if they do not agree with certain model rules, according to NAR.

Even when the litigation was still winding its way through court, local real estate firms said it was no longer assumed sellers would foot the bill for both the listing agent and the buyer’s agent.

Ellis of Baird & Warner said it is still “highly likely” that buyers will ask sellers during contract negotiations to offer a concession or closing cost credit so they can pay their agent. Commission costs have typically been baked into the price of the home, something the DOJ wanted to clarify for buyers with these rules changes, Ellis said.

A landmark jury verdict threatens to upend home buying and selling. In Illinois, changes are already underway.

Do these rules apply to VA-backed mortgages?

Veterans with VA-backed mortgages are allowed to pay buyer broker fees as of Aug. 10. Prior to the settlement agreements, per the policy for VA-backed mortgages, veterans buying homes were not allowed to pay a buyer’s agent commission. The VA amended its policy in light of NAR’s rules changes because veterans could have been at a disadvantage in the homebuying market if they could not offer to pay an agent’s commission, according to the VA.

What does this mean for potential home sellers?

Sellers will maintain their ability to offer a buyer’s agent compensation or to choose not to. A seller’s agent will, however, no longer be able to list cooperating commission percentages on the MLS. If a seller does choose to cover a buyer’s agent commission, the compensation must not exceed the amount the buyer agreed to pay their broker in their buyer agency agreement.

Conversations surrounding agent commissions can still occur during the contract negotiation process for buyers and sellers.

Golden of @properties said his company has seen that sellers are still largely paying buyer’s broker compensation.

Erika Villegas, president of the Chicago Association of Realtors, said she has not seen large numbers of sellers stop paying commissions to buyers’ brokers.

“What I am seeing is that we are having a more transparent conversation with our sellers about all the choices that they have,” Villegas said. “Sellers have always had choices, but I think that we are making it even clearer now.”

Will the costs of hiring a real estate agent go down?

Data already show that commission percentages have been decreasing for years. And attorneys say they expect the rules changes will lead to lower commission fees because agents will be forced to compete on service.

Since the NAR settlement, average buyer’s agent commission percentages have declined locally and nationally, according to recent data from Redfin. In Chicago, the average commission was 2.35% for the four weeks ending July 14, 2024, compared to 2.44% for the four weeks ending Jan. 28, 2024. Nationally, buyer’s agent commissions have declined from 2.62% to 2.55%. Redfin said these trends follow yearslong gradual declines, but buyer’s agent commissions in dollar amounts are up this year due to rising home prices. 

In the past, real estate agents were typically compensated 5% to 6% of the purchase price of a house by the seller, an amount that usually got split in half between the buyer’s agent and the seller’s agent. Local real estate agents maintain the commission percentage has always been negotiable. NAR vehemently denies that there were ever “standard” commissions and also says its members’ clients have always been able to negotiate commissions.

Golden of @properties said he has not seen commission percentages go down.

As workers return to the office, residents are moving back to Chicago and other cities, driving up home prices

What do these changes mean for the real estate industry as a whole?

It is still too early to know exactly how the policy changes will affect potential homebuyers and sellers.

“I just think it’s going to be a bumpy ride for a while,” Ellis of Baird & Warner said.

But some signs of a changing market are underway. Ellis’ firm is seeing agents leaving their roles and expects to see more do the same, she said.

At the end of June 2023, Baird & Warner had 2,226 agents; for the same time this year, the firm had 2,161 agents, an approximately 3% loss of the company’s agent headcount, with no notable decrease after the settlement announcement in March, Ellis said.

Ellis said it’s hard to tell if agents are leaving because of the Aug. 17 changes. She thinks it is more likely due to the challenging market conditions. Either way, she believes it is a “good thing,” Ellis said.

“The Realtors who are going to survive this and thrive are your really high-integrity, highly professional, really smart agents, and I think that is better for everybody,” Ellis said. “The bar of entry was just too low in our industry.”

In its second quarter earnings, RE/MAX reported a 3,581 decline in its year-over-year U.S. agent headcount, a 6.3% decrease, as of June 30.  

Villegas of the Chicago Association of Realtors said the trade group has not seen a dropoff in membership since the settlement announcement but a “re-engagement of members” to make sure they are prepared for the changes.

Redfin has seen its agent headcount tick up by 61 nationally, a roughly 3.7% increase, between the first and second quarters of this year. Compass saw an even bigger increase in its headcount due to recent acquisitions, according to its second quarter earnings report.

Golden of @properties said his company has not seen any unusual attrition following the settlement agreements, and the company has already been navigating some of the market changes in Indiana, as buyer agency agreements became mandatory in that state July 1. So far, it has been a “pretty seamless process,” Golden said.

“Every brokerage company is faced with the same questions and faced with the same changes, and every company will adapt in their own way,” Golden said. 

ekane@chicagotribune.com

Originally Published: August 13, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.



This article was originally published by a www.chicagotribune.com . Read the Original article here. .

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What’s About to Change For People Buying and Selling Homes

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It was huge news at the time: the National Association of Realtors (NAR) agreed in March to pay $418 million and make changes to how the home-buying process works in order to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged the industry conspired to make agent commissions higher than they needed to be.

The provisions of the settlement go into effect on Aug. 17. For now, what consumers can expect is more paperwork, and potentially more confusion. 

“This is a grand social experiment,” says Leo Pareja, the CEO of exp Realty, one of the biggest real-estate brokerages in the country. “None of us know what’s about to happen.” 

Buyers now have to sign a contract

Here’s how the process used to work: a seller’s agent would list a home on an MLS, or multiple listing service, which is a database of properties for sale. Those listings would state that the seller of a home would pay a certain amount to compensate the buyer’s agent. This compensation was often about 3% of the sales price, which was also about what the seller’s agent would get from the seller. (The average amount ranges between jurisdictions and even from sale to sale; some agents were also paid flat fees.) 

Technically, those fees were negotiable. But most homeowners either didn’t know that or feel they could negotiate. In addition, home sellers allege, real-estate agents would sometimes “steer” buyers to specific homes based on the amount of compensation they could receive. As of Aug. 17, real-estate agents cannot list any sort of agent compensation when they put a house on multiple listing services, a change designed to eliminate steering.

Read More: Stop Looking For Your Forever Home.

In addition, both buyers and sellers are now required to sign a written agreement with their agent before the agent shows them a property or assists with a transaction. The buyer’s side of this is more consequential—most sellers have signed these contracts in the past, but few buyers did. In the new buyers’ contract, sometimes called an “exclusive representation agreement,” the buyer agrees to work with the agent for a certain period of time. Most importantly, the buyer and agent also agree on how the agent will be compensated, whether through a flat fee, a specific share of the purchase price, or another method. Agents must also make clear in this contract that broker commissions are fully negotiable, a change that consumer advocates hope will drive commissions—and prices—down.

Many real-estate agents say the changes are positive, including Jennifer Stevenson, a real-estate agent in upstate New York and a regional vice president for the National Association of Realtors. “This makes the process better,” she says. “Clients are going to understand exactly what is expected of me and what I am offering them as a service.”

But others aren’t so sure that the changes will be positive for consumers. Realtor associations across the country have been releasing drafts of contracts that are extremely lengthy and written in legal terms that are difficult to understand, says Tanya Monestier, a law professor at the University of Buffalo. The draft buyer agreement from the North Carolina Association of Realtors, for instance, is seven pages long.

Read More: When Should I Buy A House?

Monestier analyzed the draft agreement by the California Association of Realtors (CAR) for the Consumer Federation of America, and issued a report criticizing the agreement for being opaque—so opaque, in fact, that Monestier says she had trouble getting through the document. “No seller will read this monster of a document—much less be able to understand it,” she concluded. 

Not all new buyer forms are so dense. Monestier says she reviewed a few forms that were clear; those from Exp Realty, for instance, are just two pages long and explicitly spell out buyer and seller responsibilities. Exp has made these forms available to any company that wants to use them, says Pareja, the CEO. 

Compensation may be changing

Before the NAR settlement, it was standard for the seller to pay for both the seller and the buyer’s agents. That may not be the case going forward.

In tight housing markets, sellers could refuse to pay for the buyer’s agent because they have so much interest in their home. Instead, agent’s fees may become a bigger part of the negotiation when people are buying homes. If a buyer really wants a house, for instance, they could offer to pay the seller’s agent fees, and include that provision in their offer letter. Conversely, if a seller in a slow market is desperate to unload their home, they could offer to pay the buyer’s agent fees—though the agent could not disclose that on the listing. 

Monestier says she also expects there will be more buyers who choose not to have an agent at all, because they don’t want to be on the hook for the agent’s fee. That could lead to less potential work for many of the real-estate agents out there.

Most of all, the settlement could lower compensation for both buyer’s and seller’s agents. Academic papers have predicted that fees could decline by 30-50% as a result, which would end up lowering home prices as well.

Of course, it’s possible that old habits are hard to break, and that not much will change at all. Sellers are accustomed to paying for buyers’ broker fees, and they may continue to do so. Even if everyone involved knows they can negotiate. 



This article was originally published by a time.com . Read the Original article here. .

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8 Things Realtors Want You To Know Before Buying Or Selling A Home

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Realtors are a wealth of knowledge about buying and selling homes. Listen to them.

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Whether you’re buying a home or trying to sell one, knowledge is power. The more knowledge you have, the more you’re empowered to make the right decisions. Good realtors and brokers are a wealth of information for buyers and sellers looking for ways to maximize their transactions. Here’s what they want you to know about buying and/or selling your home.

Understand The Process

According to Brett Ringelheim, licensed real estate salesperson at Compass in New York, before listing a seller’s property, he has an in-depth conversation about the entire process. “During this discussion, I share my experiences with other sellers, highlighting both the good and the bad,” Ringelheim says. He notes it’s crucial that sellers, especially first-timers, thoroughly understand the process before their property hits the market.

For example, one thing first-time sellers might not understand is that they should probably expect to be inconvenienced during the process. “Being flexible with showings and open houses is important, as it allows more prospective buyers to view the property, increasing the chances of finding the right buyer in a timely manner,” advises Mike Downer, broker associate at Coldwell Banker Realty in Naples, Florida.

Be Emotionally Detached

When selling your home, check your feelings at the door. According to India Headley, broker and team lead of Housed by Headley Team at EXP Realty in Connecticut, sellers need to be emotionally prepared to sell. “Once your house goes live on the market, you can anticipate ample traffic with showings, incoming offers that may falsely inflate or deflate your confidence in value, and once you actually sign a contract, there may be some understandable anxiety that kicks in,” Headley says.

However, she adds this is not the time to second-guess your decision when you start thinking of the memories and good times you’ve had in the house. People don’t buy your memories – they want to create their own. “Be proud that you maintained an asset that can serve someone else for years to come, and remember that the grass will always be greener where you water it, so let’s move,” Headley says.

Get A Pre-Inspection

If you get a pre-inspection before you put your home on the market, Headley says it can save everyone a lot of time. “If both parties can be made aware of things that are major and/or minor, we can deal with it more effectively upfront,” she notes.

Depending on the findings, Headley says your realtor can properly advise you how to remedy the issue by extending their knowledge, resources, and referrals. “It’ll also take some stress off the seller during the buyer’s due diligence period knowing that deal breakers shouldn’t be an issue,” she explains.

Understand That Buyers Have Different Opinions

One reason you should be emotionally detached is that you may hear some unflattering comments about your home. “Every buyer who views your property will have a different opinion, so it’s essential not to get discouraged by their feedback,” Ringelheim says. Your favorite features may be the very qualities that some buyers may hate. For example, you may love your all-white kitchen, but some buyers might consider it boring. And that garden you worked so hard to cultivate: Perhaps buyers can’t wait to remove it.

Just make sure that buyers don’t have legitimate concerns. Ringelheim agrees that before listing, it’s advisable to conduct an inspection to identify and address any potential issues. “Resolving these red flags before listing ensures a smoother transaction once a buyer is found,” he explains.

Downer adds that home maintenance is another crucial factor that sellers should be aware of. “Ensuring that the property is well-maintained and addressing any necessary repairs can significantly impact its appeal to potential buyers,” he says.

But keep in mind that your home isn’t for everyone, and some potential buyers will let their feelings be known, loud and clear.

First Impressions Matter

Even though it’s still a buyer’s market, you won’t get the best price if you just plop a For Sale sign in your front yard. According to Nicole Beauchamp, associate real estate broker at Sotheby’s International Realty in Manhattan, that first impression is everything – and this goes beyond just making sure that the home is sound.

“It is so important to prepare the home for sale, and investing in refreshing your home and staging, along with pricing realistically, can make a difference in how quickly you sell and for how much,” Beauchamp says. “Declutter, remove personal effects, and never underestimate the impact of a fresh coat of paint and a deep clean.”

While decluttering, here’s something that can be sensitive for some people. Ivan Chorney with the Ivan and Mike Team at Compass in Florida recommends removing personal items that could distract potential buyers. “This includes family photos, knick-knacks, collections, and out-of-season holiday decorations,” Chorney says. He explains that your personal items could prevent buyers from envisioning themselves living in the space.

“While neutral as a theme is overdone, the space must be a canvas for someone else, not an ode to your history, so make your home look less lived in by minimizing personal touches,” Chorney advises.

Your Home Might Not Sell Immediately

In the housing market, both sellers and buyers are trying to get the best price – and that number varies depending on which side of the transaction you’re on. “Depending on the property’s market and condition, sellers should be prepared for the possibility of receiving low offers and the chance that the property might not sell immediately,” Ringelheim says. “I explain the importance of reviewing recent comparable sales to set realistic expectations regarding pricing, and how long properties have stayed on the market.” If sellers want to aggressively price their properties, he says they need to understand the need for patience.

In fact, Downer warns that sellers need to understand that overpricing their home can often result in it sitting on the market for a prolonged period. “This can deter potential buyers and lead to the property becoming stigmatized, making it more challenging to sell at a later stage,” he explains.

Crunch The Numbers

Real estate advice often talks about understanding the financial component when purchasing a home. However, Beauchamp says it’s also important for both buyers and sellers to clearly understand the financial aspect.

Selling a house isn’t just about the purchase price you receive. “Sellers may have a home equity line of credit, and that balance will reduce how much money they receive,” Beauchamp explains. For buyers, she says they need to understand closing costs, and the other costs of home ownership. Both need to speak with their tax advisors to gain a realistic picture of the bottom line numbers.

Trust Your Realtor

It’s tempting to look at someone else’s home and compare your situation to what happened to that person. However, Headley recommends leaving the market analysis to the experts. “Just because you know someone whose house didn’t sell as easily as they anticipated or for a specific amount, doesn’t mean that you’ll face the same fate as a seller,” she says, adding there are many contributing factors that determine how properties perform, and a local realtor is your best resource for recommended time to sell, what buyers are looking for in your area, and purchase price.

Dawn David, licensed associate real estate broker with Corcoran in New York, says she wishes consumers better understood the extensive effort required to sell homes. “Sadly, when consumers try to act on their own, they may miss a critical window when a property is first introduced to the market by presenting it in a light that isn’t well received or is mispriced, resulting in a taint of sorts that others can’t pinpoint, but results in the property being ignored,” David says.

While experienced sales professionals can get you maximum value by determining an accurate fit for the actual state of the market, David says consumers selling without an agent are often misaligned with the reality of the market.

“Agents prepare you to capture all qualified interests with exhaustive tips for improvements, staging, decluttering, and we help you avoid the make-it-or-break-it qualities that immediately turn people off and prevent you from getting offers when most factors would indicate a potential offer is imminent,” she says. In addition, David says realtors and brokers present guidance on negotiating for the best price.

However, not all real estate professionals are created equally. “Make sure your licensed professional is up to date on the commission laws, latest marketing trends, and even ask them how they’re incorporating tech, like AI, to get your home sold,” Headley says. “Now is the time to ask questions more than ever and choose the agent that likes to answer them.”



This article was originally published by a www.forbes.com . Read the Original article here. .

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How real estate commission changes could make buying and selling a home cheaper

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Debra Kamin:

You’re absolutely right, that, for first-time homebuyers, it is often very difficult to scrape together just the money you need to be able to get that down payment to buy that first home, especially now, when the housing market is so tight and so expensive.

And in the past, one thing that homebuyers did not have to worry about was paying their real estate agents. So, as this settlement has its effects, one of the things we might see is that homebuyers now feel, oh, gosh, I also have to pay my real estate agent on top of everything.

But, most likely, what’s also going to happen is we’re going to see new models for compensation evolve out of this that didn’t exist before, where the way that we pay real estate agents, particularly on the buy side, might be completely different. It could be a flat fee. It could be by the hour. There’s all sorts of ways to pay agents that never existed before because there wasn’t a competition in the market that allowed those new methods to be introduced.



This article was originally published by a www.pbs.org . Read the Original article here. .

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Buying and Selling a Home in California Is About to Change: Here’s How | KQED

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Previously, the buyer’s and seller’s agents would split the commission, but now, the buyer and seller will both be responsible for paying their respective agents.

“What the settlement does is [it] enables both the buyer and the seller to negotiate with the broker upfront of what level of service they want and what their fees are going to be,” said Ted Tozer, a fellow at the Urban Institute, who specializes in housing finance. “I think, in the long run, this is very positive.”

How will the world of real estate change? 

Likely, quite a bit.

Because commission rates can’t be set up front, realtors will have to compete for business and may offer lower rates to their clients. But it could also mean bad news for part-time realtors, who have otherwise relied on that 5%–6% commission as an occasional income.

“If you’re a realtor and you only sell a couple houses a month, you’re going to have a tough time making it,” Tozer said. “You will probably have less realtors in numbers, but the ones that are doing business are probably going to be more effective at what they’re doing because they’ll have to make it a full-time job.”

What does all this mean for me, a home buyer or seller? 

Firstly, because this is a class-action lawsuit, some home sellers might be entitled to compensation. But it doesn’t include California. It only pertains to metro areas in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Utah, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

That said, the proposed settlement will likely empower home buyers and sellers to negotiate the commission rate with their agents.

“What the lawsuit was all about was that the sellers felt like they should have more control,” Tozer said. “I should have the ability to have a say in what I’m paying.”





This article was originally published by a www.kqed.org . Read the Original article here. .

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The 6% commission on buying or selling a home is gone after Realtors association agrees to

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CNN
 — 

The 6% commission, a standard in home purchase transactions, is no more.

In a sweeping move expected to dramatically reduce the cost of buying and selling a home, the National Association of Realtors announced Friday a settlement with groups of homesellers, agreeing to end landmark antitrust lawsuits by paying $418 million in damages and eliminating rules on commissions.

The NAR, which represents more than 1 million Realtors, also agreed to put in place a set of new rules. One prohibits agents’ compensation from being included on listings placed on local centralized listing portals known as multiple listing services, which critics say led brokers to push more expensive properties on customers. Another ends requirements that brokers subscribe to multiple listing services — many of which are owned by NAR subsidiaries — where homes are given a wide viewing in a local market. Another new rule will require buyers’ brokers to enter into written agreements with their buyers.

The agreement effectively will destroy the current homebuying and selling business model, in which sellers pay both their broker and a buyer’s broker, which critics say have driven housing prices artificially higher.

By some estimates, real estate commissions are expected to fall 25% to 50%, according to TD Cowen Insights. This will open up opportunities for alternative models of selling real estate that already exist but don’t have much market share, including flat-fee and discount brokerages.

Shares of real estate firms Zillow and Compass both fell by more than 13% Friday as investors feared that lower commission rates for agents could lead to less business for real estate platforms.

In a 10-K filing last month, Zillow warned that, “if agent commissions are meaningfully impacted, it could reduce the marketing budgets of real estate partners or reduce the number of real estate partners participating in the industry, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.”

Shares of real estate brokerage Redfin also fell nearly 5%.

Meanwhile, homebuilder stocks rose on the news: Lennar shares gained 2.4%, PulteGroup shares added 1.1% and Toll Brothers shares added 1.8%.

For the average-priced American home for sale — $417,000 — sellers are paying more than $25,000 in brokerage fees. Those costs are passed on to the buyer, boosting the price of homes in America. That fee could fall by between $6,000 and $12,000, according to TD Cowen Insights’ analysis.

“While the settlement comes at a significant cost, we believe the benefits it will provide to our industry are worth that cost,” said Kevin Sears, president of the NAR, in a statement.

In November, a federal jury in Missouri found the NAR and two brokerages liable for $1.8 billion in damages for conspiring to keep agent commissions artificially high. Because it was an antitrust case, the NAR was potentially on the hook for triple those damages — $5.4 billion.

The NAR had pledged to appeal the case, but other brokerages settled — and, eventually, so did the NAR, on Friday.

“NAR has worked hard for years to resolve this litigation in a manner that benefits our members and American consumers,” said Nykia Wright, interim CEO of NAR, in a statement. “It has always been our goal to preserve consumer choice and protect our members to the greatest extent possible. This settlement achieves both of those goals.”

The NAR had required homesellers to include the compensation for agents when placing a listing on a multiple listing service. Although NAR has long said commissions are negotiable and that the structure helped making housing more affordable for buyers, critics have long argued that the fees were expected and homesellers felt they would lose buyers if they didn’t offer them.

Homesellers who brought lawsuits against the NAR have argued that in a competitive market, the cost of the buyer’s agent’s commission should be paid by the buyer who received the service, not by the seller. The sellers who brought the lawsuit against the NAR and the brokerages said that buyers should be able to negotiate the fee with their agent, and that the sellers should not be on the hook for paying it.

This settlement, which is subject to a judge’s approval, opens the door to a more competitive housing market. Realtors could now compete on commissions, allowing for prospective buyers to shop around on rates before they commit to buying a home. Brokers could begin to advertise their fees, allowing customers to choose lower-cost agents. The NAR, in its announcement, did not set a suggested fee.

This marks the biggest change to the housing market in a century, said Norm Miller, professor emeritus of real estate at the University of San Diego.

“I’ve been waiting 50 years for this,” Miller said.

Although it’s unclear what the future of the housing market will look like, Miller said he expected homebuying to pick up somewhat as costs fall dramatically for homebuyers.

“There are all kinds of models we might see in the future, and no one knows what they are,” he said, suggesting some brokers may charge, say, a $3,000 fee for selling a home, while others will offer a competitive commission.

The agreement will bring sweeping reforms for millions of Americans, said Benjamin D. Brown, managing partner of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and co-chair of its antitrust practice, who helped craft the settlement.

“For years, anticompetitive rules in the real estate industry have financially harmed millions of Americans,” said Brown.

Individual sellers often feel powerless to negotiate a better deal for themselves, given the risk that offering lower commissions could cause brokers to steer buyers to other properties, said Robert Braun, a partner in Cohen Milstein’s antitrust practice.

“For far too long, home sellers have faced a system recognized by many as blatantly unfair. This class action and settlement provides justice for our clients and will require important changes that help future home sellers,” said Braun.

Although most realtors are included in the settlement, brokerage HomeServices of America continues to fight the case in court, the NAR said.

The NAR said it had fought to get HomeServices of America agents covered by the settlement, but said it was pleased to have more than 1 million of its members on board with the agreement.

“Ultimately, continuing to litigate would have hurt members and their small businesses,” said Wright in a statement. “While there could be no perfect outcome, this agreement is the best outcome we could achieve in the circumstances.”

Miller said the settlement could lead to a mass exodus of brokers from the industry — potentially half of the 2 million or so agents in America.

Lower fees mean mediocre agents are likely to leave the field, but top brokers will get more business. “The good ones will absolutely do better,” he said.

America’s fees are significantly higher than in foreign countries, Miller noted. In Israel, Singapore and the UK, brokers charge between 1% to 2% for the same thing that agents do in the United States.

The NAR has been fighting off US antitrust officials and litigation for years regarding alleged anti-competitive practices. But November’s verdict marked the association’s biggest setback yet — and ultimately led to the downfall of the rules that have long protected its compensation model.

The association also faces scrutiny from the US Department of Justice, and it’s unclear whether this settlement with sellers will impact the government’s scrutiny of the brokerage industry.

The trade group has also undergone severe leadership turmoil over the past year.

In January, the former president of the NAR, Tracy Kasper, stepped down, after she said she received a threat to disclose a past personal, non-financial matter unless she compromised her position at NAR. Sears replaced Kasper earlier this year.

Kasper had just taken over the role in August 2023, after Kenny Parcell, the former president, resigned amid sexual harassment allegations that were first published by the New York Times. NAR employees reportedly said Parcell improperly touched them and sent lewd photos and texts. In the Times article, Parcell denied the accusations.

In November 2023, the chief executive of NAR, Bob Goldberg, also stepped down, and was replaced by Wright. Goldberg stepped down two days after the $1.8 billion judgment against the NAR.

This story has been updated with additional reporting and context. It has also been updated to clarify Norm Miller’s comments on brokers’ salary prospects.



This article was originally published by a www.cnn.com . Read the Original article here. .

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